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[
"Mogwai",
"Rave Tapes (2013-2015)",
"What were the rave tapes?",
"eighth studio album",
"What singles did they release?",
"Remurdered",
"Was the song a hit?",
"best selling UK album released in 2014 in terms of vinyl sales.",
"What else is notable about the album?",
"album was released on 20 January 2014 on Rock Action in the UK, Spunk in Australia and Hostess in Japan and South-east Asia,",
"When was it released in the USA?",
"21 January.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"In June 2015 Mogwai played a series of high-profile shows in the UK and Ireland,",
"What were the shows that they played?",
"two nights at the Camden Roundhouse,",
"Were there any other shows?",
"shows at the London venue",
"Did they do any other touring?",
"two nights at the Royal Festival Hall, and an appearance closing the final holiday camp edition of the \"All Tomorrow's Parties\" festival in Camber Sands, England.",
"What else did they do during this time?",
"An EP titled Music Industry 3. Fitness Industry 1. on Rock Action was released on 1 December 2014"
] |
C_370e2259d68346b8a20f6cac59dbf2db_1
|
What songs were on this album?
| 11 |
What songs were on the album Rave Tapes by Mogwai?
|
Mogwai
|
In July 2013, Mogwai performed their soundtrack to Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait for the first time at dates across the UK. An announcement of new live dates followed, including two nights at the Royal Festival Hall, and an appearance closing the final holiday camp edition of the "All Tomorrow's Parties" festival in Camber Sands, England. They announced their eighth studio album Rave Tapes on 28 October 2013. The album was released on 20 January 2014 on Rock Action in the UK, Spunk in Australia and Hostess in Japan and South-east Asia, while Sub Pop released the album in the US on 21 January. Rave Tapes was produced by Mogwai and Paul Savage, and the song "Remurdered" was uploaded to the Rock Action and Sub Pop SoundCloud pages at the time of the announcement. The album entered the UK album charts at No.10 and as of April 2014 was the best selling UK album released in 2014 in terms of vinyl sales. An EP titled Music Industry 3. Fitness Industry 1. on Rock Action was released on 1 December 2014 featuring three new tracks from the Rave Tapes sessions, along with three remixes of tracks from that album by Blanck Mass, Pye Corner Audio and Nils Frahm. The EP was recorded in Glasgow with Paul Savage. In June 2015 Mogwai played a series of high-profile shows in the UK and Ireland, climaxing with two nights at the Camden Roundhouse, to celebrate the band's 20th anniversary. At the same time, in association with ATP, they curated a series of shows at the London venue featuring acts that have "challenged, intrigued and inspired" them, including The Jesus and Mary Chain, Public Enemy, and Godspeed! You Black Emperor. A career retrospective album comprising three CDs or six LPs, Central Belters, was released on 23 October. On 15 November 2015, the band announced that guitarist John Cummings had left to pursue his own projects. CANNOTANSWER
|
three new tracks from the Rave Tapes sessions, along with three remixes of tracks from that album by Blanck Mass, Pye Corner Audio and Nils Frahm.
|
Mogwai () are a Scottish post-rock band, formed in 1995 in Glasgow. The band consists of Stuart Braithwaite (guitar, vocals), Barry Burns (guitar, piano, synthesizer, vocals), Dominic Aitchison (bass guitar), and Martin Bulloch (drums). Mogwai typically compose lengthy guitar-based instrumental pieces that feature dynamic contrast, melodic bass guitar lines, and heavy use of distortion and effects.
The band were for several years signed to Glasgow label Chemikal Underground, and have been distributed by different labels such as Matador in the US and Play It Again Sam in the UK, but now use their own label Rock Action Records in the UK, and Temporary Residence Ltd. in North America.
Mogwai's tenth album, As the Love Continues, reached No. 1 in the UK Albums Chart on 26 February 2021.
History
Formation (1991–1995)
Stuart Braithwaite and Dominic Aitchison met in April 1991, and four years later formed Mogwai with old schoolfriend Martin Bulloch. The band's name comes from the name of the creatures in the feature film Gremlins, although guitarist Stuart Braithwaite comments that "it has no significant meaning and we always intended on getting a better one, but like a lot of other things we never got round to it." The word mogwai means "evil spirit" or "devil" in Cantonese.
The band debuted in February 1996 with the "Tuner"/"Lower" single and by the end of the year they received 'single of the week' from NME for "Summer", a feat repeated early in 1997 with "New Paths to Helicon". After playing a few shows the band expanded with the introduction of John Cummings on guitar, and then Teenage Fanclub drummer Brendan O'Hare joined while they recorded their debut album Mogwai Young Team.
Mogwai Young Team (1995–1997)
The album, released in October 1997, reached No. 75 on the UK Albums Chart, and featured a guest appearance from Aidan Moffat of Arab Strap. In 1998 the band had their first singles chart success with a split single with Magoo of Black Sabbath cover versions reaching No. 60 in the UK and an EP of "Fear Satan" remixes reaching No. 57. In the same year, an album of remixes of the band's tracks by the likes of Kevin Shields, Alec Empire, and μ-ziq was issued (Kicking a Dead Pig: Mogwai Songs Remixed). The band also remixed tracks for David Holmes and Manic Street Preachers. O'Hare was sacked after the release of the album (reportedly after upsetting the rest of the band by talking all through a performance by Arab Strap).
Come On Die Young (1998–1999)
Barry Burns was brought in prior to the recording of Come On Die Young, the band's second album. He had already played a few shows with the band, as a flautist and as an occasional pianist. According to Stuart, Barry was invited into the band because he was a "good laugh". The album reached No. 29 in the UK. The band line up remained unchanged from 1998 until November 2015, when John Cummings left to pursue other projects. Fellow Scottish musician Luke Sutherland has contributed violin (and more recently vocals and guitar) to Mogwai's records and live performances.
Rock Action (2000–2001)
The band's 2001 album Rock Action gave them their highest UK album chart placing, reaching No. 23. The album was less guitar-led than previously, featuring more electronics; a larger than usual number of tracks also featured vocals, guest vocalists included David Pajo of Slint, Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals and Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol. Shortly afterwards the band released "My Father My King", a cacophonous 20-minute song which closed their Rock Action-period shows, and was billed as a companion piece to the album.
Happy Songs For Happy People (2002–2003)
Mogwai's 2003 album Happy Songs for Happy People continued the band's movement into the use of electronica and more spacious arrangements. It was the band's first album to sell in any numbers in the US, reaching No. 13 on the Billboard Independent Albums Chart and even spending one week in the Billboard 200. Reviews were generally favourable, although as Pitchfork Media said in 2008 "...(the album's) reception ranged from middling to favorable. Some praised the band's scope, grandeur, and willingness to explore beyond the bounds of the quiet-loud-louder dynamic it had mastered; others lamented a lack of the same, alternately calling Happy Songs too soft, too small, or too stiff."
Mr Beast (2004–2006)
In March 2006, the album Mr Beast was released in a regular format and in a limited deluxe edition package that came with both the album on CD and a DVD documenting the recording process entitled The Recording of Mr Beast. The album was described by Creation Records head Alan McGee as "probably the best art rock album I've been involved with since Loveless. In fact, it's possibly better than Loveless" – referring to the influential 1991 album by My Bloody Valentine. AllMusic called the album "Possibly the most accessible yet sophisticated album Mogwai (have) released".
The Hawk Is Howling (2007–2008)
The band's sixth studio album was recorded from late 2007 until early 2008, and was released in September 2008. It was the first Mogwai album not to feature vocals, and was also the first to be self-produced by the band; the album was recorded by Andy Miller at Chem19 Studios in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, and mixed by Gareth Jones at Castle of Doom Studios in Glasgow. The album spawned an EP, Batcat, featuring the title track from the album and also a collaboration with Roky Erickson, with Erickson providing vocals on "Devil Rides".
Burning / Special Moves (2009–2010)
In 2010 the band released their first live film (Burning, filmed by Vincent Moon and Nathanaël Le Scouarnec, which premiered at the Glasgow Film Festival in February) and live album (called Special Moves). Burning contains eight tracks from the band's Brooklyn shows during their 2008/2009 American tour, whilst Special Moves adds nine more tracks from the same source. Special Moves was the first release on Mogwai's own Rock Action records, named after Stooges drummer Scott Asheton, who had his name changed to Rock Action.
Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will (2011–2013)
In September 2010, Mogwai left longtime North American distributor Matador Records, and signed with Sub Pop. Braithwaite also stated that the band were working on material for a new album for release in early 2011. On 27 October 2010, Mogwai announced their seventh studio album, Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will. The album was released on 14 February 2011 in the UK and entered the UK Albums Chart at No. 25. A bonus edition featured an additional CD featuring a 23-minute piece called "Music for a Forgotten Future (The Singing Mountain)", which was recorded for an art installation by Douglas Gordon and Olaf Nicolai. Three singles were released from the album; "Rano Pano", "Mexican Grand Prix" and "San Pedro".
In 2012 a remix album, A Wrenched Virile Lore was released which included tracks from Hardcore... remixed by numerous artists including Xander Harris, The Soft Moon, Robert Hampson and Justin Broadrick. The album, whose title is almost an anagram of "Hardcore Will Never Die" was again released by Sub Pop in the US, and Rock Action Records elsewhere.
Rave Tapes (2013–2015)
In July 2013, Mogwai performed their soundtrack to Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait for the first time at dates across the UK. An announcement of new live dates followed, including two nights at the Royal Festival Hall, and an appearance closing the final holiday camp edition of the "All Tomorrow's Parties" festival in Camber Sands, England.
They announced their eighth studio album Rave Tapes on 28 October 2013. The album was released on 20 January 2014 on Rock Action in the UK, Spunk in Australia and Hostess in Japan and South-east Asia, while Sub Pop released the album in the US on 21 January. Rave Tapes was produced by Mogwai and Paul Savage, and the song "Remurdered" was uploaded to the Rock Action and Sub Pop SoundCloud pages at the time of the announcement. The album entered the UK Albums Chart at No. 10 and, as of April 2014, was the best selling UK album released in 2014 in terms of vinyl sales.
An EP titled Music Industry 3. Fitness Industry 1. on Rock Action was released on 1 December 2014 featuring three new tracks from the Rave Tapes sessions, along with three remixes of tracks from that album by Blanck Mass, Pye Corner Audio and Nils Frahm. The EP was recorded in Glasgow with Paul Savage.
In June 2015 Mogwai played a series of high-profile shows in the UK and Ireland, climaxing with two nights at the Camden Roundhouse, to celebrate the band's 20th anniversary. At the same time, in association with ATP, they curated a series of shows at the London venue featuring acts that have "challenged, intrigued and inspired" them, including The Jesus and Mary Chain, Public Enemy, and Godspeed! You Black Emperor. A career retrospective album comprising three CDs or six LPs, Central Belters, was released on 23 October.
On 15 November 2015, the band announced that guitarist John Cummings had left to pursue his own projects.
Every Country's Sun (2016–2019)
In April 2016, Braithwaite told the Guardian that the band were writing new songs and would be travelling to the US later in the year to record a new album with Dave Fridmann, who produced Rock Action some 15 years previously. On 25 November, Fridmann announced that the band had started recording the album with him. On 3 March 2017, the band announced that they had completed recording and were mastering the album at Abbey Road Studios. The band have announced a worldwide tour to coincide with the release of the new album, starting with dates in Europe in October before visiting North America in November, and finally playing in their home city of Glasgow in December.
On 14 May 2017, the band announced the new album would be named Every Country's Sun and would be released on 1 September 2017. They also shared the first song "Coolverine". On 2 June, Mogwai played a show at Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona, only announced on the day, which consisted of Every Country's Sun played in full.
As the Love Continues (2020–present)
On 29 October 2020, Mogwai announced a new album, As the Love Continues, which went on to reach No. 1 in the UK Albums Chart on 26 February 2021. The lead single, "Dry Fantasy", was premiered on BBC Radio 6 and made available for download the same day. On 13 February, the weekend before the album's release on 19 February, the band streamed a show recorded at Glasgow Tramway where they played the album in full. Following a social media campaign asking various celebrities to promote it, the album entered the UK chart at No. 1 in its first week of release, a position that the band called "totally surreal". As the Love Continues was nominated for the Mercury Prize, which honours the best of British music, in 2021. The album won the 2021 Scottish Album of the Year Award.
Soundtracks and other work
In 2006, the band provided the soundtrack to the film Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait, with the soundtrack album released the following year. The band's songs "Auto Rock" and "We're No Here" were used in Michael Mann's 2006 film Miami Vice. The band also collaborated with Clint Mansell and Kronos Quartet on the soundtrack to The Fountain in 2006. Mogwai are also featured in the 2009 post-rock documentary Introspective. The band donated an exclusive track to the PEACE project in April 2010 in support of Amnesty International. In 2012, the band provided the soundtrack for the Canal+ French TV series Les Revenants (broadcast as The Returned in the UK). The album, Les Revenants, was released on 25 February 2013. The track "Kids Will Be Skeletons" was featured as part of the soundtrack of the story based video game Life Is Strange.
In 2015 the band supplied the music for Mark Cousins' documentary Atomic, Living in Dread and Promise. The soundtrack was reworked and released as Atomic on 1 April 2016, through Rock Action Records. The band carried out an extensive live tour of Europe and Japan performing the soundtrack against a backdrop of the screening of the film, beginning in Austria on 1 May 2016. They then announced a North American tour of the album for January 2017. The band also co-wrote the score to Fisher Stevens' 2016 documentary film about climate change Before the Flood. The score was performed and written by Mogwai, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, and Gustavo Santaolalla.
In 2016 Stuart Braithwaite took part in a documentary about Glasgow music, and Chemikal Underground Records, called Lost in France. The film was directed by Niall McCann and brought Braithwaite (along with members of The Delgados, Franz Ferdinand and others) to Mauron, Brittany, to recreate a gig they played just after Mogwai had formed. The film features Mogwai live, as well as footage of Braithwaite playing Mogwai tracks solo and interviews with Braithwaite and his old label-mates such as Alex Kapranos (Franz Ferdinand), Emma Pollock (The Delgados) and Stewart Henderson (The Delgados). It premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival to positive reviews and was called "Funny, vital and sobering" by Scotland's arts magazine The Skinny.
In August 2018 Mogwai released the soundtrack for the movie Kin, and in May 2020 the soundtrack for the 2020 Sky Italia & Amazon Prime series ZeroZeroZero. As an extra Mogwai released in 2014 their own whisky brand, a year later they even tried out a (limited edition) spirits brand of rum.
Musical style
The band's influences include Fugazi, MC5, My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, Pixies, The Cure and post-rock pioneers Slint. Mogwai's style has easily identifiable connections to genres such as shoegaze, math rock, and art rock. Debut album Mogwai Young Team was described as "stunningly dynamic...[shifting] seamlessly from tranquil, bleakly beautiful soundscapes to brain scrambling white noise and sledgehammer riffing". Douglas Wolk, writing for SPIN in 1999 said of the band: "Their compositions have gotten increasingly drawn-out and austere over time, sometimes barely more than a single arpeggiated chord or two evolving for ten minutes or more, whisperingly brutal in a way that recalls Slint more than any other band". Barry Burns once stated in an interview that he and the rest of the band do not like the categorisation of post-rock because he believes it over-analyses everything.
Their strong international fanbase is based, in part, on the band's music being largely lyric-free. Braithwaite has commented on the absence of lyrics in most of Mogwai's music, saying:
Band members
Current
Stuart Braithwaite – guitar, bass, vocals (1995–present)
Dominic Aitchison – bass, guitar (1995–present)
Martin Bulloch – drums (1995–present)
Barry Burns – guitar, keyboards, synthesizer, flute, vocals (1998–present)
Former
Brendan O'Hare – keyboards, guitar (1997)
John Cummings – guitar, programming, drums, keyboards (1995–2015)
Occasional contributor and touring members
Alex Mackay – guitar, keyboards, percussion (touring member: 2016–present)
Luke Sutherland – violin, guitar, vocals, percussion (1998–2016)
James Hamilton – drums (touring replacement for Martin Bulloch: 2011–2013)
Scott Paterson – guitar (touring replacement for John Cummings: 2015, 2021)
Cat Myers – drums (touring replacement for Martin Bulloch: 2017–2018)
Timeline
Discography
Mogwai Young Team (1997)
Come On Die Young (1999)
Rock Action (2001)
Happy Songs for Happy People (2003)
Mr Beast (2006)
The Hawk Is Howling (2008)
Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will (2011)
Rave Tapes (2014)
Every Country's Sun (2017)
As the Love Continues (2021)
See also
List of post-rock bands
List of bands from Glasgow
List of Scottish musicians
References
External links
Mogwai's official website
Mogwai at the Internet Archive's Live Music Archive
Bright light! – unofficial website with complete gigography, articles and interviews
My Life's Playlist: Mogwai's Stuart Braithwaite [PIAS]'s Blog - 21 April 2015
Scottish post-rock groups
Instrumental rock musical groups
Space rock musical groups
Ableton Live users
Musical groups established in 1995
Musical groups from Glasgow
1995 establishments in Scotland
Rock Action Records artists
Chemikal Underground artists
Matador Records artists
PIAS Recordings artists
Temporary Residence Limited artists
| true |
[
"Followers is an album by the American contemporary Christian music (CCM) band Tenth Avenue North. It was released by Provident Label Group, a division of Sony Music Entertainment, under its Reunion Records label, on October 14, 2016. The album reached No. 5 on the Billboard Christian Albums chart, and No. 151 on the Billboard 200. Three singles from the album were released: \"What You Want\" in 2016, and \"I Have This Hope\" and \"Control (Somehow You Want Me)\" in 2017, all of which appeared on the Billboard Hot Christian Songs chart.\n\nRelease and performance \n\nFollowers was released on October 14, 2016, by Provident Label Group LLC, a division of Sony Music Entertainment. It first charted on both the US Billboard Christian Albums and Billboard 200 on the week of November 5, 2016, peaking that week on both charts at No. 5 and No. 151, respectively.\n\nThree singles were released from the album. The first, \"What You Want\", was released five months in advance of the album on May 13, 2016, and charted on the Billboard Hot Christian Songs list, peaking at No. 17 on September 3, 2016. The other two were released in 2017 after the album, and reached the top 10 on Hot Christian Songs: \"I Have This Hope\" peaked at No. 5 on June 10, 2017, and \"Control (Somehow You Want Me)\" peaked at No. 7 on January 13, 2018.\n\nReception \n\nCCM Magazine gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, and cited its \"killer vocal work on honest, relatable lyrics paired with ... strong songwriting.\"\n\nChristian review website JesusFreakHideout rated the album 3.5 out of 5 stars. The review said the album was \"pretty much what you would expect from a CCM release\" and wrote that \"What You Want\" was \"the most energetic song on the album\". It singled out the opening track as \"excellent\" and the closing track as \"powerful\", and characterized the remaining songs as \"eight solid but otherwise ordinary tracks.\"\n\nTrack listing\n\"Afraid\" (3:48)\n\"What You Want\" (3:37)\n\"Overflow\" (3:40)\n\"I Have This Hope\" (3:24)\n\"One Thing\" (3:28)\n\"Sparrow (Under Heaven's Eyes)\" (3:59)\n\"No One Can Steal Our Joy\" (3:40)\n\"Control (Somehow You Want Me)\" (4:08)\n\"Fighting for You\" (3:22)\n\"I Confess\" (5:15)\n\nChart performance\n\nReferences\n\n2016 albums\nTenth Avenue North albums",
"\"What's Forever For\" is a song written by Rafe Van Hoy and first recorded by England Dan & John Ford Coley on their 1979 album Dr. Heckle and Mr. Jive.\n\nThe song saw its biggest success when it was recorded by American country music artist Michael Martin Murphey. It was released in June 1982 as the second single from his album, Michael Martin Murphey. \"What's Forever For\" was Murphey's first of two number ones on the country chart. The single went to number one for one week and spent 16 weeks in the country top 40. On the Hot 100, \"What's Forever For\" was his final Top 40 hit, peaking at number 19. The song is also one of his most well known in the Philippines, along with \"Maybe This Time\".\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nCover versions\nAnne Murray on her 1980 album Somebody's Waiting, released by Capitol Records. \"What's Forever For\" was also included as the B-side of her Beatles cover hit, \"I'm Happy Just to Dance with You\".\nT. G. Sheppard on his 1981 album I Love 'Em All, released by Warner Bros. Records.\nDaryl Somers on his 1982 single.\nJohnny Mathis on his 1982 album Friends in Love, released on Columbia Records.\nBilly Gilman on his 2000 album One Voice, released by Epic Records.\nFilipino acoustic singer Nyoy Volante covered the song on his 2008 album, Heartstrings.\nJeff Trachta and Bobbie Eakes, on the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful.\nTonny Willé and Marco Bakker.\nJohn Conlee on the album With Love in 1981 on MCA.\nB.J. Thomas on his 2000 album You Call That a Mountain.\n\nReferences\n\n1982 singles\nEngland Dan & John Ford Coley songs\nAnne Murray songs\nJohn Conlee songs\nT. G. Sheppard songs\nMichael Martin Murphey songs\nBilly Gilman songs\nB. J. Thomas songs\nSong recordings produced by Jim Ed Norman\nLiberty Records singles\nSongs written by Rafe Van Hoy\n1979 songs"
] |
[
"Mogwai",
"Rave Tapes (2013-2015)",
"What were the rave tapes?",
"eighth studio album",
"What singles did they release?",
"Remurdered",
"Was the song a hit?",
"best selling UK album released in 2014 in terms of vinyl sales.",
"What else is notable about the album?",
"album was released on 20 January 2014 on Rock Action in the UK, Spunk in Australia and Hostess in Japan and South-east Asia,",
"When was it released in the USA?",
"21 January.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"In June 2015 Mogwai played a series of high-profile shows in the UK and Ireland,",
"What were the shows that they played?",
"two nights at the Camden Roundhouse,",
"Were there any other shows?",
"shows at the London venue",
"Did they do any other touring?",
"two nights at the Royal Festival Hall, and an appearance closing the final holiday camp edition of the \"All Tomorrow's Parties\" festival in Camber Sands, England.",
"What else did they do during this time?",
"An EP titled Music Industry 3. Fitness Industry 1. on Rock Action was released on 1 December 2014",
"What songs were on this album?",
"three new tracks from the Rave Tapes sessions, along with three remixes of tracks from that album by Blanck Mass, Pye Corner Audio and Nils Frahm."
] |
C_370e2259d68346b8a20f6cac59dbf2db_1
|
How was the album received?
| 12 |
How was the album Rave Tapes by Mogwai received?
|
Mogwai
|
In July 2013, Mogwai performed their soundtrack to Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait for the first time at dates across the UK. An announcement of new live dates followed, including two nights at the Royal Festival Hall, and an appearance closing the final holiday camp edition of the "All Tomorrow's Parties" festival in Camber Sands, England. They announced their eighth studio album Rave Tapes on 28 October 2013. The album was released on 20 January 2014 on Rock Action in the UK, Spunk in Australia and Hostess in Japan and South-east Asia, while Sub Pop released the album in the US on 21 January. Rave Tapes was produced by Mogwai and Paul Savage, and the song "Remurdered" was uploaded to the Rock Action and Sub Pop SoundCloud pages at the time of the announcement. The album entered the UK album charts at No.10 and as of April 2014 was the best selling UK album released in 2014 in terms of vinyl sales. An EP titled Music Industry 3. Fitness Industry 1. on Rock Action was released on 1 December 2014 featuring three new tracks from the Rave Tapes sessions, along with three remixes of tracks from that album by Blanck Mass, Pye Corner Audio and Nils Frahm. The EP was recorded in Glasgow with Paul Savage. In June 2015 Mogwai played a series of high-profile shows in the UK and Ireland, climaxing with two nights at the Camden Roundhouse, to celebrate the band's 20th anniversary. At the same time, in association with ATP, they curated a series of shows at the London venue featuring acts that have "challenged, intrigued and inspired" them, including The Jesus and Mary Chain, Public Enemy, and Godspeed! You Black Emperor. A career retrospective album comprising three CDs or six LPs, Central Belters, was released on 23 October. On 15 November 2015, the band announced that guitarist John Cummings had left to pursue his own projects. CANNOTANSWER
|
CANNOTANSWER
|
Mogwai () are a Scottish post-rock band, formed in 1995 in Glasgow. The band consists of Stuart Braithwaite (guitar, vocals), Barry Burns (guitar, piano, synthesizer, vocals), Dominic Aitchison (bass guitar), and Martin Bulloch (drums). Mogwai typically compose lengthy guitar-based instrumental pieces that feature dynamic contrast, melodic bass guitar lines, and heavy use of distortion and effects.
The band were for several years signed to Glasgow label Chemikal Underground, and have been distributed by different labels such as Matador in the US and Play It Again Sam in the UK, but now use their own label Rock Action Records in the UK, and Temporary Residence Ltd. in North America.
Mogwai's tenth album, As the Love Continues, reached No. 1 in the UK Albums Chart on 26 February 2021.
History
Formation (1991–1995)
Stuart Braithwaite and Dominic Aitchison met in April 1991, and four years later formed Mogwai with old schoolfriend Martin Bulloch. The band's name comes from the name of the creatures in the feature film Gremlins, although guitarist Stuart Braithwaite comments that "it has no significant meaning and we always intended on getting a better one, but like a lot of other things we never got round to it." The word mogwai means "evil spirit" or "devil" in Cantonese.
The band debuted in February 1996 with the "Tuner"/"Lower" single and by the end of the year they received 'single of the week' from NME for "Summer", a feat repeated early in 1997 with "New Paths to Helicon". After playing a few shows the band expanded with the introduction of John Cummings on guitar, and then Teenage Fanclub drummer Brendan O'Hare joined while they recorded their debut album Mogwai Young Team.
Mogwai Young Team (1995–1997)
The album, released in October 1997, reached No. 75 on the UK Albums Chart, and featured a guest appearance from Aidan Moffat of Arab Strap. In 1998 the band had their first singles chart success with a split single with Magoo of Black Sabbath cover versions reaching No. 60 in the UK and an EP of "Fear Satan" remixes reaching No. 57. In the same year, an album of remixes of the band's tracks by the likes of Kevin Shields, Alec Empire, and μ-ziq was issued (Kicking a Dead Pig: Mogwai Songs Remixed). The band also remixed tracks for David Holmes and Manic Street Preachers. O'Hare was sacked after the release of the album (reportedly after upsetting the rest of the band by talking all through a performance by Arab Strap).
Come On Die Young (1998–1999)
Barry Burns was brought in prior to the recording of Come On Die Young, the band's second album. He had already played a few shows with the band, as a flautist and as an occasional pianist. According to Stuart, Barry was invited into the band because he was a "good laugh". The album reached No. 29 in the UK. The band line up remained unchanged from 1998 until November 2015, when John Cummings left to pursue other projects. Fellow Scottish musician Luke Sutherland has contributed violin (and more recently vocals and guitar) to Mogwai's records and live performances.
Rock Action (2000–2001)
The band's 2001 album Rock Action gave them their highest UK album chart placing, reaching No. 23. The album was less guitar-led than previously, featuring more electronics; a larger than usual number of tracks also featured vocals, guest vocalists included David Pajo of Slint, Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals and Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol. Shortly afterwards the band released "My Father My King", a cacophonous 20-minute song which closed their Rock Action-period shows, and was billed as a companion piece to the album.
Happy Songs For Happy People (2002–2003)
Mogwai's 2003 album Happy Songs for Happy People continued the band's movement into the use of electronica and more spacious arrangements. It was the band's first album to sell in any numbers in the US, reaching No. 13 on the Billboard Independent Albums Chart and even spending one week in the Billboard 200. Reviews were generally favourable, although as Pitchfork Media said in 2008 "...(the album's) reception ranged from middling to favorable. Some praised the band's scope, grandeur, and willingness to explore beyond the bounds of the quiet-loud-louder dynamic it had mastered; others lamented a lack of the same, alternately calling Happy Songs too soft, too small, or too stiff."
Mr Beast (2004–2006)
In March 2006, the album Mr Beast was released in a regular format and in a limited deluxe edition package that came with both the album on CD and a DVD documenting the recording process entitled The Recording of Mr Beast. The album was described by Creation Records head Alan McGee as "probably the best art rock album I've been involved with since Loveless. In fact, it's possibly better than Loveless" – referring to the influential 1991 album by My Bloody Valentine. AllMusic called the album "Possibly the most accessible yet sophisticated album Mogwai (have) released".
The Hawk Is Howling (2007–2008)
The band's sixth studio album was recorded from late 2007 until early 2008, and was released in September 2008. It was the first Mogwai album not to feature vocals, and was also the first to be self-produced by the band; the album was recorded by Andy Miller at Chem19 Studios in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, and mixed by Gareth Jones at Castle of Doom Studios in Glasgow. The album spawned an EP, Batcat, featuring the title track from the album and also a collaboration with Roky Erickson, with Erickson providing vocals on "Devil Rides".
Burning / Special Moves (2009–2010)
In 2010 the band released their first live film (Burning, filmed by Vincent Moon and Nathanaël Le Scouarnec, which premiered at the Glasgow Film Festival in February) and live album (called Special Moves). Burning contains eight tracks from the band's Brooklyn shows during their 2008/2009 American tour, whilst Special Moves adds nine more tracks from the same source. Special Moves was the first release on Mogwai's own Rock Action records, named after Stooges drummer Scott Asheton, who had his name changed to Rock Action.
Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will (2011–2013)
In September 2010, Mogwai left longtime North American distributor Matador Records, and signed with Sub Pop. Braithwaite also stated that the band were working on material for a new album for release in early 2011. On 27 October 2010, Mogwai announced their seventh studio album, Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will. The album was released on 14 February 2011 in the UK and entered the UK Albums Chart at No. 25. A bonus edition featured an additional CD featuring a 23-minute piece called "Music for a Forgotten Future (The Singing Mountain)", which was recorded for an art installation by Douglas Gordon and Olaf Nicolai. Three singles were released from the album; "Rano Pano", "Mexican Grand Prix" and "San Pedro".
In 2012 a remix album, A Wrenched Virile Lore was released which included tracks from Hardcore... remixed by numerous artists including Xander Harris, The Soft Moon, Robert Hampson and Justin Broadrick. The album, whose title is almost an anagram of "Hardcore Will Never Die" was again released by Sub Pop in the US, and Rock Action Records elsewhere.
Rave Tapes (2013–2015)
In July 2013, Mogwai performed their soundtrack to Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait for the first time at dates across the UK. An announcement of new live dates followed, including two nights at the Royal Festival Hall, and an appearance closing the final holiday camp edition of the "All Tomorrow's Parties" festival in Camber Sands, England.
They announced their eighth studio album Rave Tapes on 28 October 2013. The album was released on 20 January 2014 on Rock Action in the UK, Spunk in Australia and Hostess in Japan and South-east Asia, while Sub Pop released the album in the US on 21 January. Rave Tapes was produced by Mogwai and Paul Savage, and the song "Remurdered" was uploaded to the Rock Action and Sub Pop SoundCloud pages at the time of the announcement. The album entered the UK Albums Chart at No. 10 and, as of April 2014, was the best selling UK album released in 2014 in terms of vinyl sales.
An EP titled Music Industry 3. Fitness Industry 1. on Rock Action was released on 1 December 2014 featuring three new tracks from the Rave Tapes sessions, along with three remixes of tracks from that album by Blanck Mass, Pye Corner Audio and Nils Frahm. The EP was recorded in Glasgow with Paul Savage.
In June 2015 Mogwai played a series of high-profile shows in the UK and Ireland, climaxing with two nights at the Camden Roundhouse, to celebrate the band's 20th anniversary. At the same time, in association with ATP, they curated a series of shows at the London venue featuring acts that have "challenged, intrigued and inspired" them, including The Jesus and Mary Chain, Public Enemy, and Godspeed! You Black Emperor. A career retrospective album comprising three CDs or six LPs, Central Belters, was released on 23 October.
On 15 November 2015, the band announced that guitarist John Cummings had left to pursue his own projects.
Every Country's Sun (2016–2019)
In April 2016, Braithwaite told the Guardian that the band were writing new songs and would be travelling to the US later in the year to record a new album with Dave Fridmann, who produced Rock Action some 15 years previously. On 25 November, Fridmann announced that the band had started recording the album with him. On 3 March 2017, the band announced that they had completed recording and were mastering the album at Abbey Road Studios. The band have announced a worldwide tour to coincide with the release of the new album, starting with dates in Europe in October before visiting North America in November, and finally playing in their home city of Glasgow in December.
On 14 May 2017, the band announced the new album would be named Every Country's Sun and would be released on 1 September 2017. They also shared the first song "Coolverine". On 2 June, Mogwai played a show at Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona, only announced on the day, which consisted of Every Country's Sun played in full.
As the Love Continues (2020–present)
On 29 October 2020, Mogwai announced a new album, As the Love Continues, which went on to reach No. 1 in the UK Albums Chart on 26 February 2021. The lead single, "Dry Fantasy", was premiered on BBC Radio 6 and made available for download the same day. On 13 February, the weekend before the album's release on 19 February, the band streamed a show recorded at Glasgow Tramway where they played the album in full. Following a social media campaign asking various celebrities to promote it, the album entered the UK chart at No. 1 in its first week of release, a position that the band called "totally surreal". As the Love Continues was nominated for the Mercury Prize, which honours the best of British music, in 2021. The album won the 2021 Scottish Album of the Year Award.
Soundtracks and other work
In 2006, the band provided the soundtrack to the film Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait, with the soundtrack album released the following year. The band's songs "Auto Rock" and "We're No Here" were used in Michael Mann's 2006 film Miami Vice. The band also collaborated with Clint Mansell and Kronos Quartet on the soundtrack to The Fountain in 2006. Mogwai are also featured in the 2009 post-rock documentary Introspective. The band donated an exclusive track to the PEACE project in April 2010 in support of Amnesty International. In 2012, the band provided the soundtrack for the Canal+ French TV series Les Revenants (broadcast as The Returned in the UK). The album, Les Revenants, was released on 25 February 2013. The track "Kids Will Be Skeletons" was featured as part of the soundtrack of the story based video game Life Is Strange.
In 2015 the band supplied the music for Mark Cousins' documentary Atomic, Living in Dread and Promise. The soundtrack was reworked and released as Atomic on 1 April 2016, through Rock Action Records. The band carried out an extensive live tour of Europe and Japan performing the soundtrack against a backdrop of the screening of the film, beginning in Austria on 1 May 2016. They then announced a North American tour of the album for January 2017. The band also co-wrote the score to Fisher Stevens' 2016 documentary film about climate change Before the Flood. The score was performed and written by Mogwai, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, and Gustavo Santaolalla.
In 2016 Stuart Braithwaite took part in a documentary about Glasgow music, and Chemikal Underground Records, called Lost in France. The film was directed by Niall McCann and brought Braithwaite (along with members of The Delgados, Franz Ferdinand and others) to Mauron, Brittany, to recreate a gig they played just after Mogwai had formed. The film features Mogwai live, as well as footage of Braithwaite playing Mogwai tracks solo and interviews with Braithwaite and his old label-mates such as Alex Kapranos (Franz Ferdinand), Emma Pollock (The Delgados) and Stewart Henderson (The Delgados). It premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival to positive reviews and was called "Funny, vital and sobering" by Scotland's arts magazine The Skinny.
In August 2018 Mogwai released the soundtrack for the movie Kin, and in May 2020 the soundtrack for the 2020 Sky Italia & Amazon Prime series ZeroZeroZero. As an extra Mogwai released in 2014 their own whisky brand, a year later they even tried out a (limited edition) spirits brand of rum.
Musical style
The band's influences include Fugazi, MC5, My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, Pixies, The Cure and post-rock pioneers Slint. Mogwai's style has easily identifiable connections to genres such as shoegaze, math rock, and art rock. Debut album Mogwai Young Team was described as "stunningly dynamic...[shifting] seamlessly from tranquil, bleakly beautiful soundscapes to brain scrambling white noise and sledgehammer riffing". Douglas Wolk, writing for SPIN in 1999 said of the band: "Their compositions have gotten increasingly drawn-out and austere over time, sometimes barely more than a single arpeggiated chord or two evolving for ten minutes or more, whisperingly brutal in a way that recalls Slint more than any other band". Barry Burns once stated in an interview that he and the rest of the band do not like the categorisation of post-rock because he believes it over-analyses everything.
Their strong international fanbase is based, in part, on the band's music being largely lyric-free. Braithwaite has commented on the absence of lyrics in most of Mogwai's music, saying:
Band members
Current
Stuart Braithwaite – guitar, bass, vocals (1995–present)
Dominic Aitchison – bass, guitar (1995–present)
Martin Bulloch – drums (1995–present)
Barry Burns – guitar, keyboards, synthesizer, flute, vocals (1998–present)
Former
Brendan O'Hare – keyboards, guitar (1997)
John Cummings – guitar, programming, drums, keyboards (1995–2015)
Occasional contributor and touring members
Alex Mackay – guitar, keyboards, percussion (touring member: 2016–present)
Luke Sutherland – violin, guitar, vocals, percussion (1998–2016)
James Hamilton – drums (touring replacement for Martin Bulloch: 2011–2013)
Scott Paterson – guitar (touring replacement for John Cummings: 2015, 2021)
Cat Myers – drums (touring replacement for Martin Bulloch: 2017–2018)
Timeline
Discography
Mogwai Young Team (1997)
Come On Die Young (1999)
Rock Action (2001)
Happy Songs for Happy People (2003)
Mr Beast (2006)
The Hawk Is Howling (2008)
Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will (2011)
Rave Tapes (2014)
Every Country's Sun (2017)
As the Love Continues (2021)
See also
List of post-rock bands
List of bands from Glasgow
List of Scottish musicians
References
External links
Mogwai's official website
Mogwai at the Internet Archive's Live Music Archive
Bright light! – unofficial website with complete gigography, articles and interviews
My Life's Playlist: Mogwai's Stuart Braithwaite [PIAS]'s Blog - 21 April 2015
Scottish post-rock groups
Instrumental rock musical groups
Space rock musical groups
Ableton Live users
Musical groups established in 1995
Musical groups from Glasgow
1995 establishments in Scotland
Rock Action Records artists
Chemikal Underground artists
Matador Records artists
PIAS Recordings artists
Temporary Residence Limited artists
| false |
[
"How the West Was Won may refer to:\n How the West Was Won (film), a 1962 American Western film\n How the West Was Won (TV series), a 1970s television series loosely based on the film\n How the West Was Won (Bing Crosby album) (1959)\n How the West Was Won (Led Zeppelin album) (2003)\n How the West Was Won (Peter Perrett album) (2017)\n How the West Was Won, a 2002 album by Luni Coleone\n \"How the West Was Won\", a 1987 song by Laibach from Opus Dei\n \"How the West Was Won\", a 1996 song by the Romo band Plastic Fantastic\n\nSee also\n How the West Was Fun, a 1994 TV movie starring Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen\n How the West Was One (disambiguation)\n \"How the West Was Won and Where It Got Us\", a 1997 song by R.E.M.",
"How the West Was One may refer to:\n\n How the West Was One (Cali Agents album), 2000\n How the West Was One (2nd Chapter of Acts, Phil Keaggy and a band called David album), 1977\n How the West Was One (Carbon Leaf album), 2010\n\nSee also\n How the West Was Won (disambiguation)"
] |
[
"Gwen Stefani",
"Achievements and legacy"
] |
C_3b6f1cce745d44aeab1f515563ba42b8_0
|
Did she win any awards?
| 1 |
Did Gwen Stefani win any awards?
|
Gwen Stefani
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Throughout her career as a solo artist, Stefani has won several music awards, including one Grammy Award, four MTV Video Music Awards, one American Music Award, one Brit Award, and two Billboard Music Awards. With No Doubt, she has won two Grammy Awards. In 2005, Rolling Stone called her "the only true female rock star left on radio or MTV" and featured her on the magazine's cover. Stefani received the Style Icon Award at the first People Magazine Awards in 2014. Additionally in 2016, the singer was honored at the Radio Disney Music Awards with a Hero Award, which is given to artists based on their personal contributions to various charitable works. Stefani has been referred to as a "Pop Princess" by several contemporary music critics. In 2012, VH1 listed the singer at the number thirteen on their list of "100 Greatest Women in Music". Stefani's work has influenced a number of artists and musicians including Hayley Williams of Paramore, Best Coast, Katy Perry, Kesha, Marina and the Diamonds, Stefy, Rita Ora, Sky Ferreira, and Cover Drive. The latter group, a quartet of Barbados musicians, claimed that both Stefani and No Doubt had helped influence their music, to which the lead singer of the group, Amanda Reifer, admitted that she would "pass out" if she were to ever meet Stefani. The lead single from Love. Angel. Music. Baby., "What You Waiting For?", was considered by Pitchfork to be one of the best singles by Stefani, and would later place it at number sixteen on their "Top 50 Singles of 2004" list. Additionally, "Hollaback Girl" from the aforementioned album would go on to be the first song to digitally sell an excess of one million copies in the United States; it was certified platinum in both the United States and Australia, and peak at number forty-one on Billboard's decade-end charts for 2000-09. Since its release in 2005, "Hollaback Girl" has been called Stefani's "signature song" by Rolling Stone. CANNOTANSWER
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Throughout her career as a solo artist, Stefani has won several music awards,
|
Gwen Renée Stefani (; born October 3, 1969) is an American singer and songwriter. She is a co-founder, lead vocalist, and the primary songwriter of the band No Doubt, whose singles include "Just a Girl", "Spiderwebs", and "Don't Speak", from their 1995 breakthrough studio album Tragic Kingdom, as well as "Hey Baby" and "It's My Life" from later albums.
During the band's hiatus, Stefani embarked on a solo pop career in 2004 by releasing her debut studio album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. Inspired by pop music from the 1980s, the album was a critical and commercial success. It spawned six singles, including "What You Waiting For?", "Rich Girl", "Hollaback Girl", and "Cool". "Hollaback Girl" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart while also becoming the first US download to sell one million copies. In 2006, Stefani released her second studio album, The Sweet Escape. Among the singles were "Wind It Up" and "The Sweet Escape", the latter of which was number three on the Billboard Hot 100 year-end chart of 2007. Her third solo album, This Is What the Truth Feels Like (2016), was her first solo album to reach number one on the Billboard 200 chart. Her fourth solo album and first full-length Christmas album, You Make It Feel Like Christmas, was released in 2017 and charted 19 tracks on Billboards Holiday Digital Song Sales component chart in the United States. Stefani has released several singles with Blake Shelton, including "Nobody but You" (2020), which reached number 18 in the US.
Stefani has won three Grammy Awards. As a solo artist, she has received an American Music Award, Brit Award, World Music Award, and two Billboard Music Awards. In 2003, she debuted her clothing line L.A.M.B. and expanded her collection with the 2005 Harajuku Lovers line, inspired by Japanese culture and fashion. Billboard magazine ranked Stefani the 54th most successful artist and 37th most successful Hot 100 artist of the 2000–2009 decade. VH1 ranked her 13th on their "100 Greatest Women in Music" list in 2012. Including her work with No Doubt, Stefani has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide.
Early life
Gwen Renée Stefani was born on October 3, 1969, in Fullerton, California, and raised Catholic in nearby Anaheim, California. She was named after a stewardess in the 1968 novel Airport, and her middle name, Renée, comes from the Four Tops' 1968 version of the Left Banke's 1966 song "Walk Away Renée". Her father Dennis Stefani is Italian-American and worked as a Yamaha marketing executive. Her mother Patti (née Flynn) is Irish-American and worked as an accountant before becoming a housewife. Stefani's parents were fans of folk music and exposed her to music by artists like Bob Dylan and Emmylou Harris. Stefani has two younger siblings, Jill and Todd, and an older brother, Eric. Eric was the keyboardist for No Doubt before leaving the band to pursue a career in animation on The Simpsons.
Career
1986–2004: Career beginnings and No Doubt
Her brother Eric introduced Gwen to 2 Tone music by Madness and the Selecter and, in 1986, he invited her to provide vocals for No Doubt, a ska band he was forming. In 1991 the band was signed to Interscope Records. The band released its self-titled debut album in 1992, but its ska-pop sound was unsuccessful due to the popularity of grunge. Before the mainstream success of both No Doubt and Sublime, Stefani contributed guest vocals to "Saw Red" on Sublime's 1994 album Robbin' the Hood. Stefani rejected the aggressiveness of female grunge artists and cited Blondie singer Debbie Harry's combination of power and sex appeal as a major influence. No Doubt's third album, Tragic Kingdom (1995), which followed the self-released The Beacon Street Collection (1995), took more than three years to make. Five singles were released from Tragic Kingdom, including "Don't Speak", which led the Hot 100 Airplay year-end chart of 1997. Stefani left college for one semester to tour for Tragic Kingdom but did not return when touring lasted two and a half years. The album was nominated for a Grammy and sold more than 16 million copies worldwide by 2004. In late 2000, Rolling Stone magazine named her "the Queen of Confessional Pop".
During the time when No Doubt was receiving mainstream success, Stefani collaborated on the singles "You're the Boss" with the Brian Setzer Orchestra, "South Side" with Moby, and "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" with Eve. No Doubt released the less popular Return of Saturn in 2000, which expanded upon the new wave influences of Tragic Kingdom. Most of the lyrical content focused on Stefani's often rocky relationship with then-Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale and her insecurities, including indecision on settling down and having a child. The band's 2001 album, Rock Steady, explored more reggae and dancehall sounds, while maintaining the band's new wave influences. The album generated career-highest singles chart positions in the United States, and "Hey Baby" and "Underneath It All" received Grammy Awards. A greatest hits collection, The Singles 1992–2003, which includes a cover of Talk Talk's "It's My Life", was released in 2003. In 2002, Eve and Stefani won a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Let Me Blow Ya Mind".
2004–2006: Solo debut and other ventures
Stefani's debut solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. was released on November 12, 2004. The album features several collaborations with producers and other artists, including Tony Kanal, Tom Rothrock, Linda Perry, André 3000, Nellee Hooper, the Neptunes and New Order. Stefani created the album to modernize the music to which she listened when in high school, and L.A.M.B. takes influence from a variety of music styles of the 1980s and early 1990s such as new wave, synthpop, and electro. Stefani's decision to use her solo career as an opportunity to delve further into pop music instead of trying "to convince the world of [her] talent, depth and artistic worth" was considered unusual. The album was described as "fun as hell but... not exactly rife with subversive social commentary". The album debuted on the US Billboard 200 albums chart at number seven, selling 309,000 copies in its first week. L.A.M.B. reached multi-platinum status in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada.
The first single from the album was "What You Waiting For?", which debuted atop the ARIA Singles Chart, charted at number 47 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and reached the top ten on most other charts. The song served to explain why Stefani produced a solo album and discusses her fears in leaving No Doubt for a solo career as well as her desire to have a baby. "Rich Girl" was released as the album's second single. A duet with rapper Eve, and produced by Dr. Dre, it is an adaptation of a 1990s pop song by British musicians Louchie Lou & Michie One, which itself is a very loose cover lyrically but closer melodically of "If I Were a Rich Man", from the musical Fiddler on the Roof. "Rich Girl" reached the US and UK top ten. The album's third single "Hollaback Girl" became Stefani's first US and second Australian number-one single; it reached top ten elsewhere. The song was the first US music download to sell more than one million copies, and its brass-driven composition remained popular throughout 2005. The fourth single "Cool" was released shortly following the popularity of its predecessor, reaching the top 20 in US and UK. The song's lyrics and its accompanying music video, filmed on Lake Como, depict Stefani's former relationship with Kanal. "Luxurious" was released as the album's fifth single, but did not perform as well as its predecessors. "Crash" was released in January 2006 as the album's sixth single in lieu of Love. Angel. Music. Baby.s sequel, which Stefani postponed because of her pregnancy.
In 2004, Stefani showed interest in making film appearances and began auditioning for films such as Mr. & Mrs. Smith. She made her film debut playing Jean Harlow in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator in 2004. Scorsese, whose daughter was a No Doubt fan, showed reciprocal interest in casting Stefani after seeing her picture from a Marilyn Monroe-inspired photo shoot for Teen Vogue in 2003. To prepare for the role, Stefani read two biographies and watched 18 of Harlow's films. Shooting her part took four to five days, and Stefani had few lines. Stefani lent her voice to the title character of the 2004 video game Malice, but the company opted not to use No Doubt band members' voices.
2006–2013: The Sweet Escape and return to No Doubt
Stefani's second studio album, The Sweet Escape, was released on December 1, 2006. Stefani continued working with Kanal, Perry, and the Neptunes, along with Akon and Tim Rice-Oxley from English rock band Keane. The album focuses more heavily on electronic and dance music for clubs than its predecessor. Its release coincided with the DVD release of Stefani's first tour, entitled Harajuku Lovers Live. Sia Michel wrote that it "has a surprisingly moody, lightly autobiographical feel ... but Stefani isn't convincing as a dissatisfied diva" and Rob Sheffield called the album a "hasty return" that repeats Love. Angel. Music. Baby. with less energy.
"Wind It Up", the album's lead single, used yodeling and an interpolation of The Sound of Music, and peaked in the top 10 in the US and the UK. The title track reached the top 10 in over 15 nations, including number two peaks in the US, Australia and the UK. To promote The Sweet Escape, Stefani was a mentor on the sixth season of American Idol and performed the song with Akon. The song earned her a Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. Three more singles were released from the album; "4 in the Morning", "Now That You Got It" which featured Damian Marley and "Early Winter". To promote the album, Stefani embarked on a worldwide tour, The Sweet Escape Tour, which covered North America, Europe, Asia and the Pacific and part of Latin America. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly on June 6, 2011, Stefani stated that she had no plans to continue work as a solo artist.
With Stefani promoting The Sweet Escape, No Doubt began work on a new album without her and planned to complete it after Stefani's Sweet Escape Tour was finished. In March 2008, the band started making posts concerning the progression of the album on their official fan forum. Stefani made a post on March 28, 2008, stating that songwriting had commenced but was slow on her end because she was pregnant with her second child. The Singles 1992–2003 became available on December 9, 2008, for the video game Rock Band 2. Adrian Young played drums on Scott Weiland's album "Happy" in Galoshes. No Doubt headlined the Bamboozle 2009 festival in May 2009, along with Fall Out Boy. The band completed a national tour in mid-2009.
The new album Push and Shove was released on September 25, preceded by the first single, "Settle Down", on July 16. The music video for "Settle Down" was directed by Sophie Muller (who has previously directed numerous music videos for No Doubt). Also around this time No Doubt were guest mentors for the UK version of The X-Factor. "Settle Down" peaked at 34 on the Billboard Hot 100 with the album peaking at number three on the US Billboard 200. On November 3, 2012, the band pulled its music video "Looking Hot" from the Internet after receiving complaints that it was insensitive towards Native Americans. In January 2013, No Doubt make a cameo appearance in a hot air ballon for the third season of Portlandia.
2014–2017: The Voice, This Is What the Truth Feels Like and You Make It Feel Like Christmas
On April 12, 2014, Stefani made a surprise appearance at the Coachella festival, where she joined Pharrell Williams onstage during his set to perform "Hollaback Girl". On April 29, it was officially confirmed that Stefani would join the seventh season of The Voice as a coach, replacing Christina Aguilera. Nine years after the previous time, she attended the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards. Stefani appears as a featured artist on Maroon 5's song "My Heart Is Open", co-written by Sia Furler, from the band's album V, which was performed for the first time with Adam Levine and an orchestra at the 2015 Grammy Awards. Stefani also collaborated with Calvin Harris on the track "Together" from his album Motion.
On September 8, 2014, Stefani told MTV News during New York Fashion Week that she was working on both a No Doubt album and a solo album, and that she was working with Williams. Stefani released her comeback single "Baby Don't Lie" on October 20, 2014, co-written with producers Ryan Tedder, Benny Blanco, and Noel Zancanella. Billboard announced that her third studio album was set to be released in December with Benny Blanco serving as executive producer. In late October, "Spark the Fire", a new track from Stefani's third album, was released. The song was produced by Pharrell Williams. On November 23, the full song premiered online. Both "Baby Don't Lie" and "Spark the Fire" were later scrapped from Stefani's third album. On January 13, 2015, Stefani and Williams also recorded a song titled "Shine", for the Paddington soundtrack. Stefani and Sia Furler worked together on a ballad, called "Start a War" which was expected to be released on Stefani's third studio album as well, but it was not included on the final cut. On July 10, 2015, American rapper Eminem featured Stefani on his single "Kings Never Die", from the Southpaw film soundtrack. The track debuted and peaked at number 80 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and matched first-week digital download sales of 35,000 copies.
On October 17, 2015, Stefani performed a concert as part of her MasterCard Priceless Surprises tour series at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, where she performed a new song about her breakup with ex-husband Gavin Rossdale, titled "Used to Love You". It was released as a download on October 20, 2015. The video was released the same day. The song was released to contemporary hit radio in the United States on October 27, 2015. The track is the first official single off her third solo album This Is What the Truth Feels Like, which she began working on in mid-2015. Stefani said much of the previous material she worked on in 2014 felt forced and inauthentic, the opposite of what she had originally wanted. The album's second single, "Make Me Like You", was released on February 12, 2016. This Is What the Truth Feels Like was released on March 18, 2016, and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with 84,000 album-equivalent units sold in its first week, earning Stefani her first number-one album on the U.S. chart as a solo artist. To further promote the album, Stefani embarked on her This Is What the Truth Feels Like Tour with rapper Eve in the United States. Stefani voiced DJ Suki in the animated film Trolls, which was released on November 4, 2016. She is also included on five songs from the film's official soundtrack. Stefani twice performed as part of the "Final Shows" at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre on October 29–30, before the venue's closure due to The Irvine Company not renewing the venue's land lease.
Stefani was interviewed for the documentary series The Defiant Ones, which was released in July 2017. The same month, she announced plans to release new music by the end of the year. In August, several song titles from the singer's sessions were published on GEMA's official website, suggesting that she may be recording a holiday album. The songwriting credits from the leaked tracks had Stefani collaborating with busbee, Blake Shelton, and Justin Tranter. The album, titled You Make It Feel Like Christmas, was released on October 6, 2017. Its title track, featuring guest vocals from Shelton, was digitally distributed on September 22, 2017, as the lead single. To promote the record, Stefani hosted Gwen Stefani's You Make It Feel Like Christmas, an NBC Christmas television special that aired on December 12, 2017.
2018–present: Upcoming fifth studio album
Stefani's first concert residency, titled Just a Girl: Las Vegas, began on June 27, 2018, at the Zappos Theater in Las Vegas. It concluded on May 16, 2020. It was named after No Doubt's song "Just a Girl". Proceeds from the show ($1 per ticket) were donated to the organization Cure4Kids. A deluxe edition of You Make It Feel Like Christmas was released in October 2018, and was promoted through the single "Secret Santa". On June 22, 2019, Stefani performed at the Machaca Fest in Fundidora Park. In the same month, The New York Times Magazine listed Stefani among hundreds of artists whose material was destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire. In June 2019, Stefani replaced Adam Levine as a coach for The Voices 17th season after Levine left the show after 16 seasons as a coach. Stefani was replaced by first-time coach Nick Jonas for the 18th season. She returned for her fifth season of The Voice'''s 19th season as a replacement for Jonas. her finalist Carter Rubin was named the winner, giving her the first victory as a coach after her fifth attempt, and the ninth coach (and fourth female after Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys, and Kelly Clarkson) to do so. In November 2020, while the 19th season was still airing, it was announced Jonas would once again replace Stefani as a judge for season 20.
On December 13, 2019, Stefani featured on Shelton's single "Nobody but You" from his compilation album Fully Loaded: God's Country. The song peaked at number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and 49 on the Canadian Hot 100. On July 24, 2020, Stefani and Shelton released another single titled "Happy Anywhere" inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic. Stefani was initially scheduled to perform at Lollapalooza's 2020 festival, but it was postponed due to the pandemic. Lollapalooza was held as a four-day livestream in July and August 2020, but Stefani did not participate in it.
Stefani was featured on a Mark Ronson remix of Dua Lipa's "Physical", which is included on Lipa's remix album Club Future Nostalgia (2020). Stefani was initially approached to clear a "Hollaback Girl" sample for the Mr Fingers' remix of Lipa's "Hallucinate", and then asked to be a part of the "Physical" remix. To promote 2020 reissued edition of You Make It Feel Like Christmas, Stefani released a cover of "Sleigh Ride" as a single.
On December 7, 2020, Stefani released "Let Me Reintroduce Myself" as the lead single from upcoming fifth studio album. She followed this with a second single "Slow Clap" on March 11, 2021, which received a remix featuring Saweetie the following month. Stefani also teased other new music through her Instagram account, announcing she recorded two new tracks titled "When Loving Gets Old" and "Cry Happy".
Other ventures
Stefani made most of the clothing that she wore on stage with No Doubt, resulting in increasingly eclectic combinations. Stylist Andrea Lieberman introduced her to haute couture clothing, which led to Stefani launching a fashion line named L.A.M.B. in 2004. The line takes influence from a variety of fashions, including Guatemalan, Japanese, and Jamaican styles. The line achieved popularity among celebrities and is worn by stars such as Teri Hatcher, Nicole Kidman, and Stefani herself. In June 2005, she expanded her collection with the less expensive Harajuku Lovers line, which she referred to as "a glorified merchandise line", with varied products including a camera, mobile phone charms, and undergarments. Alt URL In late 2006, Stefani released a limited edition line of dolls called "Love. Angel. Music. Baby. Fashion dolls". The dolls are inspired by the clothes Stefani and the Harajuku Girls wore while touring for the album.
In late 2007, Stefani launched a perfume, L, as a part of her L.A.M.B. collection of clothing and accessories. The perfume has high notes of sweet pea and rose. In September 2008, Stefani released a fragrance line as a part of her Harajuku Lovers product line. There are five different fragrances based on the four Harajuku Girls and Stefani herself called Love, Lil' Angel, Music, Baby and G (Gwen). , Stefani has become the spokesperson for L'Oréal Paris. In 2016, Urban Decay released a limited edition cosmetic collection in collaboration with Stefani. After needing to wear glasses, she began designing eyewear. In 2016, Gwen began releasing eyewear under her fashion label L.A.M.B. She also began releasing affordable eyewear under the label GX, with Tura Inc.
In 2014, Stefani announced the production of an animated series about her and the Harajuku Girls. Along with Vision Animation and Moody Street Kids, Stefani has helped create the show which features herself, Love, Angel, Music, and Baby as the band, HJ5, who fight evil whilst trying to pursue their music career. Mattel was the global toy licensee and the series itself, Kuu Kuu Harajuku was distributed worldwide by DHX Media.
Personal life
Stefani began dating her bandmate Tony Kanal, soon after he joined the band. She stated that she was heavily invested in that relationship, and commented that "...all I ever did was look at Tony and pray that God would let me have a baby with him." The band almost split up when Kanal ended the relationship.Born to Be. MuchMusic programming. Original airdate: March 2006. Retrieved November 13, 2006. Their break-up inspired Stefani lyrically, and many of Tragic Kingdoms songs, such as "Don't Speak", "Sunday Morning", and "Hey You!", chronicle the ups and downs of their relationship. Many years later, Stefani co-wrote her song "Cool" about their relationship as friends for her 2004 debut solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby.Stefani met Bush lead singer and guitarist Gavin Rossdale in 1995, when No Doubt and headlining band Bush performed at a holiday concert for radio station KROQ. They married on September 14, 2002, with a wedding in St Paul's, Covent Garden, London. A second wedding was held in Los Angeles two weeks later. Stefani has three sons with Rossdale, born in May 2006, August 2008, and February 2014. On August 3, 2015, Stefani filed for divorce from Rossdale, citing "irreconcilable differences". Their divorce was finalized on April 8, 2016, in which Rossdale agreed to the "unequal split" of their assets.
Stefani announced her relationship with Blake Shelton, country music artist and The Voice co-star, in November 2015. The couple announced their engagement on October 27, 2020, and married on July 3, 2021, at Shelton's Oklahoma ranch.
Artistry
AXS called Stefani a "powerhouse" vocalist with an "incredible" range. The New York Times considered Stefani's vocals "mannered" and commended her for "kick[ing] her vibrato addiction". IGN described Stefani as having a "unique vocal prowess". The Chicago Tribune stated that Stefani had a "brash alto".
Stefani's debut album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. took influence from a variety of 1980s genres, which included electropop, new wave, dance-rock, hip hop, R&B, soul, and disco music. Stefani cited early Madonna, Lisa Lisa, Club Nouveau, Prince, New Order and the Cure as major influences for the album. Several of the album's tracks were designed for clubs, and contained electro beats meant for dancing. Referencing fashion and wealth in the album, the singer name-drops several designers who she considered inspirations in her personal career, such as John Galliano and Vivienne Westwood. Her second studio album The Sweet Escape resembles musically its predecessor while exploring more modern pop sounds, dabbling heavily into genres such as dance-pop and rap. It carried on the same themes developed in Love. Angel. Music. Baby., and was criticized for doing so.This Is What the Truth Feels Like, the singer's third album, continued Stefani's endeavors with the pop genre, while incorporating music from a variety of other genres including reggae, disco, and dancehall, as well as the use of guitars. Stefani's lyrics shifted towards events that had recently occurred in her personal life, such as her divorce from Rossdale, and new relationship with Shelton. The singer stated her album was more about forgiveness than revenge.
Public image
Stefani began wearing a bindi in the mid-1990s after attending several family gatherings with Tony Kanal, who is of Indian heritage. During No Doubt's breakthrough, Stefani wore the forehead decoration in several of the band's music videos and briefly popularized the accessory in 1997. Since the 1995 music video for "Just a Girl", Stefani has been known for her midriff and frequently wears tops that expose it. Stefani's makeup design generally includes light face powder, bright red lipstick, and arched eyebrows; she wrote about the subject in a song titled "Magic's in the Makeup" for No Doubt's Return of Saturn, asking "If the magic's in the makeup/Then who am I?". Stefani is a natural brunette, but her hair has not been its natural color since she was in ninth grade. Since late 1994, she has usually had platinum blonde hair. Stefani discussed this in the song "Platinum Blonde Life" on Rock Steady and played original blonde bombshell Jean Harlow in the 2004 biopic The Aviator. She dyed her hair blue in 1998 and pink in 1999, when she appeared on the cover of Return of Saturn with pink hair.
In 2006, Stefani modified her image, inspired by that of Michelle Pfeiffer's character Elvira Hancock in the 1983 film Scarface. The reinvented image included a symbol consisting of two back-to-back 'G's, which appears on a diamond-encrusted key she wears on a necklace and which became a motif in the promotion of The Sweet Escape. Stefani raised concerns in January 2007 about her rapid weight loss following her pregnancy. She later stated that she had been on a diet since the sixth grade to fit in size 4 clothing. A wax figure of Stefani was unveiled at Madame Tussauds Las Vegas at The Venetian on September 22, 2010. The release of Stefani's first solo album brought attention to her entourage of four Harajuku Girls, who appear in outfits influenced by Gothic Lolita fashion, and are named for the area around the Harajuku Station of Tokyo. Stefani's clothing also took influence from Japanese fashion, in a style described as a combination between Christian Dior and Japan. The dancers are featured in her music videos, press coverage, and on the album cover for Love. Angel. Music. Baby., with a song named for and dedicated to them on the album. They were also featured in, and the namesake for, Stefani's Harajuku Lovers Tour. Forbes magazine reported that Stefani earned $27 million between June 2007 to June 2008 for her tour, fashion line and commercials, making her the world's 10th highest paid music personality at the time.
Achievements and legacy
Throughout her career as a solo artist, Stefani has won several music awards, including one Grammy Award, four MTV Video Music Awards, one American Music Award, one Brit Award, and two Billboard Music Awards. With No Doubt, she has won two Grammy Awards. In 2005, Rolling Stone called her "the only true female rock star left on radio or MTV" and featured her on the magazine's cover. Stefani received the Style Icon Award at the first People Magazine Awards in 2014. In 2016, the singer was honored at the Radio Disney Music Awards with a Hero Award, which is given to artists based on their personal contributions to various charitable works.
Stefani has been referred to as a "Pop Princess" by several contemporary music critics. In 2012, VH1 listed the singer at the number thirteen on their list of "100 Greatest Women in Music". Stefani's work has influenced artists and musicians including Hayley Williams of Paramore, Best Coast, Kim Petras, Teddy Sinclair, Katy Perry, Charli XCX, Kesha, Ava Max, Marina Diamandis, Rita Ora, Keke Palmer, Bebe Rexha, Dua Lipa, the Stunners, Kelly Clarkson, Sky Ferreira, Kirstin Maldonado of Pentatonix, Olivia Rodrigo, and Cover Drive. The latter group, a quartet of Barbados musicians, claimed that both Stefani and No Doubt had helped influence their music, to which the lead singer of the group, Amanda Reifer, said that she would "pass out" if she ever met Stefani.
The lead single from Love. Angel. Music. Baby., "What You Waiting For?", was considered by Pitchfork to be one of Stefani's best singles, and would later place it at number sixteen on their "Top 50 Singles of 2004" list. "Hollaback Girl" from Love. Angel. Music. Baby. would go on to be the first song to digitally sell an excess of one million copies in the United States; it was certified platinum in both the United States and Australia, and peaked at number forty-one on Billboards decade-end charts for 2000–09. Since its release in 2005, "Hollaback Girl" has been called Stefani's "signature song" by Rolling Stone.
Philanthropy
Following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Stefani donated $1 million to Save the Children's Japan Earthquake–Tsunami Children in Emergency Fund. Stefani also ran an auction on eBay from April 11 to 25, 2011, allowing participants to bid on vintage clothing items from her personal wardrobe and custom T-shirts designed and signed by her, as well as an admission to a private Harajuku-themed tea party hosted by her on June 7, 2011, at Los Angeles' first-ever Japanese-style maid café and pop art space, Royal/T, with proceeds from the auction going to Save the Children's relief effort.
At the amfAR gala during the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, Stefani auctioned off the lacy black dress she wore at the event for charity, raising over $125,000. A representative for designer Michael Angel, who helped Stefani with the design and worked as a stylist, said that Angel created the gown, not Stefani. In response, Angel released a statement confirming that the dress was designed by Stefani for L.A.M.B. to wear and be auctioned off at the amfAR gala. Stefani hosted a fundraiser with First Lady Michelle Obama in August 2012 at the singer's Beverly Hills home.
The singer-songwriter supports the LGBT community, stating in a 2019 Pride Source interview, "I would like to be blessed with a gay son; [...] I just want my boys to be healthy and happy. And I just ask God to guide me to be a good mother, which is not an easy thing at all."
Discography
Solo discography
Love. Angel. Music. Baby. (2004)
The Sweet Escape (2006)
This Is What the Truth Feels Like (2016)
You Make It Feel Like Christmas (2017)
No Doubt discography
No Doubt (1992)
The Beacon Street Collection (1995)
Tragic Kingdom (1995)
Return of Saturn (2000)
Rock Steady (2001)
Push and Shove'' (2012)
Tours
Headlining
Harajuku Lovers Tour (2005)
The Sweet Escape Tour (2007)
This Is What the Truth Feels Like Tour (2016)
Residency
Gwen Stefani – Just a Girl (2018–2021)
Promotional
MasterCard Priceless Surprises Presents Gwen Stefani (2015–2016)
Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre Final Shows (2016)
Festivals
Machaca Fest (2019)
Filmography
References
External links
1969 births
Living people
20th-century American singers
20th-century American women singers
21st-century American actresses
21st-century American singers
21st-century American women singers
Actresses from Fullerton, California
American contemporary R&B singers
American dance musicians
American expatriates in the United Kingdom
American fashion designers
American women pop singers
American women rock singers
American film actresses
American new wave musicians
American people of Italian descent
American people of Irish descent
American pop rock singers
American rock songwriters
American ska singers
American television actresses
American video game actresses
American voice actresses
American women in electronic music
Brit Award winners
Electronica musicians
Women new wave singers
Grammy Award winners
Interscope Records artists
Musicians from Anaheim, California
Musicians from Fullerton, California
No Doubt members
Participants in American reality television series
Singers from California
Songwriters from California
World Music Awards winners
Las Vegas shows
California State University, Fullerton people
Women hip hop record producers
American female hip hop singers
American female hip hop musicians
American women fashion designers
| true |
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"Nena Danevic is a film editor who was nominated at the 57th Academy Awards for Best Film Editing. She was nominated for Amadeus. She shared her nomination with Michael Chandler.\n\nShe did win at the 39th British Academy Film Awards for Best Editing. Also for Amadeus with Michael Chandler.\n\nShe also won at the American Cinema Editors awards.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\nBest Editing BAFTA Award winners\nFilm editors\nPossibly living people\nYear of birth missing (living people)",
"Sheena Napier is a British costume designer who was nominated at the 65th Academy Awards for her work on the film Enchanted April, for which she was nominated for Best Costumes.\n\nIn addition she did win at the BAFTA Television Awards for the TV film Parade's End, which she was also nominated for an Emmy for.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nBritish costume designers\nLiving people\nBAFTA winners (people)\nWomen costume designers\nYear of birth missing (living people)"
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"Gwen Stefani",
"Achievements and legacy",
"Did she win any awards?",
"Throughout her career as a solo artist, Stefani has won several music awards,"
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When did Gwen Stefani when her first music award?
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Gwen Stefani
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Throughout her career as a solo artist, Stefani has won several music awards, including one Grammy Award, four MTV Video Music Awards, one American Music Award, one Brit Award, and two Billboard Music Awards. With No Doubt, she has won two Grammy Awards. In 2005, Rolling Stone called her "the only true female rock star left on radio or MTV" and featured her on the magazine's cover. Stefani received the Style Icon Award at the first People Magazine Awards in 2014. Additionally in 2016, the singer was honored at the Radio Disney Music Awards with a Hero Award, which is given to artists based on their personal contributions to various charitable works. Stefani has been referred to as a "Pop Princess" by several contemporary music critics. In 2012, VH1 listed the singer at the number thirteen on their list of "100 Greatest Women in Music". Stefani's work has influenced a number of artists and musicians including Hayley Williams of Paramore, Best Coast, Katy Perry, Kesha, Marina and the Diamonds, Stefy, Rita Ora, Sky Ferreira, and Cover Drive. The latter group, a quartet of Barbados musicians, claimed that both Stefani and No Doubt had helped influence their music, to which the lead singer of the group, Amanda Reifer, admitted that she would "pass out" if she were to ever meet Stefani. The lead single from Love. Angel. Music. Baby., "What You Waiting For?", was considered by Pitchfork to be one of the best singles by Stefani, and would later place it at number sixteen on their "Top 50 Singles of 2004" list. Additionally, "Hollaback Girl" from the aforementioned album would go on to be the first song to digitally sell an excess of one million copies in the United States; it was certified platinum in both the United States and Australia, and peak at number forty-one on Billboard's decade-end charts for 2000-09. Since its release in 2005, "Hollaback Girl" has been called Stefani's "signature song" by Rolling Stone. CANNOTANSWER
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CANNOTANSWER
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Gwen Renée Stefani (; born October 3, 1969) is an American singer and songwriter. She is a co-founder, lead vocalist, and the primary songwriter of the band No Doubt, whose singles include "Just a Girl", "Spiderwebs", and "Don't Speak", from their 1995 breakthrough studio album Tragic Kingdom, as well as "Hey Baby" and "It's My Life" from later albums.
During the band's hiatus, Stefani embarked on a solo pop career in 2004 by releasing her debut studio album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. Inspired by pop music from the 1980s, the album was a critical and commercial success. It spawned six singles, including "What You Waiting For?", "Rich Girl", "Hollaback Girl", and "Cool". "Hollaback Girl" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart while also becoming the first US download to sell one million copies. In 2006, Stefani released her second studio album, The Sweet Escape. Among the singles were "Wind It Up" and "The Sweet Escape", the latter of which was number three on the Billboard Hot 100 year-end chart of 2007. Her third solo album, This Is What the Truth Feels Like (2016), was her first solo album to reach number one on the Billboard 200 chart. Her fourth solo album and first full-length Christmas album, You Make It Feel Like Christmas, was released in 2017 and charted 19 tracks on Billboards Holiday Digital Song Sales component chart in the United States. Stefani has released several singles with Blake Shelton, including "Nobody but You" (2020), which reached number 18 in the US.
Stefani has won three Grammy Awards. As a solo artist, she has received an American Music Award, Brit Award, World Music Award, and two Billboard Music Awards. In 2003, she debuted her clothing line L.A.M.B. and expanded her collection with the 2005 Harajuku Lovers line, inspired by Japanese culture and fashion. Billboard magazine ranked Stefani the 54th most successful artist and 37th most successful Hot 100 artist of the 2000–2009 decade. VH1 ranked her 13th on their "100 Greatest Women in Music" list in 2012. Including her work with No Doubt, Stefani has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide.
Early life
Gwen Renée Stefani was born on October 3, 1969, in Fullerton, California, and raised Catholic in nearby Anaheim, California. She was named after a stewardess in the 1968 novel Airport, and her middle name, Renée, comes from the Four Tops' 1968 version of the Left Banke's 1966 song "Walk Away Renée". Her father Dennis Stefani is Italian-American and worked as a Yamaha marketing executive. Her mother Patti (née Flynn) is Irish-American and worked as an accountant before becoming a housewife. Stefani's parents were fans of folk music and exposed her to music by artists like Bob Dylan and Emmylou Harris. Stefani has two younger siblings, Jill and Todd, and an older brother, Eric. Eric was the keyboardist for No Doubt before leaving the band to pursue a career in animation on The Simpsons.
Career
1986–2004: Career beginnings and No Doubt
Her brother Eric introduced Gwen to 2 Tone music by Madness and the Selecter and, in 1986, he invited her to provide vocals for No Doubt, a ska band he was forming. In 1991 the band was signed to Interscope Records. The band released its self-titled debut album in 1992, but its ska-pop sound was unsuccessful due to the popularity of grunge. Before the mainstream success of both No Doubt and Sublime, Stefani contributed guest vocals to "Saw Red" on Sublime's 1994 album Robbin' the Hood. Stefani rejected the aggressiveness of female grunge artists and cited Blondie singer Debbie Harry's combination of power and sex appeal as a major influence. No Doubt's third album, Tragic Kingdom (1995), which followed the self-released The Beacon Street Collection (1995), took more than three years to make. Five singles were released from Tragic Kingdom, including "Don't Speak", which led the Hot 100 Airplay year-end chart of 1997. Stefani left college for one semester to tour for Tragic Kingdom but did not return when touring lasted two and a half years. The album was nominated for a Grammy and sold more than 16 million copies worldwide by 2004. In late 2000, Rolling Stone magazine named her "the Queen of Confessional Pop".
During the time when No Doubt was receiving mainstream success, Stefani collaborated on the singles "You're the Boss" with the Brian Setzer Orchestra, "South Side" with Moby, and "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" with Eve. No Doubt released the less popular Return of Saturn in 2000, which expanded upon the new wave influences of Tragic Kingdom. Most of the lyrical content focused on Stefani's often rocky relationship with then-Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale and her insecurities, including indecision on settling down and having a child. The band's 2001 album, Rock Steady, explored more reggae and dancehall sounds, while maintaining the band's new wave influences. The album generated career-highest singles chart positions in the United States, and "Hey Baby" and "Underneath It All" received Grammy Awards. A greatest hits collection, The Singles 1992–2003, which includes a cover of Talk Talk's "It's My Life", was released in 2003. In 2002, Eve and Stefani won a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Let Me Blow Ya Mind".
2004–2006: Solo debut and other ventures
Stefani's debut solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. was released on November 12, 2004. The album features several collaborations with producers and other artists, including Tony Kanal, Tom Rothrock, Linda Perry, André 3000, Nellee Hooper, the Neptunes and New Order. Stefani created the album to modernize the music to which she listened when in high school, and L.A.M.B. takes influence from a variety of music styles of the 1980s and early 1990s such as new wave, synthpop, and electro. Stefani's decision to use her solo career as an opportunity to delve further into pop music instead of trying "to convince the world of [her] talent, depth and artistic worth" was considered unusual. The album was described as "fun as hell but... not exactly rife with subversive social commentary". The album debuted on the US Billboard 200 albums chart at number seven, selling 309,000 copies in its first week. L.A.M.B. reached multi-platinum status in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada.
The first single from the album was "What You Waiting For?", which debuted atop the ARIA Singles Chart, charted at number 47 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and reached the top ten on most other charts. The song served to explain why Stefani produced a solo album and discusses her fears in leaving No Doubt for a solo career as well as her desire to have a baby. "Rich Girl" was released as the album's second single. A duet with rapper Eve, and produced by Dr. Dre, it is an adaptation of a 1990s pop song by British musicians Louchie Lou & Michie One, which itself is a very loose cover lyrically but closer melodically of "If I Were a Rich Man", from the musical Fiddler on the Roof. "Rich Girl" reached the US and UK top ten. The album's third single "Hollaback Girl" became Stefani's first US and second Australian number-one single; it reached top ten elsewhere. The song was the first US music download to sell more than one million copies, and its brass-driven composition remained popular throughout 2005. The fourth single "Cool" was released shortly following the popularity of its predecessor, reaching the top 20 in US and UK. The song's lyrics and its accompanying music video, filmed on Lake Como, depict Stefani's former relationship with Kanal. "Luxurious" was released as the album's fifth single, but did not perform as well as its predecessors. "Crash" was released in January 2006 as the album's sixth single in lieu of Love. Angel. Music. Baby.s sequel, which Stefani postponed because of her pregnancy.
In 2004, Stefani showed interest in making film appearances and began auditioning for films such as Mr. & Mrs. Smith. She made her film debut playing Jean Harlow in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator in 2004. Scorsese, whose daughter was a No Doubt fan, showed reciprocal interest in casting Stefani after seeing her picture from a Marilyn Monroe-inspired photo shoot for Teen Vogue in 2003. To prepare for the role, Stefani read two biographies and watched 18 of Harlow's films. Shooting her part took four to five days, and Stefani had few lines. Stefani lent her voice to the title character of the 2004 video game Malice, but the company opted not to use No Doubt band members' voices.
2006–2013: The Sweet Escape and return to No Doubt
Stefani's second studio album, The Sweet Escape, was released on December 1, 2006. Stefani continued working with Kanal, Perry, and the Neptunes, along with Akon and Tim Rice-Oxley from English rock band Keane. The album focuses more heavily on electronic and dance music for clubs than its predecessor. Its release coincided with the DVD release of Stefani's first tour, entitled Harajuku Lovers Live. Sia Michel wrote that it "has a surprisingly moody, lightly autobiographical feel ... but Stefani isn't convincing as a dissatisfied diva" and Rob Sheffield called the album a "hasty return" that repeats Love. Angel. Music. Baby. with less energy.
"Wind It Up", the album's lead single, used yodeling and an interpolation of The Sound of Music, and peaked in the top 10 in the US and the UK. The title track reached the top 10 in over 15 nations, including number two peaks in the US, Australia and the UK. To promote The Sweet Escape, Stefani was a mentor on the sixth season of American Idol and performed the song with Akon. The song earned her a Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. Three more singles were released from the album; "4 in the Morning", "Now That You Got It" which featured Damian Marley and "Early Winter". To promote the album, Stefani embarked on a worldwide tour, The Sweet Escape Tour, which covered North America, Europe, Asia and the Pacific and part of Latin America. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly on June 6, 2011, Stefani stated that she had no plans to continue work as a solo artist.
With Stefani promoting The Sweet Escape, No Doubt began work on a new album without her and planned to complete it after Stefani's Sweet Escape Tour was finished. In March 2008, the band started making posts concerning the progression of the album on their official fan forum. Stefani made a post on March 28, 2008, stating that songwriting had commenced but was slow on her end because she was pregnant with her second child. The Singles 1992–2003 became available on December 9, 2008, for the video game Rock Band 2. Adrian Young played drums on Scott Weiland's album "Happy" in Galoshes. No Doubt headlined the Bamboozle 2009 festival in May 2009, along with Fall Out Boy. The band completed a national tour in mid-2009.
The new album Push and Shove was released on September 25, preceded by the first single, "Settle Down", on July 16. The music video for "Settle Down" was directed by Sophie Muller (who has previously directed numerous music videos for No Doubt). Also around this time No Doubt were guest mentors for the UK version of The X-Factor. "Settle Down" peaked at 34 on the Billboard Hot 100 with the album peaking at number three on the US Billboard 200. On November 3, 2012, the band pulled its music video "Looking Hot" from the Internet after receiving complaints that it was insensitive towards Native Americans. In January 2013, No Doubt make a cameo appearance in a hot air ballon for the third season of Portlandia.
2014–2017: The Voice, This Is What the Truth Feels Like and You Make It Feel Like Christmas
On April 12, 2014, Stefani made a surprise appearance at the Coachella festival, where she joined Pharrell Williams onstage during his set to perform "Hollaback Girl". On April 29, it was officially confirmed that Stefani would join the seventh season of The Voice as a coach, replacing Christina Aguilera. Nine years after the previous time, she attended the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards. Stefani appears as a featured artist on Maroon 5's song "My Heart Is Open", co-written by Sia Furler, from the band's album V, which was performed for the first time with Adam Levine and an orchestra at the 2015 Grammy Awards. Stefani also collaborated with Calvin Harris on the track "Together" from his album Motion.
On September 8, 2014, Stefani told MTV News during New York Fashion Week that she was working on both a No Doubt album and a solo album, and that she was working with Williams. Stefani released her comeback single "Baby Don't Lie" on October 20, 2014, co-written with producers Ryan Tedder, Benny Blanco, and Noel Zancanella. Billboard announced that her third studio album was set to be released in December with Benny Blanco serving as executive producer. In late October, "Spark the Fire", a new track from Stefani's third album, was released. The song was produced by Pharrell Williams. On November 23, the full song premiered online. Both "Baby Don't Lie" and "Spark the Fire" were later scrapped from Stefani's third album. On January 13, 2015, Stefani and Williams also recorded a song titled "Shine", for the Paddington soundtrack. Stefani and Sia Furler worked together on a ballad, called "Start a War" which was expected to be released on Stefani's third studio album as well, but it was not included on the final cut. On July 10, 2015, American rapper Eminem featured Stefani on his single "Kings Never Die", from the Southpaw film soundtrack. The track debuted and peaked at number 80 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and matched first-week digital download sales of 35,000 copies.
On October 17, 2015, Stefani performed a concert as part of her MasterCard Priceless Surprises tour series at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, where she performed a new song about her breakup with ex-husband Gavin Rossdale, titled "Used to Love You". It was released as a download on October 20, 2015. The video was released the same day. The song was released to contemporary hit radio in the United States on October 27, 2015. The track is the first official single off her third solo album This Is What the Truth Feels Like, which she began working on in mid-2015. Stefani said much of the previous material she worked on in 2014 felt forced and inauthentic, the opposite of what she had originally wanted. The album's second single, "Make Me Like You", was released on February 12, 2016. This Is What the Truth Feels Like was released on March 18, 2016, and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with 84,000 album-equivalent units sold in its first week, earning Stefani her first number-one album on the U.S. chart as a solo artist. To further promote the album, Stefani embarked on her This Is What the Truth Feels Like Tour with rapper Eve in the United States. Stefani voiced DJ Suki in the animated film Trolls, which was released on November 4, 2016. She is also included on five songs from the film's official soundtrack. Stefani twice performed as part of the "Final Shows" at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre on October 29–30, before the venue's closure due to The Irvine Company not renewing the venue's land lease.
Stefani was interviewed for the documentary series The Defiant Ones, which was released in July 2017. The same month, she announced plans to release new music by the end of the year. In August, several song titles from the singer's sessions were published on GEMA's official website, suggesting that she may be recording a holiday album. The songwriting credits from the leaked tracks had Stefani collaborating with busbee, Blake Shelton, and Justin Tranter. The album, titled You Make It Feel Like Christmas, was released on October 6, 2017. Its title track, featuring guest vocals from Shelton, was digitally distributed on September 22, 2017, as the lead single. To promote the record, Stefani hosted Gwen Stefani's You Make It Feel Like Christmas, an NBC Christmas television special that aired on December 12, 2017.
2018–present: Upcoming fifth studio album
Stefani's first concert residency, titled Just a Girl: Las Vegas, began on June 27, 2018, at the Zappos Theater in Las Vegas. It concluded on May 16, 2020. It was named after No Doubt's song "Just a Girl". Proceeds from the show ($1 per ticket) were donated to the organization Cure4Kids. A deluxe edition of You Make It Feel Like Christmas was released in October 2018, and was promoted through the single "Secret Santa". On June 22, 2019, Stefani performed at the Machaca Fest in Fundidora Park. In the same month, The New York Times Magazine listed Stefani among hundreds of artists whose material was destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire. In June 2019, Stefani replaced Adam Levine as a coach for The Voices 17th season after Levine left the show after 16 seasons as a coach. Stefani was replaced by first-time coach Nick Jonas for the 18th season. She returned for her fifth season of The Voice'''s 19th season as a replacement for Jonas. her finalist Carter Rubin was named the winner, giving her the first victory as a coach after her fifth attempt, and the ninth coach (and fourth female after Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys, and Kelly Clarkson) to do so. In November 2020, while the 19th season was still airing, it was announced Jonas would once again replace Stefani as a judge for season 20.
On December 13, 2019, Stefani featured on Shelton's single "Nobody but You" from his compilation album Fully Loaded: God's Country. The song peaked at number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and 49 on the Canadian Hot 100. On July 24, 2020, Stefani and Shelton released another single titled "Happy Anywhere" inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic. Stefani was initially scheduled to perform at Lollapalooza's 2020 festival, but it was postponed due to the pandemic. Lollapalooza was held as a four-day livestream in July and August 2020, but Stefani did not participate in it.
Stefani was featured on a Mark Ronson remix of Dua Lipa's "Physical", which is included on Lipa's remix album Club Future Nostalgia (2020). Stefani was initially approached to clear a "Hollaback Girl" sample for the Mr Fingers' remix of Lipa's "Hallucinate", and then asked to be a part of the "Physical" remix. To promote 2020 reissued edition of You Make It Feel Like Christmas, Stefani released a cover of "Sleigh Ride" as a single.
On December 7, 2020, Stefani released "Let Me Reintroduce Myself" as the lead single from upcoming fifth studio album. She followed this with a second single "Slow Clap" on March 11, 2021, which received a remix featuring Saweetie the following month. Stefani also teased other new music through her Instagram account, announcing she recorded two new tracks titled "When Loving Gets Old" and "Cry Happy".
Other ventures
Stefani made most of the clothing that she wore on stage with No Doubt, resulting in increasingly eclectic combinations. Stylist Andrea Lieberman introduced her to haute couture clothing, which led to Stefani launching a fashion line named L.A.M.B. in 2004. The line takes influence from a variety of fashions, including Guatemalan, Japanese, and Jamaican styles. The line achieved popularity among celebrities and is worn by stars such as Teri Hatcher, Nicole Kidman, and Stefani herself. In June 2005, she expanded her collection with the less expensive Harajuku Lovers line, which she referred to as "a glorified merchandise line", with varied products including a camera, mobile phone charms, and undergarments. Alt URL In late 2006, Stefani released a limited edition line of dolls called "Love. Angel. Music. Baby. Fashion dolls". The dolls are inspired by the clothes Stefani and the Harajuku Girls wore while touring for the album.
In late 2007, Stefani launched a perfume, L, as a part of her L.A.M.B. collection of clothing and accessories. The perfume has high notes of sweet pea and rose. In September 2008, Stefani released a fragrance line as a part of her Harajuku Lovers product line. There are five different fragrances based on the four Harajuku Girls and Stefani herself called Love, Lil' Angel, Music, Baby and G (Gwen). , Stefani has become the spokesperson for L'Oréal Paris. In 2016, Urban Decay released a limited edition cosmetic collection in collaboration with Stefani. After needing to wear glasses, she began designing eyewear. In 2016, Gwen began releasing eyewear under her fashion label L.A.M.B. She also began releasing affordable eyewear under the label GX, with Tura Inc.
In 2014, Stefani announced the production of an animated series about her and the Harajuku Girls. Along with Vision Animation and Moody Street Kids, Stefani has helped create the show which features herself, Love, Angel, Music, and Baby as the band, HJ5, who fight evil whilst trying to pursue their music career. Mattel was the global toy licensee and the series itself, Kuu Kuu Harajuku was distributed worldwide by DHX Media.
Personal life
Stefani began dating her bandmate Tony Kanal, soon after he joined the band. She stated that she was heavily invested in that relationship, and commented that "...all I ever did was look at Tony and pray that God would let me have a baby with him." The band almost split up when Kanal ended the relationship.Born to Be. MuchMusic programming. Original airdate: March 2006. Retrieved November 13, 2006. Their break-up inspired Stefani lyrically, and many of Tragic Kingdoms songs, such as "Don't Speak", "Sunday Morning", and "Hey You!", chronicle the ups and downs of their relationship. Many years later, Stefani co-wrote her song "Cool" about their relationship as friends for her 2004 debut solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby.Stefani met Bush lead singer and guitarist Gavin Rossdale in 1995, when No Doubt and headlining band Bush performed at a holiday concert for radio station KROQ. They married on September 14, 2002, with a wedding in St Paul's, Covent Garden, London. A second wedding was held in Los Angeles two weeks later. Stefani has three sons with Rossdale, born in May 2006, August 2008, and February 2014. On August 3, 2015, Stefani filed for divorce from Rossdale, citing "irreconcilable differences". Their divorce was finalized on April 8, 2016, in which Rossdale agreed to the "unequal split" of their assets.
Stefani announced her relationship with Blake Shelton, country music artist and The Voice co-star, in November 2015. The couple announced their engagement on October 27, 2020, and married on July 3, 2021, at Shelton's Oklahoma ranch.
Artistry
AXS called Stefani a "powerhouse" vocalist with an "incredible" range. The New York Times considered Stefani's vocals "mannered" and commended her for "kick[ing] her vibrato addiction". IGN described Stefani as having a "unique vocal prowess". The Chicago Tribune stated that Stefani had a "brash alto".
Stefani's debut album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. took influence from a variety of 1980s genres, which included electropop, new wave, dance-rock, hip hop, R&B, soul, and disco music. Stefani cited early Madonna, Lisa Lisa, Club Nouveau, Prince, New Order and the Cure as major influences for the album. Several of the album's tracks were designed for clubs, and contained electro beats meant for dancing. Referencing fashion and wealth in the album, the singer name-drops several designers who she considered inspirations in her personal career, such as John Galliano and Vivienne Westwood. Her second studio album The Sweet Escape resembles musically its predecessor while exploring more modern pop sounds, dabbling heavily into genres such as dance-pop and rap. It carried on the same themes developed in Love. Angel. Music. Baby., and was criticized for doing so.This Is What the Truth Feels Like, the singer's third album, continued Stefani's endeavors with the pop genre, while incorporating music from a variety of other genres including reggae, disco, and dancehall, as well as the use of guitars. Stefani's lyrics shifted towards events that had recently occurred in her personal life, such as her divorce from Rossdale, and new relationship with Shelton. The singer stated her album was more about forgiveness than revenge.
Public image
Stefani began wearing a bindi in the mid-1990s after attending several family gatherings with Tony Kanal, who is of Indian heritage. During No Doubt's breakthrough, Stefani wore the forehead decoration in several of the band's music videos and briefly popularized the accessory in 1997. Since the 1995 music video for "Just a Girl", Stefani has been known for her midriff and frequently wears tops that expose it. Stefani's makeup design generally includes light face powder, bright red lipstick, and arched eyebrows; she wrote about the subject in a song titled "Magic's in the Makeup" for No Doubt's Return of Saturn, asking "If the magic's in the makeup/Then who am I?". Stefani is a natural brunette, but her hair has not been its natural color since she was in ninth grade. Since late 1994, she has usually had platinum blonde hair. Stefani discussed this in the song "Platinum Blonde Life" on Rock Steady and played original blonde bombshell Jean Harlow in the 2004 biopic The Aviator. She dyed her hair blue in 1998 and pink in 1999, when she appeared on the cover of Return of Saturn with pink hair.
In 2006, Stefani modified her image, inspired by that of Michelle Pfeiffer's character Elvira Hancock in the 1983 film Scarface. The reinvented image included a symbol consisting of two back-to-back 'G's, which appears on a diamond-encrusted key she wears on a necklace and which became a motif in the promotion of The Sweet Escape. Stefani raised concerns in January 2007 about her rapid weight loss following her pregnancy. She later stated that she had been on a diet since the sixth grade to fit in size 4 clothing. A wax figure of Stefani was unveiled at Madame Tussauds Las Vegas at The Venetian on September 22, 2010. The release of Stefani's first solo album brought attention to her entourage of four Harajuku Girls, who appear in outfits influenced by Gothic Lolita fashion, and are named for the area around the Harajuku Station of Tokyo. Stefani's clothing also took influence from Japanese fashion, in a style described as a combination between Christian Dior and Japan. The dancers are featured in her music videos, press coverage, and on the album cover for Love. Angel. Music. Baby., with a song named for and dedicated to them on the album. They were also featured in, and the namesake for, Stefani's Harajuku Lovers Tour. Forbes magazine reported that Stefani earned $27 million between June 2007 to June 2008 for her tour, fashion line and commercials, making her the world's 10th highest paid music personality at the time.
Achievements and legacy
Throughout her career as a solo artist, Stefani has won several music awards, including one Grammy Award, four MTV Video Music Awards, one American Music Award, one Brit Award, and two Billboard Music Awards. With No Doubt, she has won two Grammy Awards. In 2005, Rolling Stone called her "the only true female rock star left on radio or MTV" and featured her on the magazine's cover. Stefani received the Style Icon Award at the first People Magazine Awards in 2014. In 2016, the singer was honored at the Radio Disney Music Awards with a Hero Award, which is given to artists based on their personal contributions to various charitable works.
Stefani has been referred to as a "Pop Princess" by several contemporary music critics. In 2012, VH1 listed the singer at the number thirteen on their list of "100 Greatest Women in Music". Stefani's work has influenced artists and musicians including Hayley Williams of Paramore, Best Coast, Kim Petras, Teddy Sinclair, Katy Perry, Charli XCX, Kesha, Ava Max, Marina Diamandis, Rita Ora, Keke Palmer, Bebe Rexha, Dua Lipa, the Stunners, Kelly Clarkson, Sky Ferreira, Kirstin Maldonado of Pentatonix, Olivia Rodrigo, and Cover Drive. The latter group, a quartet of Barbados musicians, claimed that both Stefani and No Doubt had helped influence their music, to which the lead singer of the group, Amanda Reifer, said that she would "pass out" if she ever met Stefani.
The lead single from Love. Angel. Music. Baby., "What You Waiting For?", was considered by Pitchfork to be one of Stefani's best singles, and would later place it at number sixteen on their "Top 50 Singles of 2004" list. "Hollaback Girl" from Love. Angel. Music. Baby. would go on to be the first song to digitally sell an excess of one million copies in the United States; it was certified platinum in both the United States and Australia, and peaked at number forty-one on Billboards decade-end charts for 2000–09. Since its release in 2005, "Hollaback Girl" has been called Stefani's "signature song" by Rolling Stone.
Philanthropy
Following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Stefani donated $1 million to Save the Children's Japan Earthquake–Tsunami Children in Emergency Fund. Stefani also ran an auction on eBay from April 11 to 25, 2011, allowing participants to bid on vintage clothing items from her personal wardrobe and custom T-shirts designed and signed by her, as well as an admission to a private Harajuku-themed tea party hosted by her on June 7, 2011, at Los Angeles' first-ever Japanese-style maid café and pop art space, Royal/T, with proceeds from the auction going to Save the Children's relief effort.
At the amfAR gala during the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, Stefani auctioned off the lacy black dress she wore at the event for charity, raising over $125,000. A representative for designer Michael Angel, who helped Stefani with the design and worked as a stylist, said that Angel created the gown, not Stefani. In response, Angel released a statement confirming that the dress was designed by Stefani for L.A.M.B. to wear and be auctioned off at the amfAR gala. Stefani hosted a fundraiser with First Lady Michelle Obama in August 2012 at the singer's Beverly Hills home.
The singer-songwriter supports the LGBT community, stating in a 2019 Pride Source interview, "I would like to be blessed with a gay son; [...] I just want my boys to be healthy and happy. And I just ask God to guide me to be a good mother, which is not an easy thing at all."
Discography
Solo discography
Love. Angel. Music. Baby. (2004)
The Sweet Escape (2006)
This Is What the Truth Feels Like (2016)
You Make It Feel Like Christmas (2017)
No Doubt discography
No Doubt (1992)
The Beacon Street Collection (1995)
Tragic Kingdom (1995)
Return of Saturn (2000)
Rock Steady (2001)
Push and Shove'' (2012)
Tours
Headlining
Harajuku Lovers Tour (2005)
The Sweet Escape Tour (2007)
This Is What the Truth Feels Like Tour (2016)
Residency
Gwen Stefani – Just a Girl (2018–2021)
Promotional
MasterCard Priceless Surprises Presents Gwen Stefani (2015–2016)
Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre Final Shows (2016)
Festivals
Machaca Fest (2019)
Filmography
References
External links
1969 births
Living people
20th-century American singers
20th-century American women singers
21st-century American actresses
21st-century American singers
21st-century American women singers
Actresses from Fullerton, California
American contemporary R&B singers
American dance musicians
American expatriates in the United Kingdom
American fashion designers
American women pop singers
American women rock singers
American film actresses
American new wave musicians
American people of Italian descent
American people of Irish descent
American pop rock singers
American rock songwriters
American ska singers
American television actresses
American video game actresses
American voice actresses
American women in electronic music
Brit Award winners
Electronica musicians
Women new wave singers
Grammy Award winners
Interscope Records artists
Musicians from Anaheim, California
Musicians from Fullerton, California
No Doubt members
Participants in American reality television series
Singers from California
Songwriters from California
World Music Awards winners
Las Vegas shows
California State University, Fullerton people
Women hip hop record producers
American female hip hop singers
American female hip hop musicians
American women fashion designers
| false |
[
"Japani Shyam (born 1988) is one of 14 Indian Gond artist who took forward the Gond tribal art form.\n\nEarly life\nShyam was born in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. She is the daughter of Nankusia Shyam and pioneering contemporary Indian Gond artist Jangarh Singh Shyam. Her mother Nansukia is one of the prominent Gond artists. When her father first time had been to Japan she had born. So they named her Japani. She was 13 years old when her father committed suicide. After this incident, she, sibling Mayank and their mother had taken forward Jangarh's new style in traditional Gond art- named Jangarh Kalam.\n\nCarrier\nShyam began painting with her father Jangarh Singh Shyam when she was 7 years old. She used to assist her father in his exhibition. Her father submitted her work for competition when she was 11 years old. Subsequently, she won the Kamala Devi Award. She had her exhibition in the cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore.\n\nStyle & themes\nShyam's painting usually based on nature, animal and birds. She is keen to paint simple form with a comparatively light colour, unlike other prominent Gond artists. Shyam draws animals from her imagination that might not resemble the real ones. She had developed her own white on the black style of painting after some experimentation with new ideas. Trees play a major role in her painting.\n\nExhibitions\nShyam had her International exhibition in New York and Tokyo, with other international exhibition in the countries like Korea and France.\n\nSolo\nShyam did her first solo exhibition at Gallerie Ganesha in New Delhi in 2019\n\nGroup\nShe did her group exhibition with Bhajju Shyam, Mayank Shyam and Ram Singh Urvetti at Bhopal 2011.\nHer next group exhibition with Korean calligrapher Song Dong OCK in Chennai in 2018.\n\nAwards\nKamla Devi Award at the Crafts Museum in Delhi 1999\nFICCI Young Achiever's Award 2018\n\nSee also\nJangarh Singh Shyam\n\nReferences \n\n1988 births\nLiving people\n21st-century Indian women artists\nIndian women painters\nPeople from Madhya Pradesh",
"Mya Diamond (born 11 April 1981) is a Hungarian pornographic actress and erotic model. In 2006 she won the Ninfa Award for best actress.\n\nBiography\nDiamond, born in Marcali, Hungary, has two younger siblings, a sister and a brother, with her sister being 17 years younger. She grew up in Marcali, which is a little city near Balaton. She spent a lot of time with her grandparents. She says, \"They will stay always in my heart.\" The most important thing in Mya Diamond's life has always been and still is her family.\n\nIn school, she was mostly interested in languages. She loved English and German, so she did the intermediate exam when she was 14 years old. Mya eventually won first place in a contest for German language in Hungary. When she finished secondary school, she began studying in University and was working in a hotel at the same time. As a part-time job, she did some fashion modelling. Several months later, she was offered to work as a model in the pornographic business. She is famous for her foot fetish scenes.\n\nAwards and nominations\n2005 FICEB Ninfa Prize nominee – Best Actress (Sex Angels)\n2006 FICEB Ninfa Prize winner – Best Actress (Sex Angels 2)\n2007 AVN Award nominee – Female Foreign Performer of the Year\n2007 AVN Award nominee – Best Group Sex Scene, Film (Emperor)\n2007 AVN Award nominee – Best Sex Scene in a Foreign-Shot Production (Sex Angels 2)\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n \n \n \n \n\n1981 births\nHungarian female adult models\nHungarian pornographic film actresses\nLiving people\nPeople from Marcali"
] |
[
"Gwen Stefani",
"Achievements and legacy",
"Did she win any awards?",
"Throughout her career as a solo artist, Stefani has won several music awards,",
"When did she when her first award?",
"I don't know."
] |
C_3b6f1cce745d44aeab1f515563ba42b8_0
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What are some of the awards she won?
| 3 |
What are some of the music awards Gwen Stefani won?
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Gwen Stefani
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Throughout her career as a solo artist, Stefani has won several music awards, including one Grammy Award, four MTV Video Music Awards, one American Music Award, one Brit Award, and two Billboard Music Awards. With No Doubt, she has won two Grammy Awards. In 2005, Rolling Stone called her "the only true female rock star left on radio or MTV" and featured her on the magazine's cover. Stefani received the Style Icon Award at the first People Magazine Awards in 2014. Additionally in 2016, the singer was honored at the Radio Disney Music Awards with a Hero Award, which is given to artists based on their personal contributions to various charitable works. Stefani has been referred to as a "Pop Princess" by several contemporary music critics. In 2012, VH1 listed the singer at the number thirteen on their list of "100 Greatest Women in Music". Stefani's work has influenced a number of artists and musicians including Hayley Williams of Paramore, Best Coast, Katy Perry, Kesha, Marina and the Diamonds, Stefy, Rita Ora, Sky Ferreira, and Cover Drive. The latter group, a quartet of Barbados musicians, claimed that both Stefani and No Doubt had helped influence their music, to which the lead singer of the group, Amanda Reifer, admitted that she would "pass out" if she were to ever meet Stefani. The lead single from Love. Angel. Music. Baby., "What You Waiting For?", was considered by Pitchfork to be one of the best singles by Stefani, and would later place it at number sixteen on their "Top 50 Singles of 2004" list. Additionally, "Hollaback Girl" from the aforementioned album would go on to be the first song to digitally sell an excess of one million copies in the United States; it was certified platinum in both the United States and Australia, and peak at number forty-one on Billboard's decade-end charts for 2000-09. Since its release in 2005, "Hollaback Girl" has been called Stefani's "signature song" by Rolling Stone. CANNOTANSWER
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one Grammy Award,
|
Gwen Renée Stefani (; born October 3, 1969) is an American singer and songwriter. She is a co-founder, lead vocalist, and the primary songwriter of the band No Doubt, whose singles include "Just a Girl", "Spiderwebs", and "Don't Speak", from their 1995 breakthrough studio album Tragic Kingdom, as well as "Hey Baby" and "It's My Life" from later albums.
During the band's hiatus, Stefani embarked on a solo pop career in 2004 by releasing her debut studio album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. Inspired by pop music from the 1980s, the album was a critical and commercial success. It spawned six singles, including "What You Waiting For?", "Rich Girl", "Hollaback Girl", and "Cool". "Hollaback Girl" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart while also becoming the first US download to sell one million copies. In 2006, Stefani released her second studio album, The Sweet Escape. Among the singles were "Wind It Up" and "The Sweet Escape", the latter of which was number three on the Billboard Hot 100 year-end chart of 2007. Her third solo album, This Is What the Truth Feels Like (2016), was her first solo album to reach number one on the Billboard 200 chart. Her fourth solo album and first full-length Christmas album, You Make It Feel Like Christmas, was released in 2017 and charted 19 tracks on Billboards Holiday Digital Song Sales component chart in the United States. Stefani has released several singles with Blake Shelton, including "Nobody but You" (2020), which reached number 18 in the US.
Stefani has won three Grammy Awards. As a solo artist, she has received an American Music Award, Brit Award, World Music Award, and two Billboard Music Awards. In 2003, she debuted her clothing line L.A.M.B. and expanded her collection with the 2005 Harajuku Lovers line, inspired by Japanese culture and fashion. Billboard magazine ranked Stefani the 54th most successful artist and 37th most successful Hot 100 artist of the 2000–2009 decade. VH1 ranked her 13th on their "100 Greatest Women in Music" list in 2012. Including her work with No Doubt, Stefani has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide.
Early life
Gwen Renée Stefani was born on October 3, 1969, in Fullerton, California, and raised Catholic in nearby Anaheim, California. She was named after a stewardess in the 1968 novel Airport, and her middle name, Renée, comes from the Four Tops' 1968 version of the Left Banke's 1966 song "Walk Away Renée". Her father Dennis Stefani is Italian-American and worked as a Yamaha marketing executive. Her mother Patti (née Flynn) is Irish-American and worked as an accountant before becoming a housewife. Stefani's parents were fans of folk music and exposed her to music by artists like Bob Dylan and Emmylou Harris. Stefani has two younger siblings, Jill and Todd, and an older brother, Eric. Eric was the keyboardist for No Doubt before leaving the band to pursue a career in animation on The Simpsons.
Career
1986–2004: Career beginnings and No Doubt
Her brother Eric introduced Gwen to 2 Tone music by Madness and the Selecter and, in 1986, he invited her to provide vocals for No Doubt, a ska band he was forming. In 1991 the band was signed to Interscope Records. The band released its self-titled debut album in 1992, but its ska-pop sound was unsuccessful due to the popularity of grunge. Before the mainstream success of both No Doubt and Sublime, Stefani contributed guest vocals to "Saw Red" on Sublime's 1994 album Robbin' the Hood. Stefani rejected the aggressiveness of female grunge artists and cited Blondie singer Debbie Harry's combination of power and sex appeal as a major influence. No Doubt's third album, Tragic Kingdom (1995), which followed the self-released The Beacon Street Collection (1995), took more than three years to make. Five singles were released from Tragic Kingdom, including "Don't Speak", which led the Hot 100 Airplay year-end chart of 1997. Stefani left college for one semester to tour for Tragic Kingdom but did not return when touring lasted two and a half years. The album was nominated for a Grammy and sold more than 16 million copies worldwide by 2004. In late 2000, Rolling Stone magazine named her "the Queen of Confessional Pop".
During the time when No Doubt was receiving mainstream success, Stefani collaborated on the singles "You're the Boss" with the Brian Setzer Orchestra, "South Side" with Moby, and "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" with Eve. No Doubt released the less popular Return of Saturn in 2000, which expanded upon the new wave influences of Tragic Kingdom. Most of the lyrical content focused on Stefani's often rocky relationship with then-Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale and her insecurities, including indecision on settling down and having a child. The band's 2001 album, Rock Steady, explored more reggae and dancehall sounds, while maintaining the band's new wave influences. The album generated career-highest singles chart positions in the United States, and "Hey Baby" and "Underneath It All" received Grammy Awards. A greatest hits collection, The Singles 1992–2003, which includes a cover of Talk Talk's "It's My Life", was released in 2003. In 2002, Eve and Stefani won a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Let Me Blow Ya Mind".
2004–2006: Solo debut and other ventures
Stefani's debut solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. was released on November 12, 2004. The album features several collaborations with producers and other artists, including Tony Kanal, Tom Rothrock, Linda Perry, André 3000, Nellee Hooper, the Neptunes and New Order. Stefani created the album to modernize the music to which she listened when in high school, and L.A.M.B. takes influence from a variety of music styles of the 1980s and early 1990s such as new wave, synthpop, and electro. Stefani's decision to use her solo career as an opportunity to delve further into pop music instead of trying "to convince the world of [her] talent, depth and artistic worth" was considered unusual. The album was described as "fun as hell but... not exactly rife with subversive social commentary". The album debuted on the US Billboard 200 albums chart at number seven, selling 309,000 copies in its first week. L.A.M.B. reached multi-platinum status in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada.
The first single from the album was "What You Waiting For?", which debuted atop the ARIA Singles Chart, charted at number 47 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and reached the top ten on most other charts. The song served to explain why Stefani produced a solo album and discusses her fears in leaving No Doubt for a solo career as well as her desire to have a baby. "Rich Girl" was released as the album's second single. A duet with rapper Eve, and produced by Dr. Dre, it is an adaptation of a 1990s pop song by British musicians Louchie Lou & Michie One, which itself is a very loose cover lyrically but closer melodically of "If I Were a Rich Man", from the musical Fiddler on the Roof. "Rich Girl" reached the US and UK top ten. The album's third single "Hollaback Girl" became Stefani's first US and second Australian number-one single; it reached top ten elsewhere. The song was the first US music download to sell more than one million copies, and its brass-driven composition remained popular throughout 2005. The fourth single "Cool" was released shortly following the popularity of its predecessor, reaching the top 20 in US and UK. The song's lyrics and its accompanying music video, filmed on Lake Como, depict Stefani's former relationship with Kanal. "Luxurious" was released as the album's fifth single, but did not perform as well as its predecessors. "Crash" was released in January 2006 as the album's sixth single in lieu of Love. Angel. Music. Baby.s sequel, which Stefani postponed because of her pregnancy.
In 2004, Stefani showed interest in making film appearances and began auditioning for films such as Mr. & Mrs. Smith. She made her film debut playing Jean Harlow in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator in 2004. Scorsese, whose daughter was a No Doubt fan, showed reciprocal interest in casting Stefani after seeing her picture from a Marilyn Monroe-inspired photo shoot for Teen Vogue in 2003. To prepare for the role, Stefani read two biographies and watched 18 of Harlow's films. Shooting her part took four to five days, and Stefani had few lines. Stefani lent her voice to the title character of the 2004 video game Malice, but the company opted not to use No Doubt band members' voices.
2006–2013: The Sweet Escape and return to No Doubt
Stefani's second studio album, The Sweet Escape, was released on December 1, 2006. Stefani continued working with Kanal, Perry, and the Neptunes, along with Akon and Tim Rice-Oxley from English rock band Keane. The album focuses more heavily on electronic and dance music for clubs than its predecessor. Its release coincided with the DVD release of Stefani's first tour, entitled Harajuku Lovers Live. Sia Michel wrote that it "has a surprisingly moody, lightly autobiographical feel ... but Stefani isn't convincing as a dissatisfied diva" and Rob Sheffield called the album a "hasty return" that repeats Love. Angel. Music. Baby. with less energy.
"Wind It Up", the album's lead single, used yodeling and an interpolation of The Sound of Music, and peaked in the top 10 in the US and the UK. The title track reached the top 10 in over 15 nations, including number two peaks in the US, Australia and the UK. To promote The Sweet Escape, Stefani was a mentor on the sixth season of American Idol and performed the song with Akon. The song earned her a Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. Three more singles were released from the album; "4 in the Morning", "Now That You Got It" which featured Damian Marley and "Early Winter". To promote the album, Stefani embarked on a worldwide tour, The Sweet Escape Tour, which covered North America, Europe, Asia and the Pacific and part of Latin America. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly on June 6, 2011, Stefani stated that she had no plans to continue work as a solo artist.
With Stefani promoting The Sweet Escape, No Doubt began work on a new album without her and planned to complete it after Stefani's Sweet Escape Tour was finished. In March 2008, the band started making posts concerning the progression of the album on their official fan forum. Stefani made a post on March 28, 2008, stating that songwriting had commenced but was slow on her end because she was pregnant with her second child. The Singles 1992–2003 became available on December 9, 2008, for the video game Rock Band 2. Adrian Young played drums on Scott Weiland's album "Happy" in Galoshes. No Doubt headlined the Bamboozle 2009 festival in May 2009, along with Fall Out Boy. The band completed a national tour in mid-2009.
The new album Push and Shove was released on September 25, preceded by the first single, "Settle Down", on July 16. The music video for "Settle Down" was directed by Sophie Muller (who has previously directed numerous music videos for No Doubt). Also around this time No Doubt were guest mentors for the UK version of The X-Factor. "Settle Down" peaked at 34 on the Billboard Hot 100 with the album peaking at number three on the US Billboard 200. On November 3, 2012, the band pulled its music video "Looking Hot" from the Internet after receiving complaints that it was insensitive towards Native Americans. In January 2013, No Doubt make a cameo appearance in a hot air ballon for the third season of Portlandia.
2014–2017: The Voice, This Is What the Truth Feels Like and You Make It Feel Like Christmas
On April 12, 2014, Stefani made a surprise appearance at the Coachella festival, where she joined Pharrell Williams onstage during his set to perform "Hollaback Girl". On April 29, it was officially confirmed that Stefani would join the seventh season of The Voice as a coach, replacing Christina Aguilera. Nine years after the previous time, she attended the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards. Stefani appears as a featured artist on Maroon 5's song "My Heart Is Open", co-written by Sia Furler, from the band's album V, which was performed for the first time with Adam Levine and an orchestra at the 2015 Grammy Awards. Stefani also collaborated with Calvin Harris on the track "Together" from his album Motion.
On September 8, 2014, Stefani told MTV News during New York Fashion Week that she was working on both a No Doubt album and a solo album, and that she was working with Williams. Stefani released her comeback single "Baby Don't Lie" on October 20, 2014, co-written with producers Ryan Tedder, Benny Blanco, and Noel Zancanella. Billboard announced that her third studio album was set to be released in December with Benny Blanco serving as executive producer. In late October, "Spark the Fire", a new track from Stefani's third album, was released. The song was produced by Pharrell Williams. On November 23, the full song premiered online. Both "Baby Don't Lie" and "Spark the Fire" were later scrapped from Stefani's third album. On January 13, 2015, Stefani and Williams also recorded a song titled "Shine", for the Paddington soundtrack. Stefani and Sia Furler worked together on a ballad, called "Start a War" which was expected to be released on Stefani's third studio album as well, but it was not included on the final cut. On July 10, 2015, American rapper Eminem featured Stefani on his single "Kings Never Die", from the Southpaw film soundtrack. The track debuted and peaked at number 80 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and matched first-week digital download sales of 35,000 copies.
On October 17, 2015, Stefani performed a concert as part of her MasterCard Priceless Surprises tour series at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, where she performed a new song about her breakup with ex-husband Gavin Rossdale, titled "Used to Love You". It was released as a download on October 20, 2015. The video was released the same day. The song was released to contemporary hit radio in the United States on October 27, 2015. The track is the first official single off her third solo album This Is What the Truth Feels Like, which she began working on in mid-2015. Stefani said much of the previous material she worked on in 2014 felt forced and inauthentic, the opposite of what she had originally wanted. The album's second single, "Make Me Like You", was released on February 12, 2016. This Is What the Truth Feels Like was released on March 18, 2016, and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with 84,000 album-equivalent units sold in its first week, earning Stefani her first number-one album on the U.S. chart as a solo artist. To further promote the album, Stefani embarked on her This Is What the Truth Feels Like Tour with rapper Eve in the United States. Stefani voiced DJ Suki in the animated film Trolls, which was released on November 4, 2016. She is also included on five songs from the film's official soundtrack. Stefani twice performed as part of the "Final Shows" at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre on October 29–30, before the venue's closure due to The Irvine Company not renewing the venue's land lease.
Stefani was interviewed for the documentary series The Defiant Ones, which was released in July 2017. The same month, she announced plans to release new music by the end of the year. In August, several song titles from the singer's sessions were published on GEMA's official website, suggesting that she may be recording a holiday album. The songwriting credits from the leaked tracks had Stefani collaborating with busbee, Blake Shelton, and Justin Tranter. The album, titled You Make It Feel Like Christmas, was released on October 6, 2017. Its title track, featuring guest vocals from Shelton, was digitally distributed on September 22, 2017, as the lead single. To promote the record, Stefani hosted Gwen Stefani's You Make It Feel Like Christmas, an NBC Christmas television special that aired on December 12, 2017.
2018–present: Upcoming fifth studio album
Stefani's first concert residency, titled Just a Girl: Las Vegas, began on June 27, 2018, at the Zappos Theater in Las Vegas. It concluded on May 16, 2020. It was named after No Doubt's song "Just a Girl". Proceeds from the show ($1 per ticket) were donated to the organization Cure4Kids. A deluxe edition of You Make It Feel Like Christmas was released in October 2018, and was promoted through the single "Secret Santa". On June 22, 2019, Stefani performed at the Machaca Fest in Fundidora Park. In the same month, The New York Times Magazine listed Stefani among hundreds of artists whose material was destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire. In June 2019, Stefani replaced Adam Levine as a coach for The Voices 17th season after Levine left the show after 16 seasons as a coach. Stefani was replaced by first-time coach Nick Jonas for the 18th season. She returned for her fifth season of The Voice'''s 19th season as a replacement for Jonas. her finalist Carter Rubin was named the winner, giving her the first victory as a coach after her fifth attempt, and the ninth coach (and fourth female after Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys, and Kelly Clarkson) to do so. In November 2020, while the 19th season was still airing, it was announced Jonas would once again replace Stefani as a judge for season 20.
On December 13, 2019, Stefani featured on Shelton's single "Nobody but You" from his compilation album Fully Loaded: God's Country. The song peaked at number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and 49 on the Canadian Hot 100. On July 24, 2020, Stefani and Shelton released another single titled "Happy Anywhere" inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic. Stefani was initially scheduled to perform at Lollapalooza's 2020 festival, but it was postponed due to the pandemic. Lollapalooza was held as a four-day livestream in July and August 2020, but Stefani did not participate in it.
Stefani was featured on a Mark Ronson remix of Dua Lipa's "Physical", which is included on Lipa's remix album Club Future Nostalgia (2020). Stefani was initially approached to clear a "Hollaback Girl" sample for the Mr Fingers' remix of Lipa's "Hallucinate", and then asked to be a part of the "Physical" remix. To promote 2020 reissued edition of You Make It Feel Like Christmas, Stefani released a cover of "Sleigh Ride" as a single.
On December 7, 2020, Stefani released "Let Me Reintroduce Myself" as the lead single from upcoming fifth studio album. She followed this with a second single "Slow Clap" on March 11, 2021, which received a remix featuring Saweetie the following month. Stefani also teased other new music through her Instagram account, announcing she recorded two new tracks titled "When Loving Gets Old" and "Cry Happy".
Other ventures
Stefani made most of the clothing that she wore on stage with No Doubt, resulting in increasingly eclectic combinations. Stylist Andrea Lieberman introduced her to haute couture clothing, which led to Stefani launching a fashion line named L.A.M.B. in 2004. The line takes influence from a variety of fashions, including Guatemalan, Japanese, and Jamaican styles. The line achieved popularity among celebrities and is worn by stars such as Teri Hatcher, Nicole Kidman, and Stefani herself. In June 2005, she expanded her collection with the less expensive Harajuku Lovers line, which she referred to as "a glorified merchandise line", with varied products including a camera, mobile phone charms, and undergarments. Alt URL In late 2006, Stefani released a limited edition line of dolls called "Love. Angel. Music. Baby. Fashion dolls". The dolls are inspired by the clothes Stefani and the Harajuku Girls wore while touring for the album.
In late 2007, Stefani launched a perfume, L, as a part of her L.A.M.B. collection of clothing and accessories. The perfume has high notes of sweet pea and rose. In September 2008, Stefani released a fragrance line as a part of her Harajuku Lovers product line. There are five different fragrances based on the four Harajuku Girls and Stefani herself called Love, Lil' Angel, Music, Baby and G (Gwen). , Stefani has become the spokesperson for L'Oréal Paris. In 2016, Urban Decay released a limited edition cosmetic collection in collaboration with Stefani. After needing to wear glasses, she began designing eyewear. In 2016, Gwen began releasing eyewear under her fashion label L.A.M.B. She also began releasing affordable eyewear under the label GX, with Tura Inc.
In 2014, Stefani announced the production of an animated series about her and the Harajuku Girls. Along with Vision Animation and Moody Street Kids, Stefani has helped create the show which features herself, Love, Angel, Music, and Baby as the band, HJ5, who fight evil whilst trying to pursue their music career. Mattel was the global toy licensee and the series itself, Kuu Kuu Harajuku was distributed worldwide by DHX Media.
Personal life
Stefani began dating her bandmate Tony Kanal, soon after he joined the band. She stated that she was heavily invested in that relationship, and commented that "...all I ever did was look at Tony and pray that God would let me have a baby with him." The band almost split up when Kanal ended the relationship.Born to Be. MuchMusic programming. Original airdate: March 2006. Retrieved November 13, 2006. Their break-up inspired Stefani lyrically, and many of Tragic Kingdoms songs, such as "Don't Speak", "Sunday Morning", and "Hey You!", chronicle the ups and downs of their relationship. Many years later, Stefani co-wrote her song "Cool" about their relationship as friends for her 2004 debut solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby.Stefani met Bush lead singer and guitarist Gavin Rossdale in 1995, when No Doubt and headlining band Bush performed at a holiday concert for radio station KROQ. They married on September 14, 2002, with a wedding in St Paul's, Covent Garden, London. A second wedding was held in Los Angeles two weeks later. Stefani has three sons with Rossdale, born in May 2006, August 2008, and February 2014. On August 3, 2015, Stefani filed for divorce from Rossdale, citing "irreconcilable differences". Their divorce was finalized on April 8, 2016, in which Rossdale agreed to the "unequal split" of their assets.
Stefani announced her relationship with Blake Shelton, country music artist and The Voice co-star, in November 2015. The couple announced their engagement on October 27, 2020, and married on July 3, 2021, at Shelton's Oklahoma ranch.
Artistry
AXS called Stefani a "powerhouse" vocalist with an "incredible" range. The New York Times considered Stefani's vocals "mannered" and commended her for "kick[ing] her vibrato addiction". IGN described Stefani as having a "unique vocal prowess". The Chicago Tribune stated that Stefani had a "brash alto".
Stefani's debut album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. took influence from a variety of 1980s genres, which included electropop, new wave, dance-rock, hip hop, R&B, soul, and disco music. Stefani cited early Madonna, Lisa Lisa, Club Nouveau, Prince, New Order and the Cure as major influences for the album. Several of the album's tracks were designed for clubs, and contained electro beats meant for dancing. Referencing fashion and wealth in the album, the singer name-drops several designers who she considered inspirations in her personal career, such as John Galliano and Vivienne Westwood. Her second studio album The Sweet Escape resembles musically its predecessor while exploring more modern pop sounds, dabbling heavily into genres such as dance-pop and rap. It carried on the same themes developed in Love. Angel. Music. Baby., and was criticized for doing so.This Is What the Truth Feels Like, the singer's third album, continued Stefani's endeavors with the pop genre, while incorporating music from a variety of other genres including reggae, disco, and dancehall, as well as the use of guitars. Stefani's lyrics shifted towards events that had recently occurred in her personal life, such as her divorce from Rossdale, and new relationship with Shelton. The singer stated her album was more about forgiveness than revenge.
Public image
Stefani began wearing a bindi in the mid-1990s after attending several family gatherings with Tony Kanal, who is of Indian heritage. During No Doubt's breakthrough, Stefani wore the forehead decoration in several of the band's music videos and briefly popularized the accessory in 1997. Since the 1995 music video for "Just a Girl", Stefani has been known for her midriff and frequently wears tops that expose it. Stefani's makeup design generally includes light face powder, bright red lipstick, and arched eyebrows; she wrote about the subject in a song titled "Magic's in the Makeup" for No Doubt's Return of Saturn, asking "If the magic's in the makeup/Then who am I?". Stefani is a natural brunette, but her hair has not been its natural color since she was in ninth grade. Since late 1994, she has usually had platinum blonde hair. Stefani discussed this in the song "Platinum Blonde Life" on Rock Steady and played original blonde bombshell Jean Harlow in the 2004 biopic The Aviator. She dyed her hair blue in 1998 and pink in 1999, when she appeared on the cover of Return of Saturn with pink hair.
In 2006, Stefani modified her image, inspired by that of Michelle Pfeiffer's character Elvira Hancock in the 1983 film Scarface. The reinvented image included a symbol consisting of two back-to-back 'G's, which appears on a diamond-encrusted key she wears on a necklace and which became a motif in the promotion of The Sweet Escape. Stefani raised concerns in January 2007 about her rapid weight loss following her pregnancy. She later stated that she had been on a diet since the sixth grade to fit in size 4 clothing. A wax figure of Stefani was unveiled at Madame Tussauds Las Vegas at The Venetian on September 22, 2010. The release of Stefani's first solo album brought attention to her entourage of four Harajuku Girls, who appear in outfits influenced by Gothic Lolita fashion, and are named for the area around the Harajuku Station of Tokyo. Stefani's clothing also took influence from Japanese fashion, in a style described as a combination between Christian Dior and Japan. The dancers are featured in her music videos, press coverage, and on the album cover for Love. Angel. Music. Baby., with a song named for and dedicated to them on the album. They were also featured in, and the namesake for, Stefani's Harajuku Lovers Tour. Forbes magazine reported that Stefani earned $27 million between June 2007 to June 2008 for her tour, fashion line and commercials, making her the world's 10th highest paid music personality at the time.
Achievements and legacy
Throughout her career as a solo artist, Stefani has won several music awards, including one Grammy Award, four MTV Video Music Awards, one American Music Award, one Brit Award, and two Billboard Music Awards. With No Doubt, she has won two Grammy Awards. In 2005, Rolling Stone called her "the only true female rock star left on radio or MTV" and featured her on the magazine's cover. Stefani received the Style Icon Award at the first People Magazine Awards in 2014. In 2016, the singer was honored at the Radio Disney Music Awards with a Hero Award, which is given to artists based on their personal contributions to various charitable works.
Stefani has been referred to as a "Pop Princess" by several contemporary music critics. In 2012, VH1 listed the singer at the number thirteen on their list of "100 Greatest Women in Music". Stefani's work has influenced artists and musicians including Hayley Williams of Paramore, Best Coast, Kim Petras, Teddy Sinclair, Katy Perry, Charli XCX, Kesha, Ava Max, Marina Diamandis, Rita Ora, Keke Palmer, Bebe Rexha, Dua Lipa, the Stunners, Kelly Clarkson, Sky Ferreira, Kirstin Maldonado of Pentatonix, Olivia Rodrigo, and Cover Drive. The latter group, a quartet of Barbados musicians, claimed that both Stefani and No Doubt had helped influence their music, to which the lead singer of the group, Amanda Reifer, said that she would "pass out" if she ever met Stefani.
The lead single from Love. Angel. Music. Baby., "What You Waiting For?", was considered by Pitchfork to be one of Stefani's best singles, and would later place it at number sixteen on their "Top 50 Singles of 2004" list. "Hollaback Girl" from Love. Angel. Music. Baby. would go on to be the first song to digitally sell an excess of one million copies in the United States; it was certified platinum in both the United States and Australia, and peaked at number forty-one on Billboards decade-end charts for 2000–09. Since its release in 2005, "Hollaback Girl" has been called Stefani's "signature song" by Rolling Stone.
Philanthropy
Following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Stefani donated $1 million to Save the Children's Japan Earthquake–Tsunami Children in Emergency Fund. Stefani also ran an auction on eBay from April 11 to 25, 2011, allowing participants to bid on vintage clothing items from her personal wardrobe and custom T-shirts designed and signed by her, as well as an admission to a private Harajuku-themed tea party hosted by her on June 7, 2011, at Los Angeles' first-ever Japanese-style maid café and pop art space, Royal/T, with proceeds from the auction going to Save the Children's relief effort.
At the amfAR gala during the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, Stefani auctioned off the lacy black dress she wore at the event for charity, raising over $125,000. A representative for designer Michael Angel, who helped Stefani with the design and worked as a stylist, said that Angel created the gown, not Stefani. In response, Angel released a statement confirming that the dress was designed by Stefani for L.A.M.B. to wear and be auctioned off at the amfAR gala. Stefani hosted a fundraiser with First Lady Michelle Obama in August 2012 at the singer's Beverly Hills home.
The singer-songwriter supports the LGBT community, stating in a 2019 Pride Source interview, "I would like to be blessed with a gay son; [...] I just want my boys to be healthy and happy. And I just ask God to guide me to be a good mother, which is not an easy thing at all."
Discography
Solo discography
Love. Angel. Music. Baby. (2004)
The Sweet Escape (2006)
This Is What the Truth Feels Like (2016)
You Make It Feel Like Christmas (2017)
No Doubt discography
No Doubt (1992)
The Beacon Street Collection (1995)
Tragic Kingdom (1995)
Return of Saturn (2000)
Rock Steady (2001)
Push and Shove'' (2012)
Tours
Headlining
Harajuku Lovers Tour (2005)
The Sweet Escape Tour (2007)
This Is What the Truth Feels Like Tour (2016)
Residency
Gwen Stefani – Just a Girl (2018–2021)
Promotional
MasterCard Priceless Surprises Presents Gwen Stefani (2015–2016)
Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre Final Shows (2016)
Festivals
Machaca Fest (2019)
Filmography
References
External links
1969 births
Living people
20th-century American singers
20th-century American women singers
21st-century American actresses
21st-century American singers
21st-century American women singers
Actresses from Fullerton, California
American contemporary R&B singers
American dance musicians
American expatriates in the United Kingdom
American fashion designers
American women pop singers
American women rock singers
American film actresses
American new wave musicians
American people of Italian descent
American people of Irish descent
American pop rock singers
American rock songwriters
American ska singers
American television actresses
American video game actresses
American voice actresses
American women in electronic music
Brit Award winners
Electronica musicians
Women new wave singers
Grammy Award winners
Interscope Records artists
Musicians from Anaheim, California
Musicians from Fullerton, California
No Doubt members
Participants in American reality television series
Singers from California
Songwriters from California
World Music Awards winners
Las Vegas shows
California State University, Fullerton people
Women hip hop record producers
American female hip hop singers
American female hip hop musicians
American women fashion designers
| true |
[
"American singer LeAnn Rimes has won over eleven awards and has received roughly 22 nominations. She won her first set of awards in 1996 at the Academy of Country Music Awards for her debut single \"Blue\". In 2008, she won the Humanitarian Award from the ACM organization. In 1997, she won several more accolades for similar from the Country Music Association and the American Music Awards. She also received nominations from several award programs for her recording of \"How Do I Live\". The same year, Rimes won two accolades from the Grammy Awards including the award for Best New Artist. She has also received five nominations from the Grammys. She has since won awards from the CMT Music Awards and the GMA Dove Awards.\n\nAcademy of Country Music Awards\n\n!\n|-\n| rowspan=\"4\"| 1996\n| Blue\n| Album of the Year\n| \n| rowspan=\"10\"| \n|-\n| rowspan=\"2\"| \"Blue\"\n| Single Record of the Year\n| \n|-\n| Song of the Year\n| \n|-\n| LeAnn Rimes\n| Top New Female Vocalist\n| \n|-\n| rowspan=\"3\"| 1997\n| rowspan=\"2\"| \"How Do I Live\"\n| Single Record of the Year \n| \n|-\n| Song of the Year\n| \n|-\n| rowspan=\"2\"| LeAnn Rimes\n| rowspan=\"2\"| Top Female Vocalist\n| \n|-\n| rowspan=\"2\"| 2007\n| \n|-\n| \"Till We Ain't Strangers Anymore\" \n| Vocal Event of the Year\n| \n|-\n| 2008\n| LeAnn Rimes\n| The Home Depot Humanitarian Award\n| \n|-\n|}\n\nAmerican Music Awards\n\n!\n|-\n| 1997\n| rowspan=\"2\"| LeAnn Rimes\n| Favorite New Country Artist\n| \n| \n|-\n| rowspan=\"2\"| 1998\n| Favorite Country Female Artist\n| \n| \n|-\n| Unchained Melody: The Early Years\n| Favorite Country Album\n| \n| \n|-\n| 1999\n| rowspan=\"3\"| LeAnn Rimes\n| Favorite Country Female Artist\n| \n|\n|-\n| 2002\n| Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist\n| \n|\n|-\n| 2005\n| Favorite Country Female Artist\n| \n|\n|-\n|}\n\nBillboard Music Awards\n\n!\n|-\n| rowspan=\"4\"| 1997\n| rowspan=\"3\"| LeAnn Rimes\n| Artist of the Year\n| \n| rowspan=\"4\"| \n|-\n| Country Artist of the Year\n| \n|-\n| Country Singles Artist of the Year\n| \n|-\n| Blue\n| Country Album of the Year\n| \n|-\n|}\n\nCMT Music Awards\n\n!\n|-\n| 1997\n| LeAnn Rimes\n| Female Star of Tomorrow\n| \n| \n|-\n| 2002\n| \"Life Goes On\"\n| Hottest Female Video\n| \n| \n|-\n| 2008\n| \"Till We Ain't Strangers Anymore\" \n| Collaborative Video of the Year\n| \n| \n|-\n|}\n\nCountry Music Association Awards\n\n!\n|-\n| rowspan=\"2\"| 1996\n| LeAnn Rimes\n| Horizon Award\n| \n| rowspan=\"5\"| \n|-\n| \"Blue\"\n| Single Record of the Year\n| \n|-\n| rowspan=\"3\"| 1997\n| rowspan=\"2\"| LeAnn Rimes\n| Horizon Award\n| \n|-\n| Female Vocalist of the Year\n| \n|-\n| Blue\n| Album of the Year \n| \n|-\n|}\n\nGMA Dove Awards\n\n!\n|-\n| 2008\n| \"Ready for a Miracle\"\n| Traditional Gospel Recorded Song of the Year\n| \n| \n|-\n|}\n\nGrammy Awards\n\n!\n|-\n| rowspan=\"2\"| 1997\n| LeAnn Rimes\n| Best New Artist\n| \n|\n|-\n| \"Blue\"\n| rowspan=\"6\"| Best Female Country Vocal Performance\n| \n|\n|-\n| 1998\n| \"How Do I Live\"\n| \n|\n|-\n| 2007\n| \"Something's Gotta Give\"\n| \n|\n|-\n| 2008\n| \"Nothin' Better To Do\"\n| \n|\n|-\n| 2009\n| \"What I Cannot Change\"\n| \n|\n|-\n| 2011\n| \"Swingin'\"\n| \n|\n|-\n|}\n\nReferences\n\nRimes, LeAnn",
"Priyanka Chopra is an Indian actress who has received several awards and nominations including two National Film Award, five Filmfare Awards, eight Producers Guild Film Awards, eight Screen Awards, six IIFA Awards, and two People's Choice Awards. In 2000, she participated in the Femina Miss India contest, where she finished second, winning the Femina Miss India World title. She then entered the Miss World pageant and was crowned Miss World 2000, becoming the fifth Indian to win the contest. Chopra made her Bollywood film debut with a supporting role in the 2003 spy thriller The Hero, which earned her the Stardust Award for Best Supporting Actress. The same year, her performance in the romantic musical Andaaz won her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut and a nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the same ceremony. For her portrayal of a seductress in the romantic thriller Aitraaz, Chopra won the Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role and received her second nomination for Best Supporting Actress. The same year, she was nominated for the IIFA Award for Best Actress for the romantic comedy Mujhse Shaadi Karogi.\n\nChopra starred as a troubled model in the drama Fashion (2008), for which she won many Best Actress awards in India including the National Film Award for Best Actress and the Filmfare Award in the same category. In 2010, she received several Best Actress nominations for playing a feisty Marathi woman in the caper thriller Kaminey, winning her second consecutive Producers Guild Film Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role after Fashion. The same year, she was nominated for the Screen Award for Best Actress for playing twelve distinct roles in the social comedy film What's Your Raashee?. For her portrayal of a serial killer, in the 2011 neo-noir 7 Khoon Maaf, she won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress (Critics), in addition to a Best Actress nomination at the same ceremony.\n\nShe played the role of an autistic woman in the 2012 romantic comedy Barfi!, for which she won the Zee Cine Award for Best Actress and was nominated under the Best Actress category at the Filmfare, Screen, Producers Guild and IIFA awards. In 2014, Chopra's performance as Mary Kom in the eponymous biographical sports drama won her a second Screen and a third Producers Guild Film Award for Best Actress. For her debut single \"In My City\" (2012), she earned three nominations at the World Music Awards. She received several Best Actress nominations for her performance in the 2015 drama Dil Dhadakne Do, winning the Screen Award for Best Ensemble Cast. The same year, she won the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress, among other accolades, for portraying Kashibai in the historical romantic drama Bajirao Mastani.\n\nIn 2016, Chopra received the People's Choice Award for Favourite Actress In A New TV Series for her role in Quantico, becoming the first South Asian actress to win a People's Choice Award. The same year, she was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, by the Government of India. In 2017, she won her second People's Choice Award for Favorite Dramatic TV Actress for Quantico. Chopra received the Mother Teresa Memorial Award for Social Justice in 2016 and the Danny Kaye Humanitarian Award from UNICEF in 2019 for her philanthropic work. For playing a protective mother in the biographical drama The Sky Is Pink (2019), she received several nominations, including the Filmfare Award for Best Actress. she received an award for her contribution to world cinema at the ongoing Marrakech International Film Festival in Morocco.\n\nAsian Film Awards\nThe Asian Film Awards are presented annually by the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society to members of Asian cinema. Chopra has received one award.\n\nBengal Film Journalists' Association Awards\nThe Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards are presented by the oldest association of film critics in India, founded in 1937. Chopra has received one award.\n\nBIG Star Entertainment Awards\nThe BIG Star Entertainment Awards is an annual event organised by the Reliance Broadcast Network. Chopra has won four awards from ten nominations.\n\nCivilian Awards\nThe Civilian Awards are presented by the Government of India to citizens of India recognising their contributions to various fields such as Arts, Education, Industry, Literature, Science, Sports, Medicine, Social Service and Public Affairs. Chopra was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour in India.\n\nFilmfare Awards\nThe Filmfare Awards are presented annually by The Times Group for excellence of cinematic achievements in Hindi cinema. Chopra has won five awards in five categories from twelve nominations.\n\nFilmfare Marathi Awards\nThe Filmfare Marathi Awards are presented annually by The Times Group for excellence of cinematic achievements in Marathi cinema.\n\nGlobal Indian Film Awards\nThe Global Indian Film Awards was an awards ceremony organised by Popcorn Entertainment for the Hindi cinema. Chopra has won two awards.\n\nIndian Telly Awards\nThe Indian Telly Awards are presented annually by indiantelevision.com to honour excellence in the television industry. Chopra has received one award.\n\nInternational Indian Film Academy Awards\nThe International Indian Film Academy Awards (shortened as IIFA) is annual international event organised by the Wizcraft International Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. to honour excellence in the Hindi cinema. Chopra has won six awards from twelve nominations.\n\nLions Gold Awards\nThe Lions Gold Awards are presented annually by members of the Lions Club of SOL — Mumbai to honour excellence in the Hindi cinema. Chopra has won five awards.\n\nMaharashtra State Film Awards\nThe Maharashtra State Film Awards are presented annually by the Government of Maharashtra for excellence of cinematic achievements in Marathi cinema.\n\nMirchi Music Awards\nThe Mirchi Music Awards are presented annually by Radio Mirchi to honour excellence in the Hindi language film music industry. Chopra has received two nominations.\n\nMirchi Music Awards Marathi\nThe Mirchi Music Awards Marathi are presented annually by Radio Mirchi to honour excellence in the Marathi language film music industry.\n\nMother Teresa Awards\nThe Mother Teresa Awards are presented annually by the Harmony Foundation to honour social work.\n\nMTV Europe Music Awards\nThe MTV Europe Music Awards was established in 1994 by MTV Europe to award the music videos from European and international artists. Chopra has won one award from two nominations.\n\nNational Film Awards\nThe National Film Awards is the most prestigious film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it is administered by the International Film Festival of India and the Indian government's Directorate of Film Festivals. The awards are presented by the President of India. Due to their national scale, they are considered to be the equivalent of the Academy Awards. Chopra has received two awards, first for Fashion as an actress and second for Paani as a producer.\n\nNickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards India\nThe Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards India is the Indian version of the American awards show recognising Indian Film, TV, Music and Sports. Chopra has received one award.\n\nPeople's Choice Awards\nThe People's Choice Awards is an annual awards show recognising the people and the work of popular culture, voted by the general public. Chopra has won two awards. She is the first South Asian actress to win a People's Choice Award.\n\nPeople's Choice Awards India\nThe People's Choice Awards India is the Indian version of the American awards show recognising Indian film, television, music and sports. Chopra has received one award.\n\nProducers Guild Film Awards\nThe Producers Guild Film Awards (previously known as Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild Awards) is an annual event organised by the Film Producers Guild of India. Chopra has won eight awards from thirteen nominations.\n\nSabsey Favourite Kaun Awards\nThe Sabse Favourite Kaun Awards were presented annually by Star Gold. The nominees and awardees were decided by public voting. The awards were discontinued after 2010. Chopra has won five awards.\n\nScreen Awards\nThe Screen Awards are annually presented by the Indian Express Limited to honour excellence of cinematic achievements in Hindi and Marathi cinema. Chopra has won eight awards from twenty seven nominations.\n\nShanghai International Film Festival\nThe Shanghai International Film Festival is one of the largest film festivals in East Asia. Chopra has received one award.\n\nStardust Awards\nThe Stardust Awards are an annual event organised by Magna Publishing Company Limited to honour excellence in the Hindi cinema. Chopra has won seven awards from fifteen nominations.\n\nTeen Choice Awards\nThe Teen Choice Awards is an annual awards show that airs on the Fox Network. The awards honor the year's biggest achievements in music, movies, sports, television, fashion and other categories, voted by teen viewers.\n\nTimes of India Film Awards\nThe Times of India Film Awards (shortened as TOIFA) is an international event organised by The Times Group to reward excellence in Hindi cinema. Chopra has received two awards.\n\nWorld Music Awards\nThe World Music Awards is an international awards ceremony founded in 1989 that annually honours recording artists based on worldwide sales figures provided by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). Chopra has received three nominations.\n\nZee Cine Awards\nThe Zee Cine Awards are an annual award ceremony organised by the Zee Entertainment Enterprises. Chopra has won two awards from ten nominations.\n\nZee Gaurav Puraskar\nThe Zee Gaurav Puraskar are presented annually by Zee Network for excellence of cinematic achievements in Marathi cinema.\n\nOther awards\n\nPageants\n\nFootnotes\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\nChopra, Priyanka\nChopra, Priyanka"
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"Gwen Stefani",
"Achievements and legacy",
"Did she win any awards?",
"Throughout her career as a solo artist, Stefani has won several music awards,",
"When did she when her first award?",
"I don't know.",
"What are some of the awards she won?",
"one Grammy Award,"
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C_3b6f1cce745d44aeab1f515563ba42b8_0
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Did she win any other awards?
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Did Gwen Stefani win any awards other than her Grammy Award?
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Gwen Stefani
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Throughout her career as a solo artist, Stefani has won several music awards, including one Grammy Award, four MTV Video Music Awards, one American Music Award, one Brit Award, and two Billboard Music Awards. With No Doubt, she has won two Grammy Awards. In 2005, Rolling Stone called her "the only true female rock star left on radio or MTV" and featured her on the magazine's cover. Stefani received the Style Icon Award at the first People Magazine Awards in 2014. Additionally in 2016, the singer was honored at the Radio Disney Music Awards with a Hero Award, which is given to artists based on their personal contributions to various charitable works. Stefani has been referred to as a "Pop Princess" by several contemporary music critics. In 2012, VH1 listed the singer at the number thirteen on their list of "100 Greatest Women in Music". Stefani's work has influenced a number of artists and musicians including Hayley Williams of Paramore, Best Coast, Katy Perry, Kesha, Marina and the Diamonds, Stefy, Rita Ora, Sky Ferreira, and Cover Drive. The latter group, a quartet of Barbados musicians, claimed that both Stefani and No Doubt had helped influence their music, to which the lead singer of the group, Amanda Reifer, admitted that she would "pass out" if she were to ever meet Stefani. The lead single from Love. Angel. Music. Baby., "What You Waiting For?", was considered by Pitchfork to be one of the best singles by Stefani, and would later place it at number sixteen on their "Top 50 Singles of 2004" list. Additionally, "Hollaback Girl" from the aforementioned album would go on to be the first song to digitally sell an excess of one million copies in the United States; it was certified platinum in both the United States and Australia, and peak at number forty-one on Billboard's decade-end charts for 2000-09. Since its release in 2005, "Hollaback Girl" has been called Stefani's "signature song" by Rolling Stone. CANNOTANSWER
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four MTV Video Music Awards,
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Gwen Renée Stefani (; born October 3, 1969) is an American singer and songwriter. She is a co-founder, lead vocalist, and the primary songwriter of the band No Doubt, whose singles include "Just a Girl", "Spiderwebs", and "Don't Speak", from their 1995 breakthrough studio album Tragic Kingdom, as well as "Hey Baby" and "It's My Life" from later albums.
During the band's hiatus, Stefani embarked on a solo pop career in 2004 by releasing her debut studio album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. Inspired by pop music from the 1980s, the album was a critical and commercial success. It spawned six singles, including "What You Waiting For?", "Rich Girl", "Hollaback Girl", and "Cool". "Hollaback Girl" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart while also becoming the first US download to sell one million copies. In 2006, Stefani released her second studio album, The Sweet Escape. Among the singles were "Wind It Up" and "The Sweet Escape", the latter of which was number three on the Billboard Hot 100 year-end chart of 2007. Her third solo album, This Is What the Truth Feels Like (2016), was her first solo album to reach number one on the Billboard 200 chart. Her fourth solo album and first full-length Christmas album, You Make It Feel Like Christmas, was released in 2017 and charted 19 tracks on Billboards Holiday Digital Song Sales component chart in the United States. Stefani has released several singles with Blake Shelton, including "Nobody but You" (2020), which reached number 18 in the US.
Stefani has won three Grammy Awards. As a solo artist, she has received an American Music Award, Brit Award, World Music Award, and two Billboard Music Awards. In 2003, she debuted her clothing line L.A.M.B. and expanded her collection with the 2005 Harajuku Lovers line, inspired by Japanese culture and fashion. Billboard magazine ranked Stefani the 54th most successful artist and 37th most successful Hot 100 artist of the 2000–2009 decade. VH1 ranked her 13th on their "100 Greatest Women in Music" list in 2012. Including her work with No Doubt, Stefani has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide.
Early life
Gwen Renée Stefani was born on October 3, 1969, in Fullerton, California, and raised Catholic in nearby Anaheim, California. She was named after a stewardess in the 1968 novel Airport, and her middle name, Renée, comes from the Four Tops' 1968 version of the Left Banke's 1966 song "Walk Away Renée". Her father Dennis Stefani is Italian-American and worked as a Yamaha marketing executive. Her mother Patti (née Flynn) is Irish-American and worked as an accountant before becoming a housewife. Stefani's parents were fans of folk music and exposed her to music by artists like Bob Dylan and Emmylou Harris. Stefani has two younger siblings, Jill and Todd, and an older brother, Eric. Eric was the keyboardist for No Doubt before leaving the band to pursue a career in animation on The Simpsons.
Career
1986–2004: Career beginnings and No Doubt
Her brother Eric introduced Gwen to 2 Tone music by Madness and the Selecter and, in 1986, he invited her to provide vocals for No Doubt, a ska band he was forming. In 1991 the band was signed to Interscope Records. The band released its self-titled debut album in 1992, but its ska-pop sound was unsuccessful due to the popularity of grunge. Before the mainstream success of both No Doubt and Sublime, Stefani contributed guest vocals to "Saw Red" on Sublime's 1994 album Robbin' the Hood. Stefani rejected the aggressiveness of female grunge artists and cited Blondie singer Debbie Harry's combination of power and sex appeal as a major influence. No Doubt's third album, Tragic Kingdom (1995), which followed the self-released The Beacon Street Collection (1995), took more than three years to make. Five singles were released from Tragic Kingdom, including "Don't Speak", which led the Hot 100 Airplay year-end chart of 1997. Stefani left college for one semester to tour for Tragic Kingdom but did not return when touring lasted two and a half years. The album was nominated for a Grammy and sold more than 16 million copies worldwide by 2004. In late 2000, Rolling Stone magazine named her "the Queen of Confessional Pop".
During the time when No Doubt was receiving mainstream success, Stefani collaborated on the singles "You're the Boss" with the Brian Setzer Orchestra, "South Side" with Moby, and "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" with Eve. No Doubt released the less popular Return of Saturn in 2000, which expanded upon the new wave influences of Tragic Kingdom. Most of the lyrical content focused on Stefani's often rocky relationship with then-Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale and her insecurities, including indecision on settling down and having a child. The band's 2001 album, Rock Steady, explored more reggae and dancehall sounds, while maintaining the band's new wave influences. The album generated career-highest singles chart positions in the United States, and "Hey Baby" and "Underneath It All" received Grammy Awards. A greatest hits collection, The Singles 1992–2003, which includes a cover of Talk Talk's "It's My Life", was released in 2003. In 2002, Eve and Stefani won a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Let Me Blow Ya Mind".
2004–2006: Solo debut and other ventures
Stefani's debut solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. was released on November 12, 2004. The album features several collaborations with producers and other artists, including Tony Kanal, Tom Rothrock, Linda Perry, André 3000, Nellee Hooper, the Neptunes and New Order. Stefani created the album to modernize the music to which she listened when in high school, and L.A.M.B. takes influence from a variety of music styles of the 1980s and early 1990s such as new wave, synthpop, and electro. Stefani's decision to use her solo career as an opportunity to delve further into pop music instead of trying "to convince the world of [her] talent, depth and artistic worth" was considered unusual. The album was described as "fun as hell but... not exactly rife with subversive social commentary". The album debuted on the US Billboard 200 albums chart at number seven, selling 309,000 copies in its first week. L.A.M.B. reached multi-platinum status in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada.
The first single from the album was "What You Waiting For?", which debuted atop the ARIA Singles Chart, charted at number 47 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and reached the top ten on most other charts. The song served to explain why Stefani produced a solo album and discusses her fears in leaving No Doubt for a solo career as well as her desire to have a baby. "Rich Girl" was released as the album's second single. A duet with rapper Eve, and produced by Dr. Dre, it is an adaptation of a 1990s pop song by British musicians Louchie Lou & Michie One, which itself is a very loose cover lyrically but closer melodically of "If I Were a Rich Man", from the musical Fiddler on the Roof. "Rich Girl" reached the US and UK top ten. The album's third single "Hollaback Girl" became Stefani's first US and second Australian number-one single; it reached top ten elsewhere. The song was the first US music download to sell more than one million copies, and its brass-driven composition remained popular throughout 2005. The fourth single "Cool" was released shortly following the popularity of its predecessor, reaching the top 20 in US and UK. The song's lyrics and its accompanying music video, filmed on Lake Como, depict Stefani's former relationship with Kanal. "Luxurious" was released as the album's fifth single, but did not perform as well as its predecessors. "Crash" was released in January 2006 as the album's sixth single in lieu of Love. Angel. Music. Baby.s sequel, which Stefani postponed because of her pregnancy.
In 2004, Stefani showed interest in making film appearances and began auditioning for films such as Mr. & Mrs. Smith. She made her film debut playing Jean Harlow in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator in 2004. Scorsese, whose daughter was a No Doubt fan, showed reciprocal interest in casting Stefani after seeing her picture from a Marilyn Monroe-inspired photo shoot for Teen Vogue in 2003. To prepare for the role, Stefani read two biographies and watched 18 of Harlow's films. Shooting her part took four to five days, and Stefani had few lines. Stefani lent her voice to the title character of the 2004 video game Malice, but the company opted not to use No Doubt band members' voices.
2006–2013: The Sweet Escape and return to No Doubt
Stefani's second studio album, The Sweet Escape, was released on December 1, 2006. Stefani continued working with Kanal, Perry, and the Neptunes, along with Akon and Tim Rice-Oxley from English rock band Keane. The album focuses more heavily on electronic and dance music for clubs than its predecessor. Its release coincided with the DVD release of Stefani's first tour, entitled Harajuku Lovers Live. Sia Michel wrote that it "has a surprisingly moody, lightly autobiographical feel ... but Stefani isn't convincing as a dissatisfied diva" and Rob Sheffield called the album a "hasty return" that repeats Love. Angel. Music. Baby. with less energy.
"Wind It Up", the album's lead single, used yodeling and an interpolation of The Sound of Music, and peaked in the top 10 in the US and the UK. The title track reached the top 10 in over 15 nations, including number two peaks in the US, Australia and the UK. To promote The Sweet Escape, Stefani was a mentor on the sixth season of American Idol and performed the song with Akon. The song earned her a Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. Three more singles were released from the album; "4 in the Morning", "Now That You Got It" which featured Damian Marley and "Early Winter". To promote the album, Stefani embarked on a worldwide tour, The Sweet Escape Tour, which covered North America, Europe, Asia and the Pacific and part of Latin America. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly on June 6, 2011, Stefani stated that she had no plans to continue work as a solo artist.
With Stefani promoting The Sweet Escape, No Doubt began work on a new album without her and planned to complete it after Stefani's Sweet Escape Tour was finished. In March 2008, the band started making posts concerning the progression of the album on their official fan forum. Stefani made a post on March 28, 2008, stating that songwriting had commenced but was slow on her end because she was pregnant with her second child. The Singles 1992–2003 became available on December 9, 2008, for the video game Rock Band 2. Adrian Young played drums on Scott Weiland's album "Happy" in Galoshes. No Doubt headlined the Bamboozle 2009 festival in May 2009, along with Fall Out Boy. The band completed a national tour in mid-2009.
The new album Push and Shove was released on September 25, preceded by the first single, "Settle Down", on July 16. The music video for "Settle Down" was directed by Sophie Muller (who has previously directed numerous music videos for No Doubt). Also around this time No Doubt were guest mentors for the UK version of The X-Factor. "Settle Down" peaked at 34 on the Billboard Hot 100 with the album peaking at number three on the US Billboard 200. On November 3, 2012, the band pulled its music video "Looking Hot" from the Internet after receiving complaints that it was insensitive towards Native Americans. In January 2013, No Doubt make a cameo appearance in a hot air ballon for the third season of Portlandia.
2014–2017: The Voice, This Is What the Truth Feels Like and You Make It Feel Like Christmas
On April 12, 2014, Stefani made a surprise appearance at the Coachella festival, where she joined Pharrell Williams onstage during his set to perform "Hollaback Girl". On April 29, it was officially confirmed that Stefani would join the seventh season of The Voice as a coach, replacing Christina Aguilera. Nine years after the previous time, she attended the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards. Stefani appears as a featured artist on Maroon 5's song "My Heart Is Open", co-written by Sia Furler, from the band's album V, which was performed for the first time with Adam Levine and an orchestra at the 2015 Grammy Awards. Stefani also collaborated with Calvin Harris on the track "Together" from his album Motion.
On September 8, 2014, Stefani told MTV News during New York Fashion Week that she was working on both a No Doubt album and a solo album, and that she was working with Williams. Stefani released her comeback single "Baby Don't Lie" on October 20, 2014, co-written with producers Ryan Tedder, Benny Blanco, and Noel Zancanella. Billboard announced that her third studio album was set to be released in December with Benny Blanco serving as executive producer. In late October, "Spark the Fire", a new track from Stefani's third album, was released. The song was produced by Pharrell Williams. On November 23, the full song premiered online. Both "Baby Don't Lie" and "Spark the Fire" were later scrapped from Stefani's third album. On January 13, 2015, Stefani and Williams also recorded a song titled "Shine", for the Paddington soundtrack. Stefani and Sia Furler worked together on a ballad, called "Start a War" which was expected to be released on Stefani's third studio album as well, but it was not included on the final cut. On July 10, 2015, American rapper Eminem featured Stefani on his single "Kings Never Die", from the Southpaw film soundtrack. The track debuted and peaked at number 80 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and matched first-week digital download sales of 35,000 copies.
On October 17, 2015, Stefani performed a concert as part of her MasterCard Priceless Surprises tour series at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, where she performed a new song about her breakup with ex-husband Gavin Rossdale, titled "Used to Love You". It was released as a download on October 20, 2015. The video was released the same day. The song was released to contemporary hit radio in the United States on October 27, 2015. The track is the first official single off her third solo album This Is What the Truth Feels Like, which she began working on in mid-2015. Stefani said much of the previous material she worked on in 2014 felt forced and inauthentic, the opposite of what she had originally wanted. The album's second single, "Make Me Like You", was released on February 12, 2016. This Is What the Truth Feels Like was released on March 18, 2016, and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with 84,000 album-equivalent units sold in its first week, earning Stefani her first number-one album on the U.S. chart as a solo artist. To further promote the album, Stefani embarked on her This Is What the Truth Feels Like Tour with rapper Eve in the United States. Stefani voiced DJ Suki in the animated film Trolls, which was released on November 4, 2016. She is also included on five songs from the film's official soundtrack. Stefani twice performed as part of the "Final Shows" at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre on October 29–30, before the venue's closure due to The Irvine Company not renewing the venue's land lease.
Stefani was interviewed for the documentary series The Defiant Ones, which was released in July 2017. The same month, she announced plans to release new music by the end of the year. In August, several song titles from the singer's sessions were published on GEMA's official website, suggesting that she may be recording a holiday album. The songwriting credits from the leaked tracks had Stefani collaborating with busbee, Blake Shelton, and Justin Tranter. The album, titled You Make It Feel Like Christmas, was released on October 6, 2017. Its title track, featuring guest vocals from Shelton, was digitally distributed on September 22, 2017, as the lead single. To promote the record, Stefani hosted Gwen Stefani's You Make It Feel Like Christmas, an NBC Christmas television special that aired on December 12, 2017.
2018–present: Upcoming fifth studio album
Stefani's first concert residency, titled Just a Girl: Las Vegas, began on June 27, 2018, at the Zappos Theater in Las Vegas. It concluded on May 16, 2020. It was named after No Doubt's song "Just a Girl". Proceeds from the show ($1 per ticket) were donated to the organization Cure4Kids. A deluxe edition of You Make It Feel Like Christmas was released in October 2018, and was promoted through the single "Secret Santa". On June 22, 2019, Stefani performed at the Machaca Fest in Fundidora Park. In the same month, The New York Times Magazine listed Stefani among hundreds of artists whose material was destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire. In June 2019, Stefani replaced Adam Levine as a coach for The Voices 17th season after Levine left the show after 16 seasons as a coach. Stefani was replaced by first-time coach Nick Jonas for the 18th season. She returned for her fifth season of The Voice'''s 19th season as a replacement for Jonas. her finalist Carter Rubin was named the winner, giving her the first victory as a coach after her fifth attempt, and the ninth coach (and fourth female after Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys, and Kelly Clarkson) to do so. In November 2020, while the 19th season was still airing, it was announced Jonas would once again replace Stefani as a judge for season 20.
On December 13, 2019, Stefani featured on Shelton's single "Nobody but You" from his compilation album Fully Loaded: God's Country. The song peaked at number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and 49 on the Canadian Hot 100. On July 24, 2020, Stefani and Shelton released another single titled "Happy Anywhere" inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic. Stefani was initially scheduled to perform at Lollapalooza's 2020 festival, but it was postponed due to the pandemic. Lollapalooza was held as a four-day livestream in July and August 2020, but Stefani did not participate in it.
Stefani was featured on a Mark Ronson remix of Dua Lipa's "Physical", which is included on Lipa's remix album Club Future Nostalgia (2020). Stefani was initially approached to clear a "Hollaback Girl" sample for the Mr Fingers' remix of Lipa's "Hallucinate", and then asked to be a part of the "Physical" remix. To promote 2020 reissued edition of You Make It Feel Like Christmas, Stefani released a cover of "Sleigh Ride" as a single.
On December 7, 2020, Stefani released "Let Me Reintroduce Myself" as the lead single from upcoming fifth studio album. She followed this with a second single "Slow Clap" on March 11, 2021, which received a remix featuring Saweetie the following month. Stefani also teased other new music through her Instagram account, announcing she recorded two new tracks titled "When Loving Gets Old" and "Cry Happy".
Other ventures
Stefani made most of the clothing that she wore on stage with No Doubt, resulting in increasingly eclectic combinations. Stylist Andrea Lieberman introduced her to haute couture clothing, which led to Stefani launching a fashion line named L.A.M.B. in 2004. The line takes influence from a variety of fashions, including Guatemalan, Japanese, and Jamaican styles. The line achieved popularity among celebrities and is worn by stars such as Teri Hatcher, Nicole Kidman, and Stefani herself. In June 2005, she expanded her collection with the less expensive Harajuku Lovers line, which she referred to as "a glorified merchandise line", with varied products including a camera, mobile phone charms, and undergarments. Alt URL In late 2006, Stefani released a limited edition line of dolls called "Love. Angel. Music. Baby. Fashion dolls". The dolls are inspired by the clothes Stefani and the Harajuku Girls wore while touring for the album.
In late 2007, Stefani launched a perfume, L, as a part of her L.A.M.B. collection of clothing and accessories. The perfume has high notes of sweet pea and rose. In September 2008, Stefani released a fragrance line as a part of her Harajuku Lovers product line. There are five different fragrances based on the four Harajuku Girls and Stefani herself called Love, Lil' Angel, Music, Baby and G (Gwen). , Stefani has become the spokesperson for L'Oréal Paris. In 2016, Urban Decay released a limited edition cosmetic collection in collaboration with Stefani. After needing to wear glasses, she began designing eyewear. In 2016, Gwen began releasing eyewear under her fashion label L.A.M.B. She also began releasing affordable eyewear under the label GX, with Tura Inc.
In 2014, Stefani announced the production of an animated series about her and the Harajuku Girls. Along with Vision Animation and Moody Street Kids, Stefani has helped create the show which features herself, Love, Angel, Music, and Baby as the band, HJ5, who fight evil whilst trying to pursue their music career. Mattel was the global toy licensee and the series itself, Kuu Kuu Harajuku was distributed worldwide by DHX Media.
Personal life
Stefani began dating her bandmate Tony Kanal, soon after he joined the band. She stated that she was heavily invested in that relationship, and commented that "...all I ever did was look at Tony and pray that God would let me have a baby with him." The band almost split up when Kanal ended the relationship.Born to Be. MuchMusic programming. Original airdate: March 2006. Retrieved November 13, 2006. Their break-up inspired Stefani lyrically, and many of Tragic Kingdoms songs, such as "Don't Speak", "Sunday Morning", and "Hey You!", chronicle the ups and downs of their relationship. Many years later, Stefani co-wrote her song "Cool" about their relationship as friends for her 2004 debut solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby.Stefani met Bush lead singer and guitarist Gavin Rossdale in 1995, when No Doubt and headlining band Bush performed at a holiday concert for radio station KROQ. They married on September 14, 2002, with a wedding in St Paul's, Covent Garden, London. A second wedding was held in Los Angeles two weeks later. Stefani has three sons with Rossdale, born in May 2006, August 2008, and February 2014. On August 3, 2015, Stefani filed for divorce from Rossdale, citing "irreconcilable differences". Their divorce was finalized on April 8, 2016, in which Rossdale agreed to the "unequal split" of their assets.
Stefani announced her relationship with Blake Shelton, country music artist and The Voice co-star, in November 2015. The couple announced their engagement on October 27, 2020, and married on July 3, 2021, at Shelton's Oklahoma ranch.
Artistry
AXS called Stefani a "powerhouse" vocalist with an "incredible" range. The New York Times considered Stefani's vocals "mannered" and commended her for "kick[ing] her vibrato addiction". IGN described Stefani as having a "unique vocal prowess". The Chicago Tribune stated that Stefani had a "brash alto".
Stefani's debut album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. took influence from a variety of 1980s genres, which included electropop, new wave, dance-rock, hip hop, R&B, soul, and disco music. Stefani cited early Madonna, Lisa Lisa, Club Nouveau, Prince, New Order and the Cure as major influences for the album. Several of the album's tracks were designed for clubs, and contained electro beats meant for dancing. Referencing fashion and wealth in the album, the singer name-drops several designers who she considered inspirations in her personal career, such as John Galliano and Vivienne Westwood. Her second studio album The Sweet Escape resembles musically its predecessor while exploring more modern pop sounds, dabbling heavily into genres such as dance-pop and rap. It carried on the same themes developed in Love. Angel. Music. Baby., and was criticized for doing so.This Is What the Truth Feels Like, the singer's third album, continued Stefani's endeavors with the pop genre, while incorporating music from a variety of other genres including reggae, disco, and dancehall, as well as the use of guitars. Stefani's lyrics shifted towards events that had recently occurred in her personal life, such as her divorce from Rossdale, and new relationship with Shelton. The singer stated her album was more about forgiveness than revenge.
Public image
Stefani began wearing a bindi in the mid-1990s after attending several family gatherings with Tony Kanal, who is of Indian heritage. During No Doubt's breakthrough, Stefani wore the forehead decoration in several of the band's music videos and briefly popularized the accessory in 1997. Since the 1995 music video for "Just a Girl", Stefani has been known for her midriff and frequently wears tops that expose it. Stefani's makeup design generally includes light face powder, bright red lipstick, and arched eyebrows; she wrote about the subject in a song titled "Magic's in the Makeup" for No Doubt's Return of Saturn, asking "If the magic's in the makeup/Then who am I?". Stefani is a natural brunette, but her hair has not been its natural color since she was in ninth grade. Since late 1994, she has usually had platinum blonde hair. Stefani discussed this in the song "Platinum Blonde Life" on Rock Steady and played original blonde bombshell Jean Harlow in the 2004 biopic The Aviator. She dyed her hair blue in 1998 and pink in 1999, when she appeared on the cover of Return of Saturn with pink hair.
In 2006, Stefani modified her image, inspired by that of Michelle Pfeiffer's character Elvira Hancock in the 1983 film Scarface. The reinvented image included a symbol consisting of two back-to-back 'G's, which appears on a diamond-encrusted key she wears on a necklace and which became a motif in the promotion of The Sweet Escape. Stefani raised concerns in January 2007 about her rapid weight loss following her pregnancy. She later stated that she had been on a diet since the sixth grade to fit in size 4 clothing. A wax figure of Stefani was unveiled at Madame Tussauds Las Vegas at The Venetian on September 22, 2010. The release of Stefani's first solo album brought attention to her entourage of four Harajuku Girls, who appear in outfits influenced by Gothic Lolita fashion, and are named for the area around the Harajuku Station of Tokyo. Stefani's clothing also took influence from Japanese fashion, in a style described as a combination between Christian Dior and Japan. The dancers are featured in her music videos, press coverage, and on the album cover for Love. Angel. Music. Baby., with a song named for and dedicated to them on the album. They were also featured in, and the namesake for, Stefani's Harajuku Lovers Tour. Forbes magazine reported that Stefani earned $27 million between June 2007 to June 2008 for her tour, fashion line and commercials, making her the world's 10th highest paid music personality at the time.
Achievements and legacy
Throughout her career as a solo artist, Stefani has won several music awards, including one Grammy Award, four MTV Video Music Awards, one American Music Award, one Brit Award, and two Billboard Music Awards. With No Doubt, she has won two Grammy Awards. In 2005, Rolling Stone called her "the only true female rock star left on radio or MTV" and featured her on the magazine's cover. Stefani received the Style Icon Award at the first People Magazine Awards in 2014. In 2016, the singer was honored at the Radio Disney Music Awards with a Hero Award, which is given to artists based on their personal contributions to various charitable works.
Stefani has been referred to as a "Pop Princess" by several contemporary music critics. In 2012, VH1 listed the singer at the number thirteen on their list of "100 Greatest Women in Music". Stefani's work has influenced artists and musicians including Hayley Williams of Paramore, Best Coast, Kim Petras, Teddy Sinclair, Katy Perry, Charli XCX, Kesha, Ava Max, Marina Diamandis, Rita Ora, Keke Palmer, Bebe Rexha, Dua Lipa, the Stunners, Kelly Clarkson, Sky Ferreira, Kirstin Maldonado of Pentatonix, Olivia Rodrigo, and Cover Drive. The latter group, a quartet of Barbados musicians, claimed that both Stefani and No Doubt had helped influence their music, to which the lead singer of the group, Amanda Reifer, said that she would "pass out" if she ever met Stefani.
The lead single from Love. Angel. Music. Baby., "What You Waiting For?", was considered by Pitchfork to be one of Stefani's best singles, and would later place it at number sixteen on their "Top 50 Singles of 2004" list. "Hollaback Girl" from Love. Angel. Music. Baby. would go on to be the first song to digitally sell an excess of one million copies in the United States; it was certified platinum in both the United States and Australia, and peaked at number forty-one on Billboards decade-end charts for 2000–09. Since its release in 2005, "Hollaback Girl" has been called Stefani's "signature song" by Rolling Stone.
Philanthropy
Following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Stefani donated $1 million to Save the Children's Japan Earthquake–Tsunami Children in Emergency Fund. Stefani also ran an auction on eBay from April 11 to 25, 2011, allowing participants to bid on vintage clothing items from her personal wardrobe and custom T-shirts designed and signed by her, as well as an admission to a private Harajuku-themed tea party hosted by her on June 7, 2011, at Los Angeles' first-ever Japanese-style maid café and pop art space, Royal/T, with proceeds from the auction going to Save the Children's relief effort.
At the amfAR gala during the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, Stefani auctioned off the lacy black dress she wore at the event for charity, raising over $125,000. A representative for designer Michael Angel, who helped Stefani with the design and worked as a stylist, said that Angel created the gown, not Stefani. In response, Angel released a statement confirming that the dress was designed by Stefani for L.A.M.B. to wear and be auctioned off at the amfAR gala. Stefani hosted a fundraiser with First Lady Michelle Obama in August 2012 at the singer's Beverly Hills home.
The singer-songwriter supports the LGBT community, stating in a 2019 Pride Source interview, "I would like to be blessed with a gay son; [...] I just want my boys to be healthy and happy. And I just ask God to guide me to be a good mother, which is not an easy thing at all."
Discography
Solo discography
Love. Angel. Music. Baby. (2004)
The Sweet Escape (2006)
This Is What the Truth Feels Like (2016)
You Make It Feel Like Christmas (2017)
No Doubt discography
No Doubt (1992)
The Beacon Street Collection (1995)
Tragic Kingdom (1995)
Return of Saturn (2000)
Rock Steady (2001)
Push and Shove'' (2012)
Tours
Headlining
Harajuku Lovers Tour (2005)
The Sweet Escape Tour (2007)
This Is What the Truth Feels Like Tour (2016)
Residency
Gwen Stefani – Just a Girl (2018–2021)
Promotional
MasterCard Priceless Surprises Presents Gwen Stefani (2015–2016)
Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre Final Shows (2016)
Festivals
Machaca Fest (2019)
Filmography
References
External links
1969 births
Living people
20th-century American singers
20th-century American women singers
21st-century American actresses
21st-century American singers
21st-century American women singers
Actresses from Fullerton, California
American contemporary R&B singers
American dance musicians
American expatriates in the United Kingdom
American fashion designers
American women pop singers
American women rock singers
American film actresses
American new wave musicians
American people of Italian descent
American people of Irish descent
American pop rock singers
American rock songwriters
American ska singers
American television actresses
American video game actresses
American voice actresses
American women in electronic music
Brit Award winners
Electronica musicians
Women new wave singers
Grammy Award winners
Interscope Records artists
Musicians from Anaheim, California
Musicians from Fullerton, California
No Doubt members
Participants in American reality television series
Singers from California
Songwriters from California
World Music Awards winners
Las Vegas shows
California State University, Fullerton people
Women hip hop record producers
American female hip hop singers
American female hip hop musicians
American women fashion designers
| true |
[
"Rita Moreno is a Puerto Rico-born American actress, singer, and dancer. With a career spanning nearly 80 years in the entertainment industry, Moreno is one of a few individuals to have won the four major annual American entertainment awards: an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy, and a Tony. She is also one of the few performers who have achieved the \"Triple Crown of Acting\", with individual competitive Academy, Emmy, and Tony awards for acting; she and Helen Hayes are the only two who have achieved both distinctions in their lifetimes. She has won numerous other awards, including various lifetime achievement awards and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor. On March 28, 2019 Moreno received a Peabody Award.\n\nMajor associations\n\nAcademy Awards\n1 win out of 1 nomination\n\nBAFTA Awards\n1 nomination\n\nDaytime Emmy Awards\n4 nominations\n\nGolden Globe Awards\n1 win out of 3 nominations\n\nGrammy Awards\n1 win out of 2 nominations \n\nLatin Grammy Awards\n1 win out of 1 nominations\n\nPeabody Award\n1 win out of 1 nomination\n\nPrimetime Emmy Awards\n2 wins out of 6 nominations\n\nScreen Actors Guild Awards\n1 win out of 1 nomination\n\nTony Awards\n1 win out of 1 nomination\n\nOther associations\n\nALMA Awards\n4 wins out of 7 nominations\n\nCableACE Awards\n1 win out of 1 nomination\n\nCritics' Choice Television Awards\n3 nominations\n\nDrama Desk Awards\n2 nominations\n\nGold Derby Awards\n1 nomination\n\nImagen Foundation Awards\n2 nominations\n\nLaurel Awards\n1 win out of 1 nomination\n\nNAACP Image Awards\n3 nominations\n\nOFTA Awards\n2 wins out of 8 nominations\n\nSatellite Awards\n1 nomination\n\nLondon Film Critics' Circle \n1 nomination\n\nReferences\n\nMoreno, Rita",
"Nena Danevic is a film editor who was nominated at the 57th Academy Awards for Best Film Editing. She was nominated for Amadeus. She shared her nomination with Michael Chandler.\n\nShe did win at the 39th British Academy Film Awards for Best Editing. Also for Amadeus with Michael Chandler.\n\nShe also won at the American Cinema Editors awards.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\nBest Editing BAFTA Award winners\nFilm editors\nPossibly living people\nYear of birth missing (living people)"
] |
[
"Gwen Stefani",
"Achievements and legacy",
"Did she win any awards?",
"Throughout her career as a solo artist, Stefani has won several music awards,",
"When did she when her first award?",
"I don't know.",
"What are some of the awards she won?",
"one Grammy Award,",
"Did she win any other awards?",
"four MTV Video Music Awards,"
] |
C_3b6f1cce745d44aeab1f515563ba42b8_0
|
What was her biggest achievement?
| 5 |
What was Gwen Stefani's biggest achievement?
|
Gwen Stefani
|
Throughout her career as a solo artist, Stefani has won several music awards, including one Grammy Award, four MTV Video Music Awards, one American Music Award, one Brit Award, and two Billboard Music Awards. With No Doubt, she has won two Grammy Awards. In 2005, Rolling Stone called her "the only true female rock star left on radio or MTV" and featured her on the magazine's cover. Stefani received the Style Icon Award at the first People Magazine Awards in 2014. Additionally in 2016, the singer was honored at the Radio Disney Music Awards with a Hero Award, which is given to artists based on their personal contributions to various charitable works. Stefani has been referred to as a "Pop Princess" by several contemporary music critics. In 2012, VH1 listed the singer at the number thirteen on their list of "100 Greatest Women in Music". Stefani's work has influenced a number of artists and musicians including Hayley Williams of Paramore, Best Coast, Katy Perry, Kesha, Marina and the Diamonds, Stefy, Rita Ora, Sky Ferreira, and Cover Drive. The latter group, a quartet of Barbados musicians, claimed that both Stefani and No Doubt had helped influence their music, to which the lead singer of the group, Amanda Reifer, admitted that she would "pass out" if she were to ever meet Stefani. The lead single from Love. Angel. Music. Baby., "What You Waiting For?", was considered by Pitchfork to be one of the best singles by Stefani, and would later place it at number sixteen on their "Top 50 Singles of 2004" list. Additionally, "Hollaback Girl" from the aforementioned album would go on to be the first song to digitally sell an excess of one million copies in the United States; it was certified platinum in both the United States and Australia, and peak at number forty-one on Billboard's decade-end charts for 2000-09. Since its release in 2005, "Hollaback Girl" has been called Stefani's "signature song" by Rolling Stone. CANNOTANSWER
|
Stefani has been referred to as a "Pop Princess" by several contemporary music critics.
|
Gwen Renée Stefani (; born October 3, 1969) is an American singer and songwriter. She is a co-founder, lead vocalist, and the primary songwriter of the band No Doubt, whose singles include "Just a Girl", "Spiderwebs", and "Don't Speak", from their 1995 breakthrough studio album Tragic Kingdom, as well as "Hey Baby" and "It's My Life" from later albums.
During the band's hiatus, Stefani embarked on a solo pop career in 2004 by releasing her debut studio album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. Inspired by pop music from the 1980s, the album was a critical and commercial success. It spawned six singles, including "What You Waiting For?", "Rich Girl", "Hollaback Girl", and "Cool". "Hollaback Girl" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart while also becoming the first US download to sell one million copies. In 2006, Stefani released her second studio album, The Sweet Escape. Among the singles were "Wind It Up" and "The Sweet Escape", the latter of which was number three on the Billboard Hot 100 year-end chart of 2007. Her third solo album, This Is What the Truth Feels Like (2016), was her first solo album to reach number one on the Billboard 200 chart. Her fourth solo album and first full-length Christmas album, You Make It Feel Like Christmas, was released in 2017 and charted 19 tracks on Billboards Holiday Digital Song Sales component chart in the United States. Stefani has released several singles with Blake Shelton, including "Nobody but You" (2020), which reached number 18 in the US.
Stefani has won three Grammy Awards. As a solo artist, she has received an American Music Award, Brit Award, World Music Award, and two Billboard Music Awards. In 2003, she debuted her clothing line L.A.M.B. and expanded her collection with the 2005 Harajuku Lovers line, inspired by Japanese culture and fashion. Billboard magazine ranked Stefani the 54th most successful artist and 37th most successful Hot 100 artist of the 2000–2009 decade. VH1 ranked her 13th on their "100 Greatest Women in Music" list in 2012. Including her work with No Doubt, Stefani has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide.
Early life
Gwen Renée Stefani was born on October 3, 1969, in Fullerton, California, and raised Catholic in nearby Anaheim, California. She was named after a stewardess in the 1968 novel Airport, and her middle name, Renée, comes from the Four Tops' 1968 version of the Left Banke's 1966 song "Walk Away Renée". Her father Dennis Stefani is Italian-American and worked as a Yamaha marketing executive. Her mother Patti (née Flynn) is Irish-American and worked as an accountant before becoming a housewife. Stefani's parents were fans of folk music and exposed her to music by artists like Bob Dylan and Emmylou Harris. Stefani has two younger siblings, Jill and Todd, and an older brother, Eric. Eric was the keyboardist for No Doubt before leaving the band to pursue a career in animation on The Simpsons.
Career
1986–2004: Career beginnings and No Doubt
Her brother Eric introduced Gwen to 2 Tone music by Madness and the Selecter and, in 1986, he invited her to provide vocals for No Doubt, a ska band he was forming. In 1991 the band was signed to Interscope Records. The band released its self-titled debut album in 1992, but its ska-pop sound was unsuccessful due to the popularity of grunge. Before the mainstream success of both No Doubt and Sublime, Stefani contributed guest vocals to "Saw Red" on Sublime's 1994 album Robbin' the Hood. Stefani rejected the aggressiveness of female grunge artists and cited Blondie singer Debbie Harry's combination of power and sex appeal as a major influence. No Doubt's third album, Tragic Kingdom (1995), which followed the self-released The Beacon Street Collection (1995), took more than three years to make. Five singles were released from Tragic Kingdom, including "Don't Speak", which led the Hot 100 Airplay year-end chart of 1997. Stefani left college for one semester to tour for Tragic Kingdom but did not return when touring lasted two and a half years. The album was nominated for a Grammy and sold more than 16 million copies worldwide by 2004. In late 2000, Rolling Stone magazine named her "the Queen of Confessional Pop".
During the time when No Doubt was receiving mainstream success, Stefani collaborated on the singles "You're the Boss" with the Brian Setzer Orchestra, "South Side" with Moby, and "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" with Eve. No Doubt released the less popular Return of Saturn in 2000, which expanded upon the new wave influences of Tragic Kingdom. Most of the lyrical content focused on Stefani's often rocky relationship with then-Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale and her insecurities, including indecision on settling down and having a child. The band's 2001 album, Rock Steady, explored more reggae and dancehall sounds, while maintaining the band's new wave influences. The album generated career-highest singles chart positions in the United States, and "Hey Baby" and "Underneath It All" received Grammy Awards. A greatest hits collection, The Singles 1992–2003, which includes a cover of Talk Talk's "It's My Life", was released in 2003. In 2002, Eve and Stefani won a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Let Me Blow Ya Mind".
2004–2006: Solo debut and other ventures
Stefani's debut solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. was released on November 12, 2004. The album features several collaborations with producers and other artists, including Tony Kanal, Tom Rothrock, Linda Perry, André 3000, Nellee Hooper, the Neptunes and New Order. Stefani created the album to modernize the music to which she listened when in high school, and L.A.M.B. takes influence from a variety of music styles of the 1980s and early 1990s such as new wave, synthpop, and electro. Stefani's decision to use her solo career as an opportunity to delve further into pop music instead of trying "to convince the world of [her] talent, depth and artistic worth" was considered unusual. The album was described as "fun as hell but... not exactly rife with subversive social commentary". The album debuted on the US Billboard 200 albums chart at number seven, selling 309,000 copies in its first week. L.A.M.B. reached multi-platinum status in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada.
The first single from the album was "What You Waiting For?", which debuted atop the ARIA Singles Chart, charted at number 47 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and reached the top ten on most other charts. The song served to explain why Stefani produced a solo album and discusses her fears in leaving No Doubt for a solo career as well as her desire to have a baby. "Rich Girl" was released as the album's second single. A duet with rapper Eve, and produced by Dr. Dre, it is an adaptation of a 1990s pop song by British musicians Louchie Lou & Michie One, which itself is a very loose cover lyrically but closer melodically of "If I Were a Rich Man", from the musical Fiddler on the Roof. "Rich Girl" reached the US and UK top ten. The album's third single "Hollaback Girl" became Stefani's first US and second Australian number-one single; it reached top ten elsewhere. The song was the first US music download to sell more than one million copies, and its brass-driven composition remained popular throughout 2005. The fourth single "Cool" was released shortly following the popularity of its predecessor, reaching the top 20 in US and UK. The song's lyrics and its accompanying music video, filmed on Lake Como, depict Stefani's former relationship with Kanal. "Luxurious" was released as the album's fifth single, but did not perform as well as its predecessors. "Crash" was released in January 2006 as the album's sixth single in lieu of Love. Angel. Music. Baby.s sequel, which Stefani postponed because of her pregnancy.
In 2004, Stefani showed interest in making film appearances and began auditioning for films such as Mr. & Mrs. Smith. She made her film debut playing Jean Harlow in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator in 2004. Scorsese, whose daughter was a No Doubt fan, showed reciprocal interest in casting Stefani after seeing her picture from a Marilyn Monroe-inspired photo shoot for Teen Vogue in 2003. To prepare for the role, Stefani read two biographies and watched 18 of Harlow's films. Shooting her part took four to five days, and Stefani had few lines. Stefani lent her voice to the title character of the 2004 video game Malice, but the company opted not to use No Doubt band members' voices.
2006–2013: The Sweet Escape and return to No Doubt
Stefani's second studio album, The Sweet Escape, was released on December 1, 2006. Stefani continued working with Kanal, Perry, and the Neptunes, along with Akon and Tim Rice-Oxley from English rock band Keane. The album focuses more heavily on electronic and dance music for clubs than its predecessor. Its release coincided with the DVD release of Stefani's first tour, entitled Harajuku Lovers Live. Sia Michel wrote that it "has a surprisingly moody, lightly autobiographical feel ... but Stefani isn't convincing as a dissatisfied diva" and Rob Sheffield called the album a "hasty return" that repeats Love. Angel. Music. Baby. with less energy.
"Wind It Up", the album's lead single, used yodeling and an interpolation of The Sound of Music, and peaked in the top 10 in the US and the UK. The title track reached the top 10 in over 15 nations, including number two peaks in the US, Australia and the UK. To promote The Sweet Escape, Stefani was a mentor on the sixth season of American Idol and performed the song with Akon. The song earned her a Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. Three more singles were released from the album; "4 in the Morning", "Now That You Got It" which featured Damian Marley and "Early Winter". To promote the album, Stefani embarked on a worldwide tour, The Sweet Escape Tour, which covered North America, Europe, Asia and the Pacific and part of Latin America. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly on June 6, 2011, Stefani stated that she had no plans to continue work as a solo artist.
With Stefani promoting The Sweet Escape, No Doubt began work on a new album without her and planned to complete it after Stefani's Sweet Escape Tour was finished. In March 2008, the band started making posts concerning the progression of the album on their official fan forum. Stefani made a post on March 28, 2008, stating that songwriting had commenced but was slow on her end because she was pregnant with her second child. The Singles 1992–2003 became available on December 9, 2008, for the video game Rock Band 2. Adrian Young played drums on Scott Weiland's album "Happy" in Galoshes. No Doubt headlined the Bamboozle 2009 festival in May 2009, along with Fall Out Boy. The band completed a national tour in mid-2009.
The new album Push and Shove was released on September 25, preceded by the first single, "Settle Down", on July 16. The music video for "Settle Down" was directed by Sophie Muller (who has previously directed numerous music videos for No Doubt). Also around this time No Doubt were guest mentors for the UK version of The X-Factor. "Settle Down" peaked at 34 on the Billboard Hot 100 with the album peaking at number three on the US Billboard 200. On November 3, 2012, the band pulled its music video "Looking Hot" from the Internet after receiving complaints that it was insensitive towards Native Americans. In January 2013, No Doubt make a cameo appearance in a hot air ballon for the third season of Portlandia.
2014–2017: The Voice, This Is What the Truth Feels Like and You Make It Feel Like Christmas
On April 12, 2014, Stefani made a surprise appearance at the Coachella festival, where she joined Pharrell Williams onstage during his set to perform "Hollaback Girl". On April 29, it was officially confirmed that Stefani would join the seventh season of The Voice as a coach, replacing Christina Aguilera. Nine years after the previous time, she attended the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards. Stefani appears as a featured artist on Maroon 5's song "My Heart Is Open", co-written by Sia Furler, from the band's album V, which was performed for the first time with Adam Levine and an orchestra at the 2015 Grammy Awards. Stefani also collaborated with Calvin Harris on the track "Together" from his album Motion.
On September 8, 2014, Stefani told MTV News during New York Fashion Week that she was working on both a No Doubt album and a solo album, and that she was working with Williams. Stefani released her comeback single "Baby Don't Lie" on October 20, 2014, co-written with producers Ryan Tedder, Benny Blanco, and Noel Zancanella. Billboard announced that her third studio album was set to be released in December with Benny Blanco serving as executive producer. In late October, "Spark the Fire", a new track from Stefani's third album, was released. The song was produced by Pharrell Williams. On November 23, the full song premiered online. Both "Baby Don't Lie" and "Spark the Fire" were later scrapped from Stefani's third album. On January 13, 2015, Stefani and Williams also recorded a song titled "Shine", for the Paddington soundtrack. Stefani and Sia Furler worked together on a ballad, called "Start a War" which was expected to be released on Stefani's third studio album as well, but it was not included on the final cut. On July 10, 2015, American rapper Eminem featured Stefani on his single "Kings Never Die", from the Southpaw film soundtrack. The track debuted and peaked at number 80 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and matched first-week digital download sales of 35,000 copies.
On October 17, 2015, Stefani performed a concert as part of her MasterCard Priceless Surprises tour series at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, where she performed a new song about her breakup with ex-husband Gavin Rossdale, titled "Used to Love You". It was released as a download on October 20, 2015. The video was released the same day. The song was released to contemporary hit radio in the United States on October 27, 2015. The track is the first official single off her third solo album This Is What the Truth Feels Like, which she began working on in mid-2015. Stefani said much of the previous material she worked on in 2014 felt forced and inauthentic, the opposite of what she had originally wanted. The album's second single, "Make Me Like You", was released on February 12, 2016. This Is What the Truth Feels Like was released on March 18, 2016, and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with 84,000 album-equivalent units sold in its first week, earning Stefani her first number-one album on the U.S. chart as a solo artist. To further promote the album, Stefani embarked on her This Is What the Truth Feels Like Tour with rapper Eve in the United States. Stefani voiced DJ Suki in the animated film Trolls, which was released on November 4, 2016. She is also included on five songs from the film's official soundtrack. Stefani twice performed as part of the "Final Shows" at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre on October 29–30, before the venue's closure due to The Irvine Company not renewing the venue's land lease.
Stefani was interviewed for the documentary series The Defiant Ones, which was released in July 2017. The same month, she announced plans to release new music by the end of the year. In August, several song titles from the singer's sessions were published on GEMA's official website, suggesting that she may be recording a holiday album. The songwriting credits from the leaked tracks had Stefani collaborating with busbee, Blake Shelton, and Justin Tranter. The album, titled You Make It Feel Like Christmas, was released on October 6, 2017. Its title track, featuring guest vocals from Shelton, was digitally distributed on September 22, 2017, as the lead single. To promote the record, Stefani hosted Gwen Stefani's You Make It Feel Like Christmas, an NBC Christmas television special that aired on December 12, 2017.
2018–present: Upcoming fifth studio album
Stefani's first concert residency, titled Just a Girl: Las Vegas, began on June 27, 2018, at the Zappos Theater in Las Vegas. It concluded on May 16, 2020. It was named after No Doubt's song "Just a Girl". Proceeds from the show ($1 per ticket) were donated to the organization Cure4Kids. A deluxe edition of You Make It Feel Like Christmas was released in October 2018, and was promoted through the single "Secret Santa". On June 22, 2019, Stefani performed at the Machaca Fest in Fundidora Park. In the same month, The New York Times Magazine listed Stefani among hundreds of artists whose material was destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire. In June 2019, Stefani replaced Adam Levine as a coach for The Voices 17th season after Levine left the show after 16 seasons as a coach. Stefani was replaced by first-time coach Nick Jonas for the 18th season. She returned for her fifth season of The Voice'''s 19th season as a replacement for Jonas. her finalist Carter Rubin was named the winner, giving her the first victory as a coach after her fifth attempt, and the ninth coach (and fourth female after Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys, and Kelly Clarkson) to do so. In November 2020, while the 19th season was still airing, it was announced Jonas would once again replace Stefani as a judge for season 20.
On December 13, 2019, Stefani featured on Shelton's single "Nobody but You" from his compilation album Fully Loaded: God's Country. The song peaked at number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and 49 on the Canadian Hot 100. On July 24, 2020, Stefani and Shelton released another single titled "Happy Anywhere" inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic. Stefani was initially scheduled to perform at Lollapalooza's 2020 festival, but it was postponed due to the pandemic. Lollapalooza was held as a four-day livestream in July and August 2020, but Stefani did not participate in it.
Stefani was featured on a Mark Ronson remix of Dua Lipa's "Physical", which is included on Lipa's remix album Club Future Nostalgia (2020). Stefani was initially approached to clear a "Hollaback Girl" sample for the Mr Fingers' remix of Lipa's "Hallucinate", and then asked to be a part of the "Physical" remix. To promote 2020 reissued edition of You Make It Feel Like Christmas, Stefani released a cover of "Sleigh Ride" as a single.
On December 7, 2020, Stefani released "Let Me Reintroduce Myself" as the lead single from upcoming fifth studio album. She followed this with a second single "Slow Clap" on March 11, 2021, which received a remix featuring Saweetie the following month. Stefani also teased other new music through her Instagram account, announcing she recorded two new tracks titled "When Loving Gets Old" and "Cry Happy".
Other ventures
Stefani made most of the clothing that she wore on stage with No Doubt, resulting in increasingly eclectic combinations. Stylist Andrea Lieberman introduced her to haute couture clothing, which led to Stefani launching a fashion line named L.A.M.B. in 2004. The line takes influence from a variety of fashions, including Guatemalan, Japanese, and Jamaican styles. The line achieved popularity among celebrities and is worn by stars such as Teri Hatcher, Nicole Kidman, and Stefani herself. In June 2005, she expanded her collection with the less expensive Harajuku Lovers line, which she referred to as "a glorified merchandise line", with varied products including a camera, mobile phone charms, and undergarments. Alt URL In late 2006, Stefani released a limited edition line of dolls called "Love. Angel. Music. Baby. Fashion dolls". The dolls are inspired by the clothes Stefani and the Harajuku Girls wore while touring for the album.
In late 2007, Stefani launched a perfume, L, as a part of her L.A.M.B. collection of clothing and accessories. The perfume has high notes of sweet pea and rose. In September 2008, Stefani released a fragrance line as a part of her Harajuku Lovers product line. There are five different fragrances based on the four Harajuku Girls and Stefani herself called Love, Lil' Angel, Music, Baby and G (Gwen). , Stefani has become the spokesperson for L'Oréal Paris. In 2016, Urban Decay released a limited edition cosmetic collection in collaboration with Stefani. After needing to wear glasses, she began designing eyewear. In 2016, Gwen began releasing eyewear under her fashion label L.A.M.B. She also began releasing affordable eyewear under the label GX, with Tura Inc.
In 2014, Stefani announced the production of an animated series about her and the Harajuku Girls. Along with Vision Animation and Moody Street Kids, Stefani has helped create the show which features herself, Love, Angel, Music, and Baby as the band, HJ5, who fight evil whilst trying to pursue their music career. Mattel was the global toy licensee and the series itself, Kuu Kuu Harajuku was distributed worldwide by DHX Media.
Personal life
Stefani began dating her bandmate Tony Kanal, soon after he joined the band. She stated that she was heavily invested in that relationship, and commented that "...all I ever did was look at Tony and pray that God would let me have a baby with him." The band almost split up when Kanal ended the relationship.Born to Be. MuchMusic programming. Original airdate: March 2006. Retrieved November 13, 2006. Their break-up inspired Stefani lyrically, and many of Tragic Kingdoms songs, such as "Don't Speak", "Sunday Morning", and "Hey You!", chronicle the ups and downs of their relationship. Many years later, Stefani co-wrote her song "Cool" about their relationship as friends for her 2004 debut solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby.Stefani met Bush lead singer and guitarist Gavin Rossdale in 1995, when No Doubt and headlining band Bush performed at a holiday concert for radio station KROQ. They married on September 14, 2002, with a wedding in St Paul's, Covent Garden, London. A second wedding was held in Los Angeles two weeks later. Stefani has three sons with Rossdale, born in May 2006, August 2008, and February 2014. On August 3, 2015, Stefani filed for divorce from Rossdale, citing "irreconcilable differences". Their divorce was finalized on April 8, 2016, in which Rossdale agreed to the "unequal split" of their assets.
Stefani announced her relationship with Blake Shelton, country music artist and The Voice co-star, in November 2015. The couple announced their engagement on October 27, 2020, and married on July 3, 2021, at Shelton's Oklahoma ranch.
Artistry
AXS called Stefani a "powerhouse" vocalist with an "incredible" range. The New York Times considered Stefani's vocals "mannered" and commended her for "kick[ing] her vibrato addiction". IGN described Stefani as having a "unique vocal prowess". The Chicago Tribune stated that Stefani had a "brash alto".
Stefani's debut album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. took influence from a variety of 1980s genres, which included electropop, new wave, dance-rock, hip hop, R&B, soul, and disco music. Stefani cited early Madonna, Lisa Lisa, Club Nouveau, Prince, New Order and the Cure as major influences for the album. Several of the album's tracks were designed for clubs, and contained electro beats meant for dancing. Referencing fashion and wealth in the album, the singer name-drops several designers who she considered inspirations in her personal career, such as John Galliano and Vivienne Westwood. Her second studio album The Sweet Escape resembles musically its predecessor while exploring more modern pop sounds, dabbling heavily into genres such as dance-pop and rap. It carried on the same themes developed in Love. Angel. Music. Baby., and was criticized for doing so.This Is What the Truth Feels Like, the singer's third album, continued Stefani's endeavors with the pop genre, while incorporating music from a variety of other genres including reggae, disco, and dancehall, as well as the use of guitars. Stefani's lyrics shifted towards events that had recently occurred in her personal life, such as her divorce from Rossdale, and new relationship with Shelton. The singer stated her album was more about forgiveness than revenge.
Public image
Stefani began wearing a bindi in the mid-1990s after attending several family gatherings with Tony Kanal, who is of Indian heritage. During No Doubt's breakthrough, Stefani wore the forehead decoration in several of the band's music videos and briefly popularized the accessory in 1997. Since the 1995 music video for "Just a Girl", Stefani has been known for her midriff and frequently wears tops that expose it. Stefani's makeup design generally includes light face powder, bright red lipstick, and arched eyebrows; she wrote about the subject in a song titled "Magic's in the Makeup" for No Doubt's Return of Saturn, asking "If the magic's in the makeup/Then who am I?". Stefani is a natural brunette, but her hair has not been its natural color since she was in ninth grade. Since late 1994, she has usually had platinum blonde hair. Stefani discussed this in the song "Platinum Blonde Life" on Rock Steady and played original blonde bombshell Jean Harlow in the 2004 biopic The Aviator. She dyed her hair blue in 1998 and pink in 1999, when she appeared on the cover of Return of Saturn with pink hair.
In 2006, Stefani modified her image, inspired by that of Michelle Pfeiffer's character Elvira Hancock in the 1983 film Scarface. The reinvented image included a symbol consisting of two back-to-back 'G's, which appears on a diamond-encrusted key she wears on a necklace and which became a motif in the promotion of The Sweet Escape. Stefani raised concerns in January 2007 about her rapid weight loss following her pregnancy. She later stated that she had been on a diet since the sixth grade to fit in size 4 clothing. A wax figure of Stefani was unveiled at Madame Tussauds Las Vegas at The Venetian on September 22, 2010. The release of Stefani's first solo album brought attention to her entourage of four Harajuku Girls, who appear in outfits influenced by Gothic Lolita fashion, and are named for the area around the Harajuku Station of Tokyo. Stefani's clothing also took influence from Japanese fashion, in a style described as a combination between Christian Dior and Japan. The dancers are featured in her music videos, press coverage, and on the album cover for Love. Angel. Music. Baby., with a song named for and dedicated to them on the album. They were also featured in, and the namesake for, Stefani's Harajuku Lovers Tour. Forbes magazine reported that Stefani earned $27 million between June 2007 to June 2008 for her tour, fashion line and commercials, making her the world's 10th highest paid music personality at the time.
Achievements and legacy
Throughout her career as a solo artist, Stefani has won several music awards, including one Grammy Award, four MTV Video Music Awards, one American Music Award, one Brit Award, and two Billboard Music Awards. With No Doubt, she has won two Grammy Awards. In 2005, Rolling Stone called her "the only true female rock star left on radio or MTV" and featured her on the magazine's cover. Stefani received the Style Icon Award at the first People Magazine Awards in 2014. In 2016, the singer was honored at the Radio Disney Music Awards with a Hero Award, which is given to artists based on their personal contributions to various charitable works.
Stefani has been referred to as a "Pop Princess" by several contemporary music critics. In 2012, VH1 listed the singer at the number thirteen on their list of "100 Greatest Women in Music". Stefani's work has influenced artists and musicians including Hayley Williams of Paramore, Best Coast, Kim Petras, Teddy Sinclair, Katy Perry, Charli XCX, Kesha, Ava Max, Marina Diamandis, Rita Ora, Keke Palmer, Bebe Rexha, Dua Lipa, the Stunners, Kelly Clarkson, Sky Ferreira, Kirstin Maldonado of Pentatonix, Olivia Rodrigo, and Cover Drive. The latter group, a quartet of Barbados musicians, claimed that both Stefani and No Doubt had helped influence their music, to which the lead singer of the group, Amanda Reifer, said that she would "pass out" if she ever met Stefani.
The lead single from Love. Angel. Music. Baby., "What You Waiting For?", was considered by Pitchfork to be one of Stefani's best singles, and would later place it at number sixteen on their "Top 50 Singles of 2004" list. "Hollaback Girl" from Love. Angel. Music. Baby. would go on to be the first song to digitally sell an excess of one million copies in the United States; it was certified platinum in both the United States and Australia, and peaked at number forty-one on Billboards decade-end charts for 2000–09. Since its release in 2005, "Hollaback Girl" has been called Stefani's "signature song" by Rolling Stone.
Philanthropy
Following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Stefani donated $1 million to Save the Children's Japan Earthquake–Tsunami Children in Emergency Fund. Stefani also ran an auction on eBay from April 11 to 25, 2011, allowing participants to bid on vintage clothing items from her personal wardrobe and custom T-shirts designed and signed by her, as well as an admission to a private Harajuku-themed tea party hosted by her on June 7, 2011, at Los Angeles' first-ever Japanese-style maid café and pop art space, Royal/T, with proceeds from the auction going to Save the Children's relief effort.
At the amfAR gala during the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, Stefani auctioned off the lacy black dress she wore at the event for charity, raising over $125,000. A representative for designer Michael Angel, who helped Stefani with the design and worked as a stylist, said that Angel created the gown, not Stefani. In response, Angel released a statement confirming that the dress was designed by Stefani for L.A.M.B. to wear and be auctioned off at the amfAR gala. Stefani hosted a fundraiser with First Lady Michelle Obama in August 2012 at the singer's Beverly Hills home.
The singer-songwriter supports the LGBT community, stating in a 2019 Pride Source interview, "I would like to be blessed with a gay son; [...] I just want my boys to be healthy and happy. And I just ask God to guide me to be a good mother, which is not an easy thing at all."
Discography
Solo discography
Love. Angel. Music. Baby. (2004)
The Sweet Escape (2006)
This Is What the Truth Feels Like (2016)
You Make It Feel Like Christmas (2017)
No Doubt discography
No Doubt (1992)
The Beacon Street Collection (1995)
Tragic Kingdom (1995)
Return of Saturn (2000)
Rock Steady (2001)
Push and Shove'' (2012)
Tours
Headlining
Harajuku Lovers Tour (2005)
The Sweet Escape Tour (2007)
This Is What the Truth Feels Like Tour (2016)
Residency
Gwen Stefani – Just a Girl (2018–2021)
Promotional
MasterCard Priceless Surprises Presents Gwen Stefani (2015–2016)
Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre Final Shows (2016)
Festivals
Machaca Fest (2019)
Filmography
References
External links
1969 births
Living people
20th-century American singers
20th-century American women singers
21st-century American actresses
21st-century American singers
21st-century American women singers
Actresses from Fullerton, California
American contemporary R&B singers
American dance musicians
American expatriates in the United Kingdom
American fashion designers
American women pop singers
American women rock singers
American film actresses
American new wave musicians
American people of Italian descent
American people of Irish descent
American pop rock singers
American rock songwriters
American ska singers
American television actresses
American video game actresses
American voice actresses
American women in electronic music
Brit Award winners
Electronica musicians
Women new wave singers
Grammy Award winners
Interscope Records artists
Musicians from Anaheim, California
Musicians from Fullerton, California
No Doubt members
Participants in American reality television series
Singers from California
Songwriters from California
World Music Awards winners
Las Vegas shows
California State University, Fullerton people
Women hip hop record producers
American female hip hop singers
American female hip hop musicians
American women fashion designers
| true |
[
"Monica Bandini (November 16, 1964 – April 19, 2021) was an Italian racing cyclist. Her biggest achievement in the sport was winning the world title in the women's team time trial (1988), alongside Maria Canins, Roberta Bonanomi, and Francesca Galli.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n1964 births\n2021 deaths\nItalian female cyclists\nPeople from Faenza\nUCI Road World Champions (women)",
"Francesca Galli (born 5 July 1960 in Desio, Monza) is a retired racing cyclist from Italy. Her biggest achievement was winning the world title in the women's team time trial (1988), alongside Maria Canins, Roberta Bonanomi, and Monica Bandini.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n1960 births\nLiving people\nPeople from Desio\nItalian female cyclists\nUCI Road World Champions (women)\nCyclists from Lombardy"
] |
[
"Marc Hunter",
"1982-89: Dragon reborn, Party Boys and solo Communication"
] |
C_d3884a6b239a4428b607b74dd46e9b93_0
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What did Hunter do in 1992?
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What did Marc Hunter do in 1992?
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Marc Hunter
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In August 1982 Dragon reformed with the line-up of Marc, Todd, Hewson, Jacobsen and Robert Taylor on guitar (ex-Mammal) for a national Class Reunion tour. McFarlane noted that it was "Ostensibly run to pay off outstanding debts, the tour proved so successful that the band re-formed on a permanent basis." Their single, "Rain", was issued in July 1983, which peaked at No. 2. It was co-written by Marc, Todd and the latter's then-girlfriend, Johanna Pigott; and had Mansfield producing. Soon after Mansfield joined Dragon on keyboards and as a songwriter. In June 1984 the group's next album, Body and the Beat, which was produced by Mansfield and Carey Taylor, was released and peaked at No. 5. The group provided "a much fuller, more rock-oriented sound... [it] was a polished, contemporary sounding Adult Oriented Rock rock album." After a tour in support of the album, Hewson left to return to New Zealand, he died of a heroin overdose in January 1985. While on a break between Dragon tours Hunter joined the Party Boys, a "good-time rock'n'roll band" with a floating ensemble, for their Great Bars of Australia tour. The line-up of Hunter, Borich, Paul Christie on bass guitar (ex-Mondo Rock), Richard Harvey on drums (ex-Divinyls) and Joe Walsh on guitar and lead vocals (of the Eagles), recorded that group's fourth live album, You Need Professional Help (1985), during the tour. Hunter issued his third solo album, Communication, in September 1985 with various session musicians used: Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, Kirk Lorange, Mark Punch and Peter Walker on guitars, Todd Hunter and Phil Scorgie on bass guitar, Allan Mansfield and Don Walker on keyboards, and Mark Kennedy and Ricky Fataar on drums. Mansfield produced the album, which McFarlane described as "a polished set of Adult Oriented Rock (AOR) songs." Its title track had been released as a single in 1984. Hunter returned to his duties with Dragon and was recorded on two more studio albums by the end of the decade. CANNOTANSWER
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In August 1982 Dragon reformed with the line-up of Marc, Todd, Hewson, Jacobsen and Robert Taylor on guitar
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Marc Alexander Hunter (7 September 195317 July 1998) was a New Zealand rock and pop singer, songwriter and record producer. He was the lead vocalist of Dragon (1973–11/1979, 8/1982–1989, 1995–11/1997), a band formed by his older brother, Todd Hunter, in Auckland in January 1972. They relocated to Sydney in May 1975. He was also a member of the Party Boys in 1985. For his solo career he issued five studio albums, Fiji Bitter (November 1979), Big City Talk (August 1981), Communication (September 1985), Night and Day (August 1990) and Talk to Strangers (late 1994). During the 1970s Hunter developed heroin and alcohol addictions and was incarcerated at Mt Eden Prison in Auckland in 1978. He was recklessly outspoken and volatile on-stage. In November 1978 during the band's American tour, supporting Johnny Winter, they performed in Dallas, Texas, where "he made some general stage observations about redneck buddies, illegal oral sex and utility trucks" and called the audience members, "faggots". Upon his return to Australia, in February 1979, he was fired from the group by his brother, Todd.
In August 1982 Hunter returned to the line-up of Dragon and continued with the group while also maintaining his solo career. The band included Craig Laird on lead guitar (currently of 1927) and Steve Boyd on drums (ex-Adam Brand). They disbanded in November 1997 when he was diagnosed with throat cancer, and he died on 17 July 1998. Benefit concerts were held to provide for his widow, Wendy Hunter, and children. On 1 July 2008, the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) inducted Dragon into their Hall of Fame. His biography, Chasing the Dragon: the Life and Death of Marc Hunter, was published by Jeff Apter in October 2011.
Early life
Marc Alexander Hunter was born in Taumarunui on 7 September 1953. In the late 1950s his family performed publicly where his father, Stuart, played saxophone, his mother Voi played piano and his older brother, Todd Hunter (born 1951) played guitar with Marc providing drums. He also grew up with two younger brothers, Ross and Brett. Hunter remembered, "We got guitars for Christmas one year, I broke mine but Todd played his. He was two years older than me and always more interested in music. I only saw it as a way of wagging school." He described his home town, "[it] was a great place to grow up in, and a great place to run away from, because you always knew you could go back to it and nothing much would have changed. It was the place where our parents always told us to 'Do what you want to do, just try and be happy doing it.'"
Hunter attended Taumarunui High School and started performing as a cabaret singer, Todd later reminisced, "Oh, he was fabulous! He was playing in cabaret lounges and entertaining all sorts of people, driving a pink Mercedes, all that sort of stuff, straight out of school!" Hunter also provided drums and vocals as a member of a band, Quintessence, which performed at a restaurant in Auckland.
Music career
1970–79: Dragon
In 1973, Hunter issued a solo single, "X-Ray Creature" (1973), on the Family Records label.
Todd, meanwhile, had formed a progressive rock band, Dragon, in January 1972 in Auckland. About a year later the group "played in the next room to [Marc] one night, and he came through and did some songs ... I think we were playing for a really tough crowd of dock-workers, it was really tough and he just swanned in and was excruciatingly funny and completely irreverent. We just thought this guy's great – he's even madder than us, we must get him!"
Marc Hunter joined Dragon in 1973 on lead vocals, percussion and saxophone, replacing their founding member singer, pianist Graeme Collins. The band recorded two progressive rock albums for Vertigo Records, their guitarist, Robert Taylor later recalled "[our gigs] weren't totally original, they were doing things like Santana and Doors songs... At that stage Marc Hunter was playing congas and I think a little bit of sax." They moved to Sydney in May 1975. They were managed by Wayne de Grouchy who told Hunter that he should "stop playing the congas, be more of a front man... Marc was more than just one of the musos." Dragon became a pop-rock act after Paul Hewson joined on keyboards in 1975. They supported Status Quo on their Australian tour in October 1975.
Dragon became one of Australia's biggest-selling bands, scoring a number of hit singles, including "April Sun in Cuba" (No. 2, November 1977) and "Are You Old Enough?" (No. 1, August 1978). Their related top 10 albums, were Running Free (No. 6, 1977) and O Zambezi (No. 3, 1978). Hunter was incarcerated in Mt Eden Prison, Auckland in 1978 due to developing heroin and alcohol addictions. He was recklessly outspoken and volatile on-stage: in November 1978 during the band's North American tour, supporting Johnny Winter, they performed in Dallas, Texas, where "he made some general stage observations about redneck buddies, illegal oral sex and utility trucks" and called the audience members, "faggots".
In February 1979 Hunter was fired from Dragon by his brother. Todd later explained, "He was demonic... Things like Dallas happened all the time. The 'Miss Mercy' mock rape thing lasted until these feminists started getting up and punching him in the face. Most of the time I wasn't drinking or anything and, from my perspective, this Fall of the Roman Empire thing was pretty wild. I hated a lot of it. People came along because they wanted to see Dragon decombust. They were enjoying it but Marc was just killing himself. We had to fire him or he'd have destroyed himself."
Dragon were named in the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Drug Trafficking (1981–83), due to their association with fellow New Zealander, Greg Ollard. Its report stated "that Ollard supplied heroin to group members and that at least one member of the group sold heroin on Ollard's behalf." According to David Nichols, in the mid-1970s, "Three of the five members of Dragon – Marc Hunter, Hewson, and Storey – were by now associated with heroin selling and consumption." Ollard had been murdered in September 1977 and his body was found five years later.
1979–82: Solo Career: Fiji Bitter and Big City Talk
Marc Hunter travelled overseas to recuperate, visiting Morocco and London. Back in Australia he signed a recording deal with CBS, which issued his debut solo album, Fiji Bitter, in November 1979. For the sessions he used Todd on bass guitar, John Annas on drums (ex-Kevin Borich Express), Harvey James on guitar (from Sherbet), and Terry Wilson on guitar (ex-Original Batter-sea Heroes, Wasted Daze).
Fiji Bitter was recorded at Studios 301 in Sydney with Richard Lush producing and engineering – Hunter wrote or co-wrote most of its tracks. The album's lead single, "Island Nights" (July), peaked at No. 20. He formed Marc Hunter and the Romantics, with Annas and James, to promote the album. Two more singles, "Don't Take Me" (November) and "When You Walk in the Room" (January 1980), appeared – neither reached the top 50.
In 1980 Hunter, on lead vocals, formed an R&B group in Sydney, the Headhunters, with Todd on bass guitar (by then ex-Dragon), Kevin Borich on guitar, Mick Cocks on guitar (ex-Rose Tattoo), John Watson on drums (ex-Kevin Borich Express). Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, described them as "an ad hoc aggregation of musicians who were drawn together by a love of playing raucous R&B".
Hunter resumed his solo career with his second album, Big City Talk, which appeared in August 1981 on PolyGram/Mercury labels. It was co-produced by Hunter and Todd. Debbie Muir of The Canberra Times, felt it "covered a wide range of material that bore some resemblance to his last album, Fiji Bitter, but was totally different to his old, Dragon days." He had used session musicians: Kevin Borich, Dave Mason (of The Reels) and Mark Punch (ex-Renée Geyer Band). Muir's fellow journalist at The Canberra Times, Garry Raffaele, opined that it "is flat, directionless, unexciting, effete rock and roll. It is devoid of feeling."
On working as a solo artist, he declared, "I am happier now on my own. I was in a wretched state of mind when I was in the band... I miss the camaraderie involved but then I prefer to make my own decisions." The title track, "Big City Talk", was released as a single in July and reached No. 25. Follow up singles, "(Rock'n'Roll is) a Loser's Game" (September), "Side Show" (November) and "Nothing but a Lie" (May 1982) did not chart. In 1981 he formed the Marc Hunter Band and in October they toured Australia with Renée Geyer; the set included a duet by Hunter and Geyer. During 1982 Hunter was working with US-born keyboardist and record producer, Alan Mansfield. In March of that year he was arrested for "$4500 in unpaid parking fines", he described his jail cell as "unbelievably filthy."
1982–89: Dragon reborn, Party Boys and solo Communication
In August 1982 Dragon reformed with the line-up of Marc, Todd, Hewson, Jacobsen and Robert Taylor on guitar (ex-Mammal) for a national Class Reunion tour. McFarlane noted that it was "Ostensibly run to pay off outstanding debts, the tour proved so successful that the band re-formed on a permanent basis." Their single, "Rain", was issued in July 1983, which peaked at No. 2. It was co-written by Marc, Todd and the latter's then-girlfriend, Johanna Pigott; and had Mansfield producing.
In June 1984 the group's next album, Body and the Beat, which was produced by Mansfield and Carey Taylor, was released and peaked at No. 5. The group provided "a much fuller, more rock-oriented sound... [it] was a polished, contemporary sounding Adult Oriented Rock rock album." After a tour in support of the album, Hewson left to return to New Zealand, he died of a heroin overdose in January 1985.
While on a break between Dragon tours Hunter joined the Party Boys, a "good-time rock'n'roll band" with a floating ensemble, for their Great Bars of Australia tour. The line-up of Hunter, Kevin Borich on guitar, Paul Christie on bass guitar (ex-Mondo Rock), Richard Harvey on drums (ex-Divinyls) and Joe Walsh on guitar and lead vocals (of the Eagles), recorded that group's fourth live album, You Need Professional Help (1985), during the tour.
Hunter issued his third solo album, Communication, in September 1985 with various session musicians used: Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, Kirk Lorange, Mark Punch and Peter Walker on guitars, Todd Hunter and Phil Scorgie on bass guitar, Allan Mansfield and Don Walker on keyboards, and Mark Kennedy and Ricky Fataar on drums. Mansfield produced the album, which McFarlane described as "a polished set of Adult Oriented Rock (AOR) songs." Its title track had been released as a single in 1984. Hunter returned to his duties with Dragon and was recorded on two more studio albums by the end of the decade.
1989–96: Night and Day, Talk to Strangers to Dragon finale
Marc Hunter was invited by Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Keith Walker to contribute to a various artists' children's album, Zzzero (1989). He provided lullaby versions of Billie Holiday's "God Bless the Child" and Bob Dylan's "Forever Young". He worked with Walker producing when recording his next solo album, Night and Day (August 1990), which was "a collection of jazz and pop standards."
Late in 1994 Hunter's fifth solo album, Talk to Strangers, was released, which had Hunter co-producing with David Hirschfelder and Mark Walmsley via the Roadshow Music label. Soon after Hunter was back with Dragon to record their album, Incarnations (1995). Todd then left the band to concentrate on his work for film and television soundtracks. Dragon with Hunter and Mansfield aboard toured during 1996 with a line-up of Mike Caen on guitar, Ange Tsoitoudis on guitar, Dario Bortolin on bass guitar (ex-Scary Mother).
1997–98: Night of the Hunter and death
In November 1997, Marc Hunter was diagnosed with throat cancer. He had felt unwell, "One doctor told Marc he probably had tonsillitis and sent him home. Unsatisfied with this diagnosis, Marc visited a throat specialist. 'The doctor felt around my throat, and said, "You have a large cancer." I sort of didn't hear anything for a minute. I was stunned. I just sat there.'"
His friends, including Renée Geyer, organised a benefit concert to raise money for his treatment and to provide for his wife and children. Geyer explained, "He's a dear old friend and he's someone who's put a lot of time and energy into the business. I just thought it would be great for the industry to give a little bit back to someone who has given so much." The concert, Night of the Hunter, was held in February 1998 at the Palais Theatre in St Kilda in Melbourne. It had various artists performing Dragon tracks: "Are You Old Enough?" by Tex Perkins and friends, Chris Wilson singing "O Zambezi", Paul Kelly and Geyer singing a duet of "I'm Still in Love with You", Snout performing "Rain" and Men at Work’s Colin Hay provided a new song he wrote in Hunter's honour.
The finale, "April Sun in Cuba", was rendered by the ensemble led by John Farnham and his band, with Todd on bass guitar. The house erupted when Geyer led Hunter onto the stage where he joined in for his signature tune for what became his last stage appearance. Todd described the concert "Marc sang, maybe for the last time, that song. These musicians' incredible generosity was so phenomenal. There was a time when Marc thought nobody cared about his music. But he was amazed by what all these guys were doing, and it got to him in an incredible way."
Another benefit, the Good Vibrations concert, was staged soon after at Selina's nightclub in the Coogee Bay Hotel in Sydney's eastern suburbs. The performers included Glenn Shorrock, James Reyne, Ross Wilson, Todd Hunter, Alan Mansfield, Robert Taylor, Tommy Emmanuel, Men at Work regrouped for the first time in a decade to perform, and the remaining members of INXS performed live for the first time since the death of their lead singer, Michael Hutchence; Peter Garrett and Jimmy Barnes provided a duet on "Dreams of Ordinary Men" and "Speak no Evil". Hunter was unavailable – he was in Korea undergoing alternative therapy to prepare for a major throat operation, but he sent a letter which was read to the crowd. The gig was taped and an audio 2-CD live album, Good Vibrations – A Concert for Marc Hunter (1998), was released as well as a VHS video album of the same name.
For the last few months of his life, Hunter underwent various forms of treatment including several alternative medicine remedies – he attended a traditional Korean medicine clinic to undertake "an ancient metaphysical healing process, Qi". Hunter reflected, "I have thought a lot about the possibility of dying... Now, I believe it doesn't really matter when or where you die, but how you live your life. If somebody diagnoses you with cancer and tells you they are going to cut open your jaw and take out a tumor, you would panic unless you had something to sustain you. But my time with the Qi masters gave me a tap on the shoulder and reminded me we are spiritual beings."
He died in Berry near Kiama on 17 July 1998. A memorial service for him was held at St. Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney, followed by an all-star benefit concert to raise money to support his widow and children. A compilation CD, Forever Young, was released on Raven Records, highlighting his solo career.
Marc Hunter was buried at Gerringong Cemetery, Gerringong, New South Wales.
2008-present: Hall of Fame
On 1 July 2008, the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) recognised Dragon's iconic status when they were inducted into their Hall of Fame. At the induction ceremony they were joined on-stage by James Reyne and Ian Moss to perform "April Sun in Cuba" and "Rain":
Personal life
Annie Burton, a rock music writer for Rock Australia Magazine, had a nine-year domestic relationship with Marc Hunter from mid-1975. By the mid-1980s, they had separated and shared custody of their child. In 1985, he shared a house with Renée Geyer.
In the late 1980s, Hunter married Wendy Heather, a fashion designer, and the couple had two children Isabella and Jackson. Isabella "Bella" Hunter covered Dragon's song April Sun in Cuba, in February 2009 for RocKwiz Salutes the Bowl (March 2009) – a celebration of the Myer Music Bowl's 50th anniversary – on an episode of season six of the SBS program, RocKwiz. Live performances by various artists were also released as a DVD of the same name. She was a contestant on season four of the Australian version of The X Factor, in August 2012 but she was eliminated before the finals.
In October 2011 Hunter's biography, Chasing the Dragon: the Life and Death of Marc Hunter, was published by Jeff Apter. Fiona Scott-Norman of The Sydney Morning Herald felt it "should be a classic modern-day tragedy" as Hunter provided "an embarrassment of talent and charisma, held the promise of greatness in his hands and pissed it all away through heroin, narcissism and self-sabotage. He died at 44 from throat cancer and it's a toss-up which of his addictions was to blame." However, she felt that Apter's presentation was "a utilitarian read that feels like it's been knocked out pretty quickly... Hunter is never likeable, or even knowable. He got lost early on, from the minute Dragon hit Sydney and heroin in 1975 and Apter does not find him." Simon Collins of The West Australian reviewed several rock music biographies, he noticed that Apter "spoke to dozens of family and friends, including a who's who of Australian rock in the 70s and 80s." Apter portrayed Hunter as someone who "could be a horrendous human being, some sort of supernatural charisma the only explanation for the almost universal love for the larger-than-life antipodean superstar. Heroin, booze and women feature in equally gargantuan proportions"; however, the biography, "lacks the real passion that underpins some of the great rock books."
Solo discography
Albums
Charting singles
Awards
Aotearoa Music Awards
The Aotearoa Music Awards (previously known as New Zealand Music Awards (NZMA)) are an annual awards night celebrating excellence in New Zealand music and have been presented annually since 1965.
!
|-
| 2011 || Marc Hunter (as part of Dragon) || New Zealand Music Hall of Fame || ||
|-
ARIA Music Awards
The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. They commenced in 1987. Dragon were inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008.
|-
| 2008
| Marc Hunter (as part of Dragon)
| ARIA Hall of Fame
|
References
General
Note: Archived [on-line] copy has limited functionality.
Specific
External links
Tommy Emmanuel Memorial to Marc Hunter
Marc Hunter discography and album reviews, credits & releases at AllMusic
Marc Hunter discography, album releases & credits at Discogs
Marc Hunter biography at www.Sergent.com.au
Marc Hunter albums to be listened on Spotify
Marc Hunter albums to be listened on YouTube
1953 births
1998 deaths
APRA Award winners
New Zealand rock singers
Australian rock singers
Dragon (band)
The Party Boys members
New Zealand emigrants to Australia
New Zealand people of Fijian descent
Deaths from throat cancer
Deaths from cancer in New South Wales
20th-century Australian male singers
People from Taumarunui
| true |
[
"Cars/Williams/Porter/Ellington is a 2014 compilation album by jazz guitarist Charlie Hunter and drummer Scott Amendola.\n\nThe album collects four EPs recorded by Hunter and Amendola in early 2014, respectively focused on the songs of The Cars, Hank Williams, Cole Porter, and Duke Ellington. Said Hunter,\n\nThe idea is to do these four and see how people respond. We started thinking why do we keep making 10-song CDs. I don’t necessarily want to do 10 Hank Williams songs, but five can work well. As long as the song is good we can put it through the mill, like what we did with T.J. Kirk and the Bob Marley album I made.\n\nTrack listing\n\nPart I: The Cars\n\"Bye Bye Love\" – 5:44\n\"Candy-O\" – 3:43\n\"Double Life\" – 3:29\n\"Good Times Roll\" – 4:40\n\"Let's Go\" – 3:38\n\nPart II: Hank Williams\n\"Move It On Over\" – 4:43\n\"I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry\" – 4:07\n\"Cold, Cold Heart\" – 3:39\n\"Ramblin' Man\" – 3:17\n\"Your Cheatin' Heart\" – 3:37\n\nPart III: Duke Ellington\n\"Blue Pepper\" – 2:38\n\"Rockin' in Rhythm\" – 4:09\n\"Day Dream\" –3:24\n\"The Mooche\" – 3:51\n\"Mood Indigo\" – 3:19\n\nPart IV: Cole Porter\n\"Ace in the Hole\" – 3:17\n\"Too Darn Hot\" – 4:18\n\"Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye\" – 3:28\n\"Miss Otis Regrets\" – 2:16\n\"Anything Goes\" – 4:19\n\nPersonnel \n Charlie Hunter – seven-string guitar\n Scott Amendola – drums\n\nProduction\n Charlie Hunter – producer\n Scott Amendola – producer\n\nReferences\n\n2014 albums\nCharlie Hunter albums\nBlues albums by American artists",
"Geoffrey Basil Bailey Hunter (14 December 1925 – 8 June 2000) was a British professor, philosopher, and logician. Hunter was Professor Emeritus of the University College of Wales, Bangor where he was professor from 1978 until he retired in 1992. He also taught at Queen's University Kingston, Ontario (1950–1952) and was a lecturer in Philosophy at University of Leeds (1952–1965), and reader in Logic at University of St Andrews (1965–1978). Geoffrey was probably most known for his work titled 'Metalogic: An Introduction to the Metatheory of Standard First-Order Logic' published in 1971.\n\nPublished work \nHunter, Geoffrey (1971). \"Metalogic: An Introduction to the Metatheory of Standard First Order Logic\". Macmillan\nHunter, Geoffrey (1973). \"Not Both P and not Q, therefore if P then Q\" is not a valid form of argument Mind vol LXXXII:280-280\nHunter, Geoffrey (1974). \"Concepts and Meaning.\" in Hume and the Enlightenment: essays presented to Ernest Campbell Mossner / edited by William B. Todd\nHunter, Geoffrey (1980). \"What do the Consistency Proofs for Non-Euclidean Geometry Prove?\" Analysis:40:79-83.\nHunter, Geoffrey (1988). \"What Computers Can't Do\"Philosophy:63:175-189.\nHunter, Geoffrey (1994). \"Platonist Manifesto\" Philosophy:69:151-62.\nHunter, Geoffrey (1995). \"The Churchland's Eliminative Materialism : or the Result of Impatience.\" Philosophical Investigations:18(1):13-30.\nHunter, Geoffrey (1995). \"Quine's Two Dogmas of Empiricism'.\" Philosophical Investigations 18(4): 305-328.\n\nSee also \nMetalogic\n\nReferences \n\n1925 births\n2000 deaths\n20th-century British philosophers\nAcademics of Bangor University\nAcademics of the University of Leeds\nAcademics of the University of St Andrews\nBritish logicians\nQueen's University at Kingston faculty"
] |
[
"Marc Hunter",
"1982-89: Dragon reborn, Party Boys and solo Communication",
"What did Hunter do in 1992?",
"In August 1982 Dragon reformed with the line-up of Marc, Todd, Hewson, Jacobsen and Robert Taylor on guitar"
] |
C_d3884a6b239a4428b607b74dd46e9b93_0
|
Did they record any albums?
| 2 |
Did Dragon record any albums?
|
Marc Hunter
|
In August 1982 Dragon reformed with the line-up of Marc, Todd, Hewson, Jacobsen and Robert Taylor on guitar (ex-Mammal) for a national Class Reunion tour. McFarlane noted that it was "Ostensibly run to pay off outstanding debts, the tour proved so successful that the band re-formed on a permanent basis." Their single, "Rain", was issued in July 1983, which peaked at No. 2. It was co-written by Marc, Todd and the latter's then-girlfriend, Johanna Pigott; and had Mansfield producing. Soon after Mansfield joined Dragon on keyboards and as a songwriter. In June 1984 the group's next album, Body and the Beat, which was produced by Mansfield and Carey Taylor, was released and peaked at No. 5. The group provided "a much fuller, more rock-oriented sound... [it] was a polished, contemporary sounding Adult Oriented Rock rock album." After a tour in support of the album, Hewson left to return to New Zealand, he died of a heroin overdose in January 1985. While on a break between Dragon tours Hunter joined the Party Boys, a "good-time rock'n'roll band" with a floating ensemble, for their Great Bars of Australia tour. The line-up of Hunter, Borich, Paul Christie on bass guitar (ex-Mondo Rock), Richard Harvey on drums (ex-Divinyls) and Joe Walsh on guitar and lead vocals (of the Eagles), recorded that group's fourth live album, You Need Professional Help (1985), during the tour. Hunter issued his third solo album, Communication, in September 1985 with various session musicians used: Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, Kirk Lorange, Mark Punch and Peter Walker on guitars, Todd Hunter and Phil Scorgie on bass guitar, Allan Mansfield and Don Walker on keyboards, and Mark Kennedy and Ricky Fataar on drums. Mansfield produced the album, which McFarlane described as "a polished set of Adult Oriented Rock (AOR) songs." Its title track had been released as a single in 1984. Hunter returned to his duties with Dragon and was recorded on two more studio albums by the end of the decade. CANNOTANSWER
|
In June 1984 the group's next album, Body and the Beat, which was produced by Mansfield and Carey Taylor, was released
|
Marc Alexander Hunter (7 September 195317 July 1998) was a New Zealand rock and pop singer, songwriter and record producer. He was the lead vocalist of Dragon (1973–11/1979, 8/1982–1989, 1995–11/1997), a band formed by his older brother, Todd Hunter, in Auckland in January 1972. They relocated to Sydney in May 1975. He was also a member of the Party Boys in 1985. For his solo career he issued five studio albums, Fiji Bitter (November 1979), Big City Talk (August 1981), Communication (September 1985), Night and Day (August 1990) and Talk to Strangers (late 1994). During the 1970s Hunter developed heroin and alcohol addictions and was incarcerated at Mt Eden Prison in Auckland in 1978. He was recklessly outspoken and volatile on-stage. In November 1978 during the band's American tour, supporting Johnny Winter, they performed in Dallas, Texas, where "he made some general stage observations about redneck buddies, illegal oral sex and utility trucks" and called the audience members, "faggots". Upon his return to Australia, in February 1979, he was fired from the group by his brother, Todd.
In August 1982 Hunter returned to the line-up of Dragon and continued with the group while also maintaining his solo career. The band included Craig Laird on lead guitar (currently of 1927) and Steve Boyd on drums (ex-Adam Brand). They disbanded in November 1997 when he was diagnosed with throat cancer, and he died on 17 July 1998. Benefit concerts were held to provide for his widow, Wendy Hunter, and children. On 1 July 2008, the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) inducted Dragon into their Hall of Fame. His biography, Chasing the Dragon: the Life and Death of Marc Hunter, was published by Jeff Apter in October 2011.
Early life
Marc Alexander Hunter was born in Taumarunui on 7 September 1953. In the late 1950s his family performed publicly where his father, Stuart, played saxophone, his mother Voi played piano and his older brother, Todd Hunter (born 1951) played guitar with Marc providing drums. He also grew up with two younger brothers, Ross and Brett. Hunter remembered, "We got guitars for Christmas one year, I broke mine but Todd played his. He was two years older than me and always more interested in music. I only saw it as a way of wagging school." He described his home town, "[it] was a great place to grow up in, and a great place to run away from, because you always knew you could go back to it and nothing much would have changed. It was the place where our parents always told us to 'Do what you want to do, just try and be happy doing it.'"
Hunter attended Taumarunui High School and started performing as a cabaret singer, Todd later reminisced, "Oh, he was fabulous! He was playing in cabaret lounges and entertaining all sorts of people, driving a pink Mercedes, all that sort of stuff, straight out of school!" Hunter also provided drums and vocals as a member of a band, Quintessence, which performed at a restaurant in Auckland.
Music career
1970–79: Dragon
In 1973, Hunter issued a solo single, "X-Ray Creature" (1973), on the Family Records label.
Todd, meanwhile, had formed a progressive rock band, Dragon, in January 1972 in Auckland. About a year later the group "played in the next room to [Marc] one night, and he came through and did some songs ... I think we were playing for a really tough crowd of dock-workers, it was really tough and he just swanned in and was excruciatingly funny and completely irreverent. We just thought this guy's great – he's even madder than us, we must get him!"
Marc Hunter joined Dragon in 1973 on lead vocals, percussion and saxophone, replacing their founding member singer, pianist Graeme Collins. The band recorded two progressive rock albums for Vertigo Records, their guitarist, Robert Taylor later recalled "[our gigs] weren't totally original, they were doing things like Santana and Doors songs... At that stage Marc Hunter was playing congas and I think a little bit of sax." They moved to Sydney in May 1975. They were managed by Wayne de Grouchy who told Hunter that he should "stop playing the congas, be more of a front man... Marc was more than just one of the musos." Dragon became a pop-rock act after Paul Hewson joined on keyboards in 1975. They supported Status Quo on their Australian tour in October 1975.
Dragon became one of Australia's biggest-selling bands, scoring a number of hit singles, including "April Sun in Cuba" (No. 2, November 1977) and "Are You Old Enough?" (No. 1, August 1978). Their related top 10 albums, were Running Free (No. 6, 1977) and O Zambezi (No. 3, 1978). Hunter was incarcerated in Mt Eden Prison, Auckland in 1978 due to developing heroin and alcohol addictions. He was recklessly outspoken and volatile on-stage: in November 1978 during the band's North American tour, supporting Johnny Winter, they performed in Dallas, Texas, where "he made some general stage observations about redneck buddies, illegal oral sex and utility trucks" and called the audience members, "faggots".
In February 1979 Hunter was fired from Dragon by his brother. Todd later explained, "He was demonic... Things like Dallas happened all the time. The 'Miss Mercy' mock rape thing lasted until these feminists started getting up and punching him in the face. Most of the time I wasn't drinking or anything and, from my perspective, this Fall of the Roman Empire thing was pretty wild. I hated a lot of it. People came along because they wanted to see Dragon decombust. They were enjoying it but Marc was just killing himself. We had to fire him or he'd have destroyed himself."
Dragon were named in the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Drug Trafficking (1981–83), due to their association with fellow New Zealander, Greg Ollard. Its report stated "that Ollard supplied heroin to group members and that at least one member of the group sold heroin on Ollard's behalf." According to David Nichols, in the mid-1970s, "Three of the five members of Dragon – Marc Hunter, Hewson, and Storey – were by now associated with heroin selling and consumption." Ollard had been murdered in September 1977 and his body was found five years later.
1979–82: Solo Career: Fiji Bitter and Big City Talk
Marc Hunter travelled overseas to recuperate, visiting Morocco and London. Back in Australia he signed a recording deal with CBS, which issued his debut solo album, Fiji Bitter, in November 1979. For the sessions he used Todd on bass guitar, John Annas on drums (ex-Kevin Borich Express), Harvey James on guitar (from Sherbet), and Terry Wilson on guitar (ex-Original Batter-sea Heroes, Wasted Daze).
Fiji Bitter was recorded at Studios 301 in Sydney with Richard Lush producing and engineering – Hunter wrote or co-wrote most of its tracks. The album's lead single, "Island Nights" (July), peaked at No. 20. He formed Marc Hunter and the Romantics, with Annas and James, to promote the album. Two more singles, "Don't Take Me" (November) and "When You Walk in the Room" (January 1980), appeared – neither reached the top 50.
In 1980 Hunter, on lead vocals, formed an R&B group in Sydney, the Headhunters, with Todd on bass guitar (by then ex-Dragon), Kevin Borich on guitar, Mick Cocks on guitar (ex-Rose Tattoo), John Watson on drums (ex-Kevin Borich Express). Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, described them as "an ad hoc aggregation of musicians who were drawn together by a love of playing raucous R&B".
Hunter resumed his solo career with his second album, Big City Talk, which appeared in August 1981 on PolyGram/Mercury labels. It was co-produced by Hunter and Todd. Debbie Muir of The Canberra Times, felt it "covered a wide range of material that bore some resemblance to his last album, Fiji Bitter, but was totally different to his old, Dragon days." He had used session musicians: Kevin Borich, Dave Mason (of The Reels) and Mark Punch (ex-Renée Geyer Band). Muir's fellow journalist at The Canberra Times, Garry Raffaele, opined that it "is flat, directionless, unexciting, effete rock and roll. It is devoid of feeling."
On working as a solo artist, he declared, "I am happier now on my own. I was in a wretched state of mind when I was in the band... I miss the camaraderie involved but then I prefer to make my own decisions." The title track, "Big City Talk", was released as a single in July and reached No. 25. Follow up singles, "(Rock'n'Roll is) a Loser's Game" (September), "Side Show" (November) and "Nothing but a Lie" (May 1982) did not chart. In 1981 he formed the Marc Hunter Band and in October they toured Australia with Renée Geyer; the set included a duet by Hunter and Geyer. During 1982 Hunter was working with US-born keyboardist and record producer, Alan Mansfield. In March of that year he was arrested for "$4500 in unpaid parking fines", he described his jail cell as "unbelievably filthy."
1982–89: Dragon reborn, Party Boys and solo Communication
In August 1982 Dragon reformed with the line-up of Marc, Todd, Hewson, Jacobsen and Robert Taylor on guitar (ex-Mammal) for a national Class Reunion tour. McFarlane noted that it was "Ostensibly run to pay off outstanding debts, the tour proved so successful that the band re-formed on a permanent basis." Their single, "Rain", was issued in July 1983, which peaked at No. 2. It was co-written by Marc, Todd and the latter's then-girlfriend, Johanna Pigott; and had Mansfield producing.
In June 1984 the group's next album, Body and the Beat, which was produced by Mansfield and Carey Taylor, was released and peaked at No. 5. The group provided "a much fuller, more rock-oriented sound... [it] was a polished, contemporary sounding Adult Oriented Rock rock album." After a tour in support of the album, Hewson left to return to New Zealand, he died of a heroin overdose in January 1985.
While on a break between Dragon tours Hunter joined the Party Boys, a "good-time rock'n'roll band" with a floating ensemble, for their Great Bars of Australia tour. The line-up of Hunter, Kevin Borich on guitar, Paul Christie on bass guitar (ex-Mondo Rock), Richard Harvey on drums (ex-Divinyls) and Joe Walsh on guitar and lead vocals (of the Eagles), recorded that group's fourth live album, You Need Professional Help (1985), during the tour.
Hunter issued his third solo album, Communication, in September 1985 with various session musicians used: Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, Kirk Lorange, Mark Punch and Peter Walker on guitars, Todd Hunter and Phil Scorgie on bass guitar, Allan Mansfield and Don Walker on keyboards, and Mark Kennedy and Ricky Fataar on drums. Mansfield produced the album, which McFarlane described as "a polished set of Adult Oriented Rock (AOR) songs." Its title track had been released as a single in 1984. Hunter returned to his duties with Dragon and was recorded on two more studio albums by the end of the decade.
1989–96: Night and Day, Talk to Strangers to Dragon finale
Marc Hunter was invited by Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Keith Walker to contribute to a various artists' children's album, Zzzero (1989). He provided lullaby versions of Billie Holiday's "God Bless the Child" and Bob Dylan's "Forever Young". He worked with Walker producing when recording his next solo album, Night and Day (August 1990), which was "a collection of jazz and pop standards."
Late in 1994 Hunter's fifth solo album, Talk to Strangers, was released, which had Hunter co-producing with David Hirschfelder and Mark Walmsley via the Roadshow Music label. Soon after Hunter was back with Dragon to record their album, Incarnations (1995). Todd then left the band to concentrate on his work for film and television soundtracks. Dragon with Hunter and Mansfield aboard toured during 1996 with a line-up of Mike Caen on guitar, Ange Tsoitoudis on guitar, Dario Bortolin on bass guitar (ex-Scary Mother).
1997–98: Night of the Hunter and death
In November 1997, Marc Hunter was diagnosed with throat cancer. He had felt unwell, "One doctor told Marc he probably had tonsillitis and sent him home. Unsatisfied with this diagnosis, Marc visited a throat specialist. 'The doctor felt around my throat, and said, "You have a large cancer." I sort of didn't hear anything for a minute. I was stunned. I just sat there.'"
His friends, including Renée Geyer, organised a benefit concert to raise money for his treatment and to provide for his wife and children. Geyer explained, "He's a dear old friend and he's someone who's put a lot of time and energy into the business. I just thought it would be great for the industry to give a little bit back to someone who has given so much." The concert, Night of the Hunter, was held in February 1998 at the Palais Theatre in St Kilda in Melbourne. It had various artists performing Dragon tracks: "Are You Old Enough?" by Tex Perkins and friends, Chris Wilson singing "O Zambezi", Paul Kelly and Geyer singing a duet of "I'm Still in Love with You", Snout performing "Rain" and Men at Work’s Colin Hay provided a new song he wrote in Hunter's honour.
The finale, "April Sun in Cuba", was rendered by the ensemble led by John Farnham and his band, with Todd on bass guitar. The house erupted when Geyer led Hunter onto the stage where he joined in for his signature tune for what became his last stage appearance. Todd described the concert "Marc sang, maybe for the last time, that song. These musicians' incredible generosity was so phenomenal. There was a time when Marc thought nobody cared about his music. But he was amazed by what all these guys were doing, and it got to him in an incredible way."
Another benefit, the Good Vibrations concert, was staged soon after at Selina's nightclub in the Coogee Bay Hotel in Sydney's eastern suburbs. The performers included Glenn Shorrock, James Reyne, Ross Wilson, Todd Hunter, Alan Mansfield, Robert Taylor, Tommy Emmanuel, Men at Work regrouped for the first time in a decade to perform, and the remaining members of INXS performed live for the first time since the death of their lead singer, Michael Hutchence; Peter Garrett and Jimmy Barnes provided a duet on "Dreams of Ordinary Men" and "Speak no Evil". Hunter was unavailable – he was in Korea undergoing alternative therapy to prepare for a major throat operation, but he sent a letter which was read to the crowd. The gig was taped and an audio 2-CD live album, Good Vibrations – A Concert for Marc Hunter (1998), was released as well as a VHS video album of the same name.
For the last few months of his life, Hunter underwent various forms of treatment including several alternative medicine remedies – he attended a traditional Korean medicine clinic to undertake "an ancient metaphysical healing process, Qi". Hunter reflected, "I have thought a lot about the possibility of dying... Now, I believe it doesn't really matter when or where you die, but how you live your life. If somebody diagnoses you with cancer and tells you they are going to cut open your jaw and take out a tumor, you would panic unless you had something to sustain you. But my time with the Qi masters gave me a tap on the shoulder and reminded me we are spiritual beings."
He died in Berry near Kiama on 17 July 1998. A memorial service for him was held at St. Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney, followed by an all-star benefit concert to raise money to support his widow and children. A compilation CD, Forever Young, was released on Raven Records, highlighting his solo career.
Marc Hunter was buried at Gerringong Cemetery, Gerringong, New South Wales.
2008-present: Hall of Fame
On 1 July 2008, the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) recognised Dragon's iconic status when they were inducted into their Hall of Fame. At the induction ceremony they were joined on-stage by James Reyne and Ian Moss to perform "April Sun in Cuba" and "Rain":
Personal life
Annie Burton, a rock music writer for Rock Australia Magazine, had a nine-year domestic relationship with Marc Hunter from mid-1975. By the mid-1980s, they had separated and shared custody of their child. In 1985, he shared a house with Renée Geyer.
In the late 1980s, Hunter married Wendy Heather, a fashion designer, and the couple had two children Isabella and Jackson. Isabella "Bella" Hunter covered Dragon's song April Sun in Cuba, in February 2009 for RocKwiz Salutes the Bowl (March 2009) – a celebration of the Myer Music Bowl's 50th anniversary – on an episode of season six of the SBS program, RocKwiz. Live performances by various artists were also released as a DVD of the same name. She was a contestant on season four of the Australian version of The X Factor, in August 2012 but she was eliminated before the finals.
In October 2011 Hunter's biography, Chasing the Dragon: the Life and Death of Marc Hunter, was published by Jeff Apter. Fiona Scott-Norman of The Sydney Morning Herald felt it "should be a classic modern-day tragedy" as Hunter provided "an embarrassment of talent and charisma, held the promise of greatness in his hands and pissed it all away through heroin, narcissism and self-sabotage. He died at 44 from throat cancer and it's a toss-up which of his addictions was to blame." However, she felt that Apter's presentation was "a utilitarian read that feels like it's been knocked out pretty quickly... Hunter is never likeable, or even knowable. He got lost early on, from the minute Dragon hit Sydney and heroin in 1975 and Apter does not find him." Simon Collins of The West Australian reviewed several rock music biographies, he noticed that Apter "spoke to dozens of family and friends, including a who's who of Australian rock in the 70s and 80s." Apter portrayed Hunter as someone who "could be a horrendous human being, some sort of supernatural charisma the only explanation for the almost universal love for the larger-than-life antipodean superstar. Heroin, booze and women feature in equally gargantuan proportions"; however, the biography, "lacks the real passion that underpins some of the great rock books."
Solo discography
Albums
Charting singles
Awards
Aotearoa Music Awards
The Aotearoa Music Awards (previously known as New Zealand Music Awards (NZMA)) are an annual awards night celebrating excellence in New Zealand music and have been presented annually since 1965.
!
|-
| 2011 || Marc Hunter (as part of Dragon) || New Zealand Music Hall of Fame || ||
|-
ARIA Music Awards
The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. They commenced in 1987. Dragon were inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008.
|-
| 2008
| Marc Hunter (as part of Dragon)
| ARIA Hall of Fame
|
References
General
Note: Archived [on-line] copy has limited functionality.
Specific
External links
Tommy Emmanuel Memorial to Marc Hunter
Marc Hunter discography and album reviews, credits & releases at AllMusic
Marc Hunter discography, album releases & credits at Discogs
Marc Hunter biography at www.Sergent.com.au
Marc Hunter albums to be listened on Spotify
Marc Hunter albums to be listened on YouTube
1953 births
1998 deaths
APRA Award winners
New Zealand rock singers
Australian rock singers
Dragon (band)
The Party Boys members
New Zealand emigrants to Australia
New Zealand people of Fijian descent
Deaths from throat cancer
Deaths from cancer in New South Wales
20th-century Australian male singers
People from Taumarunui
| true |
[
"To Those Who Walk Behind Us is the eighth album by Danish death metal band Illdisposed.\n\nTrack listing \n \"Blood on Your Parade\" - 4:18\n \"For the Record\" - 3:14\n \"Come and Get Me\" - 4:10\n \"Seeking Truth - Telling Lies\" - 3:44\n \"Sale at the Misery Factory\" - 4:31\n \"To Those Who Walk Behind Me\" - 4:05\n \"If All the World\" - 4:22\n \"My Number Is Expired\" - 3:45\n \"Johnny\" - 4:15\n \"This Unscheduled Moment\" - 3:43\n \"Nu Gik Det Lige Sa Godt\" - 3:58\n \"When You Scream\" (remix, limited edition bonus)\n \"Throw Your Bolts\" (live, limited edition bonus)\n\nAll lyrics written by Bo Summer, all music written by Jakob \"Batten\" Hansen.\n\nPersonnel \n Bo Summer - vocals\n Jakob \"Batten\" Hansen - guitar\n Jonas \"Kloge\" Mikkelsen - bass\n Thomas \"Muskelbux\" Jensen - drums\n\nBass on this record was recorded by Jakob Batten; Franz Gottschalk did not record any guitars on the record, but Batten did.\n\nReferences \n\nIlldisposed albums\n2009 albums\nMassacre Records albums",
"Swirly Termination is a compilation album by British band Ozric Tentacles. Though released in 2000 this record contains songs made as early as 1992. The reason for this is that the band had to deliver one more album to their record company, Snapper Music, before parting ways, and thus came up with some previously unreleased material.\n\nThis album was not promoted by the band in any way and, apart from the songs itself, they did not contribute to either the title nor the artwork.\n\nTrack listing\n \"Steep\" – 3:11\n \"Space Out\" – 8:29\n \"Pyoing\" – 4:30\n \"Far Dreaming\" – 5:25\n \"Waldorfdub\" – 6:14\n \"Kick 98\" – 6:03\n \"Yoy Mandala\" – 11:52\n\nPersonnel\n Ed Wynne - guitar, keyboards\n John Egan - flute, vocals\n Zia Geelani - bass\n Seaweed - keyboards\n Rad - drums, percussion\n Joie Hinton - keyboards\n\nReferences\n\n2000 albums\nOzric Tentacles albums"
] |
[
"Marc Hunter",
"1982-89: Dragon reborn, Party Boys and solo Communication",
"What did Hunter do in 1992?",
"In August 1982 Dragon reformed with the line-up of Marc, Todd, Hewson, Jacobsen and Robert Taylor on guitar",
"Did they record any albums?",
"In June 1984 the group's next album, Body and the Beat, which was produced by Mansfield and Carey Taylor, was released"
] |
C_d3884a6b239a4428b607b74dd46e9b93_0
|
Did they release any singles?
| 3 |
Did Dragon release any singles?
|
Marc Hunter
|
In August 1982 Dragon reformed with the line-up of Marc, Todd, Hewson, Jacobsen and Robert Taylor on guitar (ex-Mammal) for a national Class Reunion tour. McFarlane noted that it was "Ostensibly run to pay off outstanding debts, the tour proved so successful that the band re-formed on a permanent basis." Their single, "Rain", was issued in July 1983, which peaked at No. 2. It was co-written by Marc, Todd and the latter's then-girlfriend, Johanna Pigott; and had Mansfield producing. Soon after Mansfield joined Dragon on keyboards and as a songwriter. In June 1984 the group's next album, Body and the Beat, which was produced by Mansfield and Carey Taylor, was released and peaked at No. 5. The group provided "a much fuller, more rock-oriented sound... [it] was a polished, contemporary sounding Adult Oriented Rock rock album." After a tour in support of the album, Hewson left to return to New Zealand, he died of a heroin overdose in January 1985. While on a break between Dragon tours Hunter joined the Party Boys, a "good-time rock'n'roll band" with a floating ensemble, for their Great Bars of Australia tour. The line-up of Hunter, Borich, Paul Christie on bass guitar (ex-Mondo Rock), Richard Harvey on drums (ex-Divinyls) and Joe Walsh on guitar and lead vocals (of the Eagles), recorded that group's fourth live album, You Need Professional Help (1985), during the tour. Hunter issued his third solo album, Communication, in September 1985 with various session musicians used: Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, Kirk Lorange, Mark Punch and Peter Walker on guitars, Todd Hunter and Phil Scorgie on bass guitar, Allan Mansfield and Don Walker on keyboards, and Mark Kennedy and Ricky Fataar on drums. Mansfield produced the album, which McFarlane described as "a polished set of Adult Oriented Rock (AOR) songs." Its title track had been released as a single in 1984. Hunter returned to his duties with Dragon and was recorded on two more studio albums by the end of the decade. CANNOTANSWER
|
" Their single, "Rain",
|
Marc Alexander Hunter (7 September 195317 July 1998) was a New Zealand rock and pop singer, songwriter and record producer. He was the lead vocalist of Dragon (1973–11/1979, 8/1982–1989, 1995–11/1997), a band formed by his older brother, Todd Hunter, in Auckland in January 1972. They relocated to Sydney in May 1975. He was also a member of the Party Boys in 1985. For his solo career he issued five studio albums, Fiji Bitter (November 1979), Big City Talk (August 1981), Communication (September 1985), Night and Day (August 1990) and Talk to Strangers (late 1994). During the 1970s Hunter developed heroin and alcohol addictions and was incarcerated at Mt Eden Prison in Auckland in 1978. He was recklessly outspoken and volatile on-stage. In November 1978 during the band's American tour, supporting Johnny Winter, they performed in Dallas, Texas, where "he made some general stage observations about redneck buddies, illegal oral sex and utility trucks" and called the audience members, "faggots". Upon his return to Australia, in February 1979, he was fired from the group by his brother, Todd.
In August 1982 Hunter returned to the line-up of Dragon and continued with the group while also maintaining his solo career. The band included Craig Laird on lead guitar (currently of 1927) and Steve Boyd on drums (ex-Adam Brand). They disbanded in November 1997 when he was diagnosed with throat cancer, and he died on 17 July 1998. Benefit concerts were held to provide for his widow, Wendy Hunter, and children. On 1 July 2008, the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) inducted Dragon into their Hall of Fame. His biography, Chasing the Dragon: the Life and Death of Marc Hunter, was published by Jeff Apter in October 2011.
Early life
Marc Alexander Hunter was born in Taumarunui on 7 September 1953. In the late 1950s his family performed publicly where his father, Stuart, played saxophone, his mother Voi played piano and his older brother, Todd Hunter (born 1951) played guitar with Marc providing drums. He also grew up with two younger brothers, Ross and Brett. Hunter remembered, "We got guitars for Christmas one year, I broke mine but Todd played his. He was two years older than me and always more interested in music. I only saw it as a way of wagging school." He described his home town, "[it] was a great place to grow up in, and a great place to run away from, because you always knew you could go back to it and nothing much would have changed. It was the place where our parents always told us to 'Do what you want to do, just try and be happy doing it.'"
Hunter attended Taumarunui High School and started performing as a cabaret singer, Todd later reminisced, "Oh, he was fabulous! He was playing in cabaret lounges and entertaining all sorts of people, driving a pink Mercedes, all that sort of stuff, straight out of school!" Hunter also provided drums and vocals as a member of a band, Quintessence, which performed at a restaurant in Auckland.
Music career
1970–79: Dragon
In 1973, Hunter issued a solo single, "X-Ray Creature" (1973), on the Family Records label.
Todd, meanwhile, had formed a progressive rock band, Dragon, in January 1972 in Auckland. About a year later the group "played in the next room to [Marc] one night, and he came through and did some songs ... I think we were playing for a really tough crowd of dock-workers, it was really tough and he just swanned in and was excruciatingly funny and completely irreverent. We just thought this guy's great – he's even madder than us, we must get him!"
Marc Hunter joined Dragon in 1973 on lead vocals, percussion and saxophone, replacing their founding member singer, pianist Graeme Collins. The band recorded two progressive rock albums for Vertigo Records, their guitarist, Robert Taylor later recalled "[our gigs] weren't totally original, they were doing things like Santana and Doors songs... At that stage Marc Hunter was playing congas and I think a little bit of sax." They moved to Sydney in May 1975. They were managed by Wayne de Grouchy who told Hunter that he should "stop playing the congas, be more of a front man... Marc was more than just one of the musos." Dragon became a pop-rock act after Paul Hewson joined on keyboards in 1975. They supported Status Quo on their Australian tour in October 1975.
Dragon became one of Australia's biggest-selling bands, scoring a number of hit singles, including "April Sun in Cuba" (No. 2, November 1977) and "Are You Old Enough?" (No. 1, August 1978). Their related top 10 albums, were Running Free (No. 6, 1977) and O Zambezi (No. 3, 1978). Hunter was incarcerated in Mt Eden Prison, Auckland in 1978 due to developing heroin and alcohol addictions. He was recklessly outspoken and volatile on-stage: in November 1978 during the band's North American tour, supporting Johnny Winter, they performed in Dallas, Texas, where "he made some general stage observations about redneck buddies, illegal oral sex and utility trucks" and called the audience members, "faggots".
In February 1979 Hunter was fired from Dragon by his brother. Todd later explained, "He was demonic... Things like Dallas happened all the time. The 'Miss Mercy' mock rape thing lasted until these feminists started getting up and punching him in the face. Most of the time I wasn't drinking or anything and, from my perspective, this Fall of the Roman Empire thing was pretty wild. I hated a lot of it. People came along because they wanted to see Dragon decombust. They were enjoying it but Marc was just killing himself. We had to fire him or he'd have destroyed himself."
Dragon were named in the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Drug Trafficking (1981–83), due to their association with fellow New Zealander, Greg Ollard. Its report stated "that Ollard supplied heroin to group members and that at least one member of the group sold heroin on Ollard's behalf." According to David Nichols, in the mid-1970s, "Three of the five members of Dragon – Marc Hunter, Hewson, and Storey – were by now associated with heroin selling and consumption." Ollard had been murdered in September 1977 and his body was found five years later.
1979–82: Solo Career: Fiji Bitter and Big City Talk
Marc Hunter travelled overseas to recuperate, visiting Morocco and London. Back in Australia he signed a recording deal with CBS, which issued his debut solo album, Fiji Bitter, in November 1979. For the sessions he used Todd on bass guitar, John Annas on drums (ex-Kevin Borich Express), Harvey James on guitar (from Sherbet), and Terry Wilson on guitar (ex-Original Batter-sea Heroes, Wasted Daze).
Fiji Bitter was recorded at Studios 301 in Sydney with Richard Lush producing and engineering – Hunter wrote or co-wrote most of its tracks. The album's lead single, "Island Nights" (July), peaked at No. 20. He formed Marc Hunter and the Romantics, with Annas and James, to promote the album. Two more singles, "Don't Take Me" (November) and "When You Walk in the Room" (January 1980), appeared – neither reached the top 50.
In 1980 Hunter, on lead vocals, formed an R&B group in Sydney, the Headhunters, with Todd on bass guitar (by then ex-Dragon), Kevin Borich on guitar, Mick Cocks on guitar (ex-Rose Tattoo), John Watson on drums (ex-Kevin Borich Express). Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, described them as "an ad hoc aggregation of musicians who were drawn together by a love of playing raucous R&B".
Hunter resumed his solo career with his second album, Big City Talk, which appeared in August 1981 on PolyGram/Mercury labels. It was co-produced by Hunter and Todd. Debbie Muir of The Canberra Times, felt it "covered a wide range of material that bore some resemblance to his last album, Fiji Bitter, but was totally different to his old, Dragon days." He had used session musicians: Kevin Borich, Dave Mason (of The Reels) and Mark Punch (ex-Renée Geyer Band). Muir's fellow journalist at The Canberra Times, Garry Raffaele, opined that it "is flat, directionless, unexciting, effete rock and roll. It is devoid of feeling."
On working as a solo artist, he declared, "I am happier now on my own. I was in a wretched state of mind when I was in the band... I miss the camaraderie involved but then I prefer to make my own decisions." The title track, "Big City Talk", was released as a single in July and reached No. 25. Follow up singles, "(Rock'n'Roll is) a Loser's Game" (September), "Side Show" (November) and "Nothing but a Lie" (May 1982) did not chart. In 1981 he formed the Marc Hunter Band and in October they toured Australia with Renée Geyer; the set included a duet by Hunter and Geyer. During 1982 Hunter was working with US-born keyboardist and record producer, Alan Mansfield. In March of that year he was arrested for "$4500 in unpaid parking fines", he described his jail cell as "unbelievably filthy."
1982–89: Dragon reborn, Party Boys and solo Communication
In August 1982 Dragon reformed with the line-up of Marc, Todd, Hewson, Jacobsen and Robert Taylor on guitar (ex-Mammal) for a national Class Reunion tour. McFarlane noted that it was "Ostensibly run to pay off outstanding debts, the tour proved so successful that the band re-formed on a permanent basis." Their single, "Rain", was issued in July 1983, which peaked at No. 2. It was co-written by Marc, Todd and the latter's then-girlfriend, Johanna Pigott; and had Mansfield producing.
In June 1984 the group's next album, Body and the Beat, which was produced by Mansfield and Carey Taylor, was released and peaked at No. 5. The group provided "a much fuller, more rock-oriented sound... [it] was a polished, contemporary sounding Adult Oriented Rock rock album." After a tour in support of the album, Hewson left to return to New Zealand, he died of a heroin overdose in January 1985.
While on a break between Dragon tours Hunter joined the Party Boys, a "good-time rock'n'roll band" with a floating ensemble, for their Great Bars of Australia tour. The line-up of Hunter, Kevin Borich on guitar, Paul Christie on bass guitar (ex-Mondo Rock), Richard Harvey on drums (ex-Divinyls) and Joe Walsh on guitar and lead vocals (of the Eagles), recorded that group's fourth live album, You Need Professional Help (1985), during the tour.
Hunter issued his third solo album, Communication, in September 1985 with various session musicians used: Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, Kirk Lorange, Mark Punch and Peter Walker on guitars, Todd Hunter and Phil Scorgie on bass guitar, Allan Mansfield and Don Walker on keyboards, and Mark Kennedy and Ricky Fataar on drums. Mansfield produced the album, which McFarlane described as "a polished set of Adult Oriented Rock (AOR) songs." Its title track had been released as a single in 1984. Hunter returned to his duties with Dragon and was recorded on two more studio albums by the end of the decade.
1989–96: Night and Day, Talk to Strangers to Dragon finale
Marc Hunter was invited by Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Keith Walker to contribute to a various artists' children's album, Zzzero (1989). He provided lullaby versions of Billie Holiday's "God Bless the Child" and Bob Dylan's "Forever Young". He worked with Walker producing when recording his next solo album, Night and Day (August 1990), which was "a collection of jazz and pop standards."
Late in 1994 Hunter's fifth solo album, Talk to Strangers, was released, which had Hunter co-producing with David Hirschfelder and Mark Walmsley via the Roadshow Music label. Soon after Hunter was back with Dragon to record their album, Incarnations (1995). Todd then left the band to concentrate on his work for film and television soundtracks. Dragon with Hunter and Mansfield aboard toured during 1996 with a line-up of Mike Caen on guitar, Ange Tsoitoudis on guitar, Dario Bortolin on bass guitar (ex-Scary Mother).
1997–98: Night of the Hunter and death
In November 1997, Marc Hunter was diagnosed with throat cancer. He had felt unwell, "One doctor told Marc he probably had tonsillitis and sent him home. Unsatisfied with this diagnosis, Marc visited a throat specialist. 'The doctor felt around my throat, and said, "You have a large cancer." I sort of didn't hear anything for a minute. I was stunned. I just sat there.'"
His friends, including Renée Geyer, organised a benefit concert to raise money for his treatment and to provide for his wife and children. Geyer explained, "He's a dear old friend and he's someone who's put a lot of time and energy into the business. I just thought it would be great for the industry to give a little bit back to someone who has given so much." The concert, Night of the Hunter, was held in February 1998 at the Palais Theatre in St Kilda in Melbourne. It had various artists performing Dragon tracks: "Are You Old Enough?" by Tex Perkins and friends, Chris Wilson singing "O Zambezi", Paul Kelly and Geyer singing a duet of "I'm Still in Love with You", Snout performing "Rain" and Men at Work’s Colin Hay provided a new song he wrote in Hunter's honour.
The finale, "April Sun in Cuba", was rendered by the ensemble led by John Farnham and his band, with Todd on bass guitar. The house erupted when Geyer led Hunter onto the stage where he joined in for his signature tune for what became his last stage appearance. Todd described the concert "Marc sang, maybe for the last time, that song. These musicians' incredible generosity was so phenomenal. There was a time when Marc thought nobody cared about his music. But he was amazed by what all these guys were doing, and it got to him in an incredible way."
Another benefit, the Good Vibrations concert, was staged soon after at Selina's nightclub in the Coogee Bay Hotel in Sydney's eastern suburbs. The performers included Glenn Shorrock, James Reyne, Ross Wilson, Todd Hunter, Alan Mansfield, Robert Taylor, Tommy Emmanuel, Men at Work regrouped for the first time in a decade to perform, and the remaining members of INXS performed live for the first time since the death of their lead singer, Michael Hutchence; Peter Garrett and Jimmy Barnes provided a duet on "Dreams of Ordinary Men" and "Speak no Evil". Hunter was unavailable – he was in Korea undergoing alternative therapy to prepare for a major throat operation, but he sent a letter which was read to the crowd. The gig was taped and an audio 2-CD live album, Good Vibrations – A Concert for Marc Hunter (1998), was released as well as a VHS video album of the same name.
For the last few months of his life, Hunter underwent various forms of treatment including several alternative medicine remedies – he attended a traditional Korean medicine clinic to undertake "an ancient metaphysical healing process, Qi". Hunter reflected, "I have thought a lot about the possibility of dying... Now, I believe it doesn't really matter when or where you die, but how you live your life. If somebody diagnoses you with cancer and tells you they are going to cut open your jaw and take out a tumor, you would panic unless you had something to sustain you. But my time with the Qi masters gave me a tap on the shoulder and reminded me we are spiritual beings."
He died in Berry near Kiama on 17 July 1998. A memorial service for him was held at St. Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney, followed by an all-star benefit concert to raise money to support his widow and children. A compilation CD, Forever Young, was released on Raven Records, highlighting his solo career.
Marc Hunter was buried at Gerringong Cemetery, Gerringong, New South Wales.
2008-present: Hall of Fame
On 1 July 2008, the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) recognised Dragon's iconic status when they were inducted into their Hall of Fame. At the induction ceremony they were joined on-stage by James Reyne and Ian Moss to perform "April Sun in Cuba" and "Rain":
Personal life
Annie Burton, a rock music writer for Rock Australia Magazine, had a nine-year domestic relationship with Marc Hunter from mid-1975. By the mid-1980s, they had separated and shared custody of their child. In 1985, he shared a house with Renée Geyer.
In the late 1980s, Hunter married Wendy Heather, a fashion designer, and the couple had two children Isabella and Jackson. Isabella "Bella" Hunter covered Dragon's song April Sun in Cuba, in February 2009 for RocKwiz Salutes the Bowl (March 2009) – a celebration of the Myer Music Bowl's 50th anniversary – on an episode of season six of the SBS program, RocKwiz. Live performances by various artists were also released as a DVD of the same name. She was a contestant on season four of the Australian version of The X Factor, in August 2012 but she was eliminated before the finals.
In October 2011 Hunter's biography, Chasing the Dragon: the Life and Death of Marc Hunter, was published by Jeff Apter. Fiona Scott-Norman of The Sydney Morning Herald felt it "should be a classic modern-day tragedy" as Hunter provided "an embarrassment of talent and charisma, held the promise of greatness in his hands and pissed it all away through heroin, narcissism and self-sabotage. He died at 44 from throat cancer and it's a toss-up which of his addictions was to blame." However, she felt that Apter's presentation was "a utilitarian read that feels like it's been knocked out pretty quickly... Hunter is never likeable, or even knowable. He got lost early on, from the minute Dragon hit Sydney and heroin in 1975 and Apter does not find him." Simon Collins of The West Australian reviewed several rock music biographies, he noticed that Apter "spoke to dozens of family and friends, including a who's who of Australian rock in the 70s and 80s." Apter portrayed Hunter as someone who "could be a horrendous human being, some sort of supernatural charisma the only explanation for the almost universal love for the larger-than-life antipodean superstar. Heroin, booze and women feature in equally gargantuan proportions"; however, the biography, "lacks the real passion that underpins some of the great rock books."
Solo discography
Albums
Charting singles
Awards
Aotearoa Music Awards
The Aotearoa Music Awards (previously known as New Zealand Music Awards (NZMA)) are an annual awards night celebrating excellence in New Zealand music and have been presented annually since 1965.
!
|-
| 2011 || Marc Hunter (as part of Dragon) || New Zealand Music Hall of Fame || ||
|-
ARIA Music Awards
The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. They commenced in 1987. Dragon were inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008.
|-
| 2008
| Marc Hunter (as part of Dragon)
| ARIA Hall of Fame
|
References
General
Note: Archived [on-line] copy has limited functionality.
Specific
External links
Tommy Emmanuel Memorial to Marc Hunter
Marc Hunter discography and album reviews, credits & releases at AllMusic
Marc Hunter discography, album releases & credits at Discogs
Marc Hunter biography at www.Sergent.com.au
Marc Hunter albums to be listened on Spotify
Marc Hunter albums to be listened on YouTube
1953 births
1998 deaths
APRA Award winners
New Zealand rock singers
Australian rock singers
Dragon (band)
The Party Boys members
New Zealand emigrants to Australia
New Zealand people of Fijian descent
Deaths from throat cancer
Deaths from cancer in New South Wales
20th-century Australian male singers
People from Taumarunui
| true |
[
"\"Tight Fittin' Jeans\" is a song written by Michael Huffman, and recorded by American country music artist Conway Twitty. It was released in June 1981 as the first single from the album Mr. T. The song was Twitty's 26th number one on the country chart. The single stayed at number one for one week and spent a total of 10 weeks on the country chart.\n\nThe original album cut of the song did not feature any electric guitar leads; they were overdubbed for the single version after the album's release.\n\nCharts\n\nCertifications\n\nReferences\n \n\n1981 singles\n1981 songs\nConway Twitty songs\nSong recordings produced by Owen Bradley\nMCA Records singles\nSongs about jeans",
"The Gurus were an American psychedelic rock band from the 1960s. They were among the first to incorporate Middle Eastern influences, maybe more than any other band of that era. The band broke up without making a large impact on the music scene of the time, although they did release two singles on United Artists Records in 1966 and 1967. Their album, The Gurus Are Hear, failed to be released in 1967, which was noted as the reason for the band splitting up.\n\nThe album was finally released in 2003.\n\nReferences\n\nAmerican psychedelic rock music groups"
] |
[
"Marc Hunter",
"1982-89: Dragon reborn, Party Boys and solo Communication",
"What did Hunter do in 1992?",
"In August 1982 Dragon reformed with the line-up of Marc, Todd, Hewson, Jacobsen and Robert Taylor on guitar",
"Did they record any albums?",
"In June 1984 the group's next album, Body and the Beat, which was produced by Mansfield and Carey Taylor, was released",
"Did they release any singles?",
"\" Their single, \"Rain\","
] |
C_d3884a6b239a4428b607b74dd46e9b93_0
|
How was the single received?
| 4 |
How was the single by Dragon band received?
|
Marc Hunter
|
In August 1982 Dragon reformed with the line-up of Marc, Todd, Hewson, Jacobsen and Robert Taylor on guitar (ex-Mammal) for a national Class Reunion tour. McFarlane noted that it was "Ostensibly run to pay off outstanding debts, the tour proved so successful that the band re-formed on a permanent basis." Their single, "Rain", was issued in July 1983, which peaked at No. 2. It was co-written by Marc, Todd and the latter's then-girlfriend, Johanna Pigott; and had Mansfield producing. Soon after Mansfield joined Dragon on keyboards and as a songwriter. In June 1984 the group's next album, Body and the Beat, which was produced by Mansfield and Carey Taylor, was released and peaked at No. 5. The group provided "a much fuller, more rock-oriented sound... [it] was a polished, contemporary sounding Adult Oriented Rock rock album." After a tour in support of the album, Hewson left to return to New Zealand, he died of a heroin overdose in January 1985. While on a break between Dragon tours Hunter joined the Party Boys, a "good-time rock'n'roll band" with a floating ensemble, for their Great Bars of Australia tour. The line-up of Hunter, Borich, Paul Christie on bass guitar (ex-Mondo Rock), Richard Harvey on drums (ex-Divinyls) and Joe Walsh on guitar and lead vocals (of the Eagles), recorded that group's fourth live album, You Need Professional Help (1985), during the tour. Hunter issued his third solo album, Communication, in September 1985 with various session musicians used: Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, Kirk Lorange, Mark Punch and Peter Walker on guitars, Todd Hunter and Phil Scorgie on bass guitar, Allan Mansfield and Don Walker on keyboards, and Mark Kennedy and Ricky Fataar on drums. Mansfield produced the album, which McFarlane described as "a polished set of Adult Oriented Rock (AOR) songs." Its title track had been released as a single in 1984. Hunter returned to his duties with Dragon and was recorded on two more studio albums by the end of the decade. CANNOTANSWER
|
peaked at No. 2.
|
Marc Alexander Hunter (7 September 195317 July 1998) was a New Zealand rock and pop singer, songwriter and record producer. He was the lead vocalist of Dragon (1973–11/1979, 8/1982–1989, 1995–11/1997), a band formed by his older brother, Todd Hunter, in Auckland in January 1972. They relocated to Sydney in May 1975. He was also a member of the Party Boys in 1985. For his solo career he issued five studio albums, Fiji Bitter (November 1979), Big City Talk (August 1981), Communication (September 1985), Night and Day (August 1990) and Talk to Strangers (late 1994). During the 1970s Hunter developed heroin and alcohol addictions and was incarcerated at Mt Eden Prison in Auckland in 1978. He was recklessly outspoken and volatile on-stage. In November 1978 during the band's American tour, supporting Johnny Winter, they performed in Dallas, Texas, where "he made some general stage observations about redneck buddies, illegal oral sex and utility trucks" and called the audience members, "faggots". Upon his return to Australia, in February 1979, he was fired from the group by his brother, Todd.
In August 1982 Hunter returned to the line-up of Dragon and continued with the group while also maintaining his solo career. The band included Craig Laird on lead guitar (currently of 1927) and Steve Boyd on drums (ex-Adam Brand). They disbanded in November 1997 when he was diagnosed with throat cancer, and he died on 17 July 1998. Benefit concerts were held to provide for his widow, Wendy Hunter, and children. On 1 July 2008, the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) inducted Dragon into their Hall of Fame. His biography, Chasing the Dragon: the Life and Death of Marc Hunter, was published by Jeff Apter in October 2011.
Early life
Marc Alexander Hunter was born in Taumarunui on 7 September 1953. In the late 1950s his family performed publicly where his father, Stuart, played saxophone, his mother Voi played piano and his older brother, Todd Hunter (born 1951) played guitar with Marc providing drums. He also grew up with two younger brothers, Ross and Brett. Hunter remembered, "We got guitars for Christmas one year, I broke mine but Todd played his. He was two years older than me and always more interested in music. I only saw it as a way of wagging school." He described his home town, "[it] was a great place to grow up in, and a great place to run away from, because you always knew you could go back to it and nothing much would have changed. It was the place where our parents always told us to 'Do what you want to do, just try and be happy doing it.'"
Hunter attended Taumarunui High School and started performing as a cabaret singer, Todd later reminisced, "Oh, he was fabulous! He was playing in cabaret lounges and entertaining all sorts of people, driving a pink Mercedes, all that sort of stuff, straight out of school!" Hunter also provided drums and vocals as a member of a band, Quintessence, which performed at a restaurant in Auckland.
Music career
1970–79: Dragon
In 1973, Hunter issued a solo single, "X-Ray Creature" (1973), on the Family Records label.
Todd, meanwhile, had formed a progressive rock band, Dragon, in January 1972 in Auckland. About a year later the group "played in the next room to [Marc] one night, and he came through and did some songs ... I think we were playing for a really tough crowd of dock-workers, it was really tough and he just swanned in and was excruciatingly funny and completely irreverent. We just thought this guy's great – he's even madder than us, we must get him!"
Marc Hunter joined Dragon in 1973 on lead vocals, percussion and saxophone, replacing their founding member singer, pianist Graeme Collins. The band recorded two progressive rock albums for Vertigo Records, their guitarist, Robert Taylor later recalled "[our gigs] weren't totally original, they were doing things like Santana and Doors songs... At that stage Marc Hunter was playing congas and I think a little bit of sax." They moved to Sydney in May 1975. They were managed by Wayne de Grouchy who told Hunter that he should "stop playing the congas, be more of a front man... Marc was more than just one of the musos." Dragon became a pop-rock act after Paul Hewson joined on keyboards in 1975. They supported Status Quo on their Australian tour in October 1975.
Dragon became one of Australia's biggest-selling bands, scoring a number of hit singles, including "April Sun in Cuba" (No. 2, November 1977) and "Are You Old Enough?" (No. 1, August 1978). Their related top 10 albums, were Running Free (No. 6, 1977) and O Zambezi (No. 3, 1978). Hunter was incarcerated in Mt Eden Prison, Auckland in 1978 due to developing heroin and alcohol addictions. He was recklessly outspoken and volatile on-stage: in November 1978 during the band's North American tour, supporting Johnny Winter, they performed in Dallas, Texas, where "he made some general stage observations about redneck buddies, illegal oral sex and utility trucks" and called the audience members, "faggots".
In February 1979 Hunter was fired from Dragon by his brother. Todd later explained, "He was demonic... Things like Dallas happened all the time. The 'Miss Mercy' mock rape thing lasted until these feminists started getting up and punching him in the face. Most of the time I wasn't drinking or anything and, from my perspective, this Fall of the Roman Empire thing was pretty wild. I hated a lot of it. People came along because they wanted to see Dragon decombust. They were enjoying it but Marc was just killing himself. We had to fire him or he'd have destroyed himself."
Dragon were named in the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Drug Trafficking (1981–83), due to their association with fellow New Zealander, Greg Ollard. Its report stated "that Ollard supplied heroin to group members and that at least one member of the group sold heroin on Ollard's behalf." According to David Nichols, in the mid-1970s, "Three of the five members of Dragon – Marc Hunter, Hewson, and Storey – were by now associated with heroin selling and consumption." Ollard had been murdered in September 1977 and his body was found five years later.
1979–82: Solo Career: Fiji Bitter and Big City Talk
Marc Hunter travelled overseas to recuperate, visiting Morocco and London. Back in Australia he signed a recording deal with CBS, which issued his debut solo album, Fiji Bitter, in November 1979. For the sessions he used Todd on bass guitar, John Annas on drums (ex-Kevin Borich Express), Harvey James on guitar (from Sherbet), and Terry Wilson on guitar (ex-Original Batter-sea Heroes, Wasted Daze).
Fiji Bitter was recorded at Studios 301 in Sydney with Richard Lush producing and engineering – Hunter wrote or co-wrote most of its tracks. The album's lead single, "Island Nights" (July), peaked at No. 20. He formed Marc Hunter and the Romantics, with Annas and James, to promote the album. Two more singles, "Don't Take Me" (November) and "When You Walk in the Room" (January 1980), appeared – neither reached the top 50.
In 1980 Hunter, on lead vocals, formed an R&B group in Sydney, the Headhunters, with Todd on bass guitar (by then ex-Dragon), Kevin Borich on guitar, Mick Cocks on guitar (ex-Rose Tattoo), John Watson on drums (ex-Kevin Borich Express). Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, described them as "an ad hoc aggregation of musicians who were drawn together by a love of playing raucous R&B".
Hunter resumed his solo career with his second album, Big City Talk, which appeared in August 1981 on PolyGram/Mercury labels. It was co-produced by Hunter and Todd. Debbie Muir of The Canberra Times, felt it "covered a wide range of material that bore some resemblance to his last album, Fiji Bitter, but was totally different to his old, Dragon days." He had used session musicians: Kevin Borich, Dave Mason (of The Reels) and Mark Punch (ex-Renée Geyer Band). Muir's fellow journalist at The Canberra Times, Garry Raffaele, opined that it "is flat, directionless, unexciting, effete rock and roll. It is devoid of feeling."
On working as a solo artist, he declared, "I am happier now on my own. I was in a wretched state of mind when I was in the band... I miss the camaraderie involved but then I prefer to make my own decisions." The title track, "Big City Talk", was released as a single in July and reached No. 25. Follow up singles, "(Rock'n'Roll is) a Loser's Game" (September), "Side Show" (November) and "Nothing but a Lie" (May 1982) did not chart. In 1981 he formed the Marc Hunter Band and in October they toured Australia with Renée Geyer; the set included a duet by Hunter and Geyer. During 1982 Hunter was working with US-born keyboardist and record producer, Alan Mansfield. In March of that year he was arrested for "$4500 in unpaid parking fines", he described his jail cell as "unbelievably filthy."
1982–89: Dragon reborn, Party Boys and solo Communication
In August 1982 Dragon reformed with the line-up of Marc, Todd, Hewson, Jacobsen and Robert Taylor on guitar (ex-Mammal) for a national Class Reunion tour. McFarlane noted that it was "Ostensibly run to pay off outstanding debts, the tour proved so successful that the band re-formed on a permanent basis." Their single, "Rain", was issued in July 1983, which peaked at No. 2. It was co-written by Marc, Todd and the latter's then-girlfriend, Johanna Pigott; and had Mansfield producing.
In June 1984 the group's next album, Body and the Beat, which was produced by Mansfield and Carey Taylor, was released and peaked at No. 5. The group provided "a much fuller, more rock-oriented sound... [it] was a polished, contemporary sounding Adult Oriented Rock rock album." After a tour in support of the album, Hewson left to return to New Zealand, he died of a heroin overdose in January 1985.
While on a break between Dragon tours Hunter joined the Party Boys, a "good-time rock'n'roll band" with a floating ensemble, for their Great Bars of Australia tour. The line-up of Hunter, Kevin Borich on guitar, Paul Christie on bass guitar (ex-Mondo Rock), Richard Harvey on drums (ex-Divinyls) and Joe Walsh on guitar and lead vocals (of the Eagles), recorded that group's fourth live album, You Need Professional Help (1985), during the tour.
Hunter issued his third solo album, Communication, in September 1985 with various session musicians used: Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, Kirk Lorange, Mark Punch and Peter Walker on guitars, Todd Hunter and Phil Scorgie on bass guitar, Allan Mansfield and Don Walker on keyboards, and Mark Kennedy and Ricky Fataar on drums. Mansfield produced the album, which McFarlane described as "a polished set of Adult Oriented Rock (AOR) songs." Its title track had been released as a single in 1984. Hunter returned to his duties with Dragon and was recorded on two more studio albums by the end of the decade.
1989–96: Night and Day, Talk to Strangers to Dragon finale
Marc Hunter was invited by Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Keith Walker to contribute to a various artists' children's album, Zzzero (1989). He provided lullaby versions of Billie Holiday's "God Bless the Child" and Bob Dylan's "Forever Young". He worked with Walker producing when recording his next solo album, Night and Day (August 1990), which was "a collection of jazz and pop standards."
Late in 1994 Hunter's fifth solo album, Talk to Strangers, was released, which had Hunter co-producing with David Hirschfelder and Mark Walmsley via the Roadshow Music label. Soon after Hunter was back with Dragon to record their album, Incarnations (1995). Todd then left the band to concentrate on his work for film and television soundtracks. Dragon with Hunter and Mansfield aboard toured during 1996 with a line-up of Mike Caen on guitar, Ange Tsoitoudis on guitar, Dario Bortolin on bass guitar (ex-Scary Mother).
1997–98: Night of the Hunter and death
In November 1997, Marc Hunter was diagnosed with throat cancer. He had felt unwell, "One doctor told Marc he probably had tonsillitis and sent him home. Unsatisfied with this diagnosis, Marc visited a throat specialist. 'The doctor felt around my throat, and said, "You have a large cancer." I sort of didn't hear anything for a minute. I was stunned. I just sat there.'"
His friends, including Renée Geyer, organised a benefit concert to raise money for his treatment and to provide for his wife and children. Geyer explained, "He's a dear old friend and he's someone who's put a lot of time and energy into the business. I just thought it would be great for the industry to give a little bit back to someone who has given so much." The concert, Night of the Hunter, was held in February 1998 at the Palais Theatre in St Kilda in Melbourne. It had various artists performing Dragon tracks: "Are You Old Enough?" by Tex Perkins and friends, Chris Wilson singing "O Zambezi", Paul Kelly and Geyer singing a duet of "I'm Still in Love with You", Snout performing "Rain" and Men at Work’s Colin Hay provided a new song he wrote in Hunter's honour.
The finale, "April Sun in Cuba", was rendered by the ensemble led by John Farnham and his band, with Todd on bass guitar. The house erupted when Geyer led Hunter onto the stage where he joined in for his signature tune for what became his last stage appearance. Todd described the concert "Marc sang, maybe for the last time, that song. These musicians' incredible generosity was so phenomenal. There was a time when Marc thought nobody cared about his music. But he was amazed by what all these guys were doing, and it got to him in an incredible way."
Another benefit, the Good Vibrations concert, was staged soon after at Selina's nightclub in the Coogee Bay Hotel in Sydney's eastern suburbs. The performers included Glenn Shorrock, James Reyne, Ross Wilson, Todd Hunter, Alan Mansfield, Robert Taylor, Tommy Emmanuel, Men at Work regrouped for the first time in a decade to perform, and the remaining members of INXS performed live for the first time since the death of their lead singer, Michael Hutchence; Peter Garrett and Jimmy Barnes provided a duet on "Dreams of Ordinary Men" and "Speak no Evil". Hunter was unavailable – he was in Korea undergoing alternative therapy to prepare for a major throat operation, but he sent a letter which was read to the crowd. The gig was taped and an audio 2-CD live album, Good Vibrations – A Concert for Marc Hunter (1998), was released as well as a VHS video album of the same name.
For the last few months of his life, Hunter underwent various forms of treatment including several alternative medicine remedies – he attended a traditional Korean medicine clinic to undertake "an ancient metaphysical healing process, Qi". Hunter reflected, "I have thought a lot about the possibility of dying... Now, I believe it doesn't really matter when or where you die, but how you live your life. If somebody diagnoses you with cancer and tells you they are going to cut open your jaw and take out a tumor, you would panic unless you had something to sustain you. But my time with the Qi masters gave me a tap on the shoulder and reminded me we are spiritual beings."
He died in Berry near Kiama on 17 July 1998. A memorial service for him was held at St. Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney, followed by an all-star benefit concert to raise money to support his widow and children. A compilation CD, Forever Young, was released on Raven Records, highlighting his solo career.
Marc Hunter was buried at Gerringong Cemetery, Gerringong, New South Wales.
2008-present: Hall of Fame
On 1 July 2008, the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) recognised Dragon's iconic status when they were inducted into their Hall of Fame. At the induction ceremony they were joined on-stage by James Reyne and Ian Moss to perform "April Sun in Cuba" and "Rain":
Personal life
Annie Burton, a rock music writer for Rock Australia Magazine, had a nine-year domestic relationship with Marc Hunter from mid-1975. By the mid-1980s, they had separated and shared custody of their child. In 1985, he shared a house with Renée Geyer.
In the late 1980s, Hunter married Wendy Heather, a fashion designer, and the couple had two children Isabella and Jackson. Isabella "Bella" Hunter covered Dragon's song April Sun in Cuba, in February 2009 for RocKwiz Salutes the Bowl (March 2009) – a celebration of the Myer Music Bowl's 50th anniversary – on an episode of season six of the SBS program, RocKwiz. Live performances by various artists were also released as a DVD of the same name. She was a contestant on season four of the Australian version of The X Factor, in August 2012 but she was eliminated before the finals.
In October 2011 Hunter's biography, Chasing the Dragon: the Life and Death of Marc Hunter, was published by Jeff Apter. Fiona Scott-Norman of The Sydney Morning Herald felt it "should be a classic modern-day tragedy" as Hunter provided "an embarrassment of talent and charisma, held the promise of greatness in his hands and pissed it all away through heroin, narcissism and self-sabotage. He died at 44 from throat cancer and it's a toss-up which of his addictions was to blame." However, she felt that Apter's presentation was "a utilitarian read that feels like it's been knocked out pretty quickly... Hunter is never likeable, or even knowable. He got lost early on, from the minute Dragon hit Sydney and heroin in 1975 and Apter does not find him." Simon Collins of The West Australian reviewed several rock music biographies, he noticed that Apter "spoke to dozens of family and friends, including a who's who of Australian rock in the 70s and 80s." Apter portrayed Hunter as someone who "could be a horrendous human being, some sort of supernatural charisma the only explanation for the almost universal love for the larger-than-life antipodean superstar. Heroin, booze and women feature in equally gargantuan proportions"; however, the biography, "lacks the real passion that underpins some of the great rock books."
Solo discography
Albums
Charting singles
Awards
Aotearoa Music Awards
The Aotearoa Music Awards (previously known as New Zealand Music Awards (NZMA)) are an annual awards night celebrating excellence in New Zealand music and have been presented annually since 1965.
!
|-
| 2011 || Marc Hunter (as part of Dragon) || New Zealand Music Hall of Fame || ||
|-
ARIA Music Awards
The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. They commenced in 1987. Dragon were inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008.
|-
| 2008
| Marc Hunter (as part of Dragon)
| ARIA Hall of Fame
|
References
General
Note: Archived [on-line] copy has limited functionality.
Specific
External links
Tommy Emmanuel Memorial to Marc Hunter
Marc Hunter discography and album reviews, credits & releases at AllMusic
Marc Hunter discography, album releases & credits at Discogs
Marc Hunter biography at www.Sergent.com.au
Marc Hunter albums to be listened on Spotify
Marc Hunter albums to be listened on YouTube
1953 births
1998 deaths
APRA Award winners
New Zealand rock singers
Australian rock singers
Dragon (band)
The Party Boys members
New Zealand emigrants to Australia
New Zealand people of Fijian descent
Deaths from throat cancer
Deaths from cancer in New South Wales
20th-century Australian male singers
People from Taumarunui
| false |
[
"\"How Blue\" is a song written by John Moffat, and recorded by American country music artist Reba McEntire. It was released in September 1984 as the first single from the album My Kind of Country. It was her third number one single on the Billboard country music chart and would be the first of a series of number one singles during the 1980s and 1990s.\n\nBackground\n\"How Blue\" was recorded at the MCA studio in Nashville, Tennessee in 1984. The song was one of several new tracks released on McEntire's second MCA album, My Kind of Country, which mainly included cover versions of traditional country songs. The song itself was considered a departure from any of McEntire's previously released singles, as it contained a traditional sound, with fiddle and steel guitar in the background.\n\nContent\nThe song describes a woman who asks herself \"how blue\" or lonely she can feel until she has gotten over her lover, whom she had recently broken up with. The song's chorus explains the storyline:\n\nHow blue can you make me\nHow long till I heal\nHow can I go on loving you when you're gone\nHow blue can I feel?\n\nCritical reception \nSince its release as a single, \"How Blue\" has received positive critical reception from critics. Kurt Wolff of the book, Country Music: The Rough Guide called the song, \"one of rootsiest songs she has ever recorded.\" AllMusic's William Ruhlmann called the song, \"the breakthrough she was looking for,\" and Rolling Stone also received \"How Blue\" well, eventually putting McEntire on their list of their \"Top 5 Favorite Country Artists.\" The country music website, My Kind of Country also praised \"How Blue,\" commenting that it was a departure from any of McEntire's previous releases, stating, \"The stripped-down, acoustic guitar and fiddle-driven arrangement was a far cry from anything McEntire had recorded before. Producer Harold Shedd had found the song and had to convince a reluctant Reba to record it. She initially felt that it was a man’s song, but she reconsidered when the line “ain’t you got a heart left in your breast” was changed to “chest”.\"\n\nRelease and chart performance \n\"How Blue\" was released on September 24, 1984 on MCA Nashville Records. The song reached number one on the Billboard Magazine country music chart months before My Kind of Country'''s release, reaching the top spot in January 1985. The song also peaked at number 6 on the Canadian RPM'' Country Tracks charts around the same time. The song helped McEntire to win the Country Music Association Awards' \"Female Vocalist of the Year\" honor and was also regarded as a \"new traditionalist\" by many music critics, along with country artists, George Strait and Ricky Skaggs.\n\nCharts\n\nReferences \n\n1984 singles\nReba McEntire songs\nSong recordings produced by Harold Shedd\nMCA Records singles\n1984 songs",
"\"Charlotte\" is a single by Bournemouth-based alternative rock band Air Traffic. Taken from the band's debut studio album Fractured Life, the track was released through Tiny Consumer, a record label division of EMI. \"Charlotte\" was first released as part of the band's debut single, a double a-side with \"Just Abuse Me\", on July 17, 2006. The single was released as the fifth in a series of black and white vinyls by Label Fandango - the independent record label of live music promotion company Club Fandango - which was the band's record label at the time.\n\n\"Charlotte\" was re-released on March 26, 2007, becoming the band's first proper single. The re-released single received moderate airplay on radio and music television channels, particularly as part of the MTV2/NME Chart and MTV2's \"Spanking New Music\" show. It stayed on the UK Singles Chart for one week on April 7, 2007, at #33.\n\nTrack listings\nCD (B000NO20II)\n\"Charlotte\" (2:23)\n\"An End to All Our Problems\" (5:03)\n\"Learning How to Shout\" (2:48)\n\"Charlotte\" (2:23)\n\n7\" vinyl (B000NO20M4)\n\"Charlotte\" (2:23)\n\"An End to All Our Problems\" (5:03)\n\"Learning How to Shout\" (2:48)\n\"Charlotte\" (2:23)\n\nReferences\n\n2007 singles\nAir Traffic songs\n2006 songs\nEMI Records singles"
] |
[
"Travis Tritt",
"1994-1995: Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof and Greatest Hits"
] |
C_11462bedee39492fafd80e4368975ea1_0
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What happened in 1994 ?
| 1 |
What happened in 1994, with regard to Travis Tritt?
|
Travis Tritt
|
In early 1994, after "Worth Every Mile" fell from the charts, Tritt charted at number 21 with a cover of the Eagles' "Take It Easy". He recorded this song for the tribute album Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles (released through Warner Bros.' Giant Records division), which featured country music artists' renditions of Eagles songs. When filming the music video for this song, Tritt requested that the band, which was on hiatus at the time, appear in it. This reunion inspired the Eagles' Hell Freezes Over Tour, which began that year. His fourth album, Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof, was released that May. Its lead-off single, "Foolish Pride", went to number one, and the fourth single, "Tell Me I Was Dreaming", reached number two. In between these songs were the title track at number 22 and "Between an Old Memory and Me" (originally recorded by Keith Whitley) at number 11. The album included two co-writes with Gary Rossington of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and guest vocals from Waylon Jennings and Hank Williams, Jr. on the cut "Outlaws Like Us". The album achieved platinum certification in December of that year, and later became his third double-platinum album. Allmusic reviewer Brian Mansfield said that Tritt was "most comfortable with his Southern rock/outlaw mantle" on it, comparing "Foolish Pride" favorably to "Anymore" and the work of Bob Seger. Alanna Nash praised the title track and "Tell Me I Was Dreaming" in her review for Entertainment Weekly, but thought that the other songs were still too similar in sound to his previous works. 1995's Greatest Hits: From the Beginning included most of his singles to that point, as well as two new cuts: the Steve Earle composition "Sometimes She Forgets" and a cover of the pop standard "Only You (And You Alone)". The former was a top ten hit at number seven, while the latter spent only eight weeks on the country charts and peaked at number 51. Greatest Hits was certified platinum. CANNOTANSWER
|
In early 1994, after "Worth Every Mile" fell from the charts, Tritt charted at number 21 with a cover of the Eagles' "Take It Easy".
|
James Travis Tritt (born February 9, 1963) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and actor. He signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1989, releasing seven studio albums and a greatest hits package for the label between then and 1999. In the 2000s, he released three studio albums on Columbia Records and one for the now-defunct Category 5 Records. Seven of his albums (counting the Greatest Hits) are certified platinum or higher by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA); the highest-certified is 1991's It's All About to Change, which is certified triple-platinum. Tritt has also charted more than 40 times on the Hot Country Songs charts, including five number ones—"Help Me Hold On", "Anymore", "Can I Trust You with My Heart", "Foolish Pride", and "Best of Intentions"—and 15 additional top ten singles. Tritt's musical style is defined by mainstream country and Southern rock influences.
He has received two Grammy Awards, both for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals: in 1992 for "The Whiskey Ain't Workin'", a duet with Marty Stuart, and again in 1998 for "Same Old Train", a collaboration with Stuart and nine other artists. He has received four awards from the Country Music Association and has been a member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1992.
Early life
James Travis Tritt was born on February 9, 1963, in Marietta, Georgia, to James and Gwen Tritt. He first took interest in singing after his church's Sunday school choir performed "Everything Is Beautiful". He received his first guitar at age 8 and taught himself how to play it; in the fourth grade, he performed "Annie's Song" and "King of the Road" for his class, and later got invited to play for other classrooms in his school. At age 14, his parents bought him another guitar, and he learned more songs from his uncle, Sam Lockhart. Later on, Tritt joined his church band, which occasionally performed at other churches nearby.
Tritt began writing music while he was attending Sprayberry High School; his first song composition, entitled "Spend a Little Time", was written about a girlfriend whom he had broken up with. He performed the song for his friends, one of whom complimented him on his songwriting skills. He also founded a bluegrass group with some of his friends and won second place in a local tournament for playing "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys".
During his teenage years, Tritt worked at a furniture store, and later as a supermarket clerk. He lived with his mother after she and his father divorced; they remarried when he was 18. He worked at an air conditioning company while playing in clubs, but gave up the air conditioning job at the suggestion of one of his bandmates. Tritt's father thought that he would not find success as a musician, while his mother thought that he should perform Christian music instead of country.
Through the assistance of Warner Bros. Records executive Danny Davenport, Tritt began recording demos. The two worked together for the next several years, eventually putting together a demo album called Proud of the Country. Davenport sent the demo to Warner Bros. representatives in Los Angeles, who in turn sent the demo to their Nashville division, which signed Tritt in 1987. Davenport also helped Tritt find a talent manager, Ken Kragen. At first, Kragen was not interested in taking an "entry-level act", but decided to sign on as Tritt's manager after Kragen's wife convinced him.
Musical career
1989–1991: Country Club
Tritt's contract with Warner Bros. meant that he was signed to record six songs, and three of them would be released as singles. According to the contract, he would not be signed on for a full album unless one of the three singles became a hit. His first single was "Country Club". Recorded in late 1988 and released on August 7, 1989, the song spent 26 weeks on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts, peaking at number nine. It was the title track to his 1990 debut album Country Club, produced by Gregg Brown. The month of its release, Tritt burst a blood vessel on his vocal cords, and had to take vocal rest for a month. Second single "Help Me Hold On" became his first number one single in 1990. The album's third and fifth singles, "I'm Gonna Be Somebody" and "Drift Off to Dream", respectively peaked at numbers two and three on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts, and number one on the Canadian RPM country charts; "I'm Gonna Be Somebody" also went to number one on the U.S. country singles charts published by Radio & Records. "Put Some Drive in Your Country", which was released fourth, peaked at 28 on Hot Country Songs. Country Club was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in July 1991 for shipments of one million copies, and no medals since in 1996. In 1990, he won the Top New Male Artist award from Billboard. The Country Music Association (CMA) also nominated him for the Horizon Award (now known as the New Artist Award), which is given to new artists who show have shown the most significant artistic and commercial development from a first or second album.
Brian Mansfield of AllMusic gave the album a positive review, saying that "Put Some Drive in Your Country" paid homage to Tritt's influences, but that the other singles were more radio-friendly. Giving the album a B-minus, Alanna Nash of Entertainment Weekly compared Tritt's music to that of Hank Williams, Jr. and Joe Stampley.
1991–1992: It's All About to Change
In 1991, Tritt received a second Horizon Award nomination, which he won that year. He also released his second album, It's All About to Change. The album went on to become his best-selling, with a triple-platinum certification from the RIAA for shipments of three million copies. All four of its singles reached the top five on the country music charts. "Here's a Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares)" and the Marty Stuart duet "The Whiskey Ain't Workin'", respectively the first and third singles, both reached number two, with the number-one "Anymore" in between. "Nothing Short of Dying" was the fourth single, with a peak at number four on Billboard; both it and "The Whiskey Ain't Working" went to Number One on Radio & Records. "Bible Belt", another cut from the album (recorded in collaboration with Little Feat), appeared in the 1992 film My Cousin Vinny (the lyrics for the song, however, were changed for the version played in the movie to match the story line). Although not released as a single, it peaked at number 72 country based on unsolicited airplay and was the b-side to "Nothing Short of Dying". "Bible Belt" was inspired by a youth pastor whom Tritt knew in his childhood.
Stuart offered "The Whiskey Ain't Workin' Anymore" to Tritt backstage at the CMA awards show, and they recorded it as a duet through the suggestion of Tritt's record producer, Gregg Brown. The duet won both artists the next year's Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. Tritt and Stuart charted a second duet, "This One's Gonna Hurt You (For a Long, Long Time)", which went to number seven in mid-1992 and appeared on Stuart's album This One's Gonna Hurt You. This song won the 1992 CMA award for Vocal Event of the Year.
In June 1992, Tritt received media attention when he criticized Billy Ray Cyrus' "Achy Breaky Heart" at a Fan Fair interview, saying that he did not think that Cyrus' song made a "statement". The following January, Cyrus responded at the American Music Awards by referring to Tritt's "Here's a Quarter". Tritt later apologized to Cyrus, but said that he defended his opinion on the song.
1992–1993: T-R-O-U-B-L-E and A Travis Tritt Christmas
Tritt and Stuart began a "No Hats Tour" in 1992. In August of that same year, Tritt released the album T-R-O-U-B-L-E. Its first single was "Lord Have Mercy on the Working Man", a song written by Kostas. This song, which featured backing vocals from Brooks & Dunn, T. Graham Brown, George Jones, Little Texas, Dana McVicker (who also sang backup on Tritt's first two albums), Tanya Tucker and Porter Wagoner on the final chorus, peaked at number five. Its follow-up, "Can I Trust You with My Heart", became Tritt's third Billboard number one in early 1993. The album's next three singles did not perform as well on the charts: the title track (a cover of an Elvis Presley song), peaked at 13, followed by "Looking Out for Number One" at number 11 and "Worth Every Mile" at number 30. T-R-O-U-B-L-E became the second album of his career to achieve double-platinum certification. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic thought that T-R-O-U-B-L-E followed too closely the formula of It's All About to Change, but said that the songs showed Tritt's personality. Nash gave the album a similar criticism, but praised the rock influences of "Looking Out for Number One" and the vocals on "Can I Trust You with My Heart".
One month after the release of T-R-O-U-B-L-E, Tritt issued a Christmas album titled A Travis Tritt Christmas: Loving Time of the Year, for which he wrote the title track. He also joined the Grand Ole Opry, a weekly stage show and radio broadcast specializing in country music performances, and filled in for Garth Brooks at a performance on the American Music Awards. By year's end, Tritt and several other artists appeared on George Jones's "I Don't Need Your Rockin' Chair", which won all artists involved the next year's CMA Vocal Event of the Year award.
1994–1995: Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof and Greatest Hits
In early 1994, after "Worth Every Mile" fell from the charts, Tritt charted at number 21 with a cover of the Eagles' "Take It Easy". He recorded this song for the tribute album Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles (released through Warner Bros.' Giant Records division), which featured country music artists' renditions of Eagles songs. When filming the music video for this song, Tritt requested that the band, which had been on hiatus for over 13 years, appear in it. This reunion inspired the Eagles' Hell Freezes Over Tour, which began that year.
His fourth album, Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof, was released that May. Its lead-off single, "Foolish Pride", went to number one, and the fourth single, "Tell Me I Was Dreaming", reached number two. In between these songs were the title track at number 22 and "Between an Old Memory and Me" (originally recorded by Keith Whitley) at number 11. The album included two co-writes with Gary Rossington of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and guest vocals from Waylon Jennings and Hank Williams, Jr. on the cut "Outlaws Like Us". The album achieved platinum certification in December of that year, and later became his third double-platinum album. AllMusic reviewer Brian Mansfield said that Tritt was "most comfortable with his Southern rock/outlaw mantle" on it, comparing "Foolish Pride" favorably to "Anymore" and the work of Bob Seger. Alanna Nash praised the title track and "Tell Me I Was Dreaming" in her review for Entertainment Weekly, but thought that the other songs were still too similar in sound to his previous works.
1995's Greatest Hits: From the Beginning included most of his singles to that point, as well as two new cuts: the Steve Earle composition "Sometimes She Forgets" and a cover of the pop standard "Only You (And You Alone)". The former was a top ten hit at number seven, while the latter spent only eight weeks on the country charts and peaked at number 51. Greatest Hits was certified platinum.
1996–1997: The Restless Kind
In April 1996, Tritt and Stuart charted a third duet, "Honky Tonkin's What I Do Best", which appeared on Stuart's album of the same name and peaked at 23 on the country charts. The song won both artists that year's Country Music Association award for Vocal Event, Tritt's third win in this category. The two began a second tour, the Double Trouble Tour, that year.
Tritt charted at number three in mid-1996 with "More Than You'll Ever Know", the first single from his fifth album, The Restless Kind. The album accounted for one more top ten hit, a cover of Waylon Jennings's "Where Corn Don't Grow", which Tritt took to number six in late 1996. This song's chart run overlapped with that of "Here's Your Sign (Get the Picture)", a novelty release combining snippets of comedian Bill Engvall's "Here are Your Sign" routines with a chorus sung by Tritt. "Here's Your Sign (Get the Picture)" peaked at 29 on the country charts and 43 on the Billboard Hot 100, accounting for Tritt's first entry on the latter chart. The other singles from The Restless Kind all failed to make Top Ten upon their 1997 release. "She's Going Home with Me" and "Still in Love with You" (previously the respective B-sides to "Where Corn Don't Grow" and "More Than You'll Ever Know") were the third and fifth releases, peaking at 24 and 23 on Hot Country Singles & Tracks. In between was the number 18 "Helping Me Get Over You", a duet with Lari White which the two co-wrote.
Unlike his previous albums, all of which were produced by Gregg Brown, Tritt produced The Restless Kind with Don Was. Tritt told Billboard that the album showed a greater level of personal involvement than his previous efforts, as it was his first co-production credit. He also noted that he sang most of the vocal harmony by himself, played guitar on "She's Going Home with Me", and helped with the album's art direction. It received positive reviews from Thom Owens of AllMusic, who said that it was the most country-sounding album of his career. Don Yates of Country Standard Time also praised it for having a more "organic" sound than Tritt's other albums.
1998–1999: No More Looking over My Shoulder
In 1998, he and several other artists contributed to Stuart's "Same Old Train", a cut from the collaborative album Tribute to Tradition; this song charted at number 59 on Hot Country Songs and won Tritt his second Grammy for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. He also performed on Frank Wildhorn's concept album of the musical The Civil War, singing the song "The Day the Sun Stood Still". By year's end, Tritt also released his final Warner Bros. album, No More Looking over My Shoulder. It was his first of four consecutive albums which he produced with Billy Joe Walker, Jr., who is a session guitarist, producer, and New Age musician. The album was led off by the ballad "If I Lost You", which peaked at number 29 on the country charts and number 86 on the Hot 100. Michael Peterson (who recorded for Warner Bros.' Reprise label at the time) co-wrote and sang backing vocals on the title track, which went to number 38 country in early 1999. The album's third and final single was a cover of Jude Cole's "Start the Car" (previously the B-side to "If I Lost You"), which peaked at number 52.
Late in 1999, Tritt recorded a cover of Hank Williams's "Move It On Over" with George Thorogood for the soundtrack to the cartoon King of the Hill. This cut peaked at number 66 on the country charts from unsolicited airplay.
2000–2002: Down the Road I Go
Soon after leaving Warner Bros. Records, Tritt signed to Columbia Records and released the album Down the Road I Go in 2000. The album's first release was "Best of Intentions", his fifth and final number one hit on Billboard. It was also his most successful entry on the Hot 100, where it reached number 27. The next two singles, "It's a Great Day to Be Alive" and "Love of a Woman", both peaked at number two on the country charts in 2001, followed by "Modern Day Bonnie and Clyde" at number eight. All three songs also crossed over to the Hot 100, respectively reaching peaks of 33, 39 and 55. Tritt wrote or co-wrote seven of the album's songs, including "Best of Intentions", and collaborated with Charlie Daniels on two of them. "It's a Great Day to Be Alive" was originally recorded by Jon Randall, whose version was to have been included on an unreleased album for BNA Records in the late 1990s.
Maria Konicki Dinoia gave the album a positive review on AllMusic, saying that Tritt "hasn't lost his touch". Country Standard Time also gave a positive review, saying that it showed Tritt's balance of country and rock influences. An uncredited review in Billboard magazine called "Best of Intentions" a "gorgeous ballad", comparing it favorably to his early Warner Bros. releases.
2002–2005: Strong Enough and My Honky Tonk History
In September 2002, Tritt released his second album on Columbia Records, Strong Enough. Its first single was "Strong Enough to Be Your Man" (an answer song to Sheryl Crow's 1994 single "Strong Enough") which reached number 13. The only other release was "Country Ain't Country", which peaked at 26 on the country charts. William Ruhlmann gave the album a generally positive review on AllMusic, saying that he considered its sound closer to mainstream country than Tritt's previous albums.
Also in 2002, Tritt performed on an episode of Crossroads, a program on Country Music Television which pairs country acts with musicians from other genres for collaborative performances. He performed with Ray Charles. Tritt contributed guest vocals to Charlie Daniels' 2003 single "Southern Boy", and recorded a cover of Waylon Jennings' "Lonesome, On'ry and Mean" to the RCA Records tribute album I've Always Been Crazy. Respectively, these songs reached 51 and 50 on the country charts.
Tritt's tenth studio album, My Honky Tonk History, was released in 2004. This album included three charting singles: "The Girl's Gone Wild" at 28, followed by the John Mellencamp duet "What Say You" at number 21 and "I See Me" at number 32. Other songs on the album included a cover of Philip Claypool's "Circus Leaving Town" and songs written by Gretchen Wilson, Benmont Tench and Delbert McClinton. Thom Jurek rated this album favorably, saying that it was a "solid, sure-voiced outing"; he also thought that "What Say You" was the best song on it.
2007–present: The Storm and The Calm After...
Tritt exited Columbia in July 2005, citing creative differences over My Honky Tonk History. He signed to the independent Category 5 Records in February 2006, and served as the label's flagship artist. In March 2007, a concert promoter in the Pittsburgh area sued Tritt, claiming he had committed to play a show, but then backed out and signed to play a competing venue. Tritt's manager denied he had ever signed a contract with the promoter. Tritt released his first single for Category 5 in May 2007: a cover of the Richard Marx song "You Never Take Me Dancing". It was included on his only album for Category 5, The Storm, which American Idol judge Randy Jackson produced. The album featured a more rhythm and blues influence than Tritt's previous works. "You Never Take Me Dancing" peaked at number 27 on the country charts; a second single, "Something Stronger Than Me", was released in October, but it did not chart. Category 5 closed in November 2007 after allegations that the label's chief executive officer, Raymond Termini, had illegally used Medicaid funds to finance it. A month later, Tritt filed a $10 million lawsuit against Category 5, because the label had failed to pay royalties on the album, and failed to give him creative control on The Storm.
In October 2008, Tritt began an 11-date tour with Marty Stuart. On this tour, they performed acoustic renditions of their duets; Tritt also performed five solo shows. Tritt signed a management deal with Parallel Entertainment in December 2010. He continued to tour through to 2012 and into 2013, with most of his shows being solo acoustic performances. Tritt acquired the rights to the songs on The Storm and re-issued it via his own Post Oak label in July 2013 under the title The Calm After... The re-release included two covers: the Patty Smyth and Don Henley duet "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough", which he recorded as a duet with his daughter Tyler Reese, and Faces' 1971 hit "Stay with Me".
In 2019, Tritt was featured on the country rock hit "Outlaws & Outsiders" by Cory Marks.
Acting career
Tritt's first acting role was in the 1993 made-for-television movie Rio Diablo. In 1994, Tritt made a special appearance as a bull rider in the movie The Cowboy Way, which starred Woody Harrelson and Kiefer Sutherland. In 1995, he appeared in season 6 of the horror anthology series Tales from the Crypt in the episode called Doctor of Horror. He also starred in a guest role on Yes, Dear as a rehabilitating criminal and in Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman as a gun slinger. The following year, Tritt appeared as himself in Sgt. Bilko, which starred Steve Martin, Dan Aykroyd and Phil Hartman; Tritt's cover of "Only You (And You Alone)" appeared in the film's soundtrack. He also made an appearance in the 1997 film Fire Down Below, starring Steven Seagal and Kris Kristofferson. In 1999 Tritt appeared in Outlaw Justice with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson. Tritt appeared in the film Blues Brothers 2000 as one of the Louisiana Gator Boys. In 2001 he guest starred in Elmo's World The Wild Wild West. In September 2010, filming began on a movie called Fishers of Men, a Christian film.
Musical styles
Although he had been singing since childhood, Tritt said that he began to put "a little more soul" in his voice after his church band performed at an African-American church. He said that he took interest in how African-American singers put "all these bends and sweeps and curls" in their voices, and began emulating that sound. While performing at these churches, he also took interest in gospel singers such as Andraé Crouch. Later on, he began listening to Southern rock acts such as Lynyrd Skynyrd through the recommendation of a friend, as well as the bluegrass music that his uncle exposed him to. Tritt said that he found his songwriting began to develop during the creation of his demo tape, when he had written a song called "Gambler's Blues" that "felt a lot more connected to Southern rock" than his previous writings. He cites country, rock and folk as his influences. Stephen Thomas Erlewine contrasts him with contemporaries Clint Black and Alan Jackson, saying that Tritt was "the only one not to wear a [cowboy] hat and the only one to dip into bluesy Southern rock. Consequently, he developed a gutsy, outlaw image that distinguished him from the pack." Zell Miller, in the book They Heard Georgia Singing, said that Tritt has an "unerring ability to walk the narrow path between his country heritage and his rock leanings to the acclaim of the devotees of both."
Regarding his songwriting style and single choices, Tritt said that he writes "strictly from personal experiences" and does not follow a particular formula. He described "Here's a Quarter" as "one of the simplest three-chord waltzes I've ever written", and said that label executives were reluctant to release it because they thought that it was a novelty song. Also, he was told that "I'm Gonna Be Somebody" would not be a hit because it did not contain any rhymes, and fought the release of the song "Country Club" because he did not think that it fit his style. He also said that, despite their low peaks, the more rock-influenced "Put Some Drive in Your Country" and "T-R-O-U-B-L-E" helped generate sales for their respective albums more so than the top ten hits from those albums.
Personal life
Tritt married his high school sweetheart, Karen Ryon, in September 1982. They were married two years before divorcing. After going to court, Tritt was ordered to pay alimony to Karen for six months. When he was 21, he married Jodi Barnett, who was 33 at the time. He divorced her shortly after signing with Warner Bros. in 1989; the divorce finalized one month before "Country Club" was released. Tritt wrote the song "Here's a Quarter" the night he received his divorce papers.
He married Theresa Nelson on April 12, 1997. They have one daughter, Tyler Reese (born February 18, 1998) and two sons: Tristan James (born June 16, 1999) and Tarian Nathaniel (born November 20, 2003).
On May 18, 2019, he was in his tour bus when it was involved in a motor vehicle accident which took the lives of two people driving the wrong way on Veteran's Highway leaving Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Political views and advocacy
Tritt is a member of the Republican Party and supported George W. Bush for president in 2000. The two met in 1996 at the Republican National Convention in San Diego, California, where Tritt sang the national anthem. Tritt told Insight on the News that he is a strong supporter of Second Amendment rights and believes the answer to crime is not gun control but criminal control. "I'm a pro-gun guy. I'm an NRA (National Rifle Association) member, a life member as a matter of fact. I'm more for the belief of making the punishment tougher for the criminals to start with. I think that sends much more of an incentive for people to not commit crimes of any type than taking away guns. Because you take away guns, and the next thing you know, stabbing murders are going to increase." He adds that he is "definitely pro-death penalty".
In September 2020, Tritt gained notoriety for joining fellow Republican James Woods in blocking random Twitter users for using pro-Black Lives Matter and other anti-Trump tags in their posts, under the belief that it would counteract anti-Republican sentiment on Twitter.
On October 18, 2021, Tritt made a cameo appearance on conservative commentator Steven Crowder's show Louder with Crowder.
Alleged paranormal encounters
In October 2015, Tritt appeared on Lifetime network's The Haunting of... program to discuss his experiences with the paranormal. Tritt stated that beginning in 1993, he was awakened "regularly" by disembodied voices in a vacation cabin that he owned – the voices spoke in an unknown dialect. His wife, Theresa, eventually heard them as well. According to Tritt, "Over the years, these voices started happening
on such a frequent basis that we were afraid to come up here." He also asserted that footprints once appeared in the carpet of the cabin, and imprints in the bedspread, that belonged to neither him nor his wife.
The show's host, Kim Russo, concluded that an African-American medicine man had been stabbed and beaten to death on the property, and the voices that Tritt was hearing belonged to the murderers' angry spirits. A title card in the program notes that "On August 14, 1875, a group of men killed a 'hoodoo doctor' close to the land where Travis' cabin was built." Russo believed that the hoodoo doctor's spirit also lingered on the property because it found a "kindred spirit" in Tritt.
Discography
Studio albums
Proud of the Country (1987)
Country Club (1990)
It's All About to Change (1991)
T-R-O-U-B-L-E (1992)
Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof (1994)
The Restless Kind (1996)No More Looking over My Shoulder (1998)Down the Road I Go (2000)Strong Enough (2002)My Honky Tonk History (2004)The Storm (2007) The Calm After... (2013)Set in Stone (2021)'Billboard number-one singles'''
"Help Me Hold On" (1990)
"Anymore" (1991)
"Can I Trust You with My Heart" (19921993)
"Foolish Pride" (1994)
"Best of Intentions" (2000)
Awards and nominations
Filmography
Notes
See also
Travis (chimpanzee), named after Tritt
References
External links
1963 births
American male singer-songwriters
American country singer-songwriters
Columbia Records artists
Grammy Award winners
Grand Ole Opry members
Living people
Musicians from Marietta, Georgia
People from Cobb County, Georgia
Warner Records artists
Georgia (U.S. state) Republicans
Country musicians from Georgia (U.S. state)
Singer-songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state)
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[
"Don Juan Manuel's Tales of Count Lucanor, in Spanish Libro de los ejemplos del conde Lucanor y de Patronio (Book of the Examples of Count Lucanor and of Patronio), also commonly known as El Conde Lucanor, Libro de Patronio, or Libro de los ejemplos (original Old Castilian: Libro de los enxiemplos del Conde Lucanor et de Patronio), is one of the earliest works of prose in Castilian Spanish. It was first written in 1335.\n\nThe book is divided into four parts. The first and most well-known part is a series of 51 short stories (some no more than a page or two) drawn from various sources, such as Aesop and other classical writers, and Arabic folktales.\n\nTales of Count Lucanor was first printed in 1575 when it was published at Seville under the auspices of Argote de Molina. It was again printed at Madrid in 1642, after which it lay forgotten for nearly two centuries.\n\nPurpose and structure\n\nA didactic, moralistic purpose, which would color so much of the Spanish literature to follow (see Novela picaresca), is the mark of this book. Count Lucanor engages in conversation with his advisor Patronio, putting to him a problem (\"Some man has made me a proposition...\" or \"I fear that such and such person intends to...\") and asking for advice. Patronio responds always with the greatest humility, claiming not to wish to offer advice to so illustrious a person as the Count, but offering to tell him a story of which the Count's problem reminds him. (Thus, the stories are \"examples\" [ejemplos] of wise action.) At the end he advises the Count to do as the protagonist of his story did.\n\nEach chapter ends in more or less the same way, with slight variations on: \"And this pleased the Count greatly and he did just so, and found it well. And Don Johán (Juan) saw that this example was very good, and had it written in this book, and composed the following verses.\" A rhymed couplet closes, giving the moral of the story.\n\nOrigin of stories and influence on later literature\nMany of the stories written in the book are the first examples written in a modern European language of various stories, which many other writers would use in the proceeding centuries. Many of the stories he included were themselves derived from other stories, coming from western and Arab sources.\n\nShakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew has the basic elements of Tale 35, \"What Happened to a Young Man Who Married a Strong and Ill-tempered Woman\".\n\nTale 32, \"What Happened to the King and the Tricksters Who Made Cloth\" tells the story that Hans Christian Andersen made popular as The Emperor's New Clothes.\n\nStory 7, \"What Happened to a Woman Named Truhana\", a version of Aesop's The Milkmaid and Her Pail, was claimed by Max Müller to originate in the Hindu cycle Panchatantra.\n\nTale 2, \"What happened to a good Man and his Son, leading a beast to market,\" is the familiar fable The miller, his son and the donkey.\n\nIn 2016, Baroque Decay released a game under the name \"The Count Lucanor\". As well as some protagonists' names, certain events from the books inspired past events in the game.\n\nThe stories\n\nThe book opens with a prologue which introduces the characters of the Count and Patronio. The titles in the following list are those given in Keller and Keating's 1977 translation into English. James York's 1868 translation into English gives a significantly different ordering of the stories and omits the fifty-first.\n\n What Happened to a King and His Favorite \n What Happened to a Good Man and His Son \n How King Richard of England Leapt into the Sea against the Moors\n What a Genoese Said to His Soul When He Was about to Die \n What Happened to a Fox and a Crow Who Had a Piece of Cheese in His Beak\n How the Swallow Warned the Other Birds When She Saw Flax Being Sown \n What Happened to a Woman Named Truhana \n What Happened to a Man Whose Liver Had to Be Washed \n What Happened to Two Horses Which Were Thrown to the Lion \n What Happened to a Man Who on Account of Poverty and Lack of Other Food Was Eating Bitter Lentils \n What Happened to a Dean of Santiago de Compostela and Don Yllán, the Grand Master of Toledo\n What Happened to the Fox and the Rooster \n What Happened to a Man Who Was Hunting Partridges \n The Miracle of Saint Dominick When He Preached against the Usurer \n What Happened to Lorenzo Suárez at the Siege of Seville \n The Reply that count Fernán González Gave to His Relative Núño Laynes \n What Happened to a Very Hungry Man Who Was Half-heartedly Invited to Dinner \n What Happened to Pero Meléndez de Valdés When He Broke His Leg \n What Happened to the Crows and the Owls \n What Happened to a King for Whom a Man Promised to Perform Alchemy \n What Happened to a Young King and a Philosopher to Whom his Father Commended Him \n What Happened to the Lion and the Bull \n How the Ants Provide for Themselves \n What Happened to the King Who Wanted to Test His Three Sons \n What Happened to the Count of Provence and How He Was Freed from Prison by the Advice of Saladin\n What Happened to the Tree of Lies \n What Happened to an Emperor and to Don Alvarfáñez Minaya and Their Wives \n What Happened in Granada to Don Lorenzo Suárez Gallinato When He Beheaded the Renegade Chaplain \n What Happened to a Fox Who Lay down in the Street to Play Dead \n What Happened to King Abenabet of Seville and Ramayquía His Wife \n How a Cardinal Judged between the Canons of Paris and the Friars Minor \n What Happened to the King and the Tricksters Who Made Cloth \n What Happened to Don Juan Manuel's Saker Falcon and an Eagle and a Heron \n What Happened to a Blind Man Who Was Leading Another \n What Happened to a Young Man Who Married a Strong and Ill-tempered Woman\n What Happened to a Merchant When He Found His Son and His Wife Sleeping Together \n What Happened to Count Fernán González with His Men after He Had Won the Battle of Hacinas \n What Happened to a Man Who Was Loaded down with Precious Stones and Drowned in the River \n What Happened to a Man and a Swallow and a Sparrow \n Why the Seneschal of Carcassonne Lost His Soul \n What Happened to a King of Córdova Named Al-Haquem \n What Happened to a Woman of Sham Piety \n What Happened to Good and Evil and the Wise Man and the Madman \n What Happened to Don Pero Núñez the Loyal, to Don Ruy González de Zavallos, and to Don Gutier Roiz de Blaguiello with Don Rodrigo the Generous \n What Happened to a Man Who Became the Devil's Friend and Vassal \n What Happened to a Philosopher who by Accident Went down a Street Where Prostitutes Lived \n What Befell a Moor and His Sister Who Pretended That She Was Timid \n What Happened to a Man Who Tested His Friends \n What Happened to the Man Whom They Cast out Naked on an Island When They Took away from Him the Kingdom He Ruled \n What Happened to Saladin and a Lady, the Wife of a Knight Who Was His Vassal \n What Happened to a Christian King Who Was Very Powerful and Haughty\n\nReferences\n\nNotes\n\nBibliography\n\n Sturm, Harlan\n\n Wacks, David\n\nExternal links\n\nThe Internet Archive provides free access to the 1868 translation by James York.\nJSTOR has the to the 1977 translation by Keller and Keating.\nSelections in English and Spanish (pedagogical edition) with introduction, notes, and bibliography in Open Iberia/América (open access teaching anthology)\n\n14th-century books\nSpanish literature\n1335 books",
"\"What Happened to Us\" is a song by Australian recording artist Jessica Mauboy, featuring English recording artist Jay Sean. It was written by Sean, Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim and Israel Cruz. \"What Happened to Us\" was leaked online in October 2010, and was released on 10 March 2011, as the third single from Mauboy's second studio album, Get 'Em Girls (2010). The song received positive reviews from critics.\n\nA remix of \"What Happened to Us\" made by production team OFM, was released on 11 April 2011. A different version of the song which features Stan Walker, was released on 29 May 2011. \"What Happened to Us\" charted on the ARIA Singles Chart at number 14 and was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). An accompanying music video was directed by Mark Alston, and reminisces on a former relationship between Mauboy and Sean.\n\nProduction and release\n\n\"What Happened to Us\" was written by Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim, Israel Cruz and Jay Sean. It was produced by Skaller, Cruz, Rohaim and Bobby Bass. The song uses C, D, and B minor chords in the chorus. \"What Happened to Us\" was sent to contemporary hit radio in Australia on 14 February 2011. The cover art for the song was revealed on 22 February on Mauboy's official Facebook page. A CD release was available for purchase via her official website on 10 March, for one week only. It was released digitally the following day.\n\nReception\nMajhid Heath from ABC Online Indigenous called the song a \"Jordin Sparks-esque duet\", and wrote that it \"has a nice innocence to it that rings true to the experience of losing a first love.\" Chris Urankar from Nine to Five wrote that it as a \"mid-tempo duet ballad\" which signifies Mauboy's strength as a global player. On 21 March 2011, \"What Happened to Us\" debuted at number 30 on the ARIA Singles Chart, and peaked at number 14 the following week. The song was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), for selling 70,000 copies. \"What Happened to Us\" spent a total of ten weeks in the ARIA top fifty.\n\nMusic video\n\nBackground\nThe music video for the song was shot in the Elizabeth Bay House in Sydney on 26 November 2010. The video was shot during Sean's visit to Australia for the Summerbeatz tour. During an interview with The Daily Telegraph while on the set of the video, Sean said \"the song is sick! ... Jessica's voice is amazing and we're shooting [the video] in this ridiculously beautiful mansion overlooking the harbour.\" The video was directed by Mark Alston, who had previously directed the video for Mauboy's single \"Let Me Be Me\" (2009). It premiered on YouTube on 10 February 2011.\n\nSynopsis and reception\nThe video begins showing Mauboy who appears to be sitting on a yellow antique couch in a mansion, wearing a purple dress. As the video progresses, scenes of memories are displayed of Mauboy and her love interest, played by Sean, spending time there previously. It then cuts to the scenes where Sean appears in the main entrance room of the mansion. The final scene shows Mauboy outdoors in a gold dress, surrounded by green grass and trees. She is later joined by Sean who appears in a black suit and a white shirt, and together they sing the chorus of the song to each other. David Lim of Feed Limmy wrote that the video is \"easily the best thing our R&B princess has committed to film – ever\" and praised the \"mansion and wondrous interior décor\". He also commended Mauboy for choosing Australian talent to direct the video instead of American directors, which she had used for her previous two music videos. Since its release, the video has received over two million views on Vevo.\n\nLive performances\nMauboy performed \"What Happened to Us\" live for the first time during her YouTube Live Sessions program on 4 December 2010. She also appeared on Adam Hills in Gordon Street Tonight on 23 February 2011 for an interview and later performed the song. On 15 March 2011, Mauboy performed \"What Happened to Us\" on Sunrise. She also performed the song with Stan Walker during the Australian leg of Chris Brown's F.A.M.E. Tour in April 2011. Mauboy and Walker later performed \"What Happened to Us\" on Dancing with the Stars Australia on 29 May 2011. From November 2013 to February 2014, \"What Happened to Us\" was part of the set list of the To the End of the Earth Tour, Mauboy's second headlining tour of Australia, with Nathaniel Willemse singing Sean's part.\n\nTrack listing\n\nDigital download\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean – 3:19\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Sgt Slick Remix) – 6:33\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Just Witness Remix) – 3:45\n\nCD single\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Album Version) – 3:19\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Sgt Slick Remix) – 6:33\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (OFM Remix) – 3:39\n\nDigital download – Remix\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (OFM Remix) – 3:38\n\nDigital download\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Stan Walker – 3:20\n\nPersonnel\nSongwriting – Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim, Israel Cruz, Jay Sean\nProduction – Jeremy Skaller, Bobby Bass\nAdditional production – Israel Cruz, Khaled Rohaim\nLead vocals – Jessica Mauboy, Jay Sean\nMixing – Phil Tan\nAdditional mixing – Damien Lewis\nMastering – Tom Coyne \nSource:\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly chart\n\nYear-end chart\n\nCertification\n\nRadio dates and release history\n\nReferences\n\n2010 songs\n2011 singles\nJessica Mauboy songs\nJay Sean songs\nSongs written by Billy Steinberg\nSongs written by Jay Sean\nSongs written by Josh Alexander\nSongs written by Israel Cruz\nVocal duets\nSony Music Australia singles\nSongs written by Khaled Rohaim"
] |
[
"Travis Tritt",
"1994-1995: Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof and Greatest Hits",
"What happened in 1994 ?",
"In early 1994, after \"Worth Every Mile\" fell from the charts, Tritt charted at number 21 with a cover of the Eagles' \"Take It Easy\"."
] |
C_11462bedee39492fafd80e4368975ea1_0
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From which album was the song Take It Easy ?
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From which album was the song "Take It Easy"?
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Travis Tritt
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In early 1994, after "Worth Every Mile" fell from the charts, Tritt charted at number 21 with a cover of the Eagles' "Take It Easy". He recorded this song for the tribute album Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles (released through Warner Bros.' Giant Records division), which featured country music artists' renditions of Eagles songs. When filming the music video for this song, Tritt requested that the band, which was on hiatus at the time, appear in it. This reunion inspired the Eagles' Hell Freezes Over Tour, which began that year. His fourth album, Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof, was released that May. Its lead-off single, "Foolish Pride", went to number one, and the fourth single, "Tell Me I Was Dreaming", reached number two. In between these songs were the title track at number 22 and "Between an Old Memory and Me" (originally recorded by Keith Whitley) at number 11. The album included two co-writes with Gary Rossington of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and guest vocals from Waylon Jennings and Hank Williams, Jr. on the cut "Outlaws Like Us". The album achieved platinum certification in December of that year, and later became his third double-platinum album. Allmusic reviewer Brian Mansfield said that Tritt was "most comfortable with his Southern rock/outlaw mantle" on it, comparing "Foolish Pride" favorably to "Anymore" and the work of Bob Seger. Alanna Nash praised the title track and "Tell Me I Was Dreaming" in her review for Entertainment Weekly, but thought that the other songs were still too similar in sound to his previous works. 1995's Greatest Hits: From the Beginning included most of his singles to that point, as well as two new cuts: the Steve Earle composition "Sometimes She Forgets" and a cover of the pop standard "Only You (And You Alone)". The former was a top ten hit at number seven, while the latter spent only eight weeks on the country charts and peaked at number 51. Greatest Hits was certified platinum. CANNOTANSWER
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CANNOTANSWER
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James Travis Tritt (born February 9, 1963) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and actor. He signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1989, releasing seven studio albums and a greatest hits package for the label between then and 1999. In the 2000s, he released three studio albums on Columbia Records and one for the now-defunct Category 5 Records. Seven of his albums (counting the Greatest Hits) are certified platinum or higher by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA); the highest-certified is 1991's It's All About to Change, which is certified triple-platinum. Tritt has also charted more than 40 times on the Hot Country Songs charts, including five number ones—"Help Me Hold On", "Anymore", "Can I Trust You with My Heart", "Foolish Pride", and "Best of Intentions"—and 15 additional top ten singles. Tritt's musical style is defined by mainstream country and Southern rock influences.
He has received two Grammy Awards, both for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals: in 1992 for "The Whiskey Ain't Workin'", a duet with Marty Stuart, and again in 1998 for "Same Old Train", a collaboration with Stuart and nine other artists. He has received four awards from the Country Music Association and has been a member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1992.
Early life
James Travis Tritt was born on February 9, 1963, in Marietta, Georgia, to James and Gwen Tritt. He first took interest in singing after his church's Sunday school choir performed "Everything Is Beautiful". He received his first guitar at age 8 and taught himself how to play it; in the fourth grade, he performed "Annie's Song" and "King of the Road" for his class, and later got invited to play for other classrooms in his school. At age 14, his parents bought him another guitar, and he learned more songs from his uncle, Sam Lockhart. Later on, Tritt joined his church band, which occasionally performed at other churches nearby.
Tritt began writing music while he was attending Sprayberry High School; his first song composition, entitled "Spend a Little Time", was written about a girlfriend whom he had broken up with. He performed the song for his friends, one of whom complimented him on his songwriting skills. He also founded a bluegrass group with some of his friends and won second place in a local tournament for playing "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys".
During his teenage years, Tritt worked at a furniture store, and later as a supermarket clerk. He lived with his mother after she and his father divorced; they remarried when he was 18. He worked at an air conditioning company while playing in clubs, but gave up the air conditioning job at the suggestion of one of his bandmates. Tritt's father thought that he would not find success as a musician, while his mother thought that he should perform Christian music instead of country.
Through the assistance of Warner Bros. Records executive Danny Davenport, Tritt began recording demos. The two worked together for the next several years, eventually putting together a demo album called Proud of the Country. Davenport sent the demo to Warner Bros. representatives in Los Angeles, who in turn sent the demo to their Nashville division, which signed Tritt in 1987. Davenport also helped Tritt find a talent manager, Ken Kragen. At first, Kragen was not interested in taking an "entry-level act", but decided to sign on as Tritt's manager after Kragen's wife convinced him.
Musical career
1989–1991: Country Club
Tritt's contract with Warner Bros. meant that he was signed to record six songs, and three of them would be released as singles. According to the contract, he would not be signed on for a full album unless one of the three singles became a hit. His first single was "Country Club". Recorded in late 1988 and released on August 7, 1989, the song spent 26 weeks on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts, peaking at number nine. It was the title track to his 1990 debut album Country Club, produced by Gregg Brown. The month of its release, Tritt burst a blood vessel on his vocal cords, and had to take vocal rest for a month. Second single "Help Me Hold On" became his first number one single in 1990. The album's third and fifth singles, "I'm Gonna Be Somebody" and "Drift Off to Dream", respectively peaked at numbers two and three on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts, and number one on the Canadian RPM country charts; "I'm Gonna Be Somebody" also went to number one on the U.S. country singles charts published by Radio & Records. "Put Some Drive in Your Country", which was released fourth, peaked at 28 on Hot Country Songs. Country Club was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in July 1991 for shipments of one million copies, and no medals since in 1996. In 1990, he won the Top New Male Artist award from Billboard. The Country Music Association (CMA) also nominated him for the Horizon Award (now known as the New Artist Award), which is given to new artists who show have shown the most significant artistic and commercial development from a first or second album.
Brian Mansfield of AllMusic gave the album a positive review, saying that "Put Some Drive in Your Country" paid homage to Tritt's influences, but that the other singles were more radio-friendly. Giving the album a B-minus, Alanna Nash of Entertainment Weekly compared Tritt's music to that of Hank Williams, Jr. and Joe Stampley.
1991–1992: It's All About to Change
In 1991, Tritt received a second Horizon Award nomination, which he won that year. He also released his second album, It's All About to Change. The album went on to become his best-selling, with a triple-platinum certification from the RIAA for shipments of three million copies. All four of its singles reached the top five on the country music charts. "Here's a Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares)" and the Marty Stuart duet "The Whiskey Ain't Workin'", respectively the first and third singles, both reached number two, with the number-one "Anymore" in between. "Nothing Short of Dying" was the fourth single, with a peak at number four on Billboard; both it and "The Whiskey Ain't Working" went to Number One on Radio & Records. "Bible Belt", another cut from the album (recorded in collaboration with Little Feat), appeared in the 1992 film My Cousin Vinny (the lyrics for the song, however, were changed for the version played in the movie to match the story line). Although not released as a single, it peaked at number 72 country based on unsolicited airplay and was the b-side to "Nothing Short of Dying". "Bible Belt" was inspired by a youth pastor whom Tritt knew in his childhood.
Stuart offered "The Whiskey Ain't Workin' Anymore" to Tritt backstage at the CMA awards show, and they recorded it as a duet through the suggestion of Tritt's record producer, Gregg Brown. The duet won both artists the next year's Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. Tritt and Stuart charted a second duet, "This One's Gonna Hurt You (For a Long, Long Time)", which went to number seven in mid-1992 and appeared on Stuart's album This One's Gonna Hurt You. This song won the 1992 CMA award for Vocal Event of the Year.
In June 1992, Tritt received media attention when he criticized Billy Ray Cyrus' "Achy Breaky Heart" at a Fan Fair interview, saying that he did not think that Cyrus' song made a "statement". The following January, Cyrus responded at the American Music Awards by referring to Tritt's "Here's a Quarter". Tritt later apologized to Cyrus, but said that he defended his opinion on the song.
1992–1993: T-R-O-U-B-L-E and A Travis Tritt Christmas
Tritt and Stuart began a "No Hats Tour" in 1992. In August of that same year, Tritt released the album T-R-O-U-B-L-E. Its first single was "Lord Have Mercy on the Working Man", a song written by Kostas. This song, which featured backing vocals from Brooks & Dunn, T. Graham Brown, George Jones, Little Texas, Dana McVicker (who also sang backup on Tritt's first two albums), Tanya Tucker and Porter Wagoner on the final chorus, peaked at number five. Its follow-up, "Can I Trust You with My Heart", became Tritt's third Billboard number one in early 1993. The album's next three singles did not perform as well on the charts: the title track (a cover of an Elvis Presley song), peaked at 13, followed by "Looking Out for Number One" at number 11 and "Worth Every Mile" at number 30. T-R-O-U-B-L-E became the second album of his career to achieve double-platinum certification. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic thought that T-R-O-U-B-L-E followed too closely the formula of It's All About to Change, but said that the songs showed Tritt's personality. Nash gave the album a similar criticism, but praised the rock influences of "Looking Out for Number One" and the vocals on "Can I Trust You with My Heart".
One month after the release of T-R-O-U-B-L-E, Tritt issued a Christmas album titled A Travis Tritt Christmas: Loving Time of the Year, for which he wrote the title track. He also joined the Grand Ole Opry, a weekly stage show and radio broadcast specializing in country music performances, and filled in for Garth Brooks at a performance on the American Music Awards. By year's end, Tritt and several other artists appeared on George Jones's "I Don't Need Your Rockin' Chair", which won all artists involved the next year's CMA Vocal Event of the Year award.
1994–1995: Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof and Greatest Hits
In early 1994, after "Worth Every Mile" fell from the charts, Tritt charted at number 21 with a cover of the Eagles' "Take It Easy". He recorded this song for the tribute album Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles (released through Warner Bros.' Giant Records division), which featured country music artists' renditions of Eagles songs. When filming the music video for this song, Tritt requested that the band, which had been on hiatus for over 13 years, appear in it. This reunion inspired the Eagles' Hell Freezes Over Tour, which began that year.
His fourth album, Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof, was released that May. Its lead-off single, "Foolish Pride", went to number one, and the fourth single, "Tell Me I Was Dreaming", reached number two. In between these songs were the title track at number 22 and "Between an Old Memory and Me" (originally recorded by Keith Whitley) at number 11. The album included two co-writes with Gary Rossington of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and guest vocals from Waylon Jennings and Hank Williams, Jr. on the cut "Outlaws Like Us". The album achieved platinum certification in December of that year, and later became his third double-platinum album. AllMusic reviewer Brian Mansfield said that Tritt was "most comfortable with his Southern rock/outlaw mantle" on it, comparing "Foolish Pride" favorably to "Anymore" and the work of Bob Seger. Alanna Nash praised the title track and "Tell Me I Was Dreaming" in her review for Entertainment Weekly, but thought that the other songs were still too similar in sound to his previous works.
1995's Greatest Hits: From the Beginning included most of his singles to that point, as well as two new cuts: the Steve Earle composition "Sometimes She Forgets" and a cover of the pop standard "Only You (And You Alone)". The former was a top ten hit at number seven, while the latter spent only eight weeks on the country charts and peaked at number 51. Greatest Hits was certified platinum.
1996–1997: The Restless Kind
In April 1996, Tritt and Stuart charted a third duet, "Honky Tonkin's What I Do Best", which appeared on Stuart's album of the same name and peaked at 23 on the country charts. The song won both artists that year's Country Music Association award for Vocal Event, Tritt's third win in this category. The two began a second tour, the Double Trouble Tour, that year.
Tritt charted at number three in mid-1996 with "More Than You'll Ever Know", the first single from his fifth album, The Restless Kind. The album accounted for one more top ten hit, a cover of Waylon Jennings's "Where Corn Don't Grow", which Tritt took to number six in late 1996. This song's chart run overlapped with that of "Here's Your Sign (Get the Picture)", a novelty release combining snippets of comedian Bill Engvall's "Here are Your Sign" routines with a chorus sung by Tritt. "Here's Your Sign (Get the Picture)" peaked at 29 on the country charts and 43 on the Billboard Hot 100, accounting for Tritt's first entry on the latter chart. The other singles from The Restless Kind all failed to make Top Ten upon their 1997 release. "She's Going Home with Me" and "Still in Love with You" (previously the respective B-sides to "Where Corn Don't Grow" and "More Than You'll Ever Know") were the third and fifth releases, peaking at 24 and 23 on Hot Country Singles & Tracks. In between was the number 18 "Helping Me Get Over You", a duet with Lari White which the two co-wrote.
Unlike his previous albums, all of which were produced by Gregg Brown, Tritt produced The Restless Kind with Don Was. Tritt told Billboard that the album showed a greater level of personal involvement than his previous efforts, as it was his first co-production credit. He also noted that he sang most of the vocal harmony by himself, played guitar on "She's Going Home with Me", and helped with the album's art direction. It received positive reviews from Thom Owens of AllMusic, who said that it was the most country-sounding album of his career. Don Yates of Country Standard Time also praised it for having a more "organic" sound than Tritt's other albums.
1998–1999: No More Looking over My Shoulder
In 1998, he and several other artists contributed to Stuart's "Same Old Train", a cut from the collaborative album Tribute to Tradition; this song charted at number 59 on Hot Country Songs and won Tritt his second Grammy for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. He also performed on Frank Wildhorn's concept album of the musical The Civil War, singing the song "The Day the Sun Stood Still". By year's end, Tritt also released his final Warner Bros. album, No More Looking over My Shoulder. It was his first of four consecutive albums which he produced with Billy Joe Walker, Jr., who is a session guitarist, producer, and New Age musician. The album was led off by the ballad "If I Lost You", which peaked at number 29 on the country charts and number 86 on the Hot 100. Michael Peterson (who recorded for Warner Bros.' Reprise label at the time) co-wrote and sang backing vocals on the title track, which went to number 38 country in early 1999. The album's third and final single was a cover of Jude Cole's "Start the Car" (previously the B-side to "If I Lost You"), which peaked at number 52.
Late in 1999, Tritt recorded a cover of Hank Williams's "Move It On Over" with George Thorogood for the soundtrack to the cartoon King of the Hill. This cut peaked at number 66 on the country charts from unsolicited airplay.
2000–2002: Down the Road I Go
Soon after leaving Warner Bros. Records, Tritt signed to Columbia Records and released the album Down the Road I Go in 2000. The album's first release was "Best of Intentions", his fifth and final number one hit on Billboard. It was also his most successful entry on the Hot 100, where it reached number 27. The next two singles, "It's a Great Day to Be Alive" and "Love of a Woman", both peaked at number two on the country charts in 2001, followed by "Modern Day Bonnie and Clyde" at number eight. All three songs also crossed over to the Hot 100, respectively reaching peaks of 33, 39 and 55. Tritt wrote or co-wrote seven of the album's songs, including "Best of Intentions", and collaborated with Charlie Daniels on two of them. "It's a Great Day to Be Alive" was originally recorded by Jon Randall, whose version was to have been included on an unreleased album for BNA Records in the late 1990s.
Maria Konicki Dinoia gave the album a positive review on AllMusic, saying that Tritt "hasn't lost his touch". Country Standard Time also gave a positive review, saying that it showed Tritt's balance of country and rock influences. An uncredited review in Billboard magazine called "Best of Intentions" a "gorgeous ballad", comparing it favorably to his early Warner Bros. releases.
2002–2005: Strong Enough and My Honky Tonk History
In September 2002, Tritt released his second album on Columbia Records, Strong Enough. Its first single was "Strong Enough to Be Your Man" (an answer song to Sheryl Crow's 1994 single "Strong Enough") which reached number 13. The only other release was "Country Ain't Country", which peaked at 26 on the country charts. William Ruhlmann gave the album a generally positive review on AllMusic, saying that he considered its sound closer to mainstream country than Tritt's previous albums.
Also in 2002, Tritt performed on an episode of Crossroads, a program on Country Music Television which pairs country acts with musicians from other genres for collaborative performances. He performed with Ray Charles. Tritt contributed guest vocals to Charlie Daniels' 2003 single "Southern Boy", and recorded a cover of Waylon Jennings' "Lonesome, On'ry and Mean" to the RCA Records tribute album I've Always Been Crazy. Respectively, these songs reached 51 and 50 on the country charts.
Tritt's tenth studio album, My Honky Tonk History, was released in 2004. This album included three charting singles: "The Girl's Gone Wild" at 28, followed by the John Mellencamp duet "What Say You" at number 21 and "I See Me" at number 32. Other songs on the album included a cover of Philip Claypool's "Circus Leaving Town" and songs written by Gretchen Wilson, Benmont Tench and Delbert McClinton. Thom Jurek rated this album favorably, saying that it was a "solid, sure-voiced outing"; he also thought that "What Say You" was the best song on it.
2007–present: The Storm and The Calm After...
Tritt exited Columbia in July 2005, citing creative differences over My Honky Tonk History. He signed to the independent Category 5 Records in February 2006, and served as the label's flagship artist. In March 2007, a concert promoter in the Pittsburgh area sued Tritt, claiming he had committed to play a show, but then backed out and signed to play a competing venue. Tritt's manager denied he had ever signed a contract with the promoter. Tritt released his first single for Category 5 in May 2007: a cover of the Richard Marx song "You Never Take Me Dancing". It was included on his only album for Category 5, The Storm, which American Idol judge Randy Jackson produced. The album featured a more rhythm and blues influence than Tritt's previous works. "You Never Take Me Dancing" peaked at number 27 on the country charts; a second single, "Something Stronger Than Me", was released in October, but it did not chart. Category 5 closed in November 2007 after allegations that the label's chief executive officer, Raymond Termini, had illegally used Medicaid funds to finance it. A month later, Tritt filed a $10 million lawsuit against Category 5, because the label had failed to pay royalties on the album, and failed to give him creative control on The Storm.
In October 2008, Tritt began an 11-date tour with Marty Stuart. On this tour, they performed acoustic renditions of their duets; Tritt also performed five solo shows. Tritt signed a management deal with Parallel Entertainment in December 2010. He continued to tour through to 2012 and into 2013, with most of his shows being solo acoustic performances. Tritt acquired the rights to the songs on The Storm and re-issued it via his own Post Oak label in July 2013 under the title The Calm After... The re-release included two covers: the Patty Smyth and Don Henley duet "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough", which he recorded as a duet with his daughter Tyler Reese, and Faces' 1971 hit "Stay with Me".
In 2019, Tritt was featured on the country rock hit "Outlaws & Outsiders" by Cory Marks.
Acting career
Tritt's first acting role was in the 1993 made-for-television movie Rio Diablo. In 1994, Tritt made a special appearance as a bull rider in the movie The Cowboy Way, which starred Woody Harrelson and Kiefer Sutherland. In 1995, he appeared in season 6 of the horror anthology series Tales from the Crypt in the episode called Doctor of Horror. He also starred in a guest role on Yes, Dear as a rehabilitating criminal and in Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman as a gun slinger. The following year, Tritt appeared as himself in Sgt. Bilko, which starred Steve Martin, Dan Aykroyd and Phil Hartman; Tritt's cover of "Only You (And You Alone)" appeared in the film's soundtrack. He also made an appearance in the 1997 film Fire Down Below, starring Steven Seagal and Kris Kristofferson. In 1999 Tritt appeared in Outlaw Justice with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson. Tritt appeared in the film Blues Brothers 2000 as one of the Louisiana Gator Boys. In 2001 he guest starred in Elmo's World The Wild Wild West. In September 2010, filming began on a movie called Fishers of Men, a Christian film.
Musical styles
Although he had been singing since childhood, Tritt said that he began to put "a little more soul" in his voice after his church band performed at an African-American church. He said that he took interest in how African-American singers put "all these bends and sweeps and curls" in their voices, and began emulating that sound. While performing at these churches, he also took interest in gospel singers such as Andraé Crouch. Later on, he began listening to Southern rock acts such as Lynyrd Skynyrd through the recommendation of a friend, as well as the bluegrass music that his uncle exposed him to. Tritt said that he found his songwriting began to develop during the creation of his demo tape, when he had written a song called "Gambler's Blues" that "felt a lot more connected to Southern rock" than his previous writings. He cites country, rock and folk as his influences. Stephen Thomas Erlewine contrasts him with contemporaries Clint Black and Alan Jackson, saying that Tritt was "the only one not to wear a [cowboy] hat and the only one to dip into bluesy Southern rock. Consequently, he developed a gutsy, outlaw image that distinguished him from the pack." Zell Miller, in the book They Heard Georgia Singing, said that Tritt has an "unerring ability to walk the narrow path between his country heritage and his rock leanings to the acclaim of the devotees of both."
Regarding his songwriting style and single choices, Tritt said that he writes "strictly from personal experiences" and does not follow a particular formula. He described "Here's a Quarter" as "one of the simplest three-chord waltzes I've ever written", and said that label executives were reluctant to release it because they thought that it was a novelty song. Also, he was told that "I'm Gonna Be Somebody" would not be a hit because it did not contain any rhymes, and fought the release of the song "Country Club" because he did not think that it fit his style. He also said that, despite their low peaks, the more rock-influenced "Put Some Drive in Your Country" and "T-R-O-U-B-L-E" helped generate sales for their respective albums more so than the top ten hits from those albums.
Personal life
Tritt married his high school sweetheart, Karen Ryon, in September 1982. They were married two years before divorcing. After going to court, Tritt was ordered to pay alimony to Karen for six months. When he was 21, he married Jodi Barnett, who was 33 at the time. He divorced her shortly after signing with Warner Bros. in 1989; the divorce finalized one month before "Country Club" was released. Tritt wrote the song "Here's a Quarter" the night he received his divorce papers.
He married Theresa Nelson on April 12, 1997. They have one daughter, Tyler Reese (born February 18, 1998) and two sons: Tristan James (born June 16, 1999) and Tarian Nathaniel (born November 20, 2003).
On May 18, 2019, he was in his tour bus when it was involved in a motor vehicle accident which took the lives of two people driving the wrong way on Veteran's Highway leaving Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Political views and advocacy
Tritt is a member of the Republican Party and supported George W. Bush for president in 2000. The two met in 1996 at the Republican National Convention in San Diego, California, where Tritt sang the national anthem. Tritt told Insight on the News that he is a strong supporter of Second Amendment rights and believes the answer to crime is not gun control but criminal control. "I'm a pro-gun guy. I'm an NRA (National Rifle Association) member, a life member as a matter of fact. I'm more for the belief of making the punishment tougher for the criminals to start with. I think that sends much more of an incentive for people to not commit crimes of any type than taking away guns. Because you take away guns, and the next thing you know, stabbing murders are going to increase." He adds that he is "definitely pro-death penalty".
In September 2020, Tritt gained notoriety for joining fellow Republican James Woods in blocking random Twitter users for using pro-Black Lives Matter and other anti-Trump tags in their posts, under the belief that it would counteract anti-Republican sentiment on Twitter.
On October 18, 2021, Tritt made a cameo appearance on conservative commentator Steven Crowder's show Louder with Crowder.
Alleged paranormal encounters
In October 2015, Tritt appeared on Lifetime network's The Haunting of... program to discuss his experiences with the paranormal. Tritt stated that beginning in 1993, he was awakened "regularly" by disembodied voices in a vacation cabin that he owned – the voices spoke in an unknown dialect. His wife, Theresa, eventually heard them as well. According to Tritt, "Over the years, these voices started happening
on such a frequent basis that we were afraid to come up here." He also asserted that footprints once appeared in the carpet of the cabin, and imprints in the bedspread, that belonged to neither him nor his wife.
The show's host, Kim Russo, concluded that an African-American medicine man had been stabbed and beaten to death on the property, and the voices that Tritt was hearing belonged to the murderers' angry spirits. A title card in the program notes that "On August 14, 1875, a group of men killed a 'hoodoo doctor' close to the land where Travis' cabin was built." Russo believed that the hoodoo doctor's spirit also lingered on the property because it found a "kindred spirit" in Tritt.
Discography
Studio albums
Proud of the Country (1987)
Country Club (1990)
It's All About to Change (1991)
T-R-O-U-B-L-E (1992)
Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof (1994)
The Restless Kind (1996)No More Looking over My Shoulder (1998)Down the Road I Go (2000)Strong Enough (2002)My Honky Tonk History (2004)The Storm (2007) The Calm After... (2013)Set in Stone (2021)'Billboard number-one singles'''
"Help Me Hold On" (1990)
"Anymore" (1991)
"Can I Trust You with My Heart" (19921993)
"Foolish Pride" (1994)
"Best of Intentions" (2000)
Awards and nominations
Filmography
Notes
See also
Travis (chimpanzee), named after Tritt
References
External links
1963 births
American male singer-songwriters
American country singer-songwriters
Columbia Records artists
Grammy Award winners
Grand Ole Opry members
Living people
Musicians from Marietta, Georgia
People from Cobb County, Georgia
Warner Records artists
Georgia (U.S. state) Republicans
Country musicians from Georgia (U.S. state)
Singer-songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state)
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[
"\"Lollipop\" is a song by Mika from his 2007 debut album, Life in Cartoon Motion. When the album was released, \"Lollipop\" had high numbers of downloads, even before it had been released as a single, charting in the Top 75 UK Singles Chart. In April 2007, it was released to radio in the UK, Norway, Switzerland, and Australia. On 31 December 2007, it was released as a double A-side single with \"Relax, Take It Easy\" in the UK. The single was available for digital download on 24 December 2007. Mika has said in interviews that the song was written as a message to his younger sister. The single performed moderately in the UK Singles Chart considering that it was released as a fifth single from Life in Cartoon Motion, peaking at number 18 as an A-side to the double-A-side single \"Relax, Take It Easy\".\n\nBackground and writing\nMika wrote the song as a message to his younger sister, warning her not to have sex too soon as it would \"mean something very different to guys than it would to her\".\n\nThe little girl who appears at the beginning saying, \"Hey! What's the big idea?\" and again saying the \"I went walking...\" part is Mika's cousin.\n\nCritical reception \nThe song received mixed reviews from music critics. Alexander Berntsen from Sputnikmusic said that the track is \"just funny to listen to. You're bound to be smiling by the end of the song\". Craig McLean from The Guardian wrote that the song is \"terrific kiddie boogie destined for a slot on CBeebies.\"\n\nHowever, Mika's voice was criticized by Heather Phares from AllMusic, who wrote that on the song, Mika \"straddles the line between adorable and annoying\". Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine commented that the song \"features a sick-sweet falsetto hook that is, perhaps, irony-free\". Alex Fletcher from Digital Spy was direct, writing that \"with candyfloss-sweet pop melodies and more high-pitched Mika vocal action than should be allowed by Government law, the song is intensely irritating\".\n\nTrack listing\nUK CD1\n \"Relax, Take It Easy\" (Radio Edit)\n \"Lollipop\" (Live from L'Olympia Paris)\n \"I Want You Back\" (Live from L'Olympia Paris)\n \"Relax, Take It Easy\" (Dennis Christopher Remix) (Radio Edit)\n \"Lollipop\" (Fred Deakin's Fredmix)\n\nUK CD2\n \"Relax, Take It Easy\" (New Radio Edit)\n \"Lollipop\"\n\nLimited edition USB memory stick\n \"Relax, Take It Easy\" (New Radio Edit)\n \"Lollipop\"\n \"Relax, Take It Easy\" (Alpha Beat Remix)\n \"Relax, Take It Easy\" (Frank Musik Mix)\n \"Relax, Take It Easy\" (Ashley Beedle's Castro Vocal Discomix)\n \"Relax, Take It Easy\" (Video - Live in Paris) (5.1 Surround)\n \"Lollipop\" (Video - 16:9 Bunny Action)\n\nMusic video\nThe animated music video for \"Lollipop\" was released in November 2007. It is a parody of Little Red Riding Hood, and features the \"Lollipop Girl\" walking around a colourful land based around the album art of Life in Cartoon Motion. The music video was originally set to contain a drawn version of Mika singing, but plans were scrapped. It was released by the name of \"Lollipop 16:9 Bunny Action\" on the internet. It was directed by Mika's sister.\n\nChart performance\nAt the beginning of 2007, the chart rules were changed allowing downloads to be eligible for the chart with or without a physical equivalent. \"Lollipop\" became on 11 February 2007 the first track from a newly released album to register enough sales to enter the Top 75. It was officially the 62nd best selling \"single\" in the UK that week despite only being an album track. By 18 April 2008, the single had sold 66,594 copies in the UK.\n\nIn other media \nThis song is a playable track in the video game Just Dance 3. The song was also covered a cappella in the 2015 film Pitch Perfect 2.\n\nThe song was featured in the 16 February 2019 episode of Saturday Night Live, in a sketch performed by Don Cheadle and Beck Bennett as two men who want to start a bar fight with Lollipop playing on the jukebox.\n\nCharts and certifications\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nCertifications\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nMika's official website\n\n2007 singles\n2008 singles\nMika (singer) songs\nSongs written by Mika (singer)\nSong recordings produced by Greg Wells\n2007 songs\nSongs about sexuality\nSongs with double entendres\nIsland Records singles\nBubblegum pop songs",
"\"Take It Easy on Me\" is a song by Australian soft rock band Little River Band, released in March 1982 as the third and final single from the album Time Exposure. The song reached No. 10 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and No. 14 on the Adult Contemporary chart. The song was written by band member Graham Goble and produced by British record producer George Martin.\n\nBackground\nTwo versions of this song were recorded, with Glenn Shorrock and Wayne Nelson respectively on lead vocals. \"The Night Owls\", with Nelson on lead, had already been selected as the first single from the album. When Martin selected the Nelson version of \"Take It Easy on Me\" for the album and second single, Shorrock complained and his version of the song was used instead, and released as the third single in March 1982.\n\nTrack listings\n Australian 7\" (Capitol Records – CP-665)\nA. \"Take It Easy on Me\" - 3:45\nB. \"Orbit Zero\" - 4:28\n\n New Zealand 7\" (Capitol Records – F 5057)\nA. \"Take It Easy on Me\" - 3:45\nB. \"Orbit Zero\" - 4:28\n\n North American 7\" (Capitol Records A-5057)\nA. \"Take It Easy on Me\" - 3:45\nB. \"Orbit Zero\" - 4:28\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nReferences\n\n1981 songs\n1982 singles\nLittle River Band songs\nCapitol Records singles\nSong recordings produced by George Martin\nSongs written by Graeham Goble"
] |
[
"Travis Tritt",
"1994-1995: Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof and Greatest Hits",
"What happened in 1994 ?",
"In early 1994, after \"Worth Every Mile\" fell from the charts, Tritt charted at number 21 with a cover of the Eagles' \"Take It Easy\".",
"From which album was the song Take It Easy ?",
"I don't know."
] |
C_11462bedee39492fafd80e4368975ea1_0
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Which albums did he release in that period ?
| 3 |
Which albums did Travis Tritt release in the period 1994-1995?
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Travis Tritt
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In early 1994, after "Worth Every Mile" fell from the charts, Tritt charted at number 21 with a cover of the Eagles' "Take It Easy". He recorded this song for the tribute album Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles (released through Warner Bros.' Giant Records division), which featured country music artists' renditions of Eagles songs. When filming the music video for this song, Tritt requested that the band, which was on hiatus at the time, appear in it. This reunion inspired the Eagles' Hell Freezes Over Tour, which began that year. His fourth album, Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof, was released that May. Its lead-off single, "Foolish Pride", went to number one, and the fourth single, "Tell Me I Was Dreaming", reached number two. In between these songs were the title track at number 22 and "Between an Old Memory and Me" (originally recorded by Keith Whitley) at number 11. The album included two co-writes with Gary Rossington of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and guest vocals from Waylon Jennings and Hank Williams, Jr. on the cut "Outlaws Like Us". The album achieved platinum certification in December of that year, and later became his third double-platinum album. Allmusic reviewer Brian Mansfield said that Tritt was "most comfortable with his Southern rock/outlaw mantle" on it, comparing "Foolish Pride" favorably to "Anymore" and the work of Bob Seger. Alanna Nash praised the title track and "Tell Me I Was Dreaming" in her review for Entertainment Weekly, but thought that the other songs were still too similar in sound to his previous works. 1995's Greatest Hits: From the Beginning included most of his singles to that point, as well as two new cuts: the Steve Earle composition "Sometimes She Forgets" and a cover of the pop standard "Only You (And You Alone)". The former was a top ten hit at number seven, while the latter spent only eight weeks on the country charts and peaked at number 51. Greatest Hits was certified platinum. CANNOTANSWER
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His fourth album, Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof, was released that May.
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James Travis Tritt (born February 9, 1963) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and actor. He signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1989, releasing seven studio albums and a greatest hits package for the label between then and 1999. In the 2000s, he released three studio albums on Columbia Records and one for the now-defunct Category 5 Records. Seven of his albums (counting the Greatest Hits) are certified platinum or higher by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA); the highest-certified is 1991's It's All About to Change, which is certified triple-platinum. Tritt has also charted more than 40 times on the Hot Country Songs charts, including five number ones—"Help Me Hold On", "Anymore", "Can I Trust You with My Heart", "Foolish Pride", and "Best of Intentions"—and 15 additional top ten singles. Tritt's musical style is defined by mainstream country and Southern rock influences.
He has received two Grammy Awards, both for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals: in 1992 for "The Whiskey Ain't Workin'", a duet with Marty Stuart, and again in 1998 for "Same Old Train", a collaboration with Stuart and nine other artists. He has received four awards from the Country Music Association and has been a member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1992.
Early life
James Travis Tritt was born on February 9, 1963, in Marietta, Georgia, to James and Gwen Tritt. He first took interest in singing after his church's Sunday school choir performed "Everything Is Beautiful". He received his first guitar at age 8 and taught himself how to play it; in the fourth grade, he performed "Annie's Song" and "King of the Road" for his class, and later got invited to play for other classrooms in his school. At age 14, his parents bought him another guitar, and he learned more songs from his uncle, Sam Lockhart. Later on, Tritt joined his church band, which occasionally performed at other churches nearby.
Tritt began writing music while he was attending Sprayberry High School; his first song composition, entitled "Spend a Little Time", was written about a girlfriend whom he had broken up with. He performed the song for his friends, one of whom complimented him on his songwriting skills. He also founded a bluegrass group with some of his friends and won second place in a local tournament for playing "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys".
During his teenage years, Tritt worked at a furniture store, and later as a supermarket clerk. He lived with his mother after she and his father divorced; they remarried when he was 18. He worked at an air conditioning company while playing in clubs, but gave up the air conditioning job at the suggestion of one of his bandmates. Tritt's father thought that he would not find success as a musician, while his mother thought that he should perform Christian music instead of country.
Through the assistance of Warner Bros. Records executive Danny Davenport, Tritt began recording demos. The two worked together for the next several years, eventually putting together a demo album called Proud of the Country. Davenport sent the demo to Warner Bros. representatives in Los Angeles, who in turn sent the demo to their Nashville division, which signed Tritt in 1987. Davenport also helped Tritt find a talent manager, Ken Kragen. At first, Kragen was not interested in taking an "entry-level act", but decided to sign on as Tritt's manager after Kragen's wife convinced him.
Musical career
1989–1991: Country Club
Tritt's contract with Warner Bros. meant that he was signed to record six songs, and three of them would be released as singles. According to the contract, he would not be signed on for a full album unless one of the three singles became a hit. His first single was "Country Club". Recorded in late 1988 and released on August 7, 1989, the song spent 26 weeks on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts, peaking at number nine. It was the title track to his 1990 debut album Country Club, produced by Gregg Brown. The month of its release, Tritt burst a blood vessel on his vocal cords, and had to take vocal rest for a month. Second single "Help Me Hold On" became his first number one single in 1990. The album's third and fifth singles, "I'm Gonna Be Somebody" and "Drift Off to Dream", respectively peaked at numbers two and three on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts, and number one on the Canadian RPM country charts; "I'm Gonna Be Somebody" also went to number one on the U.S. country singles charts published by Radio & Records. "Put Some Drive in Your Country", which was released fourth, peaked at 28 on Hot Country Songs. Country Club was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in July 1991 for shipments of one million copies, and no medals since in 1996. In 1990, he won the Top New Male Artist award from Billboard. The Country Music Association (CMA) also nominated him for the Horizon Award (now known as the New Artist Award), which is given to new artists who show have shown the most significant artistic and commercial development from a first or second album.
Brian Mansfield of AllMusic gave the album a positive review, saying that "Put Some Drive in Your Country" paid homage to Tritt's influences, but that the other singles were more radio-friendly. Giving the album a B-minus, Alanna Nash of Entertainment Weekly compared Tritt's music to that of Hank Williams, Jr. and Joe Stampley.
1991–1992: It's All About to Change
In 1991, Tritt received a second Horizon Award nomination, which he won that year. He also released his second album, It's All About to Change. The album went on to become his best-selling, with a triple-platinum certification from the RIAA for shipments of three million copies. All four of its singles reached the top five on the country music charts. "Here's a Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares)" and the Marty Stuart duet "The Whiskey Ain't Workin'", respectively the first and third singles, both reached number two, with the number-one "Anymore" in between. "Nothing Short of Dying" was the fourth single, with a peak at number four on Billboard; both it and "The Whiskey Ain't Working" went to Number One on Radio & Records. "Bible Belt", another cut from the album (recorded in collaboration with Little Feat), appeared in the 1992 film My Cousin Vinny (the lyrics for the song, however, were changed for the version played in the movie to match the story line). Although not released as a single, it peaked at number 72 country based on unsolicited airplay and was the b-side to "Nothing Short of Dying". "Bible Belt" was inspired by a youth pastor whom Tritt knew in his childhood.
Stuart offered "The Whiskey Ain't Workin' Anymore" to Tritt backstage at the CMA awards show, and they recorded it as a duet through the suggestion of Tritt's record producer, Gregg Brown. The duet won both artists the next year's Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. Tritt and Stuart charted a second duet, "This One's Gonna Hurt You (For a Long, Long Time)", which went to number seven in mid-1992 and appeared on Stuart's album This One's Gonna Hurt You. This song won the 1992 CMA award for Vocal Event of the Year.
In June 1992, Tritt received media attention when he criticized Billy Ray Cyrus' "Achy Breaky Heart" at a Fan Fair interview, saying that he did not think that Cyrus' song made a "statement". The following January, Cyrus responded at the American Music Awards by referring to Tritt's "Here's a Quarter". Tritt later apologized to Cyrus, but said that he defended his opinion on the song.
1992–1993: T-R-O-U-B-L-E and A Travis Tritt Christmas
Tritt and Stuart began a "No Hats Tour" in 1992. In August of that same year, Tritt released the album T-R-O-U-B-L-E. Its first single was "Lord Have Mercy on the Working Man", a song written by Kostas. This song, which featured backing vocals from Brooks & Dunn, T. Graham Brown, George Jones, Little Texas, Dana McVicker (who also sang backup on Tritt's first two albums), Tanya Tucker and Porter Wagoner on the final chorus, peaked at number five. Its follow-up, "Can I Trust You with My Heart", became Tritt's third Billboard number one in early 1993. The album's next three singles did not perform as well on the charts: the title track (a cover of an Elvis Presley song), peaked at 13, followed by "Looking Out for Number One" at number 11 and "Worth Every Mile" at number 30. T-R-O-U-B-L-E became the second album of his career to achieve double-platinum certification. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic thought that T-R-O-U-B-L-E followed too closely the formula of It's All About to Change, but said that the songs showed Tritt's personality. Nash gave the album a similar criticism, but praised the rock influences of "Looking Out for Number One" and the vocals on "Can I Trust You with My Heart".
One month after the release of T-R-O-U-B-L-E, Tritt issued a Christmas album titled A Travis Tritt Christmas: Loving Time of the Year, for which he wrote the title track. He also joined the Grand Ole Opry, a weekly stage show and radio broadcast specializing in country music performances, and filled in for Garth Brooks at a performance on the American Music Awards. By year's end, Tritt and several other artists appeared on George Jones's "I Don't Need Your Rockin' Chair", which won all artists involved the next year's CMA Vocal Event of the Year award.
1994–1995: Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof and Greatest Hits
In early 1994, after "Worth Every Mile" fell from the charts, Tritt charted at number 21 with a cover of the Eagles' "Take It Easy". He recorded this song for the tribute album Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles (released through Warner Bros.' Giant Records division), which featured country music artists' renditions of Eagles songs. When filming the music video for this song, Tritt requested that the band, which had been on hiatus for over 13 years, appear in it. This reunion inspired the Eagles' Hell Freezes Over Tour, which began that year.
His fourth album, Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof, was released that May. Its lead-off single, "Foolish Pride", went to number one, and the fourth single, "Tell Me I Was Dreaming", reached number two. In between these songs were the title track at number 22 and "Between an Old Memory and Me" (originally recorded by Keith Whitley) at number 11. The album included two co-writes with Gary Rossington of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and guest vocals from Waylon Jennings and Hank Williams, Jr. on the cut "Outlaws Like Us". The album achieved platinum certification in December of that year, and later became his third double-platinum album. AllMusic reviewer Brian Mansfield said that Tritt was "most comfortable with his Southern rock/outlaw mantle" on it, comparing "Foolish Pride" favorably to "Anymore" and the work of Bob Seger. Alanna Nash praised the title track and "Tell Me I Was Dreaming" in her review for Entertainment Weekly, but thought that the other songs were still too similar in sound to his previous works.
1995's Greatest Hits: From the Beginning included most of his singles to that point, as well as two new cuts: the Steve Earle composition "Sometimes She Forgets" and a cover of the pop standard "Only You (And You Alone)". The former was a top ten hit at number seven, while the latter spent only eight weeks on the country charts and peaked at number 51. Greatest Hits was certified platinum.
1996–1997: The Restless Kind
In April 1996, Tritt and Stuart charted a third duet, "Honky Tonkin's What I Do Best", which appeared on Stuart's album of the same name and peaked at 23 on the country charts. The song won both artists that year's Country Music Association award for Vocal Event, Tritt's third win in this category. The two began a second tour, the Double Trouble Tour, that year.
Tritt charted at number three in mid-1996 with "More Than You'll Ever Know", the first single from his fifth album, The Restless Kind. The album accounted for one more top ten hit, a cover of Waylon Jennings's "Where Corn Don't Grow", which Tritt took to number six in late 1996. This song's chart run overlapped with that of "Here's Your Sign (Get the Picture)", a novelty release combining snippets of comedian Bill Engvall's "Here are Your Sign" routines with a chorus sung by Tritt. "Here's Your Sign (Get the Picture)" peaked at 29 on the country charts and 43 on the Billboard Hot 100, accounting for Tritt's first entry on the latter chart. The other singles from The Restless Kind all failed to make Top Ten upon their 1997 release. "She's Going Home with Me" and "Still in Love with You" (previously the respective B-sides to "Where Corn Don't Grow" and "More Than You'll Ever Know") were the third and fifth releases, peaking at 24 and 23 on Hot Country Singles & Tracks. In between was the number 18 "Helping Me Get Over You", a duet with Lari White which the two co-wrote.
Unlike his previous albums, all of which were produced by Gregg Brown, Tritt produced The Restless Kind with Don Was. Tritt told Billboard that the album showed a greater level of personal involvement than his previous efforts, as it was his first co-production credit. He also noted that he sang most of the vocal harmony by himself, played guitar on "She's Going Home with Me", and helped with the album's art direction. It received positive reviews from Thom Owens of AllMusic, who said that it was the most country-sounding album of his career. Don Yates of Country Standard Time also praised it for having a more "organic" sound than Tritt's other albums.
1998–1999: No More Looking over My Shoulder
In 1998, he and several other artists contributed to Stuart's "Same Old Train", a cut from the collaborative album Tribute to Tradition; this song charted at number 59 on Hot Country Songs and won Tritt his second Grammy for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. He also performed on Frank Wildhorn's concept album of the musical The Civil War, singing the song "The Day the Sun Stood Still". By year's end, Tritt also released his final Warner Bros. album, No More Looking over My Shoulder. It was his first of four consecutive albums which he produced with Billy Joe Walker, Jr., who is a session guitarist, producer, and New Age musician. The album was led off by the ballad "If I Lost You", which peaked at number 29 on the country charts and number 86 on the Hot 100. Michael Peterson (who recorded for Warner Bros.' Reprise label at the time) co-wrote and sang backing vocals on the title track, which went to number 38 country in early 1999. The album's third and final single was a cover of Jude Cole's "Start the Car" (previously the B-side to "If I Lost You"), which peaked at number 52.
Late in 1999, Tritt recorded a cover of Hank Williams's "Move It On Over" with George Thorogood for the soundtrack to the cartoon King of the Hill. This cut peaked at number 66 on the country charts from unsolicited airplay.
2000–2002: Down the Road I Go
Soon after leaving Warner Bros. Records, Tritt signed to Columbia Records and released the album Down the Road I Go in 2000. The album's first release was "Best of Intentions", his fifth and final number one hit on Billboard. It was also his most successful entry on the Hot 100, where it reached number 27. The next two singles, "It's a Great Day to Be Alive" and "Love of a Woman", both peaked at number two on the country charts in 2001, followed by "Modern Day Bonnie and Clyde" at number eight. All three songs also crossed over to the Hot 100, respectively reaching peaks of 33, 39 and 55. Tritt wrote or co-wrote seven of the album's songs, including "Best of Intentions", and collaborated with Charlie Daniels on two of them. "It's a Great Day to Be Alive" was originally recorded by Jon Randall, whose version was to have been included on an unreleased album for BNA Records in the late 1990s.
Maria Konicki Dinoia gave the album a positive review on AllMusic, saying that Tritt "hasn't lost his touch". Country Standard Time also gave a positive review, saying that it showed Tritt's balance of country and rock influences. An uncredited review in Billboard magazine called "Best of Intentions" a "gorgeous ballad", comparing it favorably to his early Warner Bros. releases.
2002–2005: Strong Enough and My Honky Tonk History
In September 2002, Tritt released his second album on Columbia Records, Strong Enough. Its first single was "Strong Enough to Be Your Man" (an answer song to Sheryl Crow's 1994 single "Strong Enough") which reached number 13. The only other release was "Country Ain't Country", which peaked at 26 on the country charts. William Ruhlmann gave the album a generally positive review on AllMusic, saying that he considered its sound closer to mainstream country than Tritt's previous albums.
Also in 2002, Tritt performed on an episode of Crossroads, a program on Country Music Television which pairs country acts with musicians from other genres for collaborative performances. He performed with Ray Charles. Tritt contributed guest vocals to Charlie Daniels' 2003 single "Southern Boy", and recorded a cover of Waylon Jennings' "Lonesome, On'ry and Mean" to the RCA Records tribute album I've Always Been Crazy. Respectively, these songs reached 51 and 50 on the country charts.
Tritt's tenth studio album, My Honky Tonk History, was released in 2004. This album included three charting singles: "The Girl's Gone Wild" at 28, followed by the John Mellencamp duet "What Say You" at number 21 and "I See Me" at number 32. Other songs on the album included a cover of Philip Claypool's "Circus Leaving Town" and songs written by Gretchen Wilson, Benmont Tench and Delbert McClinton. Thom Jurek rated this album favorably, saying that it was a "solid, sure-voiced outing"; he also thought that "What Say You" was the best song on it.
2007–present: The Storm and The Calm After...
Tritt exited Columbia in July 2005, citing creative differences over My Honky Tonk History. He signed to the independent Category 5 Records in February 2006, and served as the label's flagship artist. In March 2007, a concert promoter in the Pittsburgh area sued Tritt, claiming he had committed to play a show, but then backed out and signed to play a competing venue. Tritt's manager denied he had ever signed a contract with the promoter. Tritt released his first single for Category 5 in May 2007: a cover of the Richard Marx song "You Never Take Me Dancing". It was included on his only album for Category 5, The Storm, which American Idol judge Randy Jackson produced. The album featured a more rhythm and blues influence than Tritt's previous works. "You Never Take Me Dancing" peaked at number 27 on the country charts; a second single, "Something Stronger Than Me", was released in October, but it did not chart. Category 5 closed in November 2007 after allegations that the label's chief executive officer, Raymond Termini, had illegally used Medicaid funds to finance it. A month later, Tritt filed a $10 million lawsuit against Category 5, because the label had failed to pay royalties on the album, and failed to give him creative control on The Storm.
In October 2008, Tritt began an 11-date tour with Marty Stuart. On this tour, they performed acoustic renditions of their duets; Tritt also performed five solo shows. Tritt signed a management deal with Parallel Entertainment in December 2010. He continued to tour through to 2012 and into 2013, with most of his shows being solo acoustic performances. Tritt acquired the rights to the songs on The Storm and re-issued it via his own Post Oak label in July 2013 under the title The Calm After... The re-release included two covers: the Patty Smyth and Don Henley duet "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough", which he recorded as a duet with his daughter Tyler Reese, and Faces' 1971 hit "Stay with Me".
In 2019, Tritt was featured on the country rock hit "Outlaws & Outsiders" by Cory Marks.
Acting career
Tritt's first acting role was in the 1993 made-for-television movie Rio Diablo. In 1994, Tritt made a special appearance as a bull rider in the movie The Cowboy Way, which starred Woody Harrelson and Kiefer Sutherland. In 1995, he appeared in season 6 of the horror anthology series Tales from the Crypt in the episode called Doctor of Horror. He also starred in a guest role on Yes, Dear as a rehabilitating criminal and in Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman as a gun slinger. The following year, Tritt appeared as himself in Sgt. Bilko, which starred Steve Martin, Dan Aykroyd and Phil Hartman; Tritt's cover of "Only You (And You Alone)" appeared in the film's soundtrack. He also made an appearance in the 1997 film Fire Down Below, starring Steven Seagal and Kris Kristofferson. In 1999 Tritt appeared in Outlaw Justice with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson. Tritt appeared in the film Blues Brothers 2000 as one of the Louisiana Gator Boys. In 2001 he guest starred in Elmo's World The Wild Wild West. In September 2010, filming began on a movie called Fishers of Men, a Christian film.
Musical styles
Although he had been singing since childhood, Tritt said that he began to put "a little more soul" in his voice after his church band performed at an African-American church. He said that he took interest in how African-American singers put "all these bends and sweeps and curls" in their voices, and began emulating that sound. While performing at these churches, he also took interest in gospel singers such as Andraé Crouch. Later on, he began listening to Southern rock acts such as Lynyrd Skynyrd through the recommendation of a friend, as well as the bluegrass music that his uncle exposed him to. Tritt said that he found his songwriting began to develop during the creation of his demo tape, when he had written a song called "Gambler's Blues" that "felt a lot more connected to Southern rock" than his previous writings. He cites country, rock and folk as his influences. Stephen Thomas Erlewine contrasts him with contemporaries Clint Black and Alan Jackson, saying that Tritt was "the only one not to wear a [cowboy] hat and the only one to dip into bluesy Southern rock. Consequently, he developed a gutsy, outlaw image that distinguished him from the pack." Zell Miller, in the book They Heard Georgia Singing, said that Tritt has an "unerring ability to walk the narrow path between his country heritage and his rock leanings to the acclaim of the devotees of both."
Regarding his songwriting style and single choices, Tritt said that he writes "strictly from personal experiences" and does not follow a particular formula. He described "Here's a Quarter" as "one of the simplest three-chord waltzes I've ever written", and said that label executives were reluctant to release it because they thought that it was a novelty song. Also, he was told that "I'm Gonna Be Somebody" would not be a hit because it did not contain any rhymes, and fought the release of the song "Country Club" because he did not think that it fit his style. He also said that, despite their low peaks, the more rock-influenced "Put Some Drive in Your Country" and "T-R-O-U-B-L-E" helped generate sales for their respective albums more so than the top ten hits from those albums.
Personal life
Tritt married his high school sweetheart, Karen Ryon, in September 1982. They were married two years before divorcing. After going to court, Tritt was ordered to pay alimony to Karen for six months. When he was 21, he married Jodi Barnett, who was 33 at the time. He divorced her shortly after signing with Warner Bros. in 1989; the divorce finalized one month before "Country Club" was released. Tritt wrote the song "Here's a Quarter" the night he received his divorce papers.
He married Theresa Nelson on April 12, 1997. They have one daughter, Tyler Reese (born February 18, 1998) and two sons: Tristan James (born June 16, 1999) and Tarian Nathaniel (born November 20, 2003).
On May 18, 2019, he was in his tour bus when it was involved in a motor vehicle accident which took the lives of two people driving the wrong way on Veteran's Highway leaving Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Political views and advocacy
Tritt is a member of the Republican Party and supported George W. Bush for president in 2000. The two met in 1996 at the Republican National Convention in San Diego, California, where Tritt sang the national anthem. Tritt told Insight on the News that he is a strong supporter of Second Amendment rights and believes the answer to crime is not gun control but criminal control. "I'm a pro-gun guy. I'm an NRA (National Rifle Association) member, a life member as a matter of fact. I'm more for the belief of making the punishment tougher for the criminals to start with. I think that sends much more of an incentive for people to not commit crimes of any type than taking away guns. Because you take away guns, and the next thing you know, stabbing murders are going to increase." He adds that he is "definitely pro-death penalty".
In September 2020, Tritt gained notoriety for joining fellow Republican James Woods in blocking random Twitter users for using pro-Black Lives Matter and other anti-Trump tags in their posts, under the belief that it would counteract anti-Republican sentiment on Twitter.
On October 18, 2021, Tritt made a cameo appearance on conservative commentator Steven Crowder's show Louder with Crowder.
Alleged paranormal encounters
In October 2015, Tritt appeared on Lifetime network's The Haunting of... program to discuss his experiences with the paranormal. Tritt stated that beginning in 1993, he was awakened "regularly" by disembodied voices in a vacation cabin that he owned – the voices spoke in an unknown dialect. His wife, Theresa, eventually heard them as well. According to Tritt, "Over the years, these voices started happening
on such a frequent basis that we were afraid to come up here." He also asserted that footprints once appeared in the carpet of the cabin, and imprints in the bedspread, that belonged to neither him nor his wife.
The show's host, Kim Russo, concluded that an African-American medicine man had been stabbed and beaten to death on the property, and the voices that Tritt was hearing belonged to the murderers' angry spirits. A title card in the program notes that "On August 14, 1875, a group of men killed a 'hoodoo doctor' close to the land where Travis' cabin was built." Russo believed that the hoodoo doctor's spirit also lingered on the property because it found a "kindred spirit" in Tritt.
Discography
Studio albums
Proud of the Country (1987)
Country Club (1990)
It's All About to Change (1991)
T-R-O-U-B-L-E (1992)
Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof (1994)
The Restless Kind (1996)No More Looking over My Shoulder (1998)Down the Road I Go (2000)Strong Enough (2002)My Honky Tonk History (2004)The Storm (2007) The Calm After... (2013)Set in Stone (2021)'Billboard number-one singles'''
"Help Me Hold On" (1990)
"Anymore" (1991)
"Can I Trust You with My Heart" (19921993)
"Foolish Pride" (1994)
"Best of Intentions" (2000)
Awards and nominations
Filmography
Notes
See also
Travis (chimpanzee), named after Tritt
References
External links
1963 births
American male singer-songwriters
American country singer-songwriters
Columbia Records artists
Grammy Award winners
Grand Ole Opry members
Living people
Musicians from Marietta, Georgia
People from Cobb County, Georgia
Warner Records artists
Georgia (U.S. state) Republicans
Country musicians from Georgia (U.S. state)
Singer-songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state)
| true |
[
"Best of Dolly Parton was a 1975 compilation album of Dolly Parton's early 1970s work that has long been regarded by critics as the definitive representation of Parton's most influential period. The album reached # 5 on the U.S. country albums chart, and contained the title tracks to the previous six Parton albums, as well as the tracks \"I Will Always Love You\" and \"Travelin' Man\".\n\nBackground and release\nThe album was curiously titled Best of Dolly Parton, although RCA Records had previously released an album titled The Best of Dolly Parton in 1970, which remained in print at the time of this disc's release, as it would for several more years. The album tracks, graphics and catalog numbers were of course different for the two albums (and this release does not have \"The\" as part of the title) but still there was some confusion about the albums. This album is occasionally referred to as \"The Best of Dolly Parton Vol. 2\", but it never was released under that title, though a third \"best of\" collection was released in 1987, Best of Dolly Parton, Vol. 3, suggesting RCA regarded this collection as Volume 2, even if they did not include that designation in the title.\n\nThe album's original release included an 11 x 20\" poster of the album cover inside the disc slip. The album's back cover features a large photograph of Parton in a yellow jumpsuit, a rare photograph picture from the period playing up Parton's curves and bust.\n\nThe original album was a gatefold design with an additional photo of Parton and the printed song lyrics in the inner section (including an additional final verse to \"Coat of Many Colors\" that is not included in the recorded version). For unknown reasons, when the album was reissued on CD in the 1990s, the inner gatefold photo was used on the outer cover, rather than the cover photo of the original album release. The order of some of the songs on the reissue was changed as well.\n\nEight of the ten songs were self-penned, major country hits for Parton, the gospel song \"When I Sing for Him\", written by Porter Wagoner, was released as a single but did not chart. \"Lonely Comin' Down\", also by Wagoner, was never issued as a single (though this same recording was included on two different studio albums: 1972's My Favorite Songwriter: Porter Wagoner, and 1974's Jolene).\n\nThe album is credited as \"Produced and arranged by Porter Wagoner\", although Bob Ferguson was credited as producer on the respective original albums.\n\nTrack listing\nAll songs written by Dolly Parton unless otherwise noted.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nThe Best of Dolly Parton at Dolly Parton On-Line\n\nDolly Parton compilation albums\n1975 greatest hits albums\nAlbums produced by Bob Ferguson (music)\nRCA Records compilation albums",
"SKZ2020 is the first compilation album by South Korean boy band Stray Kids as their Japanese debut. It was released on March 18, 2020. The album includes Japanese version of \"My Pace\", \"Double Knot\" and that released as digital single before and the 8-member's new record version of previous several songs.\n\nIt marked their first material as an 8-member group following Woojin’s departure back in October 2019, the album sold 36,347+ in Japan and 1,000 in US as of 2020.\n\nRelease\n\nThis compilation album was released in four versions: First Press Limited edition, Regular edition, Period Time Limited edition and Complete Limited edition (cassette tape).\n\nTrack listing\n\nFirst Press Limited edition and Regular edition\n\nPeriod Limited edition and Complete Limited edition\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nRelease history\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\n2020 compilation albums\nJapanese-language albums\nJapanese-language compilation albums\nJYP Entertainment albums\nKorean-language albums\nKorean-language compilation albums\nStray Kids albums"
] |
[
"Travis Tritt",
"1994-1995: Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof and Greatest Hits",
"What happened in 1994 ?",
"In early 1994, after \"Worth Every Mile\" fell from the charts, Tritt charted at number 21 with a cover of the Eagles' \"Take It Easy\".",
"From which album was the song Take It Easy ?",
"I don't know.",
"Which albums did he release in that period ?",
"His fourth album, Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof, was released that May."
] |
C_11462bedee39492fafd80e4368975ea1_0
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Can you name a song from the album Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof ?
| 4 |
Can you name a song from the album Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof ?
|
Travis Tritt
|
In early 1994, after "Worth Every Mile" fell from the charts, Tritt charted at number 21 with a cover of the Eagles' "Take It Easy". He recorded this song for the tribute album Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles (released through Warner Bros.' Giant Records division), which featured country music artists' renditions of Eagles songs. When filming the music video for this song, Tritt requested that the band, which was on hiatus at the time, appear in it. This reunion inspired the Eagles' Hell Freezes Over Tour, which began that year. His fourth album, Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof, was released that May. Its lead-off single, "Foolish Pride", went to number one, and the fourth single, "Tell Me I Was Dreaming", reached number two. In between these songs were the title track at number 22 and "Between an Old Memory and Me" (originally recorded by Keith Whitley) at number 11. The album included two co-writes with Gary Rossington of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and guest vocals from Waylon Jennings and Hank Williams, Jr. on the cut "Outlaws Like Us". The album achieved platinum certification in December of that year, and later became his third double-platinum album. Allmusic reviewer Brian Mansfield said that Tritt was "most comfortable with his Southern rock/outlaw mantle" on it, comparing "Foolish Pride" favorably to "Anymore" and the work of Bob Seger. Alanna Nash praised the title track and "Tell Me I Was Dreaming" in her review for Entertainment Weekly, but thought that the other songs were still too similar in sound to his previous works. 1995's Greatest Hits: From the Beginning included most of his singles to that point, as well as two new cuts: the Steve Earle composition "Sometimes She Forgets" and a cover of the pop standard "Only You (And You Alone)". The former was a top ten hit at number seven, while the latter spent only eight weeks on the country charts and peaked at number 51. Greatest Hits was certified platinum. CANNOTANSWER
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Its lead-off single, "Foolish Pride", went to number one,
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James Travis Tritt (born February 9, 1963) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and actor. He signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1989, releasing seven studio albums and a greatest hits package for the label between then and 1999. In the 2000s, he released three studio albums on Columbia Records and one for the now-defunct Category 5 Records. Seven of his albums (counting the Greatest Hits) are certified platinum or higher by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA); the highest-certified is 1991's It's All About to Change, which is certified triple-platinum. Tritt has also charted more than 40 times on the Hot Country Songs charts, including five number ones—"Help Me Hold On", "Anymore", "Can I Trust You with My Heart", "Foolish Pride", and "Best of Intentions"—and 15 additional top ten singles. Tritt's musical style is defined by mainstream country and Southern rock influences.
He has received two Grammy Awards, both for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals: in 1992 for "The Whiskey Ain't Workin'", a duet with Marty Stuart, and again in 1998 for "Same Old Train", a collaboration with Stuart and nine other artists. He has received four awards from the Country Music Association and has been a member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1992.
Early life
James Travis Tritt was born on February 9, 1963, in Marietta, Georgia, to James and Gwen Tritt. He first took interest in singing after his church's Sunday school choir performed "Everything Is Beautiful". He received his first guitar at age 8 and taught himself how to play it; in the fourth grade, he performed "Annie's Song" and "King of the Road" for his class, and later got invited to play for other classrooms in his school. At age 14, his parents bought him another guitar, and he learned more songs from his uncle, Sam Lockhart. Later on, Tritt joined his church band, which occasionally performed at other churches nearby.
Tritt began writing music while he was attending Sprayberry High School; his first song composition, entitled "Spend a Little Time", was written about a girlfriend whom he had broken up with. He performed the song for his friends, one of whom complimented him on his songwriting skills. He also founded a bluegrass group with some of his friends and won second place in a local tournament for playing "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys".
During his teenage years, Tritt worked at a furniture store, and later as a supermarket clerk. He lived with his mother after she and his father divorced; they remarried when he was 18. He worked at an air conditioning company while playing in clubs, but gave up the air conditioning job at the suggestion of one of his bandmates. Tritt's father thought that he would not find success as a musician, while his mother thought that he should perform Christian music instead of country.
Through the assistance of Warner Bros. Records executive Danny Davenport, Tritt began recording demos. The two worked together for the next several years, eventually putting together a demo album called Proud of the Country. Davenport sent the demo to Warner Bros. representatives in Los Angeles, who in turn sent the demo to their Nashville division, which signed Tritt in 1987. Davenport also helped Tritt find a talent manager, Ken Kragen. At first, Kragen was not interested in taking an "entry-level act", but decided to sign on as Tritt's manager after Kragen's wife convinced him.
Musical career
1989–1991: Country Club
Tritt's contract with Warner Bros. meant that he was signed to record six songs, and three of them would be released as singles. According to the contract, he would not be signed on for a full album unless one of the three singles became a hit. His first single was "Country Club". Recorded in late 1988 and released on August 7, 1989, the song spent 26 weeks on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts, peaking at number nine. It was the title track to his 1990 debut album Country Club, produced by Gregg Brown. The month of its release, Tritt burst a blood vessel on his vocal cords, and had to take vocal rest for a month. Second single "Help Me Hold On" became his first number one single in 1990. The album's third and fifth singles, "I'm Gonna Be Somebody" and "Drift Off to Dream", respectively peaked at numbers two and three on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts, and number one on the Canadian RPM country charts; "I'm Gonna Be Somebody" also went to number one on the U.S. country singles charts published by Radio & Records. "Put Some Drive in Your Country", which was released fourth, peaked at 28 on Hot Country Songs. Country Club was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in July 1991 for shipments of one million copies, and no medals since in 1996. In 1990, he won the Top New Male Artist award from Billboard. The Country Music Association (CMA) also nominated him for the Horizon Award (now known as the New Artist Award), which is given to new artists who show have shown the most significant artistic and commercial development from a first or second album.
Brian Mansfield of AllMusic gave the album a positive review, saying that "Put Some Drive in Your Country" paid homage to Tritt's influences, but that the other singles were more radio-friendly. Giving the album a B-minus, Alanna Nash of Entertainment Weekly compared Tritt's music to that of Hank Williams, Jr. and Joe Stampley.
1991–1992: It's All About to Change
In 1991, Tritt received a second Horizon Award nomination, which he won that year. He also released his second album, It's All About to Change. The album went on to become his best-selling, with a triple-platinum certification from the RIAA for shipments of three million copies. All four of its singles reached the top five on the country music charts. "Here's a Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares)" and the Marty Stuart duet "The Whiskey Ain't Workin'", respectively the first and third singles, both reached number two, with the number-one "Anymore" in between. "Nothing Short of Dying" was the fourth single, with a peak at number four on Billboard; both it and "The Whiskey Ain't Working" went to Number One on Radio & Records. "Bible Belt", another cut from the album (recorded in collaboration with Little Feat), appeared in the 1992 film My Cousin Vinny (the lyrics for the song, however, were changed for the version played in the movie to match the story line). Although not released as a single, it peaked at number 72 country based on unsolicited airplay and was the b-side to "Nothing Short of Dying". "Bible Belt" was inspired by a youth pastor whom Tritt knew in his childhood.
Stuart offered "The Whiskey Ain't Workin' Anymore" to Tritt backstage at the CMA awards show, and they recorded it as a duet through the suggestion of Tritt's record producer, Gregg Brown. The duet won both artists the next year's Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. Tritt and Stuart charted a second duet, "This One's Gonna Hurt You (For a Long, Long Time)", which went to number seven in mid-1992 and appeared on Stuart's album This One's Gonna Hurt You. This song won the 1992 CMA award for Vocal Event of the Year.
In June 1992, Tritt received media attention when he criticized Billy Ray Cyrus' "Achy Breaky Heart" at a Fan Fair interview, saying that he did not think that Cyrus' song made a "statement". The following January, Cyrus responded at the American Music Awards by referring to Tritt's "Here's a Quarter". Tritt later apologized to Cyrus, but said that he defended his opinion on the song.
1992–1993: T-R-O-U-B-L-E and A Travis Tritt Christmas
Tritt and Stuart began a "No Hats Tour" in 1992. In August of that same year, Tritt released the album T-R-O-U-B-L-E. Its first single was "Lord Have Mercy on the Working Man", a song written by Kostas. This song, which featured backing vocals from Brooks & Dunn, T. Graham Brown, George Jones, Little Texas, Dana McVicker (who also sang backup on Tritt's first two albums), Tanya Tucker and Porter Wagoner on the final chorus, peaked at number five. Its follow-up, "Can I Trust You with My Heart", became Tritt's third Billboard number one in early 1993. The album's next three singles did not perform as well on the charts: the title track (a cover of an Elvis Presley song), peaked at 13, followed by "Looking Out for Number One" at number 11 and "Worth Every Mile" at number 30. T-R-O-U-B-L-E became the second album of his career to achieve double-platinum certification. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic thought that T-R-O-U-B-L-E followed too closely the formula of It's All About to Change, but said that the songs showed Tritt's personality. Nash gave the album a similar criticism, but praised the rock influences of "Looking Out for Number One" and the vocals on "Can I Trust You with My Heart".
One month after the release of T-R-O-U-B-L-E, Tritt issued a Christmas album titled A Travis Tritt Christmas: Loving Time of the Year, for which he wrote the title track. He also joined the Grand Ole Opry, a weekly stage show and radio broadcast specializing in country music performances, and filled in for Garth Brooks at a performance on the American Music Awards. By year's end, Tritt and several other artists appeared on George Jones's "I Don't Need Your Rockin' Chair", which won all artists involved the next year's CMA Vocal Event of the Year award.
1994–1995: Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof and Greatest Hits
In early 1994, after "Worth Every Mile" fell from the charts, Tritt charted at number 21 with a cover of the Eagles' "Take It Easy". He recorded this song for the tribute album Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles (released through Warner Bros.' Giant Records division), which featured country music artists' renditions of Eagles songs. When filming the music video for this song, Tritt requested that the band, which had been on hiatus for over 13 years, appear in it. This reunion inspired the Eagles' Hell Freezes Over Tour, which began that year.
His fourth album, Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof, was released that May. Its lead-off single, "Foolish Pride", went to number one, and the fourth single, "Tell Me I Was Dreaming", reached number two. In between these songs were the title track at number 22 and "Between an Old Memory and Me" (originally recorded by Keith Whitley) at number 11. The album included two co-writes with Gary Rossington of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and guest vocals from Waylon Jennings and Hank Williams, Jr. on the cut "Outlaws Like Us". The album achieved platinum certification in December of that year, and later became his third double-platinum album. AllMusic reviewer Brian Mansfield said that Tritt was "most comfortable with his Southern rock/outlaw mantle" on it, comparing "Foolish Pride" favorably to "Anymore" and the work of Bob Seger. Alanna Nash praised the title track and "Tell Me I Was Dreaming" in her review for Entertainment Weekly, but thought that the other songs were still too similar in sound to his previous works.
1995's Greatest Hits: From the Beginning included most of his singles to that point, as well as two new cuts: the Steve Earle composition "Sometimes She Forgets" and a cover of the pop standard "Only You (And You Alone)". The former was a top ten hit at number seven, while the latter spent only eight weeks on the country charts and peaked at number 51. Greatest Hits was certified platinum.
1996–1997: The Restless Kind
In April 1996, Tritt and Stuart charted a third duet, "Honky Tonkin's What I Do Best", which appeared on Stuart's album of the same name and peaked at 23 on the country charts. The song won both artists that year's Country Music Association award for Vocal Event, Tritt's third win in this category. The two began a second tour, the Double Trouble Tour, that year.
Tritt charted at number three in mid-1996 with "More Than You'll Ever Know", the first single from his fifth album, The Restless Kind. The album accounted for one more top ten hit, a cover of Waylon Jennings's "Where Corn Don't Grow", which Tritt took to number six in late 1996. This song's chart run overlapped with that of "Here's Your Sign (Get the Picture)", a novelty release combining snippets of comedian Bill Engvall's "Here are Your Sign" routines with a chorus sung by Tritt. "Here's Your Sign (Get the Picture)" peaked at 29 on the country charts and 43 on the Billboard Hot 100, accounting for Tritt's first entry on the latter chart. The other singles from The Restless Kind all failed to make Top Ten upon their 1997 release. "She's Going Home with Me" and "Still in Love with You" (previously the respective B-sides to "Where Corn Don't Grow" and "More Than You'll Ever Know") were the third and fifth releases, peaking at 24 and 23 on Hot Country Singles & Tracks. In between was the number 18 "Helping Me Get Over You", a duet with Lari White which the two co-wrote.
Unlike his previous albums, all of which were produced by Gregg Brown, Tritt produced The Restless Kind with Don Was. Tritt told Billboard that the album showed a greater level of personal involvement than his previous efforts, as it was his first co-production credit. He also noted that he sang most of the vocal harmony by himself, played guitar on "She's Going Home with Me", and helped with the album's art direction. It received positive reviews from Thom Owens of AllMusic, who said that it was the most country-sounding album of his career. Don Yates of Country Standard Time also praised it for having a more "organic" sound than Tritt's other albums.
1998–1999: No More Looking over My Shoulder
In 1998, he and several other artists contributed to Stuart's "Same Old Train", a cut from the collaborative album Tribute to Tradition; this song charted at number 59 on Hot Country Songs and won Tritt his second Grammy for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. He also performed on Frank Wildhorn's concept album of the musical The Civil War, singing the song "The Day the Sun Stood Still". By year's end, Tritt also released his final Warner Bros. album, No More Looking over My Shoulder. It was his first of four consecutive albums which he produced with Billy Joe Walker, Jr., who is a session guitarist, producer, and New Age musician. The album was led off by the ballad "If I Lost You", which peaked at number 29 on the country charts and number 86 on the Hot 100. Michael Peterson (who recorded for Warner Bros.' Reprise label at the time) co-wrote and sang backing vocals on the title track, which went to number 38 country in early 1999. The album's third and final single was a cover of Jude Cole's "Start the Car" (previously the B-side to "If I Lost You"), which peaked at number 52.
Late in 1999, Tritt recorded a cover of Hank Williams's "Move It On Over" with George Thorogood for the soundtrack to the cartoon King of the Hill. This cut peaked at number 66 on the country charts from unsolicited airplay.
2000–2002: Down the Road I Go
Soon after leaving Warner Bros. Records, Tritt signed to Columbia Records and released the album Down the Road I Go in 2000. The album's first release was "Best of Intentions", his fifth and final number one hit on Billboard. It was also his most successful entry on the Hot 100, where it reached number 27. The next two singles, "It's a Great Day to Be Alive" and "Love of a Woman", both peaked at number two on the country charts in 2001, followed by "Modern Day Bonnie and Clyde" at number eight. All three songs also crossed over to the Hot 100, respectively reaching peaks of 33, 39 and 55. Tritt wrote or co-wrote seven of the album's songs, including "Best of Intentions", and collaborated with Charlie Daniels on two of them. "It's a Great Day to Be Alive" was originally recorded by Jon Randall, whose version was to have been included on an unreleased album for BNA Records in the late 1990s.
Maria Konicki Dinoia gave the album a positive review on AllMusic, saying that Tritt "hasn't lost his touch". Country Standard Time also gave a positive review, saying that it showed Tritt's balance of country and rock influences. An uncredited review in Billboard magazine called "Best of Intentions" a "gorgeous ballad", comparing it favorably to his early Warner Bros. releases.
2002–2005: Strong Enough and My Honky Tonk History
In September 2002, Tritt released his second album on Columbia Records, Strong Enough. Its first single was "Strong Enough to Be Your Man" (an answer song to Sheryl Crow's 1994 single "Strong Enough") which reached number 13. The only other release was "Country Ain't Country", which peaked at 26 on the country charts. William Ruhlmann gave the album a generally positive review on AllMusic, saying that he considered its sound closer to mainstream country than Tritt's previous albums.
Also in 2002, Tritt performed on an episode of Crossroads, a program on Country Music Television which pairs country acts with musicians from other genres for collaborative performances. He performed with Ray Charles. Tritt contributed guest vocals to Charlie Daniels' 2003 single "Southern Boy", and recorded a cover of Waylon Jennings' "Lonesome, On'ry and Mean" to the RCA Records tribute album I've Always Been Crazy. Respectively, these songs reached 51 and 50 on the country charts.
Tritt's tenth studio album, My Honky Tonk History, was released in 2004. This album included three charting singles: "The Girl's Gone Wild" at 28, followed by the John Mellencamp duet "What Say You" at number 21 and "I See Me" at number 32. Other songs on the album included a cover of Philip Claypool's "Circus Leaving Town" and songs written by Gretchen Wilson, Benmont Tench and Delbert McClinton. Thom Jurek rated this album favorably, saying that it was a "solid, sure-voiced outing"; he also thought that "What Say You" was the best song on it.
2007–present: The Storm and The Calm After...
Tritt exited Columbia in July 2005, citing creative differences over My Honky Tonk History. He signed to the independent Category 5 Records in February 2006, and served as the label's flagship artist. In March 2007, a concert promoter in the Pittsburgh area sued Tritt, claiming he had committed to play a show, but then backed out and signed to play a competing venue. Tritt's manager denied he had ever signed a contract with the promoter. Tritt released his first single for Category 5 in May 2007: a cover of the Richard Marx song "You Never Take Me Dancing". It was included on his only album for Category 5, The Storm, which American Idol judge Randy Jackson produced. The album featured a more rhythm and blues influence than Tritt's previous works. "You Never Take Me Dancing" peaked at number 27 on the country charts; a second single, "Something Stronger Than Me", was released in October, but it did not chart. Category 5 closed in November 2007 after allegations that the label's chief executive officer, Raymond Termini, had illegally used Medicaid funds to finance it. A month later, Tritt filed a $10 million lawsuit against Category 5, because the label had failed to pay royalties on the album, and failed to give him creative control on The Storm.
In October 2008, Tritt began an 11-date tour with Marty Stuart. On this tour, they performed acoustic renditions of their duets; Tritt also performed five solo shows. Tritt signed a management deal with Parallel Entertainment in December 2010. He continued to tour through to 2012 and into 2013, with most of his shows being solo acoustic performances. Tritt acquired the rights to the songs on The Storm and re-issued it via his own Post Oak label in July 2013 under the title The Calm After... The re-release included two covers: the Patty Smyth and Don Henley duet "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough", which he recorded as a duet with his daughter Tyler Reese, and Faces' 1971 hit "Stay with Me".
In 2019, Tritt was featured on the country rock hit "Outlaws & Outsiders" by Cory Marks.
Acting career
Tritt's first acting role was in the 1993 made-for-television movie Rio Diablo. In 1994, Tritt made a special appearance as a bull rider in the movie The Cowboy Way, which starred Woody Harrelson and Kiefer Sutherland. In 1995, he appeared in season 6 of the horror anthology series Tales from the Crypt in the episode called Doctor of Horror. He also starred in a guest role on Yes, Dear as a rehabilitating criminal and in Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman as a gun slinger. The following year, Tritt appeared as himself in Sgt. Bilko, which starred Steve Martin, Dan Aykroyd and Phil Hartman; Tritt's cover of "Only You (And You Alone)" appeared in the film's soundtrack. He also made an appearance in the 1997 film Fire Down Below, starring Steven Seagal and Kris Kristofferson. In 1999 Tritt appeared in Outlaw Justice with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson. Tritt appeared in the film Blues Brothers 2000 as one of the Louisiana Gator Boys. In 2001 he guest starred in Elmo's World The Wild Wild West. In September 2010, filming began on a movie called Fishers of Men, a Christian film.
Musical styles
Although he had been singing since childhood, Tritt said that he began to put "a little more soul" in his voice after his church band performed at an African-American church. He said that he took interest in how African-American singers put "all these bends and sweeps and curls" in their voices, and began emulating that sound. While performing at these churches, he also took interest in gospel singers such as Andraé Crouch. Later on, he began listening to Southern rock acts such as Lynyrd Skynyrd through the recommendation of a friend, as well as the bluegrass music that his uncle exposed him to. Tritt said that he found his songwriting began to develop during the creation of his demo tape, when he had written a song called "Gambler's Blues" that "felt a lot more connected to Southern rock" than his previous writings. He cites country, rock and folk as his influences. Stephen Thomas Erlewine contrasts him with contemporaries Clint Black and Alan Jackson, saying that Tritt was "the only one not to wear a [cowboy] hat and the only one to dip into bluesy Southern rock. Consequently, he developed a gutsy, outlaw image that distinguished him from the pack." Zell Miller, in the book They Heard Georgia Singing, said that Tritt has an "unerring ability to walk the narrow path between his country heritage and his rock leanings to the acclaim of the devotees of both."
Regarding his songwriting style and single choices, Tritt said that he writes "strictly from personal experiences" and does not follow a particular formula. He described "Here's a Quarter" as "one of the simplest three-chord waltzes I've ever written", and said that label executives were reluctant to release it because they thought that it was a novelty song. Also, he was told that "I'm Gonna Be Somebody" would not be a hit because it did not contain any rhymes, and fought the release of the song "Country Club" because he did not think that it fit his style. He also said that, despite their low peaks, the more rock-influenced "Put Some Drive in Your Country" and "T-R-O-U-B-L-E" helped generate sales for their respective albums more so than the top ten hits from those albums.
Personal life
Tritt married his high school sweetheart, Karen Ryon, in September 1982. They were married two years before divorcing. After going to court, Tritt was ordered to pay alimony to Karen for six months. When he was 21, he married Jodi Barnett, who was 33 at the time. He divorced her shortly after signing with Warner Bros. in 1989; the divorce finalized one month before "Country Club" was released. Tritt wrote the song "Here's a Quarter" the night he received his divorce papers.
He married Theresa Nelson on April 12, 1997. They have one daughter, Tyler Reese (born February 18, 1998) and two sons: Tristan James (born June 16, 1999) and Tarian Nathaniel (born November 20, 2003).
On May 18, 2019, he was in his tour bus when it was involved in a motor vehicle accident which took the lives of two people driving the wrong way on Veteran's Highway leaving Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Political views and advocacy
Tritt is a member of the Republican Party and supported George W. Bush for president in 2000. The two met in 1996 at the Republican National Convention in San Diego, California, where Tritt sang the national anthem. Tritt told Insight on the News that he is a strong supporter of Second Amendment rights and believes the answer to crime is not gun control but criminal control. "I'm a pro-gun guy. I'm an NRA (National Rifle Association) member, a life member as a matter of fact. I'm more for the belief of making the punishment tougher for the criminals to start with. I think that sends much more of an incentive for people to not commit crimes of any type than taking away guns. Because you take away guns, and the next thing you know, stabbing murders are going to increase." He adds that he is "definitely pro-death penalty".
In September 2020, Tritt gained notoriety for joining fellow Republican James Woods in blocking random Twitter users for using pro-Black Lives Matter and other anti-Trump tags in their posts, under the belief that it would counteract anti-Republican sentiment on Twitter.
On October 18, 2021, Tritt made a cameo appearance on conservative commentator Steven Crowder's show Louder with Crowder.
Alleged paranormal encounters
In October 2015, Tritt appeared on Lifetime network's The Haunting of... program to discuss his experiences with the paranormal. Tritt stated that beginning in 1993, he was awakened "regularly" by disembodied voices in a vacation cabin that he owned – the voices spoke in an unknown dialect. His wife, Theresa, eventually heard them as well. According to Tritt, "Over the years, these voices started happening
on such a frequent basis that we were afraid to come up here." He also asserted that footprints once appeared in the carpet of the cabin, and imprints in the bedspread, that belonged to neither him nor his wife.
The show's host, Kim Russo, concluded that an African-American medicine man had been stabbed and beaten to death on the property, and the voices that Tritt was hearing belonged to the murderers' angry spirits. A title card in the program notes that "On August 14, 1875, a group of men killed a 'hoodoo doctor' close to the land where Travis' cabin was built." Russo believed that the hoodoo doctor's spirit also lingered on the property because it found a "kindred spirit" in Tritt.
Discography
Studio albums
Proud of the Country (1987)
Country Club (1990)
It's All About to Change (1991)
T-R-O-U-B-L-E (1992)
Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof (1994)
The Restless Kind (1996)No More Looking over My Shoulder (1998)Down the Road I Go (2000)Strong Enough (2002)My Honky Tonk History (2004)The Storm (2007) The Calm After... (2013)Set in Stone (2021)'Billboard number-one singles'''
"Help Me Hold On" (1990)
"Anymore" (1991)
"Can I Trust You with My Heart" (19921993)
"Foolish Pride" (1994)
"Best of Intentions" (2000)
Awards and nominations
Filmography
Notes
See also
Travis (chimpanzee), named after Tritt
References
External links
1963 births
American male singer-songwriters
American country singer-songwriters
Columbia Records artists
Grammy Award winners
Grand Ole Opry members
Living people
Musicians from Marietta, Georgia
People from Cobb County, Georgia
Warner Records artists
Georgia (U.S. state) Republicans
Country musicians from Georgia (U.S. state)
Singer-songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state)
| true |
[
"\"Ten Feet Tall\" is a 2014 song by Afrojack featuring Wrabel\n\nTen Feet Tall may also refer to:\n\nMusic\nTen Feet Tall and Bulletproof, American country artist Travis Tritt's fourth album\n\nSongs\n\"Ten Feet Tall\", 1970 single by Joe Gibbs (record producer)\n\"Ten Feet Tall\", 1979 song by XTC the album Drums and Wires\t\n\"Ten Feet Tall\", 1990 song by Mark Lanegan from the album The Winding Sheet\n\"Ten Feet Tall\", 1992 song by punk band Samiam from Billy\n\"Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof\" (song), title track from above album by Travis Tritt\n\"Ten Feet Tall\", 1986 song by Eric Martin\n\"Ten Feet Tall (II)\", 2015 song by Passion Pit from the album Kindred\n\"Ten Feet Tall\", 2018 song by Cavetown from the album Lemon Boy\n\nSee also\nA Boy Ten Feet Tall, 1963 British film directed by Alexander Mackendrick\nA Man Is Ten Feet Tall, a screenplay by Robert Alan Aurthur produced as the final episode of The Philco Television Playhouse\n\"A Man is Ten Feet Tall\", 1956 song by Dick Williams\n\"Little Man...Ten Feet Tall\", episode 34 of season 4 of Bonanza\n\"Love Makes You Feel Ten Feet Tall\", 1970 song by The Velvet Underground from Loaded",
"\"Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof\" is a song written and recorded by American country music artist Travis Tritt. It was released in August 1994 as the second single and title track from the album Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof. The song reached number 22 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart.\n\nContent\nThe song is about a man who plans to become intoxicated until he feels \"ten feet tall and bulletproof\". Tritt's bus driver, Jackie McClure, suggested the title.\n\nTritt's autobiography, published in 1994, was also titled Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof.\n\nMusic video\nThe music video was directed by Jon Small, and premiered in late 1994.\n\nChart performance\n\nReferences\n\n1994 singles\n1994 songs\nTravis Tritt songs\nSongs written by Travis Tritt\nWarner Records singles"
] |
[
"Travis Tritt",
"1994-1995: Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof and Greatest Hits",
"What happened in 1994 ?",
"In early 1994, after \"Worth Every Mile\" fell from the charts, Tritt charted at number 21 with a cover of the Eagles' \"Take It Easy\".",
"From which album was the song Take It Easy ?",
"I don't know.",
"Which albums did he release in that period ?",
"His fourth album, Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof, was released that May.",
"Can you name a song from the album Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof ?",
"Its lead-off single, \"Foolish Pride\", went to number one,"
] |
C_11462bedee39492fafd80e4368975ea1_0
|
in which chart was Foolish pride number one ?
| 5 |
In which chart was "Foolish Pride" number one ?
|
Travis Tritt
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In early 1994, after "Worth Every Mile" fell from the charts, Tritt charted at number 21 with a cover of the Eagles' "Take It Easy". He recorded this song for the tribute album Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles (released through Warner Bros.' Giant Records division), which featured country music artists' renditions of Eagles songs. When filming the music video for this song, Tritt requested that the band, which was on hiatus at the time, appear in it. This reunion inspired the Eagles' Hell Freezes Over Tour, which began that year. His fourth album, Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof, was released that May. Its lead-off single, "Foolish Pride", went to number one, and the fourth single, "Tell Me I Was Dreaming", reached number two. In between these songs were the title track at number 22 and "Between an Old Memory and Me" (originally recorded by Keith Whitley) at number 11. The album included two co-writes with Gary Rossington of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and guest vocals from Waylon Jennings and Hank Williams, Jr. on the cut "Outlaws Like Us". The album achieved platinum certification in December of that year, and later became his third double-platinum album. Allmusic reviewer Brian Mansfield said that Tritt was "most comfortable with his Southern rock/outlaw mantle" on it, comparing "Foolish Pride" favorably to "Anymore" and the work of Bob Seger. Alanna Nash praised the title track and "Tell Me I Was Dreaming" in her review for Entertainment Weekly, but thought that the other songs were still too similar in sound to his previous works. 1995's Greatest Hits: From the Beginning included most of his singles to that point, as well as two new cuts: the Steve Earle composition "Sometimes She Forgets" and a cover of the pop standard "Only You (And You Alone)". The former was a top ten hit at number seven, while the latter spent only eight weeks on the country charts and peaked at number 51. Greatest Hits was certified platinum. CANNOTANSWER
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James Travis Tritt (born February 9, 1963) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and actor. He signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1989, releasing seven studio albums and a greatest hits package for the label between then and 1999. In the 2000s, he released three studio albums on Columbia Records and one for the now-defunct Category 5 Records. Seven of his albums (counting the Greatest Hits) are certified platinum or higher by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA); the highest-certified is 1991's It's All About to Change, which is certified triple-platinum. Tritt has also charted more than 40 times on the Hot Country Songs charts, including five number ones—"Help Me Hold On", "Anymore", "Can I Trust You with My Heart", "Foolish Pride", and "Best of Intentions"—and 15 additional top ten singles. Tritt's musical style is defined by mainstream country and Southern rock influences.
He has received two Grammy Awards, both for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals: in 1992 for "The Whiskey Ain't Workin'", a duet with Marty Stuart, and again in 1998 for "Same Old Train", a collaboration with Stuart and nine other artists. He has received four awards from the Country Music Association and has been a member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1992.
Early life
James Travis Tritt was born on February 9, 1963, in Marietta, Georgia, to James and Gwen Tritt. He first took interest in singing after his church's Sunday school choir performed "Everything Is Beautiful". He received his first guitar at age 8 and taught himself how to play it; in the fourth grade, he performed "Annie's Song" and "King of the Road" for his class, and later got invited to play for other classrooms in his school. At age 14, his parents bought him another guitar, and he learned more songs from his uncle, Sam Lockhart. Later on, Tritt joined his church band, which occasionally performed at other churches nearby.
Tritt began writing music while he was attending Sprayberry High School; his first song composition, entitled "Spend a Little Time", was written about a girlfriend whom he had broken up with. He performed the song for his friends, one of whom complimented him on his songwriting skills. He also founded a bluegrass group with some of his friends and won second place in a local tournament for playing "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys".
During his teenage years, Tritt worked at a furniture store, and later as a supermarket clerk. He lived with his mother after she and his father divorced; they remarried when he was 18. He worked at an air conditioning company while playing in clubs, but gave up the air conditioning job at the suggestion of one of his bandmates. Tritt's father thought that he would not find success as a musician, while his mother thought that he should perform Christian music instead of country.
Through the assistance of Warner Bros. Records executive Danny Davenport, Tritt began recording demos. The two worked together for the next several years, eventually putting together a demo album called Proud of the Country. Davenport sent the demo to Warner Bros. representatives in Los Angeles, who in turn sent the demo to their Nashville division, which signed Tritt in 1987. Davenport also helped Tritt find a talent manager, Ken Kragen. At first, Kragen was not interested in taking an "entry-level act", but decided to sign on as Tritt's manager after Kragen's wife convinced him.
Musical career
1989–1991: Country Club
Tritt's contract with Warner Bros. meant that he was signed to record six songs, and three of them would be released as singles. According to the contract, he would not be signed on for a full album unless one of the three singles became a hit. His first single was "Country Club". Recorded in late 1988 and released on August 7, 1989, the song spent 26 weeks on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts, peaking at number nine. It was the title track to his 1990 debut album Country Club, produced by Gregg Brown. The month of its release, Tritt burst a blood vessel on his vocal cords, and had to take vocal rest for a month. Second single "Help Me Hold On" became his first number one single in 1990. The album's third and fifth singles, "I'm Gonna Be Somebody" and "Drift Off to Dream", respectively peaked at numbers two and three on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts, and number one on the Canadian RPM country charts; "I'm Gonna Be Somebody" also went to number one on the U.S. country singles charts published by Radio & Records. "Put Some Drive in Your Country", which was released fourth, peaked at 28 on Hot Country Songs. Country Club was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in July 1991 for shipments of one million copies, and no medals since in 1996. In 1990, he won the Top New Male Artist award from Billboard. The Country Music Association (CMA) also nominated him for the Horizon Award (now known as the New Artist Award), which is given to new artists who show have shown the most significant artistic and commercial development from a first or second album.
Brian Mansfield of AllMusic gave the album a positive review, saying that "Put Some Drive in Your Country" paid homage to Tritt's influences, but that the other singles were more radio-friendly. Giving the album a B-minus, Alanna Nash of Entertainment Weekly compared Tritt's music to that of Hank Williams, Jr. and Joe Stampley.
1991–1992: It's All About to Change
In 1991, Tritt received a second Horizon Award nomination, which he won that year. He also released his second album, It's All About to Change. The album went on to become his best-selling, with a triple-platinum certification from the RIAA for shipments of three million copies. All four of its singles reached the top five on the country music charts. "Here's a Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares)" and the Marty Stuart duet "The Whiskey Ain't Workin'", respectively the first and third singles, both reached number two, with the number-one "Anymore" in between. "Nothing Short of Dying" was the fourth single, with a peak at number four on Billboard; both it and "The Whiskey Ain't Working" went to Number One on Radio & Records. "Bible Belt", another cut from the album (recorded in collaboration with Little Feat), appeared in the 1992 film My Cousin Vinny (the lyrics for the song, however, were changed for the version played in the movie to match the story line). Although not released as a single, it peaked at number 72 country based on unsolicited airplay and was the b-side to "Nothing Short of Dying". "Bible Belt" was inspired by a youth pastor whom Tritt knew in his childhood.
Stuart offered "The Whiskey Ain't Workin' Anymore" to Tritt backstage at the CMA awards show, and they recorded it as a duet through the suggestion of Tritt's record producer, Gregg Brown. The duet won both artists the next year's Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. Tritt and Stuart charted a second duet, "This One's Gonna Hurt You (For a Long, Long Time)", which went to number seven in mid-1992 and appeared on Stuart's album This One's Gonna Hurt You. This song won the 1992 CMA award for Vocal Event of the Year.
In June 1992, Tritt received media attention when he criticized Billy Ray Cyrus' "Achy Breaky Heart" at a Fan Fair interview, saying that he did not think that Cyrus' song made a "statement". The following January, Cyrus responded at the American Music Awards by referring to Tritt's "Here's a Quarter". Tritt later apologized to Cyrus, but said that he defended his opinion on the song.
1992–1993: T-R-O-U-B-L-E and A Travis Tritt Christmas
Tritt and Stuart began a "No Hats Tour" in 1992. In August of that same year, Tritt released the album T-R-O-U-B-L-E. Its first single was "Lord Have Mercy on the Working Man", a song written by Kostas. This song, which featured backing vocals from Brooks & Dunn, T. Graham Brown, George Jones, Little Texas, Dana McVicker (who also sang backup on Tritt's first two albums), Tanya Tucker and Porter Wagoner on the final chorus, peaked at number five. Its follow-up, "Can I Trust You with My Heart", became Tritt's third Billboard number one in early 1993. The album's next three singles did not perform as well on the charts: the title track (a cover of an Elvis Presley song), peaked at 13, followed by "Looking Out for Number One" at number 11 and "Worth Every Mile" at number 30. T-R-O-U-B-L-E became the second album of his career to achieve double-platinum certification. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic thought that T-R-O-U-B-L-E followed too closely the formula of It's All About to Change, but said that the songs showed Tritt's personality. Nash gave the album a similar criticism, but praised the rock influences of "Looking Out for Number One" and the vocals on "Can I Trust You with My Heart".
One month after the release of T-R-O-U-B-L-E, Tritt issued a Christmas album titled A Travis Tritt Christmas: Loving Time of the Year, for which he wrote the title track. He also joined the Grand Ole Opry, a weekly stage show and radio broadcast specializing in country music performances, and filled in for Garth Brooks at a performance on the American Music Awards. By year's end, Tritt and several other artists appeared on George Jones's "I Don't Need Your Rockin' Chair", which won all artists involved the next year's CMA Vocal Event of the Year award.
1994–1995: Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof and Greatest Hits
In early 1994, after "Worth Every Mile" fell from the charts, Tritt charted at number 21 with a cover of the Eagles' "Take It Easy". He recorded this song for the tribute album Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles (released through Warner Bros.' Giant Records division), which featured country music artists' renditions of Eagles songs. When filming the music video for this song, Tritt requested that the band, which had been on hiatus for over 13 years, appear in it. This reunion inspired the Eagles' Hell Freezes Over Tour, which began that year.
His fourth album, Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof, was released that May. Its lead-off single, "Foolish Pride", went to number one, and the fourth single, "Tell Me I Was Dreaming", reached number two. In between these songs were the title track at number 22 and "Between an Old Memory and Me" (originally recorded by Keith Whitley) at number 11. The album included two co-writes with Gary Rossington of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and guest vocals from Waylon Jennings and Hank Williams, Jr. on the cut "Outlaws Like Us". The album achieved platinum certification in December of that year, and later became his third double-platinum album. AllMusic reviewer Brian Mansfield said that Tritt was "most comfortable with his Southern rock/outlaw mantle" on it, comparing "Foolish Pride" favorably to "Anymore" and the work of Bob Seger. Alanna Nash praised the title track and "Tell Me I Was Dreaming" in her review for Entertainment Weekly, but thought that the other songs were still too similar in sound to his previous works.
1995's Greatest Hits: From the Beginning included most of his singles to that point, as well as two new cuts: the Steve Earle composition "Sometimes She Forgets" and a cover of the pop standard "Only You (And You Alone)". The former was a top ten hit at number seven, while the latter spent only eight weeks on the country charts and peaked at number 51. Greatest Hits was certified platinum.
1996–1997: The Restless Kind
In April 1996, Tritt and Stuart charted a third duet, "Honky Tonkin's What I Do Best", which appeared on Stuart's album of the same name and peaked at 23 on the country charts. The song won both artists that year's Country Music Association award for Vocal Event, Tritt's third win in this category. The two began a second tour, the Double Trouble Tour, that year.
Tritt charted at number three in mid-1996 with "More Than You'll Ever Know", the first single from his fifth album, The Restless Kind. The album accounted for one more top ten hit, a cover of Waylon Jennings's "Where Corn Don't Grow", which Tritt took to number six in late 1996. This song's chart run overlapped with that of "Here's Your Sign (Get the Picture)", a novelty release combining snippets of comedian Bill Engvall's "Here are Your Sign" routines with a chorus sung by Tritt. "Here's Your Sign (Get the Picture)" peaked at 29 on the country charts and 43 on the Billboard Hot 100, accounting for Tritt's first entry on the latter chart. The other singles from The Restless Kind all failed to make Top Ten upon their 1997 release. "She's Going Home with Me" and "Still in Love with You" (previously the respective B-sides to "Where Corn Don't Grow" and "More Than You'll Ever Know") were the third and fifth releases, peaking at 24 and 23 on Hot Country Singles & Tracks. In between was the number 18 "Helping Me Get Over You", a duet with Lari White which the two co-wrote.
Unlike his previous albums, all of which were produced by Gregg Brown, Tritt produced The Restless Kind with Don Was. Tritt told Billboard that the album showed a greater level of personal involvement than his previous efforts, as it was his first co-production credit. He also noted that he sang most of the vocal harmony by himself, played guitar on "She's Going Home with Me", and helped with the album's art direction. It received positive reviews from Thom Owens of AllMusic, who said that it was the most country-sounding album of his career. Don Yates of Country Standard Time also praised it for having a more "organic" sound than Tritt's other albums.
1998–1999: No More Looking over My Shoulder
In 1998, he and several other artists contributed to Stuart's "Same Old Train", a cut from the collaborative album Tribute to Tradition; this song charted at number 59 on Hot Country Songs and won Tritt his second Grammy for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. He also performed on Frank Wildhorn's concept album of the musical The Civil War, singing the song "The Day the Sun Stood Still". By year's end, Tritt also released his final Warner Bros. album, No More Looking over My Shoulder. It was his first of four consecutive albums which he produced with Billy Joe Walker, Jr., who is a session guitarist, producer, and New Age musician. The album was led off by the ballad "If I Lost You", which peaked at number 29 on the country charts and number 86 on the Hot 100. Michael Peterson (who recorded for Warner Bros.' Reprise label at the time) co-wrote and sang backing vocals on the title track, which went to number 38 country in early 1999. The album's third and final single was a cover of Jude Cole's "Start the Car" (previously the B-side to "If I Lost You"), which peaked at number 52.
Late in 1999, Tritt recorded a cover of Hank Williams's "Move It On Over" with George Thorogood for the soundtrack to the cartoon King of the Hill. This cut peaked at number 66 on the country charts from unsolicited airplay.
2000–2002: Down the Road I Go
Soon after leaving Warner Bros. Records, Tritt signed to Columbia Records and released the album Down the Road I Go in 2000. The album's first release was "Best of Intentions", his fifth and final number one hit on Billboard. It was also his most successful entry on the Hot 100, where it reached number 27. The next two singles, "It's a Great Day to Be Alive" and "Love of a Woman", both peaked at number two on the country charts in 2001, followed by "Modern Day Bonnie and Clyde" at number eight. All three songs also crossed over to the Hot 100, respectively reaching peaks of 33, 39 and 55. Tritt wrote or co-wrote seven of the album's songs, including "Best of Intentions", and collaborated with Charlie Daniels on two of them. "It's a Great Day to Be Alive" was originally recorded by Jon Randall, whose version was to have been included on an unreleased album for BNA Records in the late 1990s.
Maria Konicki Dinoia gave the album a positive review on AllMusic, saying that Tritt "hasn't lost his touch". Country Standard Time also gave a positive review, saying that it showed Tritt's balance of country and rock influences. An uncredited review in Billboard magazine called "Best of Intentions" a "gorgeous ballad", comparing it favorably to his early Warner Bros. releases.
2002–2005: Strong Enough and My Honky Tonk History
In September 2002, Tritt released his second album on Columbia Records, Strong Enough. Its first single was "Strong Enough to Be Your Man" (an answer song to Sheryl Crow's 1994 single "Strong Enough") which reached number 13. The only other release was "Country Ain't Country", which peaked at 26 on the country charts. William Ruhlmann gave the album a generally positive review on AllMusic, saying that he considered its sound closer to mainstream country than Tritt's previous albums.
Also in 2002, Tritt performed on an episode of Crossroads, a program on Country Music Television which pairs country acts with musicians from other genres for collaborative performances. He performed with Ray Charles. Tritt contributed guest vocals to Charlie Daniels' 2003 single "Southern Boy", and recorded a cover of Waylon Jennings' "Lonesome, On'ry and Mean" to the RCA Records tribute album I've Always Been Crazy. Respectively, these songs reached 51 and 50 on the country charts.
Tritt's tenth studio album, My Honky Tonk History, was released in 2004. This album included three charting singles: "The Girl's Gone Wild" at 28, followed by the John Mellencamp duet "What Say You" at number 21 and "I See Me" at number 32. Other songs on the album included a cover of Philip Claypool's "Circus Leaving Town" and songs written by Gretchen Wilson, Benmont Tench and Delbert McClinton. Thom Jurek rated this album favorably, saying that it was a "solid, sure-voiced outing"; he also thought that "What Say You" was the best song on it.
2007–present: The Storm and The Calm After...
Tritt exited Columbia in July 2005, citing creative differences over My Honky Tonk History. He signed to the independent Category 5 Records in February 2006, and served as the label's flagship artist. In March 2007, a concert promoter in the Pittsburgh area sued Tritt, claiming he had committed to play a show, but then backed out and signed to play a competing venue. Tritt's manager denied he had ever signed a contract with the promoter. Tritt released his first single for Category 5 in May 2007: a cover of the Richard Marx song "You Never Take Me Dancing". It was included on his only album for Category 5, The Storm, which American Idol judge Randy Jackson produced. The album featured a more rhythm and blues influence than Tritt's previous works. "You Never Take Me Dancing" peaked at number 27 on the country charts; a second single, "Something Stronger Than Me", was released in October, but it did not chart. Category 5 closed in November 2007 after allegations that the label's chief executive officer, Raymond Termini, had illegally used Medicaid funds to finance it. A month later, Tritt filed a $10 million lawsuit against Category 5, because the label had failed to pay royalties on the album, and failed to give him creative control on The Storm.
In October 2008, Tritt began an 11-date tour with Marty Stuart. On this tour, they performed acoustic renditions of their duets; Tritt also performed five solo shows. Tritt signed a management deal with Parallel Entertainment in December 2010. He continued to tour through to 2012 and into 2013, with most of his shows being solo acoustic performances. Tritt acquired the rights to the songs on The Storm and re-issued it via his own Post Oak label in July 2013 under the title The Calm After... The re-release included two covers: the Patty Smyth and Don Henley duet "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough", which he recorded as a duet with his daughter Tyler Reese, and Faces' 1971 hit "Stay with Me".
In 2019, Tritt was featured on the country rock hit "Outlaws & Outsiders" by Cory Marks.
Acting career
Tritt's first acting role was in the 1993 made-for-television movie Rio Diablo. In 1994, Tritt made a special appearance as a bull rider in the movie The Cowboy Way, which starred Woody Harrelson and Kiefer Sutherland. In 1995, he appeared in season 6 of the horror anthology series Tales from the Crypt in the episode called Doctor of Horror. He also starred in a guest role on Yes, Dear as a rehabilitating criminal and in Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman as a gun slinger. The following year, Tritt appeared as himself in Sgt. Bilko, which starred Steve Martin, Dan Aykroyd and Phil Hartman; Tritt's cover of "Only You (And You Alone)" appeared in the film's soundtrack. He also made an appearance in the 1997 film Fire Down Below, starring Steven Seagal and Kris Kristofferson. In 1999 Tritt appeared in Outlaw Justice with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson. Tritt appeared in the film Blues Brothers 2000 as one of the Louisiana Gator Boys. In 2001 he guest starred in Elmo's World The Wild Wild West. In September 2010, filming began on a movie called Fishers of Men, a Christian film.
Musical styles
Although he had been singing since childhood, Tritt said that he began to put "a little more soul" in his voice after his church band performed at an African-American church. He said that he took interest in how African-American singers put "all these bends and sweeps and curls" in their voices, and began emulating that sound. While performing at these churches, he also took interest in gospel singers such as Andraé Crouch. Later on, he began listening to Southern rock acts such as Lynyrd Skynyrd through the recommendation of a friend, as well as the bluegrass music that his uncle exposed him to. Tritt said that he found his songwriting began to develop during the creation of his demo tape, when he had written a song called "Gambler's Blues" that "felt a lot more connected to Southern rock" than his previous writings. He cites country, rock and folk as his influences. Stephen Thomas Erlewine contrasts him with contemporaries Clint Black and Alan Jackson, saying that Tritt was "the only one not to wear a [cowboy] hat and the only one to dip into bluesy Southern rock. Consequently, he developed a gutsy, outlaw image that distinguished him from the pack." Zell Miller, in the book They Heard Georgia Singing, said that Tritt has an "unerring ability to walk the narrow path between his country heritage and his rock leanings to the acclaim of the devotees of both."
Regarding his songwriting style and single choices, Tritt said that he writes "strictly from personal experiences" and does not follow a particular formula. He described "Here's a Quarter" as "one of the simplest three-chord waltzes I've ever written", and said that label executives were reluctant to release it because they thought that it was a novelty song. Also, he was told that "I'm Gonna Be Somebody" would not be a hit because it did not contain any rhymes, and fought the release of the song "Country Club" because he did not think that it fit his style. He also said that, despite their low peaks, the more rock-influenced "Put Some Drive in Your Country" and "T-R-O-U-B-L-E" helped generate sales for their respective albums more so than the top ten hits from those albums.
Personal life
Tritt married his high school sweetheart, Karen Ryon, in September 1982. They were married two years before divorcing. After going to court, Tritt was ordered to pay alimony to Karen for six months. When he was 21, he married Jodi Barnett, who was 33 at the time. He divorced her shortly after signing with Warner Bros. in 1989; the divorce finalized one month before "Country Club" was released. Tritt wrote the song "Here's a Quarter" the night he received his divorce papers.
He married Theresa Nelson on April 12, 1997. They have one daughter, Tyler Reese (born February 18, 1998) and two sons: Tristan James (born June 16, 1999) and Tarian Nathaniel (born November 20, 2003).
On May 18, 2019, he was in his tour bus when it was involved in a motor vehicle accident which took the lives of two people driving the wrong way on Veteran's Highway leaving Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Political views and advocacy
Tritt is a member of the Republican Party and supported George W. Bush for president in 2000. The two met in 1996 at the Republican National Convention in San Diego, California, where Tritt sang the national anthem. Tritt told Insight on the News that he is a strong supporter of Second Amendment rights and believes the answer to crime is not gun control but criminal control. "I'm a pro-gun guy. I'm an NRA (National Rifle Association) member, a life member as a matter of fact. I'm more for the belief of making the punishment tougher for the criminals to start with. I think that sends much more of an incentive for people to not commit crimes of any type than taking away guns. Because you take away guns, and the next thing you know, stabbing murders are going to increase." He adds that he is "definitely pro-death penalty".
In September 2020, Tritt gained notoriety for joining fellow Republican James Woods in blocking random Twitter users for using pro-Black Lives Matter and other anti-Trump tags in their posts, under the belief that it would counteract anti-Republican sentiment on Twitter.
On October 18, 2021, Tritt made a cameo appearance on conservative commentator Steven Crowder's show Louder with Crowder.
Alleged paranormal encounters
In October 2015, Tritt appeared on Lifetime network's The Haunting of... program to discuss his experiences with the paranormal. Tritt stated that beginning in 1993, he was awakened "regularly" by disembodied voices in a vacation cabin that he owned – the voices spoke in an unknown dialect. His wife, Theresa, eventually heard them as well. According to Tritt, "Over the years, these voices started happening
on such a frequent basis that we were afraid to come up here." He also asserted that footprints once appeared in the carpet of the cabin, and imprints in the bedspread, that belonged to neither him nor his wife.
The show's host, Kim Russo, concluded that an African-American medicine man had been stabbed and beaten to death on the property, and the voices that Tritt was hearing belonged to the murderers' angry spirits. A title card in the program notes that "On August 14, 1875, a group of men killed a 'hoodoo doctor' close to the land where Travis' cabin was built." Russo believed that the hoodoo doctor's spirit also lingered on the property because it found a "kindred spirit" in Tritt.
Discography
Studio albums
Proud of the Country (1987)
Country Club (1990)
It's All About to Change (1991)
T-R-O-U-B-L-E (1992)
Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof (1994)
The Restless Kind (1996)No More Looking over My Shoulder (1998)Down the Road I Go (2000)Strong Enough (2002)My Honky Tonk History (2004)The Storm (2007) The Calm After... (2013)Set in Stone (2021)'Billboard number-one singles'''
"Help Me Hold On" (1990)
"Anymore" (1991)
"Can I Trust You with My Heart" (19921993)
"Foolish Pride" (1994)
"Best of Intentions" (2000)
Awards and nominations
Filmography
Notes
See also
Travis (chimpanzee), named after Tritt
References
External links
1963 births
American male singer-songwriters
American country singer-songwriters
Columbia Records artists
Grammy Award winners
Grand Ole Opry members
Living people
Musicians from Marietta, Georgia
People from Cobb County, Georgia
Warner Records artists
Georgia (U.S. state) Republicans
Country musicians from Georgia (U.S. state)
Singer-songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state)
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"\"Foolish Pride\" is a song written and recorded by American country music singer Travis Tritt. It was released in March 1994 as the first single from his album Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof. The song peaked at Number One on the U.S. country singles charts in July 1994, becoming the fourth Number One hit of his career.\n\nContent\n\"Foolish Pride\" is a mid-tempo ballad detailing a failed relationship, in which both halves are afraid to show each other their feelings out of pride.\n\nCritical reception\nReviewing Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof for Allmusic, Brian Mansfield cited \"Foolish Pride\" as a standout track, saying that it \"rival[s] 'Anymore' for power and Skynyrd and Bob Seger for production values.\" Rolling Stone critic Jim Bessman also described the song favorably in his review of the album, calling it \"a power ballad that shows that Tritt can be as tender and compassionate as [Randy] Travis.\" Deborah Evans Price, of Billboard magazine reviewed the song favorably, saying that Tritt \"delivers a big message about the little fights that turn into huge irreconcilable differences.\" She goes on to call it \"another solid song, and a welcome sentiment at a time when everybody seems to be reaching for the gun.\"\n\nMusic video\nThe music video was directed by Gustavo Garzon and premiered in mid-1994.\n\nIt features a \"ghost\" (Travis Tritt) admonishing the couple to come together, rather than succumb to \"foolish pride\",\n\nChart performance\n\"Foolish Pride\" was released in early 1994. In July of the same year, it reached the top of the country singles charts in both U.S. and Canada, becoming his fourth U.S. Number One. It was also his last Number One until he topped the charts again in 2000 with \"Best of Intentions\".\n\nYear-end charts\n\nReferences\n\n1994 singles\n1994 songs\nTravis Tritt songs\nSongs written by Travis Tritt\nWarner Records Nashville singles",
"\"Foolish Pride\" is a single from singer/songwriter Daryl Hall (part of pop-rock duo Hall & Oates). It was the second single release from his second solo album, Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine.\n\nThe song reached number 33 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and number 29 on the U.S. Cash Box Top 100. On the Adult Contemporary chart, \"Foolish Pride\" reached number 21.\n\nChart performance\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n \n\n1986 songs\n1986 singles\nDaryl Hall songs\nSongs written by Daryl Hall\nRCA Records singles"
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Why was Eichmann in Jerusalem?
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Hannah Arendt
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In her reporting of the 1961 Adolf Eichmann trial for The New Yorker, which evolved into Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (1963), she coined the phrase "the banality of evil" to describe the phenomenon of Eichmann. She examined the question of whether evil is radical or simply a function of thoughtlessness, a tendency of ordinary people to obey orders and conform to mass opinion without a critical evaluation of the consequences of their actions. She was sharply critical of the way the trial was conducted in Israel. She also was critical of the way that some Jewish leaders, notably M. C. Rumkowski, acted during the Holocaust. This caused a considerable controversy and even animosity toward Arendt in the Jewish community. Her friend Gershom Scholem, a major scholar of Jewish mysticism, broke off relations with her. Arendt was criticized by many Jewish public figures, who charged her with coldness and lack of sympathy for the victims of the Holocaust. Because of this lingering criticism neither this book nor any of her other works were translated into Hebrew, until 1999. This controversy was answered by Hannah Arendt in the book's Postscript. The controversy began by calling attention to the conduct of the Jewish people during the years of the Final Solution, thus following up the question, first raised by the Israeli prosecutor, of whether the Jews could or should have defended themselves. I had dismissed that question as silly and cruel, since it testified to a fatal ignorance of the conditions at the time. It has now been discussed to exhaustion, and the most amazing conclusions have been drawn. The well-known historico-sociological construct of "ghetto mentality"... has been repeatedly dragged in to explain behavior which was not at all confined to the Jewish people and which therefore cannot be explained by specifically Jewish factors... This was the unexpected conclusion certain reviewers chose to draw from the "image" of a book, created by certain interest groups, in which I allegedly had claimed that the Jews had murdered themselves. Arendt ended the book by writing: Just as you Eichmann supported and carried out a policy of not wanting to share the earth with the Jewish people and the people of a number of other nations--as though you and your superiors had any right to determine who should and who should not inhabit the world--we find that no one, that is, no member of the human race, can be expected to want to share the earth with you. This is the reason, and the only reason, you must hang. CANNOTANSWER
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the 1961 Adolf Eichmann trial
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Hannah Arendt (, , ; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a political philosopher, author, and Holocaust survivor. Her contributions influenced 20th and 21st century political theorists.
Arendt was born in Linden, a district of Hanover, in 1906, to a Jewish family. At the age of three, her family moved to Königsberg, the capital of East Prussia, so that her father's syphilis could be treated. Paul Arendt had contracted the disease in his youth, and it was thought to be in remission when Arendt was born. He died when she was seven. Arendt was raised in a politically progressive, secular family. Her mother was an ardent supporter of the Social Democrats. After completing her secondary education in Berlin, she studied at the University of Marburg under Martin Heidegger, with whom she had a brief affair. She obtained her doctorate in philosophy writing on Love and Saint Augustine at the University of Heidelberg in 1929 under the direction of the existentialist philosopher Karl Jaspers.
Hannah Arendt married Günther Stern in 1929, but soon began to encounter increasing anti-Jewish discrimination in 1930s Nazi Germany. In 1933, the year Adolf Hitler came to power, Arendt was arrested and briefly imprisoned by the Gestapo for performing illegal research into antisemitism in Nazi Germany. On release, she fled Germany, living in Czechoslovakia and Switzerland before settling in Paris. There she worked for Youth Aliyah, assisting young Jews to emigrate to the British Mandate of Palestine. Divorcing Stern in 1937, she married Heinrich Blücher in 1940, but when Germany invaded France in 1940 she was detained by the French as an alien, despite having been stripped of her German citizenship in 1937. She escaped and made her way to the United States in 1941 via Portugal. She settled in New York, which remained her principal residence for the rest of her life. She became a writer and editor and worked for the Jewish Cultural Reconstruction, becoming an American citizen in 1950. With the publication of The Origins of Totalitarianism in 1951, her reputation as a thinker and writer was established and a series of works followed. These included the books The Human Condition in 1958, as well as Eichmann in Jerusalem and On Revolution in 1963. She taught at many American universities, while declining tenure-track appointments. She died suddenly of a heart attack in 1975, at the age of 69, leaving her last work, The Life of the Mind, unfinished.
Her works cover a broad range of topics, but she is best known for those dealing with the nature of power and evil, as well as politics, direct democracy, authority, and totalitarianism. In the popular mind she is best remembered for the controversy surrounding the trial of Adolf Eichmann, her attempt to explain how ordinary people become actors in totalitarian systems, which was considered by some an apologia, and for the phrase "the banality of evil". She is commemorated by institutions and journals devoted to her thinking, the Hannah Arendt Prize for political thinking, and on stamps, street names and schools, amongst other things.
Early life and education (1906–1929)
Family
Hannah Arendt was born Johanna Arendt in 1906 into a comfortable educated secular family of German Jews in Linden, Prussia (now a part of Hanover), in Wilhelmine Germany. Her family were merchants of Russian extraction from Königsberg, the East Prussian capital. Arendt's grandparents were members of the Reform Jewish community there. Hannah's paternal grandfather, (1843–1913), was a prominent businessman, local politician, one of the leaders of the Königsberg Jewish community and a member of the Centralverein deutscher Staatsbürger jüdischen Glaubens (Central Organization for German Citizens of the Jewish Faith). Like other members of the Centralverein he primarily saw himself as a German and disapproved of the activities of Zionists, such as the young Kurt Blumenfeld (1884–1963), who was a frequent visitor to their home and would later become one of Hannah's mentors. Of Max Arendt's children, Paul Arendt (1873–1913) was an engineer and Henriette Arendt (1874–1922) was a policewoman who became a social worker.
Hannah was the only child of Paul and Martha Arendt (née Cohn) (1874–1948), who were married on 11 April 1902. She was named after her paternal grandmother. The Cohns had originally come to Königsberg from nearby Russian territory (now Lithuania) in 1852, as refugees from anti-Semitism, and made their living as tea importers; J. N. Cohn & Company became the largest business in the city. The Arendts had reached Germany from Russia a century earlier. Hannah's extended family contained many more women, who shared the loss of husbands and children. Hannah's parents were more educated and politically more to the left than her grandparents. The young couple became members of the Social Democrats, rather than the German Democratic Party that most of their contemporaries supported. Paul Arendt was educated at the Albertina (University of Königsberg). Though he worked as an engineer, he prided himself on his love of Classics. He collected a large library, in which Hannah immersed herself. Martha Cohn, a musician, had studied for three years in Paris.
In the first four years of their marriage, the Arendts lived in Berlin, where they were supporters of the socialist journal . At the time of Hannah's birth, Paul Arendt was employed by an electrical engineering firm in Linden, and they lived in a frame house on the market square (Marktplatz). The Arendt family moved back to Königsberg in 1909, because of Paul's deteriorating health. Hannah's father suffered from a prolonged illness with syphilis and had to be institutionalized in the Königsberg psychiatric hospital in 1911. For years afterward, Hannah had to have annual WR tests for congenital syphilis. He died on 30 October 1913, when Hannah was seven, leaving her mother to raise her. They lived at Hannah's grandfather's house at Tiergartenstraße 6, a leafy residential street adjacent to the Königsberg Tiergarten, in the predominantly Jewish neighborhood of Hufen. Although Hannah's parents were non-religious, they were happy to allow Max Arendt to take Hannah to the Reform synagogue. She also received religious instruction from the rabbi, Hermann Vogelstein, who would come to her school for that purpose. At the time the young Hannah confided that she wished to marry him when she grew up. Her family moved in circles that included many intellectuals and professionals. It was a social circle of high standards and ideals. As she recalled it:
My early intellectual formation occurred in an atmosphere where nobody paid much attention to moral questions; we were brought up under the assumption: , moral conduct is a matter of course.
This time was a particularly favorable period for the Jewish community in Königsberg, an important center of the Haskalah (enlightenment). Arendt's family was thoroughly assimilated ("Germanized") and she later remembered: "With us from Germany, the word 'assimilation' received a 'deep' philosophical meaning. You can hardly realize how serious we were about it." Despite these conditions, the Jewish population lacked full citizenship rights, and although antisemitism was not overt, it was not absent. Arendt came to define her Jewish identity negatively after encountering overt antisemitism as an adult. She came to greatly identify with Rahel Varnhagen (1771–1833), the Prussian socialite who desperately wanted to assimilate into German culture, only to be rejected because she was born Jewish. Arendt later said of Varnhagen that she was "my very closest woman friend, unfortunately dead a hundred years now." Varnhagen would later become the subject of a biography by Hannah.
In the last two years of the First World War, Hannah's mother organized social democratic discussion groups and became a follower of Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919) as socialist uprisings broke out across Germany. Luxemburg's writings would later influence Hannah's political thinking. In 1920, Martha Cohn married Martin Beerwald (1869–1941), an ironmonger and widower of four years, and they moved to his home, two blocks away, at Busoldstrasse 6, providing Hannah with improved social and financial security. Hannah was 14 at the time and acquired two older stepsisters, Clara (1901–1932) and Eva (1902–1988).
Education
Early education
Hannah Arendt's mother, who considered herself progressive, sought to raise her daughter along strict Goethean lines, which amongst other things, involved the reading of the complete works of Goethe, often summed up in the phrase from Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship (1796) as – (And just what is your duty? The demands of the day). Goethe, at the time, was considered the essential mentor of (education), the conscious formation of mind, body and spirit. The key elements were considered to be self-discipline, constructive channeling of passion, renunciation and responsibility for others. Hannah's developmental progress () was carefully documented by her mother in a book, which she titled (Our Child) and measured her against the benchmark of what was then considered ("normal development").
Arendt attended kindergarten from 1910 where her precocity impressed her teachers and enrolled in the Szittnich School, Königsberg (Hufen-Oberlyzeum), on Bahnstraße in August 1913, but her studies there were interrupted by the outbreak of World War I, forcing the family to temporarily flee to Berlin on 23 August 1914, in the face of the advancing Russian army. There they stayed with her mother's younger sister, Margarethe Fürst (1884–1942), and her three children, while Hannah attended a girl's school in Berlin-Charlottenburg. After ten weeks, when Königsberg appeared to be no longer threatened, the Arendts were able to return, where they spent the remaining war years at her grandfather's house. Arendt's precocity continued, learning ancient Greek as a child, writing poetry in her teenage years, and starting both a philosophy club and Greek Graecae at her school. She was fiercely independent in her schooling and a voracious reader, absorbing French and German literature and poetry (committing large amounts to heart) and philosophy. By the age of 14, she had read Kierkegaard, Jaspers' and Kant's (Critique of Pure Reason). Kant, whose home town was also Königsberg, was an important influence on her thinking, and it was Kant who had written about Königsberg that "such a town is the right place for gaining knowledge concerning men and the world even without travelling".
Arendt attended the Königin-Luise-Schule for her secondary education, a girls' Gymnasium on Landhofmeisterstraße. Most of her friends, while at school, were gifted children of Jewish professional families, generally older than she and went on to university education. Among them was Ernst Grumach (1902–1967), who introduced her to his girlfriend, Anne Mendelssohn, who would become a lifelong friend. When Anne moved away, Ernst became Arendt's first romantic relationship. Like Arendt, Anne would go on to become a philosopher, obtaining her doctorate at Hamburg, while Ernst became a philologist.
Higher education (1922–1929)
Berlin (1922–1924)
Arendt's education at the Luise-Schule ended in 1922 when she was expelled at the age of 15 for leading a boycott of a teacher who insulted her. Instead, her mother arranged for her to go to Berlin to be with Social Democrat family friends. In Berlin she lived in a student residence and audited courses of her choosing at the University of Berlin (1922–1923), including classics and Christian theology under Romano Guardini. This enabled her to successfully sit the entrance examination () for the University of Marburg, where Ernst Grumach had studied under Martin Heidegger, who had been appointed a professor there in 1922. For the examination, her mother engaged a private tutor, while her aunt Frieda Arendt, a teacher, also helped her, and Frieda's husband Ernst Aron provided financial assistance for her to attend university.
Marburg (1924–1926)
In Berlin, Guardini had introduced her to Kierkegaard, and she resolved to make theology her major field. At Marburg (1924–1926) she studied classical languages, German literature, Protestant theology with Rudolf Bultmann and philosophy with Nicolai Hartmann and Heidegger. Arendt arrived at Marburg that fall in the middle of an intellectual revolution led by the young Heidegger, of whom she was in awe, describing him as "the hidden king [who] reigned in the realm of thinking".
Heidegger had broken away from the intellectual movement started by Edmund Husserl, whose assistant he had been at University of Freiburg before coming to Marburg. This was a period when Heidegger was preparing his lectures on Kant, which he would develop in the second part of his (Being and Time) in 1927 and (1929). Although Heidegger had dedicated the first edition of Being and Time to Edmund Husserl, Husserl gave the book a poor review, and in the second edition Heidegger removed that dedication.
In his classes he and his students struggled with the meaning of "Being" as they worked together through Aristotle's concept of ἀλήθεια (truth) and Plato's Sophist. Many years later Arendt would describe these classes, how people came to Marburg to hear him, and how, above all he imparted the idea of ("thinking") as activity, which she qualified as "passionate thinking".
Arendt was restless. To date her studies had not been either emotionally or intellectually satisfying. She was ready for passion, finishing her poem (Consolation, 1923) with the lines:
(The hours run downThe days pass on.One achievement remains:Merely being alive)
Her encounter with Heidegger represented a dramatic departure from the past. He was handsome, a genius, romantic, and taught that thinking and "aliveness" were but one. The 17-year-old Arendt then began a long romantic relationship with the 35-year-old Heidegger, who was married with two young sons. Arendt later faced criticism for this because of Heidegger's support for the Nazi Party after his election as rector at the University of Freiburg in 1933. Nevertheless, he remained one of the most profound influences on her thinking, and he would later relate that she had been the inspiration for his work on passionate thinking in those days. They agreed to keep the details of the relationship a secret, preserving their letters but keeping them unavailable. The relationship was not known until Elisabeth Young-Bruehl's biography of Arendt appeared in 1982. At the time of publishing, Arendt and Heidegger were deceased and Heidegger's wife, Elfride (1893–1992), was still alive. The affair was not well known until 1995, when Elzbieta Ettinger gained access to the sealed correspondence and published a controversial account that was used by Arendt's detractors to cast doubt on her integrity. That account, which caused a scandal, was subsequently refuted.
At Marburg, Arendt lived at Lutherstraße 4. Among her friends there was Hans Jonas, her only Jewish classmate. Another fellow student of Heidegger's was Jonas' friend, the Jewish philosopher Gunther Siegmund Stern (1902–1992)son of the noted psychologist Ludwig Wilhelm Sternwho would later become her first husband. Stern had completed his doctoral dissertation with Edmund Husserl at Freiburg, and was now working on his Habilitation thesis with Heidegger, but Arendt, involved with Heidegger, took little notice of him at the time.
Die Schatten (1925)
In the summer of 1925, while home at Königsberg, Arendt composed her sole autobiographical piece, (The Shadows), a "description of herself" addressed to Heidegger. In this essay, full of anguish and Heideggerian language, she reveals her insecurities relating to her femininity and Jewishness, writing abstractly in the third person. She describes a state of "" (alienation), on the one hand an abrupt loss of youth and innocence, on the other an "" (strangeness), the finding of the remarkable in the banal. In her detailing of the pain of her childhood and longing for protection she shows her vulnerabilities and how her love for Heidegger had released her and once again filled her world with color and mystery. She refers to her relationship with Heidegger as "" ("an unbending devotion to a unique man"). This period of intense introspection was also one of the most productive of her poetic output, such as (Lost in Self-Contemplation).
Freiburg and Heidelberg (1926–1929)
After a year at Marburg, Arendt spent a semester at Freiburg, attending the lectures of Husserl. In 1926 she moved to the University of Heidelberg, where in 1929, she completed her dissertation under the other leading figure of the then new and revolutionary Existenzphilosophie, Karl Jaspers (1883–1969), a friend of Heidegger's. Her thesis was entitled Der Liebesbegriff bei Augustin: Versuch einer philosophischen Interpretation (On the concept of love in the thought of Saint Augustine: Attempt at a philosophical interpretation). She remained a lifelong friend of Jaspers and his wife, Gertrud Mayer (1879–1974), developing a deep intellectual relationship with him. At Heidelberg, her circle of friends included Hans Jonas, who had also moved from Marburg to study Augustine, working on his (1930), and also a group of three young philosophers: Karl Frankenstein, Erich Neumann and Erwin Loewenson. Other friends and students of Jaspers were the linguists Benno von Wiese and Hugo Friedrich (seen with Hannah, below), with whom she attended lectures by Friedrich Gundolf at Jaspers' suggestion and who kindled in her an interest in German Romanticism. She also became reacquainted, at a lecture, with Kurt Blumenfeld, who introduced her to Jewish politics. At Heidelberg, she lived in the old town () near the castle, at Schlossberg 16. The house was demolished in the 1960s, but the one remaining wall bears a plaque commemorating her time there (see image).
On completing her dissertation, Arendt turned to her , initially on German Romanticism, and thereafter an academic teaching career. However 1929 was also the year of the Depression and the end of the golden years () of the Weimar Republic, which was to become increasingly unstable over its remaining four years. Arendt, as a Jew, had little if any chance of obtaining an academic appointment in Germany. Nevertheless, she completed most of the work before she was forced to leave Germany.
Career
Germany (1929–1933)
Berlin-Potsdam (1929)
In 1929, Arendt met Günther Stern again, this time in Berlin at a New Year's masked ball, and began a relationship with him. Within a month she had moved in with him in a one-room studio, shared with a dancing school in Berlin-Halensee. Then they moved to Merkurstraße 3, Nowawes, in Potsdam and were married there on 26 September. They had much in common and the marriage was welcomed by both sets of parents. In the summer, Hannah Arendt successfully applied to the for a grant to support her Habilitation, which was supported by Heidegger and Jaspers among others, and in the meantime, with Günther's help was working on revisions to get her dissertation published.
Wanderjahre (1929–1931)
After Arendt and Günther were married, they began two years of what Christian Dries refers to as the (years of wandering). They had the ultimately fruitless aim of having Günther accepted for an academic appointment. They lived for a while in Drewitz, a southern neighborhood of Potsdam, before moving to Heidelberg, where they lived with the Jaspers. After Heidelberg, where Günther completed the first draft of his thesis, the Sterns then moved to Frankfurt where Günther hoped to finish it. There, Arendt participated in the university's intellectual life, attending lectures by Karl Mannheim and Paul Tillich, among others. The Sterns collaborated intellectually, writing an article together on Rilke's (1923) and both reviewing Mannheim's (1929). The latter was Arendt's sole contribution in sociology. In both her treatment of Mannheim and Rilke, Arendt found love to be a transcendent principle "Because there is no true transcendence in this ordered world, one also cannot exceed the world, but only succeed to higher ranks". In Rilke she saw a latter day secular Augustine, describing the as the (ultimate form of religious document). Later, she would discover the limitations of transcendent love in explaining the historical events that pushed her into political action. Another theme from Rilke that she would develop was the despair of not being heard. Reflecting on Rilke's opening lines, which she placed as an epigram at the beginning of their essay
(Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angel's hierarchies?)
Arendt and Stern begin by stating
The paradoxical, ambiguous, and desperate situation from which standpoint the Duino Elegies may alone be understood has two characteristics: the absence of an echo and the knowledge of futility. The conscious renunciation of the demand to be heard, the despair at not being able to be heard, and finally the need to speak even without an answer–these are the real reasons for the darkness, asperity, and tension of the style in which poetry indicates its own possibilities and its will to form
Arendt also published an article on Augustine (354–430) in the Frankfurter Zeitung to mark the 1500th anniversary of his death. She saw this article as forming a bridge between her treatment of Augustine in her dissertation and her subsequent work on Romanticism. When it became evident Stern would not succeed in obtaining an appointment, the Sterns returned to Berlin in 1931.
Return to Berlin (1931–1933)
In Berlin, where the couple initially lived in the predominantly Jewish area of (Bavarian Quarter or "Jewish Switzerland") in Schöneberg, Stern obtained a position as a staff-writer for the cultural supplement of the Berliner Börsen-Courier, edited by Herbert Ihering, with the help of Bertold Brecht. There he started writing using the nom-de-plume of Günther Anders, i.e. "Günther Other". Arendt assisted Günther with his work, but the shadow of Heidegger hung over their relationship. While Günther was working on his , Arendt had abandoned the original subject of German Romanticism for her thesis in 1930, and turned instead to Rahel Varnhagen and the question of assimilation. Anne Mendelssohn had accidentally acquired a copy of Varnhagen's correspondence and excitedly introduced her to Arendt, donating her collection to her. A little later, Arendt's own work on Romanticism led her to a study of Jewish salons and eventually to those of Varnhagen. In Rahel, she found qualities she felt reflected her own, particularly those of sensibility and vulnerability. Rahel, like Hannah, found her destiny in her Jewishness. Hannah Arendt would come to call Rahel Varnhagen's discovery of living with her destiny as being a "conscious pariah". This was a personal trait that Arendt had recognized in herself, although she did not embrace the term until later.
Back in Berlin, Arendt found herself becoming more involved in politics and started studying political theory, and reading Marx and Trotsky, while developing contacts at the Deutsche Hochschule für Politik. Despite the political leanings of her mother and husband she never saw herself as a political leftist, justifying her activism as being through her Jewishness. Her increasing interest in Jewish politics and her examination of assimilation in her study of Varnhagen led her to publish her first article on Judaism, ("The Enlightenment and the Jewish Question", 1932). Blumenfeld had introduced her to the "Jewish question", which would be his lifelong concern. Meanwhile, her views on German Romanticism were evolving. She wrote a review of Hans Weil's (The Origin of German Educational Principle, 1930), which dealt with the emergence of (educational elite) in the time of Rahel Varnhagen. At the same time she began to be occupied by Max Weber's description of the status of Jewish people within a state as (pariah people) in his Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft (1922), while borrowing Bernard Lazare's term paria conscient (conscious pariah) with which she identified. In both these articles she advanced the views of Johann Herder. Another interest of hers at the time was the status of women, resulting in her 1932 review of Alice Rühle-Gerstel's book (Contemporary Women's Issues: A psychological balance sheet). Although not a supporter of the women's movement, the review was sympathetic. At least in terms of the status of women at that time, she was skeptical of the movement's ability to achieve political change. She was also critical of the movement, because it was a women's movement, rather than contributing with men to a political movement, abstract rather than striving for concrete goals. In this manner she echoed Rosa Luxemburg. Like Luxemburg, she would later criticize Jewish movements for the same reason. Arendt consistently prioritized political over social questions.
By 1932, faced with a deteriorating political situation, Arendt was deeply troubled by reports that Heidegger was speaking at National Socialist meetings. She wrote, asking him to deny that he was attracted to National Socialism. Heidegger replied that he did not seek to deny the rumors (which were true), and merely assured her that his feelings for her were unchanged. As a Jew in Nazi Germany, Arendt was prevented from making a living and discriminated against and confided to Anne Mendelssohn that emigration was probably inevitable. Jaspers had tried to persuade her to consider herself as a German first, a position she distanced herself from, pointing out that she was a Jew and that "" (For me, Germany is the mother tongue, philosophy and poetry), rather than her identity. This position puzzled Jaspers, replying "It is strange to me that as a Jew you want to be different from the Germans".
By 1933, life for the Jewish population in Germany was becoming precarious. Adolf Hitler became (Chancellor) in January, and the Reichstag was burned down () the following month. This led to the suspension of civil liberties, with attacks on the left, and, in particular, members of the Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (German Communist Party: KPD). Stern, who had communist associations, fled to Paris, but Arendt stayed on to become an activist. Knowing her time was limited, she used the apartment at Opitzstraße 6 in Berlin-Steglitz that she had occupied with Stern since 1932 as an underground railway way-station for fugitives. Her rescue operation there is now recognized with a plaque on the wall.
Arendt had already positioned herself as a critic of the rising Nazi Party in 1932 by publishing "Adam-Müller-Renaissance?" a critique of the appropriation of the life of Adam Müller to support right wing ideology. The beginnings of anti-Jewish laws and boycott came in the spring of 1933. Confronted with systemic antisemitism, Arendt adopted the motiv "If one is attacked as a Jew one must defend oneself as a Jew. Not as a German, not as a world citizen, not as an upholder of the Rights of Man." This was Arendt's introduction of the concept of Jew as Pariah that would occupy her for the rest of her life in her Jewish writings. She took a public position by publishing part of her largely completed biography of Rahel Varnhagen as "" ("Original Assimilation: An Epilogue to the One Hundredth Anniversary of Rahel Varnhagen's Death") in the on 7 March 1933 and a little later also in . In the article she argues that the age of assimilation that began with Varnhagen's generation had come to an end with an official state policy of antisemitism. She opened with the declaration:
Today in Germany it seems Jewish assimilation must declare its bankruptcy. The general social antisemitism and its official legitimation affects in the first instance assimilated Jews, who can no longer protect themselves through baptism or by emphasizing their differences from Eastern Judaism.
As a Jew, Arendt was anxious to inform the world of what was happening to her people in 1930–1933. She surrounded herself with Zionist activists, including Kurt Blumenfeld, Martin Buber and Salman Schocken, and started to research antisemitism. Arendt had access to the Prussian State Library for her work on Varnhagen. Blumenfeld's Zionistische Vereinigung für Deutschland (Zionist Federation of Germany) persuaded her to use this access to obtain evidence of the extent of antisemitism, for a planned speech to the Zionist Congress in Prague. This research was illegal at the time. Her actions led to her being denounced by a librarian for anti-state propaganda, resulting in the arrest of both Arendt and her mother by the Gestapo. They served eight days in prison but her notebooks were in code and could not be deciphered, and she was released by a young, sympathetic arresting officer to await trial.
Exile: France (1933–1941)
Paris (1933–1940)
On release, realizing the danger she was now in, Arendt and her mother fled Germany following the established escape route over the Erzgebirge Mountains by night into Czechoslovakia and on to Prague and then by train to Geneva. In Geneva, she made a conscious decision to commit herself to "the Jewish cause". She obtained work with a friend of her mother's at the League of Nations' Jewish Agency for Palestine, distributing visas and writing speeches.
From Geneva the Arendts traveled to Paris in the autumn, where she was reunited with Stern, joining a stream of refugees. While Arendt had left Germany without papers, her mother had travel documents and returned to Königsberg and her husband. In Paris, she befriended Stern's cousin, the Marxist literary critic and philosopher Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) and also the Jewish French philosopher Raymond Aron (1905–1983).
Arendt was now an émigrée, an exile, stateless, without papers, and had turned her back on the Germany and Germans of the . Her legal status was precarious and she was coping with a foreign language and culture, all of which took its toll on her mentally and physically. In 1934 she started working for the Zionist-funded outreach program Agriculture et Artisanat, giving lectures, and organizing clothing, documents, medications and education for Jewish youth seeking to emigrate to the British Mandate of Palestine, mainly as agricultural workers. Initially she was employed as a secretary, and then office manager. To improve her skills she studied French, Hebrew and Yiddish. In this way she was able to support herself and her husband. When the organization closed in 1935, her work for Blumenfeld and the Zionists in Germany brought her into contact with the wealthy philanthropist Baroness Germaine Alice de Rothschild (born Halphen, 1884–1975), wife of Édouard Alphonse James de Rothschild, becoming her assistant. In this position she oversaw the baroness' contributions to Jewish charities through the Paris Consistoire, although she had little time for the family as a whole. The Rothschilds had headed the central Consistoire for a century but stood for everything Arendt did not, opposing immigration and any connection with German Jewry.
Later in 1935, Arendt joined Youth Aliyah (Youth immigration), an organization similar to Agriculture et Artisanat that was founded in Berlin on the day Hitler seized power. It was affiliated with Hadassah organization, which later saved many from the nearing Holocaust, and there Arendt eventually became Secretary-General (1935–1939). Her work with Youth Aliyah also involved finding food, clothing, social workers and lawyers, but above all, fund raising. She made her first visit to British Mandate of Palestine in 1935, accompanying one of these groups and meeting with her cousin Ernst Fürst there. With the Nazi annexation of Austria and invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1938, Paris was flooded with refugees, and she became the special agent for the rescue of the children from those countries. In 1938, Arendt completed her biography of Rahel Varnhagen, although this was not published until 1957. In April 1939, following the devastating Kristallnacht pogrom of November 1938, Martha Beerwald realized her daughter would not return and made the decision to leave her husband and join Arendt in Paris. One stepdaughter had died and the other had moved to England, Martin Beerwald would not leave and she no longer had any close ties to Königsberg.
Heinrich Blücher
In 1936, Arendt met the self-educated Berlin poet and Marxist philosopher Heinrich Blücher (1899–1970) in Paris. Blücher had been a Spartacist and then a founding member of the KPD, but had been expelled due to his work in the (Conciliator faction). Although Arendt had rejoined Stern in 1933, their marriage existed in name only, with their having separated in Berlin. She fulfilled her social obligations and used the name Hannah Stern, but the relationship effectively ended when Stern, perhaps recognizing the danger better than she, emigrated to America with his parents in 1936. In 1937, Arendt was stripped of her German citizenship and she and Stern divorced. She had begun seeing more of Blücher, and eventually they began living together. It was Blücher's long political activism that began to move Arendt's thinking towards political action. Arendt and Blücher married on 16 January 1940, shortly after their divorces were finalized.
Internment and escape (1940–1941)
On 5 May 1940, in anticipation of the German invasion of France and the Low Countries that month, the military governor of Paris issued a proclamation ordering all "enemy aliens" between 17 and 55 who had come from Germany (predominantly Jews) to report separately for internment. The women were gathered together in the Vélodrome d'Hiver on 15 May, so Hannah Arendt's mother, being over 55, was allowed to stay in Paris. Arendt described the process of making refugees as "the new type of human being created by contemporary history ... put into concentration camps by their foes and into internment camps by their friends". The men, including Blücher, were sent to Camp Vernet in southern France, close to the Spanish border. Arendt and the other women were sent to Camp Gurs, to the west of Gurs, a week later. The camp had earlier been set up to accommodate refugees from Spain. On 22 June, France capitulated and signed the Compiègne armistice, dividing the country. Gurs was in the southern Vichy controlled section. Arendt describes how, "in the resulting chaos we succeeded in getting hold of liberation papers with which we were able to leave the camp", which she did with about 200 of the 7,000 women held there, about four weeks later. There was no Résistance then, but she managed to walk and hitchhike north to Montauban, near Toulouse where she knew she would find help.
Montauban had become an unofficial capital for former detainees, and Arendt's friend Lotta Sempell Klembort was staying there. Blücher's camp had been evacuated in the wake of the German advance, and he managed to escape from a forced march, making his way to Montauban, where the two of them led a fugitive life. Soon they were joined by Anne Mendelssohn and Arendt's mother. Escape from France was extremely difficult without official papers; their friend Walter Benjamin had taken his own life after being apprehended trying to escape to Spain. One of the best known illegal routes operated out of Marseilles, where Varian Fry, an American journalist, worked to raise funds, forge papers and bribe officials with Hiram Bingham, the American vice-consul there.
Fry and Bingham secured exit papers and American visas for thousands, and with help from Günther Stern, Arendt, her husband, and her mother managed to secure the requisite permits to travel by train in January 1941 through Spain to Lisbon, Portugal, where they rented a flat at Rua da Sociedade Farmacêutica, 6b. They eventually secured passage to New York in May on the Companhia Colonial de Navegação's S/S Guiné II. A few months later, Fry's operations were shut down and the borders sealed.
New York (1941–1975)
World War II (1941–1945)
Upon arriving in New York City on 22 May 1941 with very little, they received assistance from the Zionist Organization of America and the local German immigrant population, including Paul Tillich and neighbors from Königsberg. They rented rooms at 317 West 95th Street and Martha Arendt joined them there in June. There was an urgent need to acquire English, and it was decided that Hannah Arendt should spend two months with an American family in Winchester, Massachusetts, through Self-Help for Refugees, in July. She found the experience difficult but formulated her early appraisal of American life, (The fundamental contradiction of the country is political freedom coupled with social slavery).
On returning to New York, Arendt was anxious to resume writing and became active in the German-Jewish community, publishing her first article, "From the Dreyfus Affair to France Today" (in translation from her German) in July 1942. While she was working on this article, she was looking for employment and in November 1941 was hired by the New York German-language Jewish newspaper and from 1941 to 1945, she wrote a political column for it, covering anti-semitism, refugees and the need for a Jewish army. She also contributed to the Menorah Journal, a Jewish-American magazine, and other German émigré publications.
Arendt's first full-time salaried job came in 1944, when she became the director of research and Executive Director for the newly emerging Commission on European Jewish Cultural Reconstruction, a project of the Conference on Jewish Relations. She was recruited "because of her great interest in the Commission's activities, her previous experience as an administrator, and her connections with Germany". There she compiled lists of Jewish cultural assets in Germany and Nazi occupied Europe, to aid in their recovery after the war. Together with her husband, she lived at 370 Riverside Drive in New York City and at Kingston, New York, where Blücher taught at nearby Bard College for many years.
Post-war (1945–1975)
In July 1946, Arendt left her position at the Commission on European Jewish Cultural Reconstruction to become an editor at Schocken Books, which later published some of her works. In 1948, she became engaged with the campaign of Judah Magnes for a solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. She famously opposed the establishment of a Jewish nation state in Palestine and initially also opposed the establishment of a binational Arab-Jewish state. Instead, she advocated for the inclusion of Palestine into a multi-ethnic federation. Only in 1948 in an effort to forestall partition did she support a binational one-state solution. She returned to the Commission in August 1949. In her capacity as executive secretary, she traveled to Europe, where she worked in Germany, Britain and France (December 1949 to March 1950) to negotiate the return of archival material from German institutions, an experience she found frustrating, but providing regular field reports. In January 1952, she became secretary to the Board, although the work of the organization was winding down and she was simultaneously pursuing her own intellectual activities; she retained this position until her death. Arendt's work on cultural restitution provided further material for her study of totalitarianism.
In the 1950s Arendt wrote The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), The Human Condition (1958) and On Revolution (1963). Arendt began corresponding with the American author Mary McCarthy, six years her junior, in 1950 and they soon became lifelong friends. In 1950, Arendt also became a naturalized citizen of the United States. The same year, she started seeing Martin Heidegger again, and had what the American writer Adam Kirsch called a "quasi-romance", lasting for two years, with the man who had previously been her mentor, teacher, and lover. During this time, Arendt defended him against critics who noted his enthusiastic membership in the Nazi Party. She portrayed Heidegger as a naïve man swept up by forces beyond his control, and pointed out that Heidegger's philosophy had nothing to do with National Socialism. In 1961 she traveled to Jerusalem to report about Eichmann's trial for The New Yorker. This report strongly influenced her popular recognition, and raised much controversy (see below). Her work was recognized by many awards, including the Danish Sonning Prize in 1975 for Contributions to European Civilization.
A few years later she spoke in New York City on the legitimacy of violence as a political act: "Generally speaking, violence always rises out of impotence. It is the hope of those who have no power to find a substitute for it and this hope, I think, is in vain. Violence can destroy power, but it can never replace it."
Teaching
Arendt taught at many institutions of higher learning from 1951 onwards, but, preserving her independence, consistently refused tenure-track positions. She served as a visiting scholar at the University of Notre Dame; University of California, Berkeley; Princeton University (where she was the first woman to be appointed a full professor in 1959); and Northwestern University. She also taught at the University of Chicago from 1963 to 1967, where she was a member of the Committee on Social Thought; The New School in Manhattan where she taught as a university professor from 1967; Yale University, where she was a fellow; and the Center for Advanced Studies at Wesleyan University (1961–62, 1962–63). She was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1962 and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1964.
In 1974, Arendt was instrumental in the creation of Structured Liberal Education (SLE) at Stanford University. She wrote a letter to the president of Stanford to persuade the university to enact Stanford history professor Mark Mancall's vision of a residentially-based humanities program. At the time of her death, she was University Professor of Political Philosophy at the New School.
Relationships
In addition to her affair with Heidegger, and her two marriages, Arendt had close friendships. Since her death, her correspondence with many of them has been published, revealing much information about her thinking. To her friends she was both loyal and generous, dedicating several of her works to them. (friendship) she described as being one of "" (the active modes of being alive), and, to her, friendship was central both to her life and to the concept of politics. Hans Jonas described her as having a "genius for friendship", and, in her own words, "" (love of friendship).
Her philosophy-based friendships were male and European, while her later American friendships were more diverse, literary, and political. Although she became an American citizen in 1950, her cultural roots remained European, and her language remained her German "" (mother tongue). She surrounded herself with German-speaking émigrés, sometimes referred to as "The Tribe". To her, (real people) were "pariahs", not in the sense of outcasts, but in the sense of outsiders, unassimilated, with the virtue of "social nonconformism ... the sine qua non of intellectual achievement", a sentiment she shared with Jaspers.
Arendt always had a . In her teens she had formed a lifelong relationship with her , Anne Mendelssohn Weil ("Ännchen"). After her emigration to America, Hilde Fränkel, Paul Tillich's secretary and mistress, filled that role until her death in 1950. After the war, Arendt was able to return to Germany and renew her relationship with Weil, who made several visits to New York, especially after Blücher's death in 1970. Their last meeting was in Tegna, Switzerland in 1975, shortly before Arendt's death. With Fränkel's death, Mary McCarthy became Arendt's closest friend and confidante.
Final illness and death
Heinrich Blücher had survived a cerebral aneurysm in 1961 and remained unwell after 1963, sustaining a series of heart attacks. On 31 October 1970 he died of a massive heart attack. A devastated Arendt had previously told Mary McCarthy, "Life without him would be unthinkable". Arendt was also a heavy smoker and was frequently depicted with a cigarette in her hand. She sustained a near fatal heart attack while lecturing in Scotland in May 1974, and although she recovered, she remained in poor health afterwards, and continued to smoke. On the evening of 4 December 1975, shortly after her 69th birthday, she had a further heart attack in her apartment while entertaining friends, and was pronounced dead at the scene. Her ashes were buried alongside those of Blücher at Bard College, in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York in May 1976.
After Arendt's death the title page of the final part of The Life of the Mind ("Judging") was found in her typewriter, which she had just started, consisting of the title and two epigraphs. This has subsequently been reproduced (see image).
Work
Arendt wrote works on intellectual history as a philosopher, using events and actions to develop insights into contemporary totalitarian movements and the threat to human freedom presented by scientific abstraction and bourgeois morality. Intellectually, she was an independent thinker, a loner not a "joiner," separating herself from schools of thought or ideology. In addition to her major texts she published anthologies, including Between Past and Future (1961), Men in Dark Times (1968) and Crises of the Republic (1972). She also contributed to many publications, including The New York Review of Books, Commonweal, Dissent and The New Yorker. She is perhaps best known for her accounts of Adolf Eichmann and his trial, because of the intense controversy that it generated.
Political theory and philosophical system
While Arendt never developed a coherent political theory and her writing does not easily lend itself to categorization, the tradition of thought most closely identified with Arendt is that of civic republicanism, from Aristotle to Tocqueville. Her political concept is centered around active citizenship that emphasizes civic engagement and collective deliberation. She believed that no matter how bad, government could never succeed in extinguishing human freedom, despite holding that modern societies frequently retreat from democratic freedom with its inherent disorder for the relative comfort of administrative bureaucracy. Her political legacy is her strong defence of freedom in the face of an increasingly less than free world. She does not adhere to a single systematic philosophy, but rather spans a range of subjects covering totalitarianism, revolution, the nature of freedom and the faculties of thought and judgment.
While she is best known for her work on "dark times", the nature of totalitarianism and evil, she imbued this with a spark of hope and confidence in the nature of mankind:
That even in the darkest of times we have the right to expect some illumination, and that such illumination might well come less from theories and concepts than from the uncertain, flickering, and often weak light that some men and women, in their lives and their works, will kindle under almost all circumstances and shed over the time span that was given to them.
Love and Saint Augustine (1929)
Arendt's doctoral thesis, (Love and Saint Augustine), was published in 1929 and attracted critical interest, although an English translation did not appear until 1996. In this work, she combines approaches of both Heidegger and Jaspers. Arendt's interpretation of love in the work of Augustine deals with three concepts, love as craving or desire (Amor qua appetitus), love in the relationship between man (creatura) and creator (Creator – Creatura), and neighborly love (Dilectio proximi). Love as craving anticipates the future, while love for the Creator deals with the remembered past. Of the three, dilectio proximi or caritas is perceived as the most fundamental, to which the first two are oriented, which she treats under vita socialis (social life). The second of the Great Commandments (or Golden Rule) "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" uniting and transcending the former. Augustine's influence (and Jaspers' views on his work) persisted in Arendt's writings for the rest of her life.
Some of the leitmotifs of her canon were apparent, introducing the concept of (Natality) as a key condition of human existence and its role in the development of the individual, developing this further in The Human Condition (1958). She explained that the construct of natality was implied in her discussion of new beginnings and man's elation to the Creator as nova creatura. The centrality of the theme of birth and renewal is apparent in the constant reference to Augustinian thought, and specifically the innovative nature of birth, from this, her first work, to her last, The Life of the Mind.
Love is another connecting theme. In addition to the Augustinian loves expostulated in her dissertation, the phrase amor mundi (love of the world) is one often associated with Arendt and both permeates her work and was an absorbing passion throughout her work. She took the phrase from Augustine's homily on the first epistle of St John, "If love of the world dwell in us". Amor mundi was her original title for The Human Condition (1958), the subtitle of Elisabeth Young-Bruehl's biography (1982), the title of a collection of writing on faith in her work and is the newsletter of the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College.
The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951)
Arendt's first major book, The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), examined the roots of Stalinism and Nazism, structured as three essays, "Antisemitism", "Imperialism" and "Totalitarianism". Arendt argues that totalitarianism was a "novel form of government," that "differs essentially from other forms of political oppression known to us such as despotism, tyranny and dictatorship" in that it applied terror to subjugate mass populations rather than just political adversaries. Arendt also maintained that Jewry was not the operative factor in the Holocaust, but merely a convenient proxy because Nazism was about terror and consistency, not merely eradicating Jews. Arendt explained the tyranny using Kant's phrase "radical evil", by which their victims became "superfluous people". In later editions she enlarged the text to include her work on "Ideology and Terror: A novel form of government" and the Hungarian Revolution, but then published the latter separately.
Criticism of Origins has often focused on its portrayal of the two movements, Hitlerism and Stalinism, as equally tyrannical.
Rahel Varnhagen: The Life of a Jewess (1957)
Arendt's on Rahel Varnhagen was completed while she was living in exile in Paris in 1938, but not published till 1957, in the United Kingdom by East and West Library, part of the Leo Baeck Institute. This biography of a 19th century Jewish socialite, formed an important step in her analysis of Jewish history and the subjects of assimilation and emancipation, and introduced her treatment of the Jewish diaspora as either pariah or parvenu. In addition it represents an early version of her concept of history. The book is dedicated to Anne Mendelssohn, who first drew her attention to Varnhagen. Arendt's relation to Varnhagen permeates her subsequent work. Her account of Varnhagen's life was perceived during a time of the destruction of German-Jewish culture. It partially reflects Arendt's own view of herself as a German-Jewish woman driven out of her own culture into a stateless existence, leading to the description "biography as autobiography".
The Human Condition (1958)
In what is arguably her most influential work, The Human Condition (1958), Arendt differentiates political and social concepts, labor and work, and various forms of actions; she then explores the implications of those distinctions. Her theory of political action, corresponding to the existence of a public realm, is extensively developed in this work. Arendt argues that, while human life always evolves within societies, the social part of human nature, political life, has been intentionally realized in only a few societies as a space for individuals to achieve freedom. Conceptual categories, which attempt to bridge the gap between ontological and sociological structures, are sharply delineated. While Arendt relegates labor and work to the realm of the social, she favors the human condition of action as that which is both existential and aesthetic. Of human actions, Arendt identifies two that she considers essential. These are forgiving past wrong (or unfixing the fixed past) and promising future benefit (or fixing the unfixed future).
Arendt had first introduced the concept of "natality" in her Love and Saint Augustine (1929) and in The Human Condition starts to develop this further. In this, she departs from Heidegger's emphasis on mortality. Arendt's positive message is one of the "miracle of beginning", the continual arrival of the new to create action, that is to alter the state of affairs brought about by previous actions. "Men", she wrote "though they must die, are not born in order to die but in order to begin". She defined her use of "natality" as:
The miracle that saves the world, the realm of human affairs, from its normal, "natural" ruin is ultimately the fact of natality, in which the faculty of action is ontologically rooted. It is, in other words, the birth of new men and the new beginning, the action they are capable of by virtue of being born.
Natality would go on to become a central concept of her political theory, and also what Karin Fry considers its most optimistic one.
Between Past and Future (1954...1968)
Between Past and Future is an anthology of eight essays written between 1954 and 1968, dealing with a variety of different but connected philosophical subjects. These essays share the central idea that humans live between the past and the uncertain future. Man must permanently think to exist, but must learn thinking. Humans have resorted to tradition, but are abandoning respect for this tradition and culture. Arendt tries to find solutions to help humans think again, since modern philosophy has not succeeded in helping humans to live correctly.
On Revolution (1963)
Arendt's book On Revolution presents a comparison of two of the main revolutions of the 18th century, the American and French Revolutions. She goes against a common impression of both Marxist and leftist views when she argues that France, while well-studied and often emulated, was a disaster and that the largely ignored American Revolution was a success. The turning point in the French Revolution occurred when the leaders rejected their goals of freedom in order to focus on compassion for the masses. In the United States, the founders never betray the goal of . Arendt believes the revolutionary spirit of those men had been lost, however, and advocates a "council system" as an appropriate institution to regain that spirit.
Men in Dark Times (1968)
The anthology of essays Men in Dark Times presents intellectual biographies of some creative and moral figures of the 20th century, such as Walter Benjamin, Karl Jaspers, Rosa Luxemburg, Hermann Broch, Pope John XXIII, and Isak Dinesen.
Crises of the Republic (1972)
Crises of the Republic was the third of Arendt's anthologies, consisting of four essays, "Lying in Politics", "Civil Disobedience", "On Violence" and "Thoughts on Politics and Revolution". These related essays deal with contemporary American politics and the crises it faced in the 1960s and 1970s. "Lying in Politics" looks for an explanation behind the administration's deception regarding the Vietnam War, as revealed in the Pentagon Papers. "Civil Disobedience" examines the opposition movements, while the final "Thoughts on Politics and Revolution" is a commentary, in the form of an interview on the third essay, "On Violence". In "On Violence" Arendt substantiates that violence presupposes power which she understands as a property of groups. Thus, she breaks with the predominant conception of power as derived from violence.
When Hannah Arendt died in 1975, she left a major work incomplete, which was later published in 1978 as The Life of the Mind. Since then some of her minor works have been collected and published, mainly under the editorship of Jerome Kohn. In 1994 "Essays in Understanding" appeared as the first of a series covering the period 1930–1954, but attracted little attention. A new version of Origins of Totalitarianism appeared in 2004 followed by The Promise of Politics in 2005. The renewed interest in Arendtiana following these publications led to a second series of essays, Thinking Without a Banister: Essays in Understanding, 1953–1975, published in 2018. Other collections have dealt with her Jewish identity, including The Jew as Pariah (1978) and The Jewish Writings (2007), moral philosophy including Lectures on Kant's Political Philosophy (1982) and Responsibility and Judgment (2003), together with her literary works as Reflections on Literature and Culture (2007).
The Life of the Mind (1978)
Arendt's last major work, The Life of the Mind remained incomplete at the time of her death, but marked a return to moral philosophy. The outline of the book was based on her graduate level political philosophy class, Philosophy of the Mind, and her Gifford Lectures in Scotland. She conceived of the work as a trilogy based on the mental activities of thinking, willing, and judging. Her most recent work had focused on the first two, but went beyond this in terms of . Her discussion of thinking was based on Socrates and his notion of thinking as a solitary dialogue between oneself, leading her to novel concepts of conscience.
Arendt died suddenly five days after completing the second part, with the first page of Judging still in her typewriter, and McCarthy then edited the first two parts and provided some indication of the direction of the third. Arendt's exact intentions for the third part are unknown but she left several manuscripts (such as Thinking and Moral Considerations, Some Questions on Moral Philosophy and Lectures on Kant's Political Philosophy) relating to her thoughts on the mental faculty of Judging. These have since been published separately.
Collected works
After Hannah Arendt's death, her essays and notes have continued to be edited and published posthumously by friends and colleagues, including those that give some insight into the unfinished third part of The Life of the Mind. The Jew as Pariah: Jewish Identity and Politics in the Modern Age (1978), is a collection of 15 essays and letters from the period 1943–1966 on the situation of Jews in modern times, to try and throw some light on her views on the Jewish world, following the backlash to Eichmann, but proved to be equally polarizing. A further collection of her writings on being Jewish was published as The Jewish Writings (2007). Other work includes the collection of forty, largely fugitive, essays, addresses, and reviews entitled Essays in Understanding 1930–1954: Formation, Exile, and Totalitarianism (1994), that presaged her monumental The Origins of Totalitarianism, in particular On the Nature of Totalitarianism (1953) and The Concern with Politics in Contemporary European Philosophical Thought (1954). The remaining essays were published as Thinking Without a Banister: Essays in Understanding, 1953-1975 (2018). Her notebooks which form a series of memoirs, were published as in 2002.
Some further insight into her thinking is provided in the continuing posthumous publication of her correspondence with many of the important figures in her life, including Karl Jaspers (1992), Mary McCarthy (1995), Heinrich Blücher (1996), Martin Heidegger (2004), Alfred Kazin (2005), Walter Benjamin (2006), Gershom Scholem (2011) and Günther Stern (2016). Other correspondences that have been published include those with women friends such as Hilde Fränkel and Anne Mendelsohn Weil (see Relationships).
Arendt and the Eichmann trial (1961–1963)
In 1960, on hearing of Adolf Eichmann's capture and plans for his trial, Hannah Arendt contacted The New Yorker and offered to travel to Israel to cover it when it opened on 11 April 1961. Arendt was anxious to test her theories, developed in The Origins of Totalitarianism, and see how justice would be administered to the sort of man she had written about. Also she had witnessed "little of the Nazi regime directly" and this was an opportunity to witness an agent of totalitarianism first hand. The offer was accepted and she attended six weeks of the five-month trial with her young cousin from Israel, Edna Brocke. On arrival she was treated as a celebrity, meeting with the trial chief judge, Moshe Landau, and the foreign minister, Golda Meir. In her subsequent 1963 report, based on her observations and transcripts, and which evolved into the book Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, most famously, Arendt coined the phrase "the banality of evil" to describe the phenomenon of Eichmann. She, like others, was struck by his very ordinariness and the demeanor he exhibited of a small, slightly balding, bland bureaucrat, in contrast to the horrific crimes he stood accused of. He was, she wrote, "terribly and terrifyingly normal." She examined the question of whether evil is radical or simply a function of thoughtlessness, a tendency of ordinary people to obey orders and conform to mass opinion without a critical evaluation of the consequences of their actions. Arendt's argument was that Eichmann was not a monster, contrasting the immensity of his actions with the very ordinariness of the man himself. Eichmann, she stated, not only called himself a Zionist, having initially opposed the Jewish persecution, but also expected his captors to understand him. She pointed out that his actions were not driven by malice, but rather blind dedication to the regime and his need to belong, to be a "joiner."
On this, Arendt would later state "Going along with the rest and wanting to say 'we' were quite enough to make the greatest of all crimes possible". What Arendt observed during the trial was a bourgeois sales clerk who found a meaningful role for himself and a sense of importance in the Nazi movement. She noted that his addiction to clichés and use of bureaucratic morality clouded his ability to question his actions, "to think". This led her to set out her most famous, and most debated, dictum: "the lesson that this long course in human wickedness had taught us – the lesson of the fearsome, word-and-thought-defying banality of evil." By stating that Eichmann did not think, she did not imply lack of conscious awareness of his actions, but by "thinking" she implied reflective rationality, that was lacking.
Arendt was critical of the way the trial was conducted by the Israelis as a "show trial" with ulterior motives other than simply trying evidence and administering justice. Arendt was also critical of the way Israel depicted Eichmann's crimes as crimes against a nation state, rather than against humanity itself. She objected to the idea that a strong Israel was necessary to protect world Jewry being again placed where "they'll let themselves be slaughtered like sheep," recalling the biblical phrase. She portrayed the prosecutor, Attorney General Gideon Hausner, as employing hyperbolic rhetoric in the pursuit of Prime Minister Ben-Gurion's political agenda. Arendt, who believed she could maintain her focus on moral principles in the face of outrage, became increasingly frustrated with Hausner, describing his parade of survivors as having "no apparent bearing on the case". She was particularly concerned that Hausner repeatedly asked "why did you not rebel?" rather than question the role of the Jewish leaders. Arendt argued that some Jewish leaders associated with the Jewish Councils (Judenräte), notably M. C. Rumkowski, acted during the Holocaust, in cooperating with Eichmann "almost without exception" in the destruction of their own people. She had expressed concerns on this point prior to the trial. She described this as a moral catastrophe. While her argument was not to allocate blame, rather she mourned what she considered a moral failure of compromising the imperative that it is better to suffer wrong than to do wrong. She describes the cooperation of the Jewish leaders in terms of a disintegration of Jewish morality: "This role of the Jewish leaders in the destruction of their own people is undoubtedly the darkest chapter in the whole dark story". Widely misunderstood, this caused an even greater controversy and particularly animosity toward her in the Jewish community and in Israel. For Arendt, the Eichmann trial marked a turning point in her thinking in the final decade of her life, becoming increasingly preoccupied with moral philosophy.
Reception
Arendt's five-part series "Eichmann in Jerusalem" appeared in The New Yorker in February 1963 some nine months after Eichmann was hanged on 31 May 1962. By this time his trial was largely forgotten in the popular mind, superseded by intervening world events. However, no other account of either Eichmann or National Socialism has aroused so much controversy. Prior to its publication, Arendt was considered a brilliant humanistic original political thinker. However her mentor, Karl Jaspers, warned her about a possible adverse outcome, "The Eichmann trial will be no pleasure for you. I'm afraid it cannot go well". On publication, three controversies immediately occupied public attention: the concept of Eichmann as banal, her criticism of the role of Israel and her description of the role played by the Jewish people themselves.
Arendt was profoundly shocked by the response, writing to Karl Jaspers "People are resorting to any means to destroy my reputation ... They have spent weeks trying to find something in my past that they can hang on me". Now she was being called arrogant, heartless and ill-informed. She was accused of being duped by Eichmann, of being a "self-hating Jewess", and even an enemy of Israel. Her critics included The Anti-Defamation League and many other Jewish groups, editors of publications she was a contributor to, faculty at the universities she taught at and friends from all parts of her life. Her friend Gershom Scholem, a major scholar of Jewish mysticism, broke off relations with her, publishing their correspondence without her permission. Arendt was criticized by many Jewish public figures, who charged her with coldness and lack of sympathy for the victims of the Holocaust. Because of this lingering criticism neither this book nor any of her other works were translated into Hebrew until 1999. Arendt responded to the controversies in the book's Postscript.
Although Arendt complained that she was being criticized for telling the truth – "what a risky business to tell the truth on a factual level without theoretical and scholarly embroidery" – the criticism was largely directed to her theorizing on the nature of mankind and evil and that ordinary people were driven to commit the inexplicable not so much by hatred and ideology as ambition, and inability to empathize. Equally problematic was the suggestion that the victims deceived themselves and complied in their own destruction. Prior to Arendt's depiction of Eichmann, his popular image had been, as The New York Times put it "the most evil monster of humanity" and as a representative of "an atrocious crime, unparalleled in history", "the extermination of European Jews". As it turned out Arendt and others were correct in pointing out that Eichmann's characterization by the prosecution as the architect and chief technician of the Holocaust was not entirely credible.
While much has been made of Arendt's treatment of Eichmann, Ada Ushpiz, in her 2015 documentary Vita Activa: The Spirit of Hannah Arendt, placed it in a much broader context of the use of rationality to explain seemingly irrational historical events.
In an interview with Joachim Fest in 1964, Arendt was asked about Eichmann's defense that he had made Kant's principle of the duty of obedience his guiding principle all his life. Arendt replied that that was outrageous and that Eichmann was misusing Kant, by not considering the element of judgement required in assessing one's own actions – "" (No man has, according to Kant, the right to obey), she stated, paraphrasing Kant. The reference was to Kant's (Religion within the Bounds of Bare Reason 1793) in which he states:
(The saying, "We must hearken to God, rather than to man," signifies no more than this, viz. that should any earthly legislation enjoin something immediately contradictory of the moral law, obedience is not to be rendered)
Kant clearly defines a higher moral duty than rendering merely unto Caesar. Arendt herself had written in her book "This was outrageous, on the face of it, and also incomprehensible, since Kant's moral philosophy is so closely bound up with man's faculty of judgment, which rules out blind obedience." Arendt's reply to Fest was subsequently corrupted to read (No one has the right to obey), which has been widely reproduced, although it does encapsulate an aspect of her moral philosophy.
The phrase has become one of her iconic images, appearing on the wall of the house in which she was born (see Commemorations), among other places. A fascist bas-relief on the Palazzo degli Uffici Finanziari (1942), in the Piazza del Tribunale, Bolzano, Italy celebrating Mussolini, read Credere, Obbedire, Combattere (Believe, Obey, Combat). In 2017 it was altered to read Hannah Arendt's original words on obedience in the three official languages of the region.
The phrase has been appearing in other artistic work featuring political messages, such as the 2015 installation by Wilfried Gerstel, which has evoked the concept of resistance to dictatorship, as expressed in her essay "Personal Responsibility under Dictatorship" (1964).
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400 pages. (see Rahel Varnhagen)
, (see also The Origins of Totalitarianism and Comparison of Nazism and Stalinism) Full text (1979 edition) on Internet Archive
(see also The Human Condition)
(see also Between Past and Future)
(see also On Revolution) Full text on Internet Archive
Full text: 1964 edition (see also Eichmann in Jerusalem)
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Correspondence
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Posthumous
Online text at Pensar el Espacio Público
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(original German transcription)
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, partly based on Was ist Politik? (1993), French translation as Qu'est-ce que la politique?
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see also (extract)
at Pensar el Espacio Público
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In 1961, while covering the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem, Arendt wrote a letter to Karl Jaspers that Adam Kirsch described as reflecting "pure racism" toward Sephardic Jews from the Middle East and Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe. She wrote:
On top, the judges, the best of German Jewry. Below them, the prosecuting attorneys, Galicians, but still Europeans. Everything is organized by a police force that gives me the creeps, speaks only Hebrew, and looks Arabic. Some downright brutal types among them. They would obey any order. And outside the doors, the oriental mob, as if one were in Istanbul or some other half-Asiatic country.
Although Arendt remained a Zionist both during and after World War II, she made it clear that she favored the creation of a Jewish-Arab federated state in British Mandate of Palestine (now Israel and the Palestinian territories), rather than a purely Jewish state. She believed that this was a way to address Jewish statelessness and to avoid the pitfalls of nationalism.
Accusations of racism
It was not just Arendt's analysis of the Eichmann trial that drew accusations of racism. In her 1958 essay in Dissent entitled Reflections on Little Rock she expressed opposition to desegregation following the 1957 Little Rock Integration Crisis in Arkansas. As she explains in the preface, for a long time the magazine was reluctant to print her contribution, so far did it appear to differ from the publication's liberal values. Eventually it was printed alongside critical responses. Later The New Yorker would express similar hesitancy over the Eichmann papers. So vehement was the response, that Arendt felt obliged to defend herself in a sequel. The debate over this essay has continued since. William Simmons devotes a whole section of his 2011 text on human rights (Human Rights Law and the Marginalized Other) to a critique of Arendt's position and in particular on Little Rock. While some critics feel she was fundamentally racist, many of those who have defended Arendt's position have pointed out that her concerns were for the welfare of the children, a position she maintained throughout her life. She felt that the children were being subjected to trauma to serve a broader political strategy of forcible integration. While over time Arendt conceded some ground to her critics, namely that she argued as an outsider, she remained committed to her central critique that children should not be thrust into the front-lines of geopolitical conflict.
Feminism
Embraced by feminists as a pioneer in a world dominated by men up to her time, Arendt did not call herself a feminist and would be very surprised to hear herself described as a feminist, remaining opposed to the social dimensions of Women's Liberation, urging independence, but always keeping in mind la petite différence! On becoming the first woman to be appointed a professor at Princeton in 1953, the media were much engaged in this exceptional achievement, but she never wanted to be seen as an exception, either as a woman (an "exception woman") or a Jew, stating emphatically "I am not disturbed at all about being a woman professor, because I am quite used to being a woman". In 1972, discussing women's liberation, she observed "the real question to ask is, what will we lose if we win?". She rather enjoyed what she saw as the privileges of being feminine as opposed to feminist, "Intensely feminine and therefore no feminist", stated Hans Jonas. Arendt considered some professions and positions unsuitable for women, particularly those involving leadership, telling Günter Gaus "It just doesn't look good when a woman gives orders". Despite these views, and having been labelled "anti-feminist", much space has been devoted to examining Arendt's place in relation to feminism. In the last years of her life, Virginia Held noted that Arendt's views evolved with the emergence of a new feminism in America in the 1970s to recognize the importance of the women's movement.
Critique of human rights
In The Origins of Totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt devotes a lengthy chapter (The Decline of the Nation-State and the End of the Rights of Man) to a critical analysis of human rights, in what has been described as "the most widely read essay on refugees ever published". Arendt is not skeptical of the notion of political rights in general, but instead defends a national or civil conception of rights. Human rights, or the Rights of Man as they were commonly called, are universal, inalienable, and possessed simply by virtue of being human. In contrast, civil rights are possessed by virtue of belonging to a political community, most commonly by being a citizen. Arendt's primary criticism of human rights is that they are ineffectual and illusory because their enforcement is in tension with national sovereignty. She argued that since there is no political authority above that of sovereign nations, state governments have little incentive to respect human rights when such policies conflict with national interests. This can be seen most clearly by examining the treatment of refugees and other stateless people. Since the refugee has no state to secure their civil rights, the only rights they have to fall back on are human rights. In this way Arendt uses the refugee as a test case for examining human rights in isolation from civil rights.
Arendt's analysis draws on the refugee upheavals in the first half of the 20th century along with her own experience as a refugee fleeing Nazi Germany. She argued that as state governments began to emphasize national identity as a prerequisite for full legal status, the number of minority resident aliens increased along with the number of stateless persons whom no state was willing to recognize legally. The two potential solutions to the refugee problem, repatriation and naturalization, both proved incapable of solving the crisis. Arendt argued that repatriation failed to solve the refugee crisis because no government was willing to take them in and claim them as their own. When refugees were forcibly deported to neighboring countries, such immigration was deemed illegal by the receiving country, and so failed to change the fundamental status of the migrants as stateless. Attempts at naturalizing and assimilating refugees also had little success. This failure was primarily the result of resistance from both state governments and the majority of citizens, since both tended to see the refugees as undesirables who threatened their national identity. Resistance to naturalization also came from the refugees themselves who resisted assimilation and attempted to maintain their own ethnic and national identities. Arendt contends that neither naturalization nor the tradition of asylum was capable of handling the sheer number of refugees. Instead of accepting some refugees with legal status, the state often responded by denaturalizing minorities who shared national or ethnic ties with stateless refugees.
Arendt argues that the consistent mistreatment of refugees, most of whom were placed in internment camps, is evidence against the existence of human rights. If the notion of human rights as universal and inalienable is to be taken seriously, the rights must be realizable given the features of the modern liberal state. She concluded "The Rights of Man, supposedly inalienable, proved to be unenforceable–even in countries whose constitutions were based upon them–whenever people appeared who were no longer citizens of any sovereign state". Arendt contends that they are not realizable because they are in tension with at least one feature of the liberal state—national sovereignty. One of the primary ways in which a nation exercises sovereignty is through control over national borders. State governments consistently grant their citizens free movement to traverse national borders. In contrast, the movement of refugees is often restricted in the name of national interests. This restriction presents a dilemma for liberalism because liberal theorists typically are committed to both human rights and the existence of sovereign nations.
In one of her most quoted passages, she puts forward the concept that human rights are little more than an abstraction:
The conception of human rights based upon the assumed existence of a human being as such broke down at the very moment when those who professed to believe in it were for the first time confronted with people who had indeed lost all other qualities and specific relationships - except that they were still human. The world found nothing sacred in the abstract nakedness of being human.
In popular culture
Several authors have written biographies that focus on the relationship between Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger. In 1999, the French feminist philosopher Catherine Clément wrote a novel, Martin and Hannah, speculating on the triangular relationship between Heidegger and the two women in his life, Arendt and Heidegger's wife Elfriede Petri. In addition to the relationships, the novel is a serious exploration of philosophical ideas, that centers on Arendt's last meeting with Heidegger in Freiburg in 1975. The scene is based on Elisabeth Young-Bruehl's description in Hannah Arendt: For Love of the World (1982), but reaches back to their childhoods, and Heidegger's role in encouraging the relationship between the two women. The novel explores Heidegger's embrace of Nazism as a proxy for that of Germany and, as in Arendt's treatment of Eichmann, the difficult relationship between collective guilt and personal responsibility. Clément also brings Hannah's other mentor and confidante, Karl Jaspers, into the matrix of relationships.
Arendt's life remains part of current culture and thought. In 2012 the German film, Hannah Arendt, directed by Margarethe von Trotta was released. The film, with Barbara Sukowa in the title role, depicted the controversy over Arendt's coverage of the Eichmann trial and subsequent book, in which she was widely misunderstood as defending Eichmann and blaming Jewish leaders for the Holocaust.
Legacy
Hannah Arendt is considered one of the most influential political philosophers of the 20th century. In 1998 Walter Laqueur stated "No twentieth-century philosopher and political thinker has at the present time as wide an echo", as philosopher, historian, sociologist and also journalist. Arendt's legacy has been described as a cult. In a 2016 review of a documentary about Arendt, the journalist A. O. Scott describes Hannah Arendt as "of unmatched range and rigor" as a thinker, although she is primarily known for the article Eichmann in Jerusalem that she wrote for The New Yorker, and in particular for the one phrase "the banality of evil".
She shunned publicity, never expecting, as she explained to Karl Jaspers in 1951, to see herself as a "cover girl" on the newsstands. In Germany, there are tours available of sites associated with her life.
The study of the life and work of Hannah Arendt, and of her political and philosophical theory is described as Arendtian. In her will she established the Hannah Arendt Bluecher Literary Trust as the custodian of her writings and photographs. Her personal library was deposited at Bard College at the Stevenson Library in 1976, and includes approximately 4,000 books, ephemera, and pamphlets from Arendt's last apartment as well as her desk (in McCarthy House). The college has begun archiving some of the collection digitally, which is available at The Hannah Arendt Collection. Most of her papers were deposited at the Library of Congress and her correspondence with her German friends and mentors, such as Heidegger, Blumenfeld and Jaspers, at the Deutsches Literaturarchiv in Marbach. The Library of Congress listed more than 50 books written about her in 1998, and that number has continued to grow, as have the number of scholarly articles, estimated as 1000 at that time.
Her life and work is recognized by the institutions most closely associated with her teaching, by the creation of Hannah Arendt Centers at both Bard (Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities) and The New School, both in New York State. In Germany, her contributions to understanding authoritarianism is recognised by the Hannah-Arendt-Institut für Totalitarismusforschung (Hannah Arendt Institute for the Research on Totalitarianism) in Dresden. There are Hannah Arendt Associations (Hannah Arendt Verein) such as the Hannah Arendt Verein für politisches Denken in Bremen that awards the annual Hannah-Arendt-Preis für politisches Denken (Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thinking) established in 1995. In Oldenburg, the Hannah Arendt Center at Carl von Ossietzky University was established in 1999, and holds a large collection of her work (Hannah Arendt Archiv), and administers the internet portal HannahArendt.net (A Journal for Political Thinking) as well as a monograph series, the Hannah Arendt-Studien. In Italy, the Hannah Arendt Center for Political Studies is situated at the University of Verona for Arendtian studies.
In 2017 a journal, Arendt Studies, was launched to publish articles related to the study of the life, work, and legacy of Hannah Arendt. Many places associated with her, have memorabilia of her on display, such as her student card at the University of Heidelberg (see image). 2006, the anniversary of her birth, saw commemorations of her work in conferences and celebrations around the world.
In 2015, the filmmaker Ada Ushpiz produced a documentary on Hannah Arendt, Vita Activa: The Spirit of Hannah Arendt. The New York Times designated it a New York Times critics pick. Of the many photographic portraits of Arendt, that taken in 1944 by Fred Stein (see image), whose work she greatly admired, has become iconic, and has been described as better known than the photographer himself, having appeared on a German postage stamp.(see image) Among organizations that have recognized Arendt's contributions to civilization and human rights, is the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
Contemporary interest
The rise of nativism, such as the election of Donald Trump in the United States, and concerns regarding an increasingly authoritarian style of governance has led to a surge of interest in Arendt and her writings, including radio broadcasts and writers, including Jeremy Adelman and Zoe Williams, to revisit Arendt's ideas to seek the extent to which they inform our understanding of such movements, which are being described as "Dark Times". At the same time Amazon reported that it had sold out of copies of The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951). Michiko Kakutani has addressed what she refers to as "the death of truth". In her 2018 book, The Death of Truth: Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump, she argues that the rise of totalitarianism has been founded on the violation of truth. She begins her book with an extensive quote from The Origins of Totalitarianism:
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist
Kakutani and others believed that Arendt's words speak not just events of a previous century but apply equally to the contemporary cultural landscape populated with fake news and lies. She also draws on Arendt's essay "Lying in Politics" from Crises in the Republic pointing to the lines:
The historian knows how vulnerable is the whole texture of facts in which we spend our daily life; it is always in danger of being perforated by single lies or torn to shreds by the organized lying of groups, nations, or classes, or denied and distorted, often carefully covered up by reams of falsehoods or simply allowed to fall into oblivion. Facts need testimony to be remembered and trustworthy witnesses to be established in order to find a secure dwelling place in the domain of human affairs
Arendt drew attention to the critical role that propaganda plays in gaslighting populations, Kakutani observes, citing the passage:
In an ever-changing, incomprehensible world the masses had reached the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, think that everything was possible and that nothing was true . ... The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness
It is also relevant that Arendt took a broader perspective on history than merely totalitarianism in the early 20th century, stating "the deliberate falsehood and the outright lie have been used as legitimate means to achieve political ends since the beginning of recorded history." Contemporary relevance is also reflected in the increasing use of the phrase, attributed to her, "No one has the right to obey" to reflect that actions result from choices, and hence judgement, and that we cannot disclaim responsibility for that which we have the power to act upon. In addition those centers established to promote Arendtian studies continue to seek solutions to a wide range of contemporary issues in her writing.
Arendt's teachings on obedience have also been linked to the controversial psychology experiments by Stanley Milgram, that implied that ordinary people can easily be induced to commit atrocities. Milgram himself drew attention to this in 1974, stating that he was testing the theory that Eichmann like others would merely follow orders, but unlike Milgram she argued that actions involve responsibility.
Arendt's theories on the political consequences of how nations deal with refugees has remained relevant and compelling. Arendt had observed first hand the displacement of large stateless and rightsless populations, treated not so much as people in need than as problems to solve, and in many cases, resist. She wrote about this in her 1943 essay "We refugees". Another Arendtian theme that finds an echo in contemporary society is her observation, inspired by Rilke, of the despair of not being heard, the futility of tragedy that finds no listener that can bring comfort, assurance and intervention. An example of this being gun violence in America and the resulting political inaction.
In Search of the Last Agora, an illustrated documentary film by Lebanese director Rayyan Dabbous about Hannah Arendt's 1958 work The Human Condition, was released in 2018 to mark the book's 50th anniversary. Screened at Bard College, the experimental film is described as finding "new meaning in the political theorist's conceptions of politics, technology and society in the 1950s", particularly in her prediction of abuses of phenomena unknown in Arendt's time, including social media, intense globalization, and obsessive celebrity culture.
Hannah Arendt's life and work continue to be commemorated in many different ways, including plaques (Gedenktafeln) indicating places she has lived. Public places and institutions bear her name, including schools. There is also a Hannah Arendt Day (Hannah Arendt Tag) in her birthplace. Objects named after her vary from asteroids to trains and she has been commemorated in stamps. Museums and foundations include her name.
Arendt Studies
Arendt Studies is a peer-reviewed academic journal that examines the life, work, and legacy of Hannah Arendt. Established in 2017, it publishes research articles and translations, including the first English translation of Hannah Arendt's "Nation-State and Democracy" (1963) Notable contributors include Andrew Benjamin, Peg Birmingham, Adriana Cavarero, Robert P. Crease, and Celso Lafer. Articles published in this journal are covered in the international Hannah Arendt Bibliographie. Arendt Studies is also included in JSTOR. The journal is edited by James Barry at Indiana University and published by the Philosophy Documentation Center.
Family tree
See also
American philosophy
German philosophy
Hannah Arendt Award
List of refugees
List of women philosophers
Women in philosophy
Notes
References
Bibliography
Articles (journals and proceedings)
(French translation)
, reprinted in
Rahel Varnhagen
Special issues and proceedings
Audiovisual
(see also Hannah Arendt)
Bernstein, Richard (2019): Podcast conversation: "Hannah Arendt is Alarmingly Relevant"
Books and monographs
"Ethics in many different voices" pp. 247–268, see also revised versions as and
(see also excerpt at
(see also Obedience to Authority)
Autobiography and biography
excerpt
(full text)
(updated by way of a second preface, pagination unchanged)
Critical works
excerpt, see also
text at Pensar el Espacio Público
Historical
, available in Latin as
facsimile text at Gallica, and reproduced on Wikisource
full text available on Internet Archive
Chapters and contributions
, in
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, in
Guilherme, Alexandre and Morgan, W. John, 'Hannah Arendt (1906-1975)-dialogue as a public space'. Chapter 4 in Philosophy, Dialogue, and Education: Nine modern European philosophers, Routledge, London and New York, pp. 55–71, .
, in
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Dictionaries and encyclopedias
(Version: January 2019)
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Magazines
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Newspapers
Theses
(at Theses.fr)
Websites
- includes Brecht reading (english)
(English translation by A. S. Kline 2004)
Biography, genealogy and timelines
see also: Principal Dates in
, in
Institutions, locations and organizations
Hannah Arendt Center (Bard)
Maps
External images
Bibliographic notes
External links
1906 births
1975 deaths
20th-century American educators
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Historians from California
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[
"Eichmann is a biographical film detailing the interrogation of Adolf Eichmann. Directed by Robert Young, the film stars Thomas Kretschmann as Eichmann and Troy Garity as Eichmann's Israeli interrogator, Avner Less. It was first released in Brazil in September 2007, and was released in the United States in October 2010.\n\nPlot\nThe film is based on manuscripts of the interrogations of Adolf Eichmann (Thomas Kretschmann) before he was tried and hanged in a prison in Israel. Eichmann recounts events from his past to an Israeli detective, Chief inspector Avner Less (Troy Garity), who is faced with the immense task of tricking the skilled manipulator into self-incrimination. While the world waits, Less's countrymen call for immediate execution, forcing him and Eichmann to confront each other in a battle of wills.\n\nCast\n Thomas Kretschmann as Adolf Eichmann\n Troy Garity as Chief inspector Avner Less\n Franka Potente as Vera Less\n Stephen Fry as Minister Tormer\n Delaine Yates as Miriam Fröhlich\n Tereza Srbova as Baroness Ingrid von Ihama\n Judit Viktor as Ann Marie\n Stephen Greif as Hans Lipmann\n\nSee also\n Eichmann in Jerusalem\n Eichmann Interrogated\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n \n\n2007 films\nBritish films\nBritish biographical films\nWorld War II war crimes trials films\nFilms set in Jerusalem\nFilms set in the 1960s\nFilms about the capture of Adolf Eichmann\nBritish drama films\nCultural depictions of Adolf Eichmann\nFilms scored by Richard Harvey",
"Yaakov Bar-Or (Hebrew: יעקב בר-אור) was born as Jacob Breuer to Jenny and Isaac Breuer in 1916. He studied law in Germany and became a successful attorney. Later, he moved to Israel and assumed the surname \"Bar-Or\". He dropped the name change later in life. \n\nBreuer came to Israel in the 1930s and became a lawyer in 1943. In 1959, he was appointed District Attorney General in Tel Aviv. That same year he was appointed Israeli delegate to the United Nations and sat on the committee for human rights. In 1961 Breuer was assistant prosecutor in the trial of Adolf Eichmann. This was the only execution and execution trial in the history of the state of Israel.\n\nHe died in 2008 in Jerusalem at the age of 92.\n\nReferences\nEichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil by Hannah Arendt (1996) Penguin Classics\nnizkor.org\n\nJewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to Mandatory Palestine\n1916 births\n2008 deaths\nIsraeli judges\nAdolf Eichmann"
] |
[
"Hannah Arendt",
"Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil",
"Why was Eichmann in Jerusalem?",
"the 1961 Adolf Eichmann trial"
] |
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How long did the trial last?
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Hannah Arendt
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In her reporting of the 1961 Adolf Eichmann trial for The New Yorker, which evolved into Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (1963), she coined the phrase "the banality of evil" to describe the phenomenon of Eichmann. She examined the question of whether evil is radical or simply a function of thoughtlessness, a tendency of ordinary people to obey orders and conform to mass opinion without a critical evaluation of the consequences of their actions. She was sharply critical of the way the trial was conducted in Israel. She also was critical of the way that some Jewish leaders, notably M. C. Rumkowski, acted during the Holocaust. This caused a considerable controversy and even animosity toward Arendt in the Jewish community. Her friend Gershom Scholem, a major scholar of Jewish mysticism, broke off relations with her. Arendt was criticized by many Jewish public figures, who charged her with coldness and lack of sympathy for the victims of the Holocaust. Because of this lingering criticism neither this book nor any of her other works were translated into Hebrew, until 1999. This controversy was answered by Hannah Arendt in the book's Postscript. The controversy began by calling attention to the conduct of the Jewish people during the years of the Final Solution, thus following up the question, first raised by the Israeli prosecutor, of whether the Jews could or should have defended themselves. I had dismissed that question as silly and cruel, since it testified to a fatal ignorance of the conditions at the time. It has now been discussed to exhaustion, and the most amazing conclusions have been drawn. The well-known historico-sociological construct of "ghetto mentality"... has been repeatedly dragged in to explain behavior which was not at all confined to the Jewish people and which therefore cannot be explained by specifically Jewish factors... This was the unexpected conclusion certain reviewers chose to draw from the "image" of a book, created by certain interest groups, in which I allegedly had claimed that the Jews had murdered themselves. Arendt ended the book by writing: Just as you Eichmann supported and carried out a policy of not wanting to share the earth with the Jewish people and the people of a number of other nations--as though you and your superiors had any right to determine who should and who should not inhabit the world--we find that no one, that is, no member of the human race, can be expected to want to share the earth with you. This is the reason, and the only reason, you must hang. CANNOTANSWER
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Hannah Arendt (, , ; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a political philosopher, author, and Holocaust survivor. Her contributions influenced 20th and 21st century political theorists.
Arendt was born in Linden, a district of Hanover, in 1906, to a Jewish family. At the age of three, her family moved to Königsberg, the capital of East Prussia, so that her father's syphilis could be treated. Paul Arendt had contracted the disease in his youth, and it was thought to be in remission when Arendt was born. He died when she was seven. Arendt was raised in a politically progressive, secular family. Her mother was an ardent supporter of the Social Democrats. After completing her secondary education in Berlin, she studied at the University of Marburg under Martin Heidegger, with whom she had a brief affair. She obtained her doctorate in philosophy writing on Love and Saint Augustine at the University of Heidelberg in 1929 under the direction of the existentialist philosopher Karl Jaspers.
Hannah Arendt married Günther Stern in 1929, but soon began to encounter increasing anti-Jewish discrimination in 1930s Nazi Germany. In 1933, the year Adolf Hitler came to power, Arendt was arrested and briefly imprisoned by the Gestapo for performing illegal research into antisemitism in Nazi Germany. On release, she fled Germany, living in Czechoslovakia and Switzerland before settling in Paris. There she worked for Youth Aliyah, assisting young Jews to emigrate to the British Mandate of Palestine. Divorcing Stern in 1937, she married Heinrich Blücher in 1940, but when Germany invaded France in 1940 she was detained by the French as an alien, despite having been stripped of her German citizenship in 1937. She escaped and made her way to the United States in 1941 via Portugal. She settled in New York, which remained her principal residence for the rest of her life. She became a writer and editor and worked for the Jewish Cultural Reconstruction, becoming an American citizen in 1950. With the publication of The Origins of Totalitarianism in 1951, her reputation as a thinker and writer was established and a series of works followed. These included the books The Human Condition in 1958, as well as Eichmann in Jerusalem and On Revolution in 1963. She taught at many American universities, while declining tenure-track appointments. She died suddenly of a heart attack in 1975, at the age of 69, leaving her last work, The Life of the Mind, unfinished.
Her works cover a broad range of topics, but she is best known for those dealing with the nature of power and evil, as well as politics, direct democracy, authority, and totalitarianism. In the popular mind she is best remembered for the controversy surrounding the trial of Adolf Eichmann, her attempt to explain how ordinary people become actors in totalitarian systems, which was considered by some an apologia, and for the phrase "the banality of evil". She is commemorated by institutions and journals devoted to her thinking, the Hannah Arendt Prize for political thinking, and on stamps, street names and schools, amongst other things.
Early life and education (1906–1929)
Family
Hannah Arendt was born Johanna Arendt in 1906 into a comfortable educated secular family of German Jews in Linden, Prussia (now a part of Hanover), in Wilhelmine Germany. Her family were merchants of Russian extraction from Königsberg, the East Prussian capital. Arendt's grandparents were members of the Reform Jewish community there. Hannah's paternal grandfather, (1843–1913), was a prominent businessman, local politician, one of the leaders of the Königsberg Jewish community and a member of the Centralverein deutscher Staatsbürger jüdischen Glaubens (Central Organization for German Citizens of the Jewish Faith). Like other members of the Centralverein he primarily saw himself as a German and disapproved of the activities of Zionists, such as the young Kurt Blumenfeld (1884–1963), who was a frequent visitor to their home and would later become one of Hannah's mentors. Of Max Arendt's children, Paul Arendt (1873–1913) was an engineer and Henriette Arendt (1874–1922) was a policewoman who became a social worker.
Hannah was the only child of Paul and Martha Arendt (née Cohn) (1874–1948), who were married on 11 April 1902. She was named after her paternal grandmother. The Cohns had originally come to Königsberg from nearby Russian territory (now Lithuania) in 1852, as refugees from anti-Semitism, and made their living as tea importers; J. N. Cohn & Company became the largest business in the city. The Arendts had reached Germany from Russia a century earlier. Hannah's extended family contained many more women, who shared the loss of husbands and children. Hannah's parents were more educated and politically more to the left than her grandparents. The young couple became members of the Social Democrats, rather than the German Democratic Party that most of their contemporaries supported. Paul Arendt was educated at the Albertina (University of Königsberg). Though he worked as an engineer, he prided himself on his love of Classics. He collected a large library, in which Hannah immersed herself. Martha Cohn, a musician, had studied for three years in Paris.
In the first four years of their marriage, the Arendts lived in Berlin, where they were supporters of the socialist journal . At the time of Hannah's birth, Paul Arendt was employed by an electrical engineering firm in Linden, and they lived in a frame house on the market square (Marktplatz). The Arendt family moved back to Königsberg in 1909, because of Paul's deteriorating health. Hannah's father suffered from a prolonged illness with syphilis and had to be institutionalized in the Königsberg psychiatric hospital in 1911. For years afterward, Hannah had to have annual WR tests for congenital syphilis. He died on 30 October 1913, when Hannah was seven, leaving her mother to raise her. They lived at Hannah's grandfather's house at Tiergartenstraße 6, a leafy residential street adjacent to the Königsberg Tiergarten, in the predominantly Jewish neighborhood of Hufen. Although Hannah's parents were non-religious, they were happy to allow Max Arendt to take Hannah to the Reform synagogue. She also received religious instruction from the rabbi, Hermann Vogelstein, who would come to her school for that purpose. At the time the young Hannah confided that she wished to marry him when she grew up. Her family moved in circles that included many intellectuals and professionals. It was a social circle of high standards and ideals. As she recalled it:
My early intellectual formation occurred in an atmosphere where nobody paid much attention to moral questions; we were brought up under the assumption: , moral conduct is a matter of course.
This time was a particularly favorable period for the Jewish community in Königsberg, an important center of the Haskalah (enlightenment). Arendt's family was thoroughly assimilated ("Germanized") and she later remembered: "With us from Germany, the word 'assimilation' received a 'deep' philosophical meaning. You can hardly realize how serious we were about it." Despite these conditions, the Jewish population lacked full citizenship rights, and although antisemitism was not overt, it was not absent. Arendt came to define her Jewish identity negatively after encountering overt antisemitism as an adult. She came to greatly identify with Rahel Varnhagen (1771–1833), the Prussian socialite who desperately wanted to assimilate into German culture, only to be rejected because she was born Jewish. Arendt later said of Varnhagen that she was "my very closest woman friend, unfortunately dead a hundred years now." Varnhagen would later become the subject of a biography by Hannah.
In the last two years of the First World War, Hannah's mother organized social democratic discussion groups and became a follower of Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919) as socialist uprisings broke out across Germany. Luxemburg's writings would later influence Hannah's political thinking. In 1920, Martha Cohn married Martin Beerwald (1869–1941), an ironmonger and widower of four years, and they moved to his home, two blocks away, at Busoldstrasse 6, providing Hannah with improved social and financial security. Hannah was 14 at the time and acquired two older stepsisters, Clara (1901–1932) and Eva (1902–1988).
Education
Early education
Hannah Arendt's mother, who considered herself progressive, sought to raise her daughter along strict Goethean lines, which amongst other things, involved the reading of the complete works of Goethe, often summed up in the phrase from Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship (1796) as – (And just what is your duty? The demands of the day). Goethe, at the time, was considered the essential mentor of (education), the conscious formation of mind, body and spirit. The key elements were considered to be self-discipline, constructive channeling of passion, renunciation and responsibility for others. Hannah's developmental progress () was carefully documented by her mother in a book, which she titled (Our Child) and measured her against the benchmark of what was then considered ("normal development").
Arendt attended kindergarten from 1910 where her precocity impressed her teachers and enrolled in the Szittnich School, Königsberg (Hufen-Oberlyzeum), on Bahnstraße in August 1913, but her studies there were interrupted by the outbreak of World War I, forcing the family to temporarily flee to Berlin on 23 August 1914, in the face of the advancing Russian army. There they stayed with her mother's younger sister, Margarethe Fürst (1884–1942), and her three children, while Hannah attended a girl's school in Berlin-Charlottenburg. After ten weeks, when Königsberg appeared to be no longer threatened, the Arendts were able to return, where they spent the remaining war years at her grandfather's house. Arendt's precocity continued, learning ancient Greek as a child, writing poetry in her teenage years, and starting both a philosophy club and Greek Graecae at her school. She was fiercely independent in her schooling and a voracious reader, absorbing French and German literature and poetry (committing large amounts to heart) and philosophy. By the age of 14, she had read Kierkegaard, Jaspers' and Kant's (Critique of Pure Reason). Kant, whose home town was also Königsberg, was an important influence on her thinking, and it was Kant who had written about Königsberg that "such a town is the right place for gaining knowledge concerning men and the world even without travelling".
Arendt attended the Königin-Luise-Schule for her secondary education, a girls' Gymnasium on Landhofmeisterstraße. Most of her friends, while at school, were gifted children of Jewish professional families, generally older than she and went on to university education. Among them was Ernst Grumach (1902–1967), who introduced her to his girlfriend, Anne Mendelssohn, who would become a lifelong friend. When Anne moved away, Ernst became Arendt's first romantic relationship. Like Arendt, Anne would go on to become a philosopher, obtaining her doctorate at Hamburg, while Ernst became a philologist.
Higher education (1922–1929)
Berlin (1922–1924)
Arendt's education at the Luise-Schule ended in 1922 when she was expelled at the age of 15 for leading a boycott of a teacher who insulted her. Instead, her mother arranged for her to go to Berlin to be with Social Democrat family friends. In Berlin she lived in a student residence and audited courses of her choosing at the University of Berlin (1922–1923), including classics and Christian theology under Romano Guardini. This enabled her to successfully sit the entrance examination () for the University of Marburg, where Ernst Grumach had studied under Martin Heidegger, who had been appointed a professor there in 1922. For the examination, her mother engaged a private tutor, while her aunt Frieda Arendt, a teacher, also helped her, and Frieda's husband Ernst Aron provided financial assistance for her to attend university.
Marburg (1924–1926)
In Berlin, Guardini had introduced her to Kierkegaard, and she resolved to make theology her major field. At Marburg (1924–1926) she studied classical languages, German literature, Protestant theology with Rudolf Bultmann and philosophy with Nicolai Hartmann and Heidegger. Arendt arrived at Marburg that fall in the middle of an intellectual revolution led by the young Heidegger, of whom she was in awe, describing him as "the hidden king [who] reigned in the realm of thinking".
Heidegger had broken away from the intellectual movement started by Edmund Husserl, whose assistant he had been at University of Freiburg before coming to Marburg. This was a period when Heidegger was preparing his lectures on Kant, which he would develop in the second part of his (Being and Time) in 1927 and (1929). Although Heidegger had dedicated the first edition of Being and Time to Edmund Husserl, Husserl gave the book a poor review, and in the second edition Heidegger removed that dedication.
In his classes he and his students struggled with the meaning of "Being" as they worked together through Aristotle's concept of ἀλήθεια (truth) and Plato's Sophist. Many years later Arendt would describe these classes, how people came to Marburg to hear him, and how, above all he imparted the idea of ("thinking") as activity, which she qualified as "passionate thinking".
Arendt was restless. To date her studies had not been either emotionally or intellectually satisfying. She was ready for passion, finishing her poem (Consolation, 1923) with the lines:
(The hours run downThe days pass on.One achievement remains:Merely being alive)
Her encounter with Heidegger represented a dramatic departure from the past. He was handsome, a genius, romantic, and taught that thinking and "aliveness" were but one. The 17-year-old Arendt then began a long romantic relationship with the 35-year-old Heidegger, who was married with two young sons. Arendt later faced criticism for this because of Heidegger's support for the Nazi Party after his election as rector at the University of Freiburg in 1933. Nevertheless, he remained one of the most profound influences on her thinking, and he would later relate that she had been the inspiration for his work on passionate thinking in those days. They agreed to keep the details of the relationship a secret, preserving their letters but keeping them unavailable. The relationship was not known until Elisabeth Young-Bruehl's biography of Arendt appeared in 1982. At the time of publishing, Arendt and Heidegger were deceased and Heidegger's wife, Elfride (1893–1992), was still alive. The affair was not well known until 1995, when Elzbieta Ettinger gained access to the sealed correspondence and published a controversial account that was used by Arendt's detractors to cast doubt on her integrity. That account, which caused a scandal, was subsequently refuted.
At Marburg, Arendt lived at Lutherstraße 4. Among her friends there was Hans Jonas, her only Jewish classmate. Another fellow student of Heidegger's was Jonas' friend, the Jewish philosopher Gunther Siegmund Stern (1902–1992)son of the noted psychologist Ludwig Wilhelm Sternwho would later become her first husband. Stern had completed his doctoral dissertation with Edmund Husserl at Freiburg, and was now working on his Habilitation thesis with Heidegger, but Arendt, involved with Heidegger, took little notice of him at the time.
Die Schatten (1925)
In the summer of 1925, while home at Königsberg, Arendt composed her sole autobiographical piece, (The Shadows), a "description of herself" addressed to Heidegger. In this essay, full of anguish and Heideggerian language, she reveals her insecurities relating to her femininity and Jewishness, writing abstractly in the third person. She describes a state of "" (alienation), on the one hand an abrupt loss of youth and innocence, on the other an "" (strangeness), the finding of the remarkable in the banal. In her detailing of the pain of her childhood and longing for protection she shows her vulnerabilities and how her love for Heidegger had released her and once again filled her world with color and mystery. She refers to her relationship with Heidegger as "" ("an unbending devotion to a unique man"). This period of intense introspection was also one of the most productive of her poetic output, such as (Lost in Self-Contemplation).
Freiburg and Heidelberg (1926–1929)
After a year at Marburg, Arendt spent a semester at Freiburg, attending the lectures of Husserl. In 1926 she moved to the University of Heidelberg, where in 1929, she completed her dissertation under the other leading figure of the then new and revolutionary Existenzphilosophie, Karl Jaspers (1883–1969), a friend of Heidegger's. Her thesis was entitled Der Liebesbegriff bei Augustin: Versuch einer philosophischen Interpretation (On the concept of love in the thought of Saint Augustine: Attempt at a philosophical interpretation). She remained a lifelong friend of Jaspers and his wife, Gertrud Mayer (1879–1974), developing a deep intellectual relationship with him. At Heidelberg, her circle of friends included Hans Jonas, who had also moved from Marburg to study Augustine, working on his (1930), and also a group of three young philosophers: Karl Frankenstein, Erich Neumann and Erwin Loewenson. Other friends and students of Jaspers were the linguists Benno von Wiese and Hugo Friedrich (seen with Hannah, below), with whom she attended lectures by Friedrich Gundolf at Jaspers' suggestion and who kindled in her an interest in German Romanticism. She also became reacquainted, at a lecture, with Kurt Blumenfeld, who introduced her to Jewish politics. At Heidelberg, she lived in the old town () near the castle, at Schlossberg 16. The house was demolished in the 1960s, but the one remaining wall bears a plaque commemorating her time there (see image).
On completing her dissertation, Arendt turned to her , initially on German Romanticism, and thereafter an academic teaching career. However 1929 was also the year of the Depression and the end of the golden years () of the Weimar Republic, which was to become increasingly unstable over its remaining four years. Arendt, as a Jew, had little if any chance of obtaining an academic appointment in Germany. Nevertheless, she completed most of the work before she was forced to leave Germany.
Career
Germany (1929–1933)
Berlin-Potsdam (1929)
In 1929, Arendt met Günther Stern again, this time in Berlin at a New Year's masked ball, and began a relationship with him. Within a month she had moved in with him in a one-room studio, shared with a dancing school in Berlin-Halensee. Then they moved to Merkurstraße 3, Nowawes, in Potsdam and were married there on 26 September. They had much in common and the marriage was welcomed by both sets of parents. In the summer, Hannah Arendt successfully applied to the for a grant to support her Habilitation, which was supported by Heidegger and Jaspers among others, and in the meantime, with Günther's help was working on revisions to get her dissertation published.
Wanderjahre (1929–1931)
After Arendt and Günther were married, they began two years of what Christian Dries refers to as the (years of wandering). They had the ultimately fruitless aim of having Günther accepted for an academic appointment. They lived for a while in Drewitz, a southern neighborhood of Potsdam, before moving to Heidelberg, where they lived with the Jaspers. After Heidelberg, where Günther completed the first draft of his thesis, the Sterns then moved to Frankfurt where Günther hoped to finish it. There, Arendt participated in the university's intellectual life, attending lectures by Karl Mannheim and Paul Tillich, among others. The Sterns collaborated intellectually, writing an article together on Rilke's (1923) and both reviewing Mannheim's (1929). The latter was Arendt's sole contribution in sociology. In both her treatment of Mannheim and Rilke, Arendt found love to be a transcendent principle "Because there is no true transcendence in this ordered world, one also cannot exceed the world, but only succeed to higher ranks". In Rilke she saw a latter day secular Augustine, describing the as the (ultimate form of religious document). Later, she would discover the limitations of transcendent love in explaining the historical events that pushed her into political action. Another theme from Rilke that she would develop was the despair of not being heard. Reflecting on Rilke's opening lines, which she placed as an epigram at the beginning of their essay
(Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angel's hierarchies?)
Arendt and Stern begin by stating
The paradoxical, ambiguous, and desperate situation from which standpoint the Duino Elegies may alone be understood has two characteristics: the absence of an echo and the knowledge of futility. The conscious renunciation of the demand to be heard, the despair at not being able to be heard, and finally the need to speak even without an answer–these are the real reasons for the darkness, asperity, and tension of the style in which poetry indicates its own possibilities and its will to form
Arendt also published an article on Augustine (354–430) in the Frankfurter Zeitung to mark the 1500th anniversary of his death. She saw this article as forming a bridge between her treatment of Augustine in her dissertation and her subsequent work on Romanticism. When it became evident Stern would not succeed in obtaining an appointment, the Sterns returned to Berlin in 1931.
Return to Berlin (1931–1933)
In Berlin, where the couple initially lived in the predominantly Jewish area of (Bavarian Quarter or "Jewish Switzerland") in Schöneberg, Stern obtained a position as a staff-writer for the cultural supplement of the Berliner Börsen-Courier, edited by Herbert Ihering, with the help of Bertold Brecht. There he started writing using the nom-de-plume of Günther Anders, i.e. "Günther Other". Arendt assisted Günther with his work, but the shadow of Heidegger hung over their relationship. While Günther was working on his , Arendt had abandoned the original subject of German Romanticism for her thesis in 1930, and turned instead to Rahel Varnhagen and the question of assimilation. Anne Mendelssohn had accidentally acquired a copy of Varnhagen's correspondence and excitedly introduced her to Arendt, donating her collection to her. A little later, Arendt's own work on Romanticism led her to a study of Jewish salons and eventually to those of Varnhagen. In Rahel, she found qualities she felt reflected her own, particularly those of sensibility and vulnerability. Rahel, like Hannah, found her destiny in her Jewishness. Hannah Arendt would come to call Rahel Varnhagen's discovery of living with her destiny as being a "conscious pariah". This was a personal trait that Arendt had recognized in herself, although she did not embrace the term until later.
Back in Berlin, Arendt found herself becoming more involved in politics and started studying political theory, and reading Marx and Trotsky, while developing contacts at the Deutsche Hochschule für Politik. Despite the political leanings of her mother and husband she never saw herself as a political leftist, justifying her activism as being through her Jewishness. Her increasing interest in Jewish politics and her examination of assimilation in her study of Varnhagen led her to publish her first article on Judaism, ("The Enlightenment and the Jewish Question", 1932). Blumenfeld had introduced her to the "Jewish question", which would be his lifelong concern. Meanwhile, her views on German Romanticism were evolving. She wrote a review of Hans Weil's (The Origin of German Educational Principle, 1930), which dealt with the emergence of (educational elite) in the time of Rahel Varnhagen. At the same time she began to be occupied by Max Weber's description of the status of Jewish people within a state as (pariah people) in his Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft (1922), while borrowing Bernard Lazare's term paria conscient (conscious pariah) with which she identified. In both these articles she advanced the views of Johann Herder. Another interest of hers at the time was the status of women, resulting in her 1932 review of Alice Rühle-Gerstel's book (Contemporary Women's Issues: A psychological balance sheet). Although not a supporter of the women's movement, the review was sympathetic. At least in terms of the status of women at that time, she was skeptical of the movement's ability to achieve political change. She was also critical of the movement, because it was a women's movement, rather than contributing with men to a political movement, abstract rather than striving for concrete goals. In this manner she echoed Rosa Luxemburg. Like Luxemburg, she would later criticize Jewish movements for the same reason. Arendt consistently prioritized political over social questions.
By 1932, faced with a deteriorating political situation, Arendt was deeply troubled by reports that Heidegger was speaking at National Socialist meetings. She wrote, asking him to deny that he was attracted to National Socialism. Heidegger replied that he did not seek to deny the rumors (which were true), and merely assured her that his feelings for her were unchanged. As a Jew in Nazi Germany, Arendt was prevented from making a living and discriminated against and confided to Anne Mendelssohn that emigration was probably inevitable. Jaspers had tried to persuade her to consider herself as a German first, a position she distanced herself from, pointing out that she was a Jew and that "" (For me, Germany is the mother tongue, philosophy and poetry), rather than her identity. This position puzzled Jaspers, replying "It is strange to me that as a Jew you want to be different from the Germans".
By 1933, life for the Jewish population in Germany was becoming precarious. Adolf Hitler became (Chancellor) in January, and the Reichstag was burned down () the following month. This led to the suspension of civil liberties, with attacks on the left, and, in particular, members of the Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (German Communist Party: KPD). Stern, who had communist associations, fled to Paris, but Arendt stayed on to become an activist. Knowing her time was limited, she used the apartment at Opitzstraße 6 in Berlin-Steglitz that she had occupied with Stern since 1932 as an underground railway way-station for fugitives. Her rescue operation there is now recognized with a plaque on the wall.
Arendt had already positioned herself as a critic of the rising Nazi Party in 1932 by publishing "Adam-Müller-Renaissance?" a critique of the appropriation of the life of Adam Müller to support right wing ideology. The beginnings of anti-Jewish laws and boycott came in the spring of 1933. Confronted with systemic antisemitism, Arendt adopted the motiv "If one is attacked as a Jew one must defend oneself as a Jew. Not as a German, not as a world citizen, not as an upholder of the Rights of Man." This was Arendt's introduction of the concept of Jew as Pariah that would occupy her for the rest of her life in her Jewish writings. She took a public position by publishing part of her largely completed biography of Rahel Varnhagen as "" ("Original Assimilation: An Epilogue to the One Hundredth Anniversary of Rahel Varnhagen's Death") in the on 7 March 1933 and a little later also in . In the article she argues that the age of assimilation that began with Varnhagen's generation had come to an end with an official state policy of antisemitism. She opened with the declaration:
Today in Germany it seems Jewish assimilation must declare its bankruptcy. The general social antisemitism and its official legitimation affects in the first instance assimilated Jews, who can no longer protect themselves through baptism or by emphasizing their differences from Eastern Judaism.
As a Jew, Arendt was anxious to inform the world of what was happening to her people in 1930–1933. She surrounded herself with Zionist activists, including Kurt Blumenfeld, Martin Buber and Salman Schocken, and started to research antisemitism. Arendt had access to the Prussian State Library for her work on Varnhagen. Blumenfeld's Zionistische Vereinigung für Deutschland (Zionist Federation of Germany) persuaded her to use this access to obtain evidence of the extent of antisemitism, for a planned speech to the Zionist Congress in Prague. This research was illegal at the time. Her actions led to her being denounced by a librarian for anti-state propaganda, resulting in the arrest of both Arendt and her mother by the Gestapo. They served eight days in prison but her notebooks were in code and could not be deciphered, and she was released by a young, sympathetic arresting officer to await trial.
Exile: France (1933–1941)
Paris (1933–1940)
On release, realizing the danger she was now in, Arendt and her mother fled Germany following the established escape route over the Erzgebirge Mountains by night into Czechoslovakia and on to Prague and then by train to Geneva. In Geneva, she made a conscious decision to commit herself to "the Jewish cause". She obtained work with a friend of her mother's at the League of Nations' Jewish Agency for Palestine, distributing visas and writing speeches.
From Geneva the Arendts traveled to Paris in the autumn, where she was reunited with Stern, joining a stream of refugees. While Arendt had left Germany without papers, her mother had travel documents and returned to Königsberg and her husband. In Paris, she befriended Stern's cousin, the Marxist literary critic and philosopher Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) and also the Jewish French philosopher Raymond Aron (1905–1983).
Arendt was now an émigrée, an exile, stateless, without papers, and had turned her back on the Germany and Germans of the . Her legal status was precarious and she was coping with a foreign language and culture, all of which took its toll on her mentally and physically. In 1934 she started working for the Zionist-funded outreach program Agriculture et Artisanat, giving lectures, and organizing clothing, documents, medications and education for Jewish youth seeking to emigrate to the British Mandate of Palestine, mainly as agricultural workers. Initially she was employed as a secretary, and then office manager. To improve her skills she studied French, Hebrew and Yiddish. In this way she was able to support herself and her husband. When the organization closed in 1935, her work for Blumenfeld and the Zionists in Germany brought her into contact with the wealthy philanthropist Baroness Germaine Alice de Rothschild (born Halphen, 1884–1975), wife of Édouard Alphonse James de Rothschild, becoming her assistant. In this position she oversaw the baroness' contributions to Jewish charities through the Paris Consistoire, although she had little time for the family as a whole. The Rothschilds had headed the central Consistoire for a century but stood for everything Arendt did not, opposing immigration and any connection with German Jewry.
Later in 1935, Arendt joined Youth Aliyah (Youth immigration), an organization similar to Agriculture et Artisanat that was founded in Berlin on the day Hitler seized power. It was affiliated with Hadassah organization, which later saved many from the nearing Holocaust, and there Arendt eventually became Secretary-General (1935–1939). Her work with Youth Aliyah also involved finding food, clothing, social workers and lawyers, but above all, fund raising. She made her first visit to British Mandate of Palestine in 1935, accompanying one of these groups and meeting with her cousin Ernst Fürst there. With the Nazi annexation of Austria and invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1938, Paris was flooded with refugees, and she became the special agent for the rescue of the children from those countries. In 1938, Arendt completed her biography of Rahel Varnhagen, although this was not published until 1957. In April 1939, following the devastating Kristallnacht pogrom of November 1938, Martha Beerwald realized her daughter would not return and made the decision to leave her husband and join Arendt in Paris. One stepdaughter had died and the other had moved to England, Martin Beerwald would not leave and she no longer had any close ties to Königsberg.
Heinrich Blücher
In 1936, Arendt met the self-educated Berlin poet and Marxist philosopher Heinrich Blücher (1899–1970) in Paris. Blücher had been a Spartacist and then a founding member of the KPD, but had been expelled due to his work in the (Conciliator faction). Although Arendt had rejoined Stern in 1933, their marriage existed in name only, with their having separated in Berlin. She fulfilled her social obligations and used the name Hannah Stern, but the relationship effectively ended when Stern, perhaps recognizing the danger better than she, emigrated to America with his parents in 1936. In 1937, Arendt was stripped of her German citizenship and she and Stern divorced. She had begun seeing more of Blücher, and eventually they began living together. It was Blücher's long political activism that began to move Arendt's thinking towards political action. Arendt and Blücher married on 16 January 1940, shortly after their divorces were finalized.
Internment and escape (1940–1941)
On 5 May 1940, in anticipation of the German invasion of France and the Low Countries that month, the military governor of Paris issued a proclamation ordering all "enemy aliens" between 17 and 55 who had come from Germany (predominantly Jews) to report separately for internment. The women were gathered together in the Vélodrome d'Hiver on 15 May, so Hannah Arendt's mother, being over 55, was allowed to stay in Paris. Arendt described the process of making refugees as "the new type of human being created by contemporary history ... put into concentration camps by their foes and into internment camps by their friends". The men, including Blücher, were sent to Camp Vernet in southern France, close to the Spanish border. Arendt and the other women were sent to Camp Gurs, to the west of Gurs, a week later. The camp had earlier been set up to accommodate refugees from Spain. On 22 June, France capitulated and signed the Compiègne armistice, dividing the country. Gurs was in the southern Vichy controlled section. Arendt describes how, "in the resulting chaos we succeeded in getting hold of liberation papers with which we were able to leave the camp", which she did with about 200 of the 7,000 women held there, about four weeks later. There was no Résistance then, but she managed to walk and hitchhike north to Montauban, near Toulouse where she knew she would find help.
Montauban had become an unofficial capital for former detainees, and Arendt's friend Lotta Sempell Klembort was staying there. Blücher's camp had been evacuated in the wake of the German advance, and he managed to escape from a forced march, making his way to Montauban, where the two of them led a fugitive life. Soon they were joined by Anne Mendelssohn and Arendt's mother. Escape from France was extremely difficult without official papers; their friend Walter Benjamin had taken his own life after being apprehended trying to escape to Spain. One of the best known illegal routes operated out of Marseilles, where Varian Fry, an American journalist, worked to raise funds, forge papers and bribe officials with Hiram Bingham, the American vice-consul there.
Fry and Bingham secured exit papers and American visas for thousands, and with help from Günther Stern, Arendt, her husband, and her mother managed to secure the requisite permits to travel by train in January 1941 through Spain to Lisbon, Portugal, where they rented a flat at Rua da Sociedade Farmacêutica, 6b. They eventually secured passage to New York in May on the Companhia Colonial de Navegação's S/S Guiné II. A few months later, Fry's operations were shut down and the borders sealed.
New York (1941–1975)
World War II (1941–1945)
Upon arriving in New York City on 22 May 1941 with very little, they received assistance from the Zionist Organization of America and the local German immigrant population, including Paul Tillich and neighbors from Königsberg. They rented rooms at 317 West 95th Street and Martha Arendt joined them there in June. There was an urgent need to acquire English, and it was decided that Hannah Arendt should spend two months with an American family in Winchester, Massachusetts, through Self-Help for Refugees, in July. She found the experience difficult but formulated her early appraisal of American life, (The fundamental contradiction of the country is political freedom coupled with social slavery).
On returning to New York, Arendt was anxious to resume writing and became active in the German-Jewish community, publishing her first article, "From the Dreyfus Affair to France Today" (in translation from her German) in July 1942. While she was working on this article, she was looking for employment and in November 1941 was hired by the New York German-language Jewish newspaper and from 1941 to 1945, she wrote a political column for it, covering anti-semitism, refugees and the need for a Jewish army. She also contributed to the Menorah Journal, a Jewish-American magazine, and other German émigré publications.
Arendt's first full-time salaried job came in 1944, when she became the director of research and Executive Director for the newly emerging Commission on European Jewish Cultural Reconstruction, a project of the Conference on Jewish Relations. She was recruited "because of her great interest in the Commission's activities, her previous experience as an administrator, and her connections with Germany". There she compiled lists of Jewish cultural assets in Germany and Nazi occupied Europe, to aid in their recovery after the war. Together with her husband, she lived at 370 Riverside Drive in New York City and at Kingston, New York, where Blücher taught at nearby Bard College for many years.
Post-war (1945–1975)
In July 1946, Arendt left her position at the Commission on European Jewish Cultural Reconstruction to become an editor at Schocken Books, which later published some of her works. In 1948, she became engaged with the campaign of Judah Magnes for a solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. She famously opposed the establishment of a Jewish nation state in Palestine and initially also opposed the establishment of a binational Arab-Jewish state. Instead, she advocated for the inclusion of Palestine into a multi-ethnic federation. Only in 1948 in an effort to forestall partition did she support a binational one-state solution. She returned to the Commission in August 1949. In her capacity as executive secretary, she traveled to Europe, where she worked in Germany, Britain and France (December 1949 to March 1950) to negotiate the return of archival material from German institutions, an experience she found frustrating, but providing regular field reports. In January 1952, she became secretary to the Board, although the work of the organization was winding down and she was simultaneously pursuing her own intellectual activities; she retained this position until her death. Arendt's work on cultural restitution provided further material for her study of totalitarianism.
In the 1950s Arendt wrote The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), The Human Condition (1958) and On Revolution (1963). Arendt began corresponding with the American author Mary McCarthy, six years her junior, in 1950 and they soon became lifelong friends. In 1950, Arendt also became a naturalized citizen of the United States. The same year, she started seeing Martin Heidegger again, and had what the American writer Adam Kirsch called a "quasi-romance", lasting for two years, with the man who had previously been her mentor, teacher, and lover. During this time, Arendt defended him against critics who noted his enthusiastic membership in the Nazi Party. She portrayed Heidegger as a naïve man swept up by forces beyond his control, and pointed out that Heidegger's philosophy had nothing to do with National Socialism. In 1961 she traveled to Jerusalem to report about Eichmann's trial for The New Yorker. This report strongly influenced her popular recognition, and raised much controversy (see below). Her work was recognized by many awards, including the Danish Sonning Prize in 1975 for Contributions to European Civilization.
A few years later she spoke in New York City on the legitimacy of violence as a political act: "Generally speaking, violence always rises out of impotence. It is the hope of those who have no power to find a substitute for it and this hope, I think, is in vain. Violence can destroy power, but it can never replace it."
Teaching
Arendt taught at many institutions of higher learning from 1951 onwards, but, preserving her independence, consistently refused tenure-track positions. She served as a visiting scholar at the University of Notre Dame; University of California, Berkeley; Princeton University (where she was the first woman to be appointed a full professor in 1959); and Northwestern University. She also taught at the University of Chicago from 1963 to 1967, where she was a member of the Committee on Social Thought; The New School in Manhattan where she taught as a university professor from 1967; Yale University, where she was a fellow; and the Center for Advanced Studies at Wesleyan University (1961–62, 1962–63). She was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1962 and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1964.
In 1974, Arendt was instrumental in the creation of Structured Liberal Education (SLE) at Stanford University. She wrote a letter to the president of Stanford to persuade the university to enact Stanford history professor Mark Mancall's vision of a residentially-based humanities program. At the time of her death, she was University Professor of Political Philosophy at the New School.
Relationships
In addition to her affair with Heidegger, and her two marriages, Arendt had close friendships. Since her death, her correspondence with many of them has been published, revealing much information about her thinking. To her friends she was both loyal and generous, dedicating several of her works to them. (friendship) she described as being one of "" (the active modes of being alive), and, to her, friendship was central both to her life and to the concept of politics. Hans Jonas described her as having a "genius for friendship", and, in her own words, "" (love of friendship).
Her philosophy-based friendships were male and European, while her later American friendships were more diverse, literary, and political. Although she became an American citizen in 1950, her cultural roots remained European, and her language remained her German "" (mother tongue). She surrounded herself with German-speaking émigrés, sometimes referred to as "The Tribe". To her, (real people) were "pariahs", not in the sense of outcasts, but in the sense of outsiders, unassimilated, with the virtue of "social nonconformism ... the sine qua non of intellectual achievement", a sentiment she shared with Jaspers.
Arendt always had a . In her teens she had formed a lifelong relationship with her , Anne Mendelssohn Weil ("Ännchen"). After her emigration to America, Hilde Fränkel, Paul Tillich's secretary and mistress, filled that role until her death in 1950. After the war, Arendt was able to return to Germany and renew her relationship with Weil, who made several visits to New York, especially after Blücher's death in 1970. Their last meeting was in Tegna, Switzerland in 1975, shortly before Arendt's death. With Fränkel's death, Mary McCarthy became Arendt's closest friend and confidante.
Final illness and death
Heinrich Blücher had survived a cerebral aneurysm in 1961 and remained unwell after 1963, sustaining a series of heart attacks. On 31 October 1970 he died of a massive heart attack. A devastated Arendt had previously told Mary McCarthy, "Life without him would be unthinkable". Arendt was also a heavy smoker and was frequently depicted with a cigarette in her hand. She sustained a near fatal heart attack while lecturing in Scotland in May 1974, and although she recovered, she remained in poor health afterwards, and continued to smoke. On the evening of 4 December 1975, shortly after her 69th birthday, she had a further heart attack in her apartment while entertaining friends, and was pronounced dead at the scene. Her ashes were buried alongside those of Blücher at Bard College, in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York in May 1976.
After Arendt's death the title page of the final part of The Life of the Mind ("Judging") was found in her typewriter, which she had just started, consisting of the title and two epigraphs. This has subsequently been reproduced (see image).
Work
Arendt wrote works on intellectual history as a philosopher, using events and actions to develop insights into contemporary totalitarian movements and the threat to human freedom presented by scientific abstraction and bourgeois morality. Intellectually, she was an independent thinker, a loner not a "joiner," separating herself from schools of thought or ideology. In addition to her major texts she published anthologies, including Between Past and Future (1961), Men in Dark Times (1968) and Crises of the Republic (1972). She also contributed to many publications, including The New York Review of Books, Commonweal, Dissent and The New Yorker. She is perhaps best known for her accounts of Adolf Eichmann and his trial, because of the intense controversy that it generated.
Political theory and philosophical system
While Arendt never developed a coherent political theory and her writing does not easily lend itself to categorization, the tradition of thought most closely identified with Arendt is that of civic republicanism, from Aristotle to Tocqueville. Her political concept is centered around active citizenship that emphasizes civic engagement and collective deliberation. She believed that no matter how bad, government could never succeed in extinguishing human freedom, despite holding that modern societies frequently retreat from democratic freedom with its inherent disorder for the relative comfort of administrative bureaucracy. Her political legacy is her strong defence of freedom in the face of an increasingly less than free world. She does not adhere to a single systematic philosophy, but rather spans a range of subjects covering totalitarianism, revolution, the nature of freedom and the faculties of thought and judgment.
While she is best known for her work on "dark times", the nature of totalitarianism and evil, she imbued this with a spark of hope and confidence in the nature of mankind:
That even in the darkest of times we have the right to expect some illumination, and that such illumination might well come less from theories and concepts than from the uncertain, flickering, and often weak light that some men and women, in their lives and their works, will kindle under almost all circumstances and shed over the time span that was given to them.
Love and Saint Augustine (1929)
Arendt's doctoral thesis, (Love and Saint Augustine), was published in 1929 and attracted critical interest, although an English translation did not appear until 1996. In this work, she combines approaches of both Heidegger and Jaspers. Arendt's interpretation of love in the work of Augustine deals with three concepts, love as craving or desire (Amor qua appetitus), love in the relationship between man (creatura) and creator (Creator – Creatura), and neighborly love (Dilectio proximi). Love as craving anticipates the future, while love for the Creator deals with the remembered past. Of the three, dilectio proximi or caritas is perceived as the most fundamental, to which the first two are oriented, which she treats under vita socialis (social life). The second of the Great Commandments (or Golden Rule) "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" uniting and transcending the former. Augustine's influence (and Jaspers' views on his work) persisted in Arendt's writings for the rest of her life.
Some of the leitmotifs of her canon were apparent, introducing the concept of (Natality) as a key condition of human existence and its role in the development of the individual, developing this further in The Human Condition (1958). She explained that the construct of natality was implied in her discussion of new beginnings and man's elation to the Creator as nova creatura. The centrality of the theme of birth and renewal is apparent in the constant reference to Augustinian thought, and specifically the innovative nature of birth, from this, her first work, to her last, The Life of the Mind.
Love is another connecting theme. In addition to the Augustinian loves expostulated in her dissertation, the phrase amor mundi (love of the world) is one often associated with Arendt and both permeates her work and was an absorbing passion throughout her work. She took the phrase from Augustine's homily on the first epistle of St John, "If love of the world dwell in us". Amor mundi was her original title for The Human Condition (1958), the subtitle of Elisabeth Young-Bruehl's biography (1982), the title of a collection of writing on faith in her work and is the newsletter of the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College.
The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951)
Arendt's first major book, The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), examined the roots of Stalinism and Nazism, structured as three essays, "Antisemitism", "Imperialism" and "Totalitarianism". Arendt argues that totalitarianism was a "novel form of government," that "differs essentially from other forms of political oppression known to us such as despotism, tyranny and dictatorship" in that it applied terror to subjugate mass populations rather than just political adversaries. Arendt also maintained that Jewry was not the operative factor in the Holocaust, but merely a convenient proxy because Nazism was about terror and consistency, not merely eradicating Jews. Arendt explained the tyranny using Kant's phrase "radical evil", by which their victims became "superfluous people". In later editions she enlarged the text to include her work on "Ideology and Terror: A novel form of government" and the Hungarian Revolution, but then published the latter separately.
Criticism of Origins has often focused on its portrayal of the two movements, Hitlerism and Stalinism, as equally tyrannical.
Rahel Varnhagen: The Life of a Jewess (1957)
Arendt's on Rahel Varnhagen was completed while she was living in exile in Paris in 1938, but not published till 1957, in the United Kingdom by East and West Library, part of the Leo Baeck Institute. This biography of a 19th century Jewish socialite, formed an important step in her analysis of Jewish history and the subjects of assimilation and emancipation, and introduced her treatment of the Jewish diaspora as either pariah or parvenu. In addition it represents an early version of her concept of history. The book is dedicated to Anne Mendelssohn, who first drew her attention to Varnhagen. Arendt's relation to Varnhagen permeates her subsequent work. Her account of Varnhagen's life was perceived during a time of the destruction of German-Jewish culture. It partially reflects Arendt's own view of herself as a German-Jewish woman driven out of her own culture into a stateless existence, leading to the description "biography as autobiography".
The Human Condition (1958)
In what is arguably her most influential work, The Human Condition (1958), Arendt differentiates political and social concepts, labor and work, and various forms of actions; she then explores the implications of those distinctions. Her theory of political action, corresponding to the existence of a public realm, is extensively developed in this work. Arendt argues that, while human life always evolves within societies, the social part of human nature, political life, has been intentionally realized in only a few societies as a space for individuals to achieve freedom. Conceptual categories, which attempt to bridge the gap between ontological and sociological structures, are sharply delineated. While Arendt relegates labor and work to the realm of the social, she favors the human condition of action as that which is both existential and aesthetic. Of human actions, Arendt identifies two that she considers essential. These are forgiving past wrong (or unfixing the fixed past) and promising future benefit (or fixing the unfixed future).
Arendt had first introduced the concept of "natality" in her Love and Saint Augustine (1929) and in The Human Condition starts to develop this further. In this, she departs from Heidegger's emphasis on mortality. Arendt's positive message is one of the "miracle of beginning", the continual arrival of the new to create action, that is to alter the state of affairs brought about by previous actions. "Men", she wrote "though they must die, are not born in order to die but in order to begin". She defined her use of "natality" as:
The miracle that saves the world, the realm of human affairs, from its normal, "natural" ruin is ultimately the fact of natality, in which the faculty of action is ontologically rooted. It is, in other words, the birth of new men and the new beginning, the action they are capable of by virtue of being born.
Natality would go on to become a central concept of her political theory, and also what Karin Fry considers its most optimistic one.
Between Past and Future (1954...1968)
Between Past and Future is an anthology of eight essays written between 1954 and 1968, dealing with a variety of different but connected philosophical subjects. These essays share the central idea that humans live between the past and the uncertain future. Man must permanently think to exist, but must learn thinking. Humans have resorted to tradition, but are abandoning respect for this tradition and culture. Arendt tries to find solutions to help humans think again, since modern philosophy has not succeeded in helping humans to live correctly.
On Revolution (1963)
Arendt's book On Revolution presents a comparison of two of the main revolutions of the 18th century, the American and French Revolutions. She goes against a common impression of both Marxist and leftist views when she argues that France, while well-studied and often emulated, was a disaster and that the largely ignored American Revolution was a success. The turning point in the French Revolution occurred when the leaders rejected their goals of freedom in order to focus on compassion for the masses. In the United States, the founders never betray the goal of . Arendt believes the revolutionary spirit of those men had been lost, however, and advocates a "council system" as an appropriate institution to regain that spirit.
Men in Dark Times (1968)
The anthology of essays Men in Dark Times presents intellectual biographies of some creative and moral figures of the 20th century, such as Walter Benjamin, Karl Jaspers, Rosa Luxemburg, Hermann Broch, Pope John XXIII, and Isak Dinesen.
Crises of the Republic (1972)
Crises of the Republic was the third of Arendt's anthologies, consisting of four essays, "Lying in Politics", "Civil Disobedience", "On Violence" and "Thoughts on Politics and Revolution". These related essays deal with contemporary American politics and the crises it faced in the 1960s and 1970s. "Lying in Politics" looks for an explanation behind the administration's deception regarding the Vietnam War, as revealed in the Pentagon Papers. "Civil Disobedience" examines the opposition movements, while the final "Thoughts on Politics and Revolution" is a commentary, in the form of an interview on the third essay, "On Violence". In "On Violence" Arendt substantiates that violence presupposes power which she understands as a property of groups. Thus, she breaks with the predominant conception of power as derived from violence.
When Hannah Arendt died in 1975, she left a major work incomplete, which was later published in 1978 as The Life of the Mind. Since then some of her minor works have been collected and published, mainly under the editorship of Jerome Kohn. In 1994 "Essays in Understanding" appeared as the first of a series covering the period 1930–1954, but attracted little attention. A new version of Origins of Totalitarianism appeared in 2004 followed by The Promise of Politics in 2005. The renewed interest in Arendtiana following these publications led to a second series of essays, Thinking Without a Banister: Essays in Understanding, 1953–1975, published in 2018. Other collections have dealt with her Jewish identity, including The Jew as Pariah (1978) and The Jewish Writings (2007), moral philosophy including Lectures on Kant's Political Philosophy (1982) and Responsibility and Judgment (2003), together with her literary works as Reflections on Literature and Culture (2007).
The Life of the Mind (1978)
Arendt's last major work, The Life of the Mind remained incomplete at the time of her death, but marked a return to moral philosophy. The outline of the book was based on her graduate level political philosophy class, Philosophy of the Mind, and her Gifford Lectures in Scotland. She conceived of the work as a trilogy based on the mental activities of thinking, willing, and judging. Her most recent work had focused on the first two, but went beyond this in terms of . Her discussion of thinking was based on Socrates and his notion of thinking as a solitary dialogue between oneself, leading her to novel concepts of conscience.
Arendt died suddenly five days after completing the second part, with the first page of Judging still in her typewriter, and McCarthy then edited the first two parts and provided some indication of the direction of the third. Arendt's exact intentions for the third part are unknown but she left several manuscripts (such as Thinking and Moral Considerations, Some Questions on Moral Philosophy and Lectures on Kant's Political Philosophy) relating to her thoughts on the mental faculty of Judging. These have since been published separately.
Collected works
After Hannah Arendt's death, her essays and notes have continued to be edited and published posthumously by friends and colleagues, including those that give some insight into the unfinished third part of The Life of the Mind. The Jew as Pariah: Jewish Identity and Politics in the Modern Age (1978), is a collection of 15 essays and letters from the period 1943–1966 on the situation of Jews in modern times, to try and throw some light on her views on the Jewish world, following the backlash to Eichmann, but proved to be equally polarizing. A further collection of her writings on being Jewish was published as The Jewish Writings (2007). Other work includes the collection of forty, largely fugitive, essays, addresses, and reviews entitled Essays in Understanding 1930–1954: Formation, Exile, and Totalitarianism (1994), that presaged her monumental The Origins of Totalitarianism, in particular On the Nature of Totalitarianism (1953) and The Concern with Politics in Contemporary European Philosophical Thought (1954). The remaining essays were published as Thinking Without a Banister: Essays in Understanding, 1953-1975 (2018). Her notebooks which form a series of memoirs, were published as in 2002.
Some further insight into her thinking is provided in the continuing posthumous publication of her correspondence with many of the important figures in her life, including Karl Jaspers (1992), Mary McCarthy (1995), Heinrich Blücher (1996), Martin Heidegger (2004), Alfred Kazin (2005), Walter Benjamin (2006), Gershom Scholem (2011) and Günther Stern (2016). Other correspondences that have been published include those with women friends such as Hilde Fränkel and Anne Mendelsohn Weil (see Relationships).
Arendt and the Eichmann trial (1961–1963)
In 1960, on hearing of Adolf Eichmann's capture and plans for his trial, Hannah Arendt contacted The New Yorker and offered to travel to Israel to cover it when it opened on 11 April 1961. Arendt was anxious to test her theories, developed in The Origins of Totalitarianism, and see how justice would be administered to the sort of man she had written about. Also she had witnessed "little of the Nazi regime directly" and this was an opportunity to witness an agent of totalitarianism first hand. The offer was accepted and she attended six weeks of the five-month trial with her young cousin from Israel, Edna Brocke. On arrival she was treated as a celebrity, meeting with the trial chief judge, Moshe Landau, and the foreign minister, Golda Meir. In her subsequent 1963 report, based on her observations and transcripts, and which evolved into the book Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, most famously, Arendt coined the phrase "the banality of evil" to describe the phenomenon of Eichmann. She, like others, was struck by his very ordinariness and the demeanor he exhibited of a small, slightly balding, bland bureaucrat, in contrast to the horrific crimes he stood accused of. He was, she wrote, "terribly and terrifyingly normal." She examined the question of whether evil is radical or simply a function of thoughtlessness, a tendency of ordinary people to obey orders and conform to mass opinion without a critical evaluation of the consequences of their actions. Arendt's argument was that Eichmann was not a monster, contrasting the immensity of his actions with the very ordinariness of the man himself. Eichmann, she stated, not only called himself a Zionist, having initially opposed the Jewish persecution, but also expected his captors to understand him. She pointed out that his actions were not driven by malice, but rather blind dedication to the regime and his need to belong, to be a "joiner."
On this, Arendt would later state "Going along with the rest and wanting to say 'we' were quite enough to make the greatest of all crimes possible". What Arendt observed during the trial was a bourgeois sales clerk who found a meaningful role for himself and a sense of importance in the Nazi movement. She noted that his addiction to clichés and use of bureaucratic morality clouded his ability to question his actions, "to think". This led her to set out her most famous, and most debated, dictum: "the lesson that this long course in human wickedness had taught us – the lesson of the fearsome, word-and-thought-defying banality of evil." By stating that Eichmann did not think, she did not imply lack of conscious awareness of his actions, but by "thinking" she implied reflective rationality, that was lacking.
Arendt was critical of the way the trial was conducted by the Israelis as a "show trial" with ulterior motives other than simply trying evidence and administering justice. Arendt was also critical of the way Israel depicted Eichmann's crimes as crimes against a nation state, rather than against humanity itself. She objected to the idea that a strong Israel was necessary to protect world Jewry being again placed where "they'll let themselves be slaughtered like sheep," recalling the biblical phrase. She portrayed the prosecutor, Attorney General Gideon Hausner, as employing hyperbolic rhetoric in the pursuit of Prime Minister Ben-Gurion's political agenda. Arendt, who believed she could maintain her focus on moral principles in the face of outrage, became increasingly frustrated with Hausner, describing his parade of survivors as having "no apparent bearing on the case". She was particularly concerned that Hausner repeatedly asked "why did you not rebel?" rather than question the role of the Jewish leaders. Arendt argued that some Jewish leaders associated with the Jewish Councils (Judenräte), notably M. C. Rumkowski, acted during the Holocaust, in cooperating with Eichmann "almost without exception" in the destruction of their own people. She had expressed concerns on this point prior to the trial. She described this as a moral catastrophe. While her argument was not to allocate blame, rather she mourned what she considered a moral failure of compromising the imperative that it is better to suffer wrong than to do wrong. She describes the cooperation of the Jewish leaders in terms of a disintegration of Jewish morality: "This role of the Jewish leaders in the destruction of their own people is undoubtedly the darkest chapter in the whole dark story". Widely misunderstood, this caused an even greater controversy and particularly animosity toward her in the Jewish community and in Israel. For Arendt, the Eichmann trial marked a turning point in her thinking in the final decade of her life, becoming increasingly preoccupied with moral philosophy.
Reception
Arendt's five-part series "Eichmann in Jerusalem" appeared in The New Yorker in February 1963 some nine months after Eichmann was hanged on 31 May 1962. By this time his trial was largely forgotten in the popular mind, superseded by intervening world events. However, no other account of either Eichmann or National Socialism has aroused so much controversy. Prior to its publication, Arendt was considered a brilliant humanistic original political thinker. However her mentor, Karl Jaspers, warned her about a possible adverse outcome, "The Eichmann trial will be no pleasure for you. I'm afraid it cannot go well". On publication, three controversies immediately occupied public attention: the concept of Eichmann as banal, her criticism of the role of Israel and her description of the role played by the Jewish people themselves.
Arendt was profoundly shocked by the response, writing to Karl Jaspers "People are resorting to any means to destroy my reputation ... They have spent weeks trying to find something in my past that they can hang on me". Now she was being called arrogant, heartless and ill-informed. She was accused of being duped by Eichmann, of being a "self-hating Jewess", and even an enemy of Israel. Her critics included The Anti-Defamation League and many other Jewish groups, editors of publications she was a contributor to, faculty at the universities she taught at and friends from all parts of her life. Her friend Gershom Scholem, a major scholar of Jewish mysticism, broke off relations with her, publishing their correspondence without her permission. Arendt was criticized by many Jewish public figures, who charged her with coldness and lack of sympathy for the victims of the Holocaust. Because of this lingering criticism neither this book nor any of her other works were translated into Hebrew until 1999. Arendt responded to the controversies in the book's Postscript.
Although Arendt complained that she was being criticized for telling the truth – "what a risky business to tell the truth on a factual level without theoretical and scholarly embroidery" – the criticism was largely directed to her theorizing on the nature of mankind and evil and that ordinary people were driven to commit the inexplicable not so much by hatred and ideology as ambition, and inability to empathize. Equally problematic was the suggestion that the victims deceived themselves and complied in their own destruction. Prior to Arendt's depiction of Eichmann, his popular image had been, as The New York Times put it "the most evil monster of humanity" and as a representative of "an atrocious crime, unparalleled in history", "the extermination of European Jews". As it turned out Arendt and others were correct in pointing out that Eichmann's characterization by the prosecution as the architect and chief technician of the Holocaust was not entirely credible.
While much has been made of Arendt's treatment of Eichmann, Ada Ushpiz, in her 2015 documentary Vita Activa: The Spirit of Hannah Arendt, placed it in a much broader context of the use of rationality to explain seemingly irrational historical events.
In an interview with Joachim Fest in 1964, Arendt was asked about Eichmann's defense that he had made Kant's principle of the duty of obedience his guiding principle all his life. Arendt replied that that was outrageous and that Eichmann was misusing Kant, by not considering the element of judgement required in assessing one's own actions – "" (No man has, according to Kant, the right to obey), she stated, paraphrasing Kant. The reference was to Kant's (Religion within the Bounds of Bare Reason 1793) in which he states:
(The saying, "We must hearken to God, rather than to man," signifies no more than this, viz. that should any earthly legislation enjoin something immediately contradictory of the moral law, obedience is not to be rendered)
Kant clearly defines a higher moral duty than rendering merely unto Caesar. Arendt herself had written in her book "This was outrageous, on the face of it, and also incomprehensible, since Kant's moral philosophy is so closely bound up with man's faculty of judgment, which rules out blind obedience." Arendt's reply to Fest was subsequently corrupted to read (No one has the right to obey), which has been widely reproduced, although it does encapsulate an aspect of her moral philosophy.
The phrase has become one of her iconic images, appearing on the wall of the house in which she was born (see Commemorations), among other places. A fascist bas-relief on the Palazzo degli Uffici Finanziari (1942), in the Piazza del Tribunale, Bolzano, Italy celebrating Mussolini, read Credere, Obbedire, Combattere (Believe, Obey, Combat). In 2017 it was altered to read Hannah Arendt's original words on obedience in the three official languages of the region.
The phrase has been appearing in other artistic work featuring political messages, such as the 2015 installation by Wilfried Gerstel, which has evoked the concept of resistance to dictatorship, as expressed in her essay "Personal Responsibility under Dictatorship" (1964).
List of selected publications
Bibliographies
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Books
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Full text on Internet Archive
Also available in English as: Full text on Internet Archive
400 pages. (see Rahel Varnhagen)
, (see also The Origins of Totalitarianism and Comparison of Nazism and Stalinism) Full text (1979 edition) on Internet Archive
(see also The Human Condition)
(see also Between Past and Future)
(see also On Revolution) Full text on Internet Archive
Full text: 1964 edition (see also Eichmann in Jerusalem)
Articles and essays
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Correspondence
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Posthumous
Online text at Pensar el Espacio Público
Online text also Internet Archive
Full text on Internet Archive
(original German transcription)
(also in )
, partly based on Was ist Politik? (1993), French translation as Qu'est-ce que la politique?
(fragments)
see also (extract)
at Pensar el Espacio Público
Collections
Miscellaneous
(Original video)
, reprinted as the Prologue in
Views
In 1961, while covering the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem, Arendt wrote a letter to Karl Jaspers that Adam Kirsch described as reflecting "pure racism" toward Sephardic Jews from the Middle East and Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe. She wrote:
On top, the judges, the best of German Jewry. Below them, the prosecuting attorneys, Galicians, but still Europeans. Everything is organized by a police force that gives me the creeps, speaks only Hebrew, and looks Arabic. Some downright brutal types among them. They would obey any order. And outside the doors, the oriental mob, as if one were in Istanbul or some other half-Asiatic country.
Although Arendt remained a Zionist both during and after World War II, she made it clear that she favored the creation of a Jewish-Arab federated state in British Mandate of Palestine (now Israel and the Palestinian territories), rather than a purely Jewish state. She believed that this was a way to address Jewish statelessness and to avoid the pitfalls of nationalism.
Accusations of racism
It was not just Arendt's analysis of the Eichmann trial that drew accusations of racism. In her 1958 essay in Dissent entitled Reflections on Little Rock she expressed opposition to desegregation following the 1957 Little Rock Integration Crisis in Arkansas. As she explains in the preface, for a long time the magazine was reluctant to print her contribution, so far did it appear to differ from the publication's liberal values. Eventually it was printed alongside critical responses. Later The New Yorker would express similar hesitancy over the Eichmann papers. So vehement was the response, that Arendt felt obliged to defend herself in a sequel. The debate over this essay has continued since. William Simmons devotes a whole section of his 2011 text on human rights (Human Rights Law and the Marginalized Other) to a critique of Arendt's position and in particular on Little Rock. While some critics feel she was fundamentally racist, many of those who have defended Arendt's position have pointed out that her concerns were for the welfare of the children, a position she maintained throughout her life. She felt that the children were being subjected to trauma to serve a broader political strategy of forcible integration. While over time Arendt conceded some ground to her critics, namely that she argued as an outsider, she remained committed to her central critique that children should not be thrust into the front-lines of geopolitical conflict.
Feminism
Embraced by feminists as a pioneer in a world dominated by men up to her time, Arendt did not call herself a feminist and would be very surprised to hear herself described as a feminist, remaining opposed to the social dimensions of Women's Liberation, urging independence, but always keeping in mind la petite différence! On becoming the first woman to be appointed a professor at Princeton in 1953, the media were much engaged in this exceptional achievement, but she never wanted to be seen as an exception, either as a woman (an "exception woman") or a Jew, stating emphatically "I am not disturbed at all about being a woman professor, because I am quite used to being a woman". In 1972, discussing women's liberation, she observed "the real question to ask is, what will we lose if we win?". She rather enjoyed what she saw as the privileges of being feminine as opposed to feminist, "Intensely feminine and therefore no feminist", stated Hans Jonas. Arendt considered some professions and positions unsuitable for women, particularly those involving leadership, telling Günter Gaus "It just doesn't look good when a woman gives orders". Despite these views, and having been labelled "anti-feminist", much space has been devoted to examining Arendt's place in relation to feminism. In the last years of her life, Virginia Held noted that Arendt's views evolved with the emergence of a new feminism in America in the 1970s to recognize the importance of the women's movement.
Critique of human rights
In The Origins of Totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt devotes a lengthy chapter (The Decline of the Nation-State and the End of the Rights of Man) to a critical analysis of human rights, in what has been described as "the most widely read essay on refugees ever published". Arendt is not skeptical of the notion of political rights in general, but instead defends a national or civil conception of rights. Human rights, or the Rights of Man as they were commonly called, are universal, inalienable, and possessed simply by virtue of being human. In contrast, civil rights are possessed by virtue of belonging to a political community, most commonly by being a citizen. Arendt's primary criticism of human rights is that they are ineffectual and illusory because their enforcement is in tension with national sovereignty. She argued that since there is no political authority above that of sovereign nations, state governments have little incentive to respect human rights when such policies conflict with national interests. This can be seen most clearly by examining the treatment of refugees and other stateless people. Since the refugee has no state to secure their civil rights, the only rights they have to fall back on are human rights. In this way Arendt uses the refugee as a test case for examining human rights in isolation from civil rights.
Arendt's analysis draws on the refugee upheavals in the first half of the 20th century along with her own experience as a refugee fleeing Nazi Germany. She argued that as state governments began to emphasize national identity as a prerequisite for full legal status, the number of minority resident aliens increased along with the number of stateless persons whom no state was willing to recognize legally. The two potential solutions to the refugee problem, repatriation and naturalization, both proved incapable of solving the crisis. Arendt argued that repatriation failed to solve the refugee crisis because no government was willing to take them in and claim them as their own. When refugees were forcibly deported to neighboring countries, such immigration was deemed illegal by the receiving country, and so failed to change the fundamental status of the migrants as stateless. Attempts at naturalizing and assimilating refugees also had little success. This failure was primarily the result of resistance from both state governments and the majority of citizens, since both tended to see the refugees as undesirables who threatened their national identity. Resistance to naturalization also came from the refugees themselves who resisted assimilation and attempted to maintain their own ethnic and national identities. Arendt contends that neither naturalization nor the tradition of asylum was capable of handling the sheer number of refugees. Instead of accepting some refugees with legal status, the state often responded by denaturalizing minorities who shared national or ethnic ties with stateless refugees.
Arendt argues that the consistent mistreatment of refugees, most of whom were placed in internment camps, is evidence against the existence of human rights. If the notion of human rights as universal and inalienable is to be taken seriously, the rights must be realizable given the features of the modern liberal state. She concluded "The Rights of Man, supposedly inalienable, proved to be unenforceable–even in countries whose constitutions were based upon them–whenever people appeared who were no longer citizens of any sovereign state". Arendt contends that they are not realizable because they are in tension with at least one feature of the liberal state—national sovereignty. One of the primary ways in which a nation exercises sovereignty is through control over national borders. State governments consistently grant their citizens free movement to traverse national borders. In contrast, the movement of refugees is often restricted in the name of national interests. This restriction presents a dilemma for liberalism because liberal theorists typically are committed to both human rights and the existence of sovereign nations.
In one of her most quoted passages, she puts forward the concept that human rights are little more than an abstraction:
The conception of human rights based upon the assumed existence of a human being as such broke down at the very moment when those who professed to believe in it were for the first time confronted with people who had indeed lost all other qualities and specific relationships - except that they were still human. The world found nothing sacred in the abstract nakedness of being human.
In popular culture
Several authors have written biographies that focus on the relationship between Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger. In 1999, the French feminist philosopher Catherine Clément wrote a novel, Martin and Hannah, speculating on the triangular relationship between Heidegger and the two women in his life, Arendt and Heidegger's wife Elfriede Petri. In addition to the relationships, the novel is a serious exploration of philosophical ideas, that centers on Arendt's last meeting with Heidegger in Freiburg in 1975. The scene is based on Elisabeth Young-Bruehl's description in Hannah Arendt: For Love of the World (1982), but reaches back to their childhoods, and Heidegger's role in encouraging the relationship between the two women. The novel explores Heidegger's embrace of Nazism as a proxy for that of Germany and, as in Arendt's treatment of Eichmann, the difficult relationship between collective guilt and personal responsibility. Clément also brings Hannah's other mentor and confidante, Karl Jaspers, into the matrix of relationships.
Arendt's life remains part of current culture and thought. In 2012 the German film, Hannah Arendt, directed by Margarethe von Trotta was released. The film, with Barbara Sukowa in the title role, depicted the controversy over Arendt's coverage of the Eichmann trial and subsequent book, in which she was widely misunderstood as defending Eichmann and blaming Jewish leaders for the Holocaust.
Legacy
Hannah Arendt is considered one of the most influential political philosophers of the 20th century. In 1998 Walter Laqueur stated "No twentieth-century philosopher and political thinker has at the present time as wide an echo", as philosopher, historian, sociologist and also journalist. Arendt's legacy has been described as a cult. In a 2016 review of a documentary about Arendt, the journalist A. O. Scott describes Hannah Arendt as "of unmatched range and rigor" as a thinker, although she is primarily known for the article Eichmann in Jerusalem that she wrote for The New Yorker, and in particular for the one phrase "the banality of evil".
She shunned publicity, never expecting, as she explained to Karl Jaspers in 1951, to see herself as a "cover girl" on the newsstands. In Germany, there are tours available of sites associated with her life.
The study of the life and work of Hannah Arendt, and of her political and philosophical theory is described as Arendtian. In her will she established the Hannah Arendt Bluecher Literary Trust as the custodian of her writings and photographs. Her personal library was deposited at Bard College at the Stevenson Library in 1976, and includes approximately 4,000 books, ephemera, and pamphlets from Arendt's last apartment as well as her desk (in McCarthy House). The college has begun archiving some of the collection digitally, which is available at The Hannah Arendt Collection. Most of her papers were deposited at the Library of Congress and her correspondence with her German friends and mentors, such as Heidegger, Blumenfeld and Jaspers, at the Deutsches Literaturarchiv in Marbach. The Library of Congress listed more than 50 books written about her in 1998, and that number has continued to grow, as have the number of scholarly articles, estimated as 1000 at that time.
Her life and work is recognized by the institutions most closely associated with her teaching, by the creation of Hannah Arendt Centers at both Bard (Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities) and The New School, both in New York State. In Germany, her contributions to understanding authoritarianism is recognised by the Hannah-Arendt-Institut für Totalitarismusforschung (Hannah Arendt Institute for the Research on Totalitarianism) in Dresden. There are Hannah Arendt Associations (Hannah Arendt Verein) such as the Hannah Arendt Verein für politisches Denken in Bremen that awards the annual Hannah-Arendt-Preis für politisches Denken (Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thinking) established in 1995. In Oldenburg, the Hannah Arendt Center at Carl von Ossietzky University was established in 1999, and holds a large collection of her work (Hannah Arendt Archiv), and administers the internet portal HannahArendt.net (A Journal for Political Thinking) as well as a monograph series, the Hannah Arendt-Studien. In Italy, the Hannah Arendt Center for Political Studies is situated at the University of Verona for Arendtian studies.
In 2017 a journal, Arendt Studies, was launched to publish articles related to the study of the life, work, and legacy of Hannah Arendt. Many places associated with her, have memorabilia of her on display, such as her student card at the University of Heidelberg (see image). 2006, the anniversary of her birth, saw commemorations of her work in conferences and celebrations around the world.
In 2015, the filmmaker Ada Ushpiz produced a documentary on Hannah Arendt, Vita Activa: The Spirit of Hannah Arendt. The New York Times designated it a New York Times critics pick. Of the many photographic portraits of Arendt, that taken in 1944 by Fred Stein (see image), whose work she greatly admired, has become iconic, and has been described as better known than the photographer himself, having appeared on a German postage stamp.(see image) Among organizations that have recognized Arendt's contributions to civilization and human rights, is the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
Contemporary interest
The rise of nativism, such as the election of Donald Trump in the United States, and concerns regarding an increasingly authoritarian style of governance has led to a surge of interest in Arendt and her writings, including radio broadcasts and writers, including Jeremy Adelman and Zoe Williams, to revisit Arendt's ideas to seek the extent to which they inform our understanding of such movements, which are being described as "Dark Times". At the same time Amazon reported that it had sold out of copies of The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951). Michiko Kakutani has addressed what she refers to as "the death of truth". In her 2018 book, The Death of Truth: Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump, she argues that the rise of totalitarianism has been founded on the violation of truth. She begins her book with an extensive quote from The Origins of Totalitarianism:
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist
Kakutani and others believed that Arendt's words speak not just events of a previous century but apply equally to the contemporary cultural landscape populated with fake news and lies. She also draws on Arendt's essay "Lying in Politics" from Crises in the Republic pointing to the lines:
The historian knows how vulnerable is the whole texture of facts in which we spend our daily life; it is always in danger of being perforated by single lies or torn to shreds by the organized lying of groups, nations, or classes, or denied and distorted, often carefully covered up by reams of falsehoods or simply allowed to fall into oblivion. Facts need testimony to be remembered and trustworthy witnesses to be established in order to find a secure dwelling place in the domain of human affairs
Arendt drew attention to the critical role that propaganda plays in gaslighting populations, Kakutani observes, citing the passage:
In an ever-changing, incomprehensible world the masses had reached the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, think that everything was possible and that nothing was true . ... The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness
It is also relevant that Arendt took a broader perspective on history than merely totalitarianism in the early 20th century, stating "the deliberate falsehood and the outright lie have been used as legitimate means to achieve political ends since the beginning of recorded history." Contemporary relevance is also reflected in the increasing use of the phrase, attributed to her, "No one has the right to obey" to reflect that actions result from choices, and hence judgement, and that we cannot disclaim responsibility for that which we have the power to act upon. In addition those centers established to promote Arendtian studies continue to seek solutions to a wide range of contemporary issues in her writing.
Arendt's teachings on obedience have also been linked to the controversial psychology experiments by Stanley Milgram, that implied that ordinary people can easily be induced to commit atrocities. Milgram himself drew attention to this in 1974, stating that he was testing the theory that Eichmann like others would merely follow orders, but unlike Milgram she argued that actions involve responsibility.
Arendt's theories on the political consequences of how nations deal with refugees has remained relevant and compelling. Arendt had observed first hand the displacement of large stateless and rightsless populations, treated not so much as people in need than as problems to solve, and in many cases, resist. She wrote about this in her 1943 essay "We refugees". Another Arendtian theme that finds an echo in contemporary society is her observation, inspired by Rilke, of the despair of not being heard, the futility of tragedy that finds no listener that can bring comfort, assurance and intervention. An example of this being gun violence in America and the resulting political inaction.
In Search of the Last Agora, an illustrated documentary film by Lebanese director Rayyan Dabbous about Hannah Arendt's 1958 work The Human Condition, was released in 2018 to mark the book's 50th anniversary. Screened at Bard College, the experimental film is described as finding "new meaning in the political theorist's conceptions of politics, technology and society in the 1950s", particularly in her prediction of abuses of phenomena unknown in Arendt's time, including social media, intense globalization, and obsessive celebrity culture.
Hannah Arendt's life and work continue to be commemorated in many different ways, including plaques (Gedenktafeln) indicating places she has lived. Public places and institutions bear her name, including schools. There is also a Hannah Arendt Day (Hannah Arendt Tag) in her birthplace. Objects named after her vary from asteroids to trains and she has been commemorated in stamps. Museums and foundations include her name.
Arendt Studies
Arendt Studies is a peer-reviewed academic journal that examines the life, work, and legacy of Hannah Arendt. Established in 2017, it publishes research articles and translations, including the first English translation of Hannah Arendt's "Nation-State and Democracy" (1963) Notable contributors include Andrew Benjamin, Peg Birmingham, Adriana Cavarero, Robert P. Crease, and Celso Lafer. Articles published in this journal are covered in the international Hannah Arendt Bibliographie. Arendt Studies is also included in JSTOR. The journal is edited by James Barry at Indiana University and published by the Philosophy Documentation Center.
Family tree
See also
American philosophy
German philosophy
Hannah Arendt Award
List of refugees
List of women philosophers
Women in philosophy
Notes
References
Bibliography
Articles (journals and proceedings)
(French translation)
, reprinted in
Rahel Varnhagen
Special issues and proceedings
Audiovisual
(see also Hannah Arendt)
Bernstein, Richard (2019): Podcast conversation: "Hannah Arendt is Alarmingly Relevant"
Books and monographs
"Ethics in many different voices" pp. 247–268, see also revised versions as and
(see also excerpt at
(see also Obedience to Authority)
Autobiography and biography
excerpt
(full text)
(updated by way of a second preface, pagination unchanged)
Critical works
excerpt, see also
text at Pensar el Espacio Público
Historical
, available in Latin as
facsimile text at Gallica, and reproduced on Wikisource
full text available on Internet Archive
Chapters and contributions
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
Guilherme, Alexandre and Morgan, W. John, 'Hannah Arendt (1906-1975)-dialogue as a public space'. Chapter 4 in Philosophy, Dialogue, and Education: Nine modern European philosophers, Routledge, London and New York, pp. 55–71, .
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
Dictionaries and encyclopedias
(Version: January 2019)
, in
Magazines
, reprinted in
, reprinted from
, reprinted in
Newspapers
Theses
(at Theses.fr)
Websites
- includes Brecht reading (english)
(English translation by A. S. Kline 2004)
Biography, genealogy and timelines
see also: Principal Dates in
, in
Institutions, locations and organizations
Hannah Arendt Center (Bard)
Maps
External images
Bibliographic notes
External links
1906 births
1975 deaths
20th-century American educators
20th-century American essayists
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[
"Jamaica competed at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, USSR. 18 competitors, 11 men and 7 women, took part in 15 events in 2 sports. The Russian alphabet and Japan's participation in the American-led boycott of the games placed it last before the host nation in the Parade of Nations.\n\nMedalists\n\nBronze\n Don Quarrie — Athletics, Men's 200 metres\n Merlene Ottey-Page — Athletics, Women's 200 metres\n David Weller — Cycling, Men's 1.000 metres Time Trial\n\nAthletics\n\nMen's 100 metres\nDon Quarrie\n Heat — 10.37\n Quarterfinals — 10.29\n Semifinals — 10.55 (→ did not advance)\n\nMen's 800 metres\nOwen Hamilton\n Heat — 1:49.3 \n Semifinals — 1:47.6 (→ did not advance)\n\nMen's 4x400 metres Relay\n Derrick Peynado, Colin Bradford, Ian Stapleton, and Bert Cameron\n Heat — did not finish (→ did not advance)\n\nMen's High Jump\nDesmond Morris\n Qualification — 2.10 m (→ did not advance)\n\nWomen's 100 metres\n Rosie Allwood\n Heat — 11.68\n Quarterfinals — 11.69 (→ did not advance)\n\n Lelieth Hodges\n Heat — 11.79 (→ did not advance)\n\nWomen's Long Jump\n Dorothy Scott\n Qualifying Round — 5.83 m (→ did not advance, 17th place)\n\nCycling\n\nTwo cyclists represented Jamaica in 1980. David Weller won bronze in the 1000m time trial event.\n\nIndividual road race\n Peter Aldridge\n\n1000m time trial\n David Weller\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nOfficial Olympic Reports\nInternational Olympic Committee results database\n\nNations at the 1980 Summer Olympics\n1980 Summer Olympics\n1980 in Jamaican sport",
"The Women's time trial of the 2013 UCI Road World Championships took place on 24 September 2013 in the region of Tuscany, Italy. The course of the race was 22.05 km from Parco delle Cascine to the Nelson Mandela Forum in Florence.\n\nEllen van Dijk from the Netherlands lived up her expectations as main favourite and won the time trial by dominating the race, beating perennial podium finisher Linda Villumsen and the surprising American Carmen Small.\n\nQualification\nAll National Federations may enter 4 riders of whom 2 may start. Besides of that, the outgoing World Champion and the continental champions may take part in addition to this number.\n\nParticipating nations\n\n32 nations participated in the women's time trial.\n\n Australia\n Austria\n Belgium\n Belarus\n Brazil\n Canada\n Colombia\n Croatia\n Denmark\n Spain\n Finland\n France\n Germany\n Italy\n Jordan\n Japan\n Latvia\n Lithuania\n Mexico\n Mongolia\n Netherlands\n Norway\n New Zealand\n Poland\n Russia\n Slovenia\n Switzerland\n Sweden\n Thailand\n Uganda\n Ukraine\n United States\n\nPreview\nEllen van Dijk, the Dutch National time trial Champion and the number 5 in the time trial at the 2012 UCI Road World Championships was the absolute favourite. She won many time trials in the 2013 women's road season. Of the 10 time trials she rode she won eight of them including the time trial at the prestigious Giro d'Italia Femminile and a week before the championships the Chrono Champenois – Trophée Européen. Van Dijk did not win two time trials, Emma Johansson from Sweden beat her in the Emakumeen Euskal Bira and Shara Gillow from Australia in the Thüringen Rundfahrt der Frauen.\n\nHanna Solovey, a Ukrainian track cyslint, won the time trial at the European Road Championships, the only race she rode before the World Championships. With an average speed of over 47 km/h it was the fastest average speed in a time trial of the season. Linda Villumsen, who was on the podium in the last four editions, and Evelyn Stevens were other podium candidates.\n\nSchedule\n\nSource\n\nRace\nDanish mountain biker Annika Langvad, who finished 6th in the end, was the early leader after setting a time of 28' 27\" and stayed in the hot seat for a long time. German Trixi Worrack, the first of the final 10 riders to finish, took over the lead after finishing in a time of 28' 19\". The main favourites started last and showed some fast intermediate times at the two intermediate time points after and . The Dutch Ellen van Dijk was the fastest from the start by riding 20 second faster than Linda Villumsen and 24 seconds faster than Carmen Small at the first time point. At the second split the gaps were 25 and 28 seconds respectively. Van Dijk lost one second to Villumsen in the final five kilometres but her margin was large enough to win her second world title of the championship after winning the team time trial with her squad on Sunday. For Villumsen it was her fifth consecutive time on the world championship time trial podium, but never won the rainbow jersey.\n\nMedalists reactions\n\n Ellen van Dijk \nVan Dijk lived up the expectations as main favourite and won the time trial by dominating the race.\n\"I'm super happy. It's difficult to describe how I feel now,\" she said after the race. \"I'm so excited because I dreamt so long of this one and the pressure was high to finish it off. It's great to have won. My intention was to start fast but I wanted to keep going a bit longer than I did. I maybe got over excited and a went too fast, but I maintained the time difference and so it was all ok.\" This race was the seasons' main goal for Van Dijk. She had been tested on her time trial position during the season and found a better position which she was able to maintain for almost half an hour. Van Dijk told she practiced the course twice in August at 5:00am to avoid traffic and made video recordings of the course to get to know the turns. She had watched the video over and over again until she could dream it.\n\n Linda Villumsen \nVillumsen rode the New Zealand National Time Trial Championships in January before backing off until June. She rode the Giro Rosa and won La Route de France and the time trial at the Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l'Ardèche before heading to World Championships. \"It was a different year for me but a good year.\" She said in an interview. \"I started late and with a different approach. I trained more at home and then did race after race. I enjoyed it. I was still there on the podium so I can thank my team for helping me this far.\" Villumsen, a former a Danish national road race champion, switched her nationality in 2010 from Danish to New Zealand. It was her fifth straight podium at the world championships in the time trial. She took her first bronze in 2009, 2010 and 2012, and won silver in her former home country in 2011. \"It's not bad luck.\" Villumsen said. \"If someone is better, they deserve to win. Ellen van Dijk has been riding very well all throughout the year, she has won all kinds of time trials, short ones, long ones. She really deserved to win. A place on the podium is still nice. I go close every year but something is missing. I'll try to work it out and go all the way to the top perhaps next year.\"\n\n Carmen Small \nSmall, American national time trial champions, considered retirement in 2012 before signing by . She won her first medal at the World Championships.\n“I’m pretty surprised, I didn’t expect to actually podium. I thought top five would be a really good ride for me. Jim Miller (USA Cycling vice president of athletics) and I met before and I really wanted Jim in the car talking to me because he was in the car at Nationals with me when I won. I just buried myself in the last 500 meters. I knew it was going to hurt, but it hurts for everyone. With 100 meters to go I wanted to quit, but I did one more click down on my gears and I just counted the pedal strokes to get me to the finish. This hurt worse than I’ve ever hurt before.\" She also felt sorry for Evelyn Stevens who missed a place on the podium by 0.04 seconds. \"It's a very bittersweet feeling for me. Evelyn is a good friend, a teammate and a fellow countryman. We've spent a lot of time together this season and it's hard to have been beaten and have it be so close\".\n\nFinal classification\nOf the 48 riders on the starting list, 3 riders did not start.\n\nDNS = did not start\n|}\n\nReferences\n\nWomen's time trial\nUCI Road World Championships – Women's time trial\n2013 in women's road cycling"
] |
[
"Hannah Arendt",
"Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil",
"Why was Eichmann in Jerusalem?",
"the 1961 Adolf Eichmann trial",
"How long did the trial last?",
"I don't know."
] |
C_f518fee4cca94e3b940e1e9703364de9_0
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What did you find interesting about this?
| 3 |
What did you find interesting about Adolf Eichmann's trial?
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Hannah Arendt
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In her reporting of the 1961 Adolf Eichmann trial for The New Yorker, which evolved into Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (1963), she coined the phrase "the banality of evil" to describe the phenomenon of Eichmann. She examined the question of whether evil is radical or simply a function of thoughtlessness, a tendency of ordinary people to obey orders and conform to mass opinion without a critical evaluation of the consequences of their actions. She was sharply critical of the way the trial was conducted in Israel. She also was critical of the way that some Jewish leaders, notably M. C. Rumkowski, acted during the Holocaust. This caused a considerable controversy and even animosity toward Arendt in the Jewish community. Her friend Gershom Scholem, a major scholar of Jewish mysticism, broke off relations with her. Arendt was criticized by many Jewish public figures, who charged her with coldness and lack of sympathy for the victims of the Holocaust. Because of this lingering criticism neither this book nor any of her other works were translated into Hebrew, until 1999. This controversy was answered by Hannah Arendt in the book's Postscript. The controversy began by calling attention to the conduct of the Jewish people during the years of the Final Solution, thus following up the question, first raised by the Israeli prosecutor, of whether the Jews could or should have defended themselves. I had dismissed that question as silly and cruel, since it testified to a fatal ignorance of the conditions at the time. It has now been discussed to exhaustion, and the most amazing conclusions have been drawn. The well-known historico-sociological construct of "ghetto mentality"... has been repeatedly dragged in to explain behavior which was not at all confined to the Jewish people and which therefore cannot be explained by specifically Jewish factors... This was the unexpected conclusion certain reviewers chose to draw from the "image" of a book, created by certain interest groups, in which I allegedly had claimed that the Jews had murdered themselves. Arendt ended the book by writing: Just as you Eichmann supported and carried out a policy of not wanting to share the earth with the Jewish people and the people of a number of other nations--as though you and your superiors had any right to determine who should and who should not inhabit the world--we find that no one, that is, no member of the human race, can be expected to want to share the earth with you. This is the reason, and the only reason, you must hang. CANNOTANSWER
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She also was critical of the way that some Jewish leaders, notably M. C. Rumkowski, acted during the Holocaust.
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Hannah Arendt (, , ; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a political philosopher, author, and Holocaust survivor. Her contributions influenced 20th and 21st century political theorists.
Arendt was born in Linden, a district of Hanover, in 1906, to a Jewish family. At the age of three, her family moved to Königsberg, the capital of East Prussia, so that her father's syphilis could be treated. Paul Arendt had contracted the disease in his youth, and it was thought to be in remission when Arendt was born. He died when she was seven. Arendt was raised in a politically progressive, secular family. Her mother was an ardent supporter of the Social Democrats. After completing her secondary education in Berlin, she studied at the University of Marburg under Martin Heidegger, with whom she had a brief affair. She obtained her doctorate in philosophy writing on Love and Saint Augustine at the University of Heidelberg in 1929 under the direction of the existentialist philosopher Karl Jaspers.
Hannah Arendt married Günther Stern in 1929, but soon began to encounter increasing anti-Jewish discrimination in 1930s Nazi Germany. In 1933, the year Adolf Hitler came to power, Arendt was arrested and briefly imprisoned by the Gestapo for performing illegal research into antisemitism in Nazi Germany. On release, she fled Germany, living in Czechoslovakia and Switzerland before settling in Paris. There she worked for Youth Aliyah, assisting young Jews to emigrate to the British Mandate of Palestine. Divorcing Stern in 1937, she married Heinrich Blücher in 1940, but when Germany invaded France in 1940 she was detained by the French as an alien, despite having been stripped of her German citizenship in 1937. She escaped and made her way to the United States in 1941 via Portugal. She settled in New York, which remained her principal residence for the rest of her life. She became a writer and editor and worked for the Jewish Cultural Reconstruction, becoming an American citizen in 1950. With the publication of The Origins of Totalitarianism in 1951, her reputation as a thinker and writer was established and a series of works followed. These included the books The Human Condition in 1958, as well as Eichmann in Jerusalem and On Revolution in 1963. She taught at many American universities, while declining tenure-track appointments. She died suddenly of a heart attack in 1975, at the age of 69, leaving her last work, The Life of the Mind, unfinished.
Her works cover a broad range of topics, but she is best known for those dealing with the nature of power and evil, as well as politics, direct democracy, authority, and totalitarianism. In the popular mind she is best remembered for the controversy surrounding the trial of Adolf Eichmann, her attempt to explain how ordinary people become actors in totalitarian systems, which was considered by some an apologia, and for the phrase "the banality of evil". She is commemorated by institutions and journals devoted to her thinking, the Hannah Arendt Prize for political thinking, and on stamps, street names and schools, amongst other things.
Early life and education (1906–1929)
Family
Hannah Arendt was born Johanna Arendt in 1906 into a comfortable educated secular family of German Jews in Linden, Prussia (now a part of Hanover), in Wilhelmine Germany. Her family were merchants of Russian extraction from Königsberg, the East Prussian capital. Arendt's grandparents were members of the Reform Jewish community there. Hannah's paternal grandfather, (1843–1913), was a prominent businessman, local politician, one of the leaders of the Königsberg Jewish community and a member of the Centralverein deutscher Staatsbürger jüdischen Glaubens (Central Organization for German Citizens of the Jewish Faith). Like other members of the Centralverein he primarily saw himself as a German and disapproved of the activities of Zionists, such as the young Kurt Blumenfeld (1884–1963), who was a frequent visitor to their home and would later become one of Hannah's mentors. Of Max Arendt's children, Paul Arendt (1873–1913) was an engineer and Henriette Arendt (1874–1922) was a policewoman who became a social worker.
Hannah was the only child of Paul and Martha Arendt (née Cohn) (1874–1948), who were married on 11 April 1902. She was named after her paternal grandmother. The Cohns had originally come to Königsberg from nearby Russian territory (now Lithuania) in 1852, as refugees from anti-Semitism, and made their living as tea importers; J. N. Cohn & Company became the largest business in the city. The Arendts had reached Germany from Russia a century earlier. Hannah's extended family contained many more women, who shared the loss of husbands and children. Hannah's parents were more educated and politically more to the left than her grandparents. The young couple became members of the Social Democrats, rather than the German Democratic Party that most of their contemporaries supported. Paul Arendt was educated at the Albertina (University of Königsberg). Though he worked as an engineer, he prided himself on his love of Classics. He collected a large library, in which Hannah immersed herself. Martha Cohn, a musician, had studied for three years in Paris.
In the first four years of their marriage, the Arendts lived in Berlin, where they were supporters of the socialist journal . At the time of Hannah's birth, Paul Arendt was employed by an electrical engineering firm in Linden, and they lived in a frame house on the market square (Marktplatz). The Arendt family moved back to Königsberg in 1909, because of Paul's deteriorating health. Hannah's father suffered from a prolonged illness with syphilis and had to be institutionalized in the Königsberg psychiatric hospital in 1911. For years afterward, Hannah had to have annual WR tests for congenital syphilis. He died on 30 October 1913, when Hannah was seven, leaving her mother to raise her. They lived at Hannah's grandfather's house at Tiergartenstraße 6, a leafy residential street adjacent to the Königsberg Tiergarten, in the predominantly Jewish neighborhood of Hufen. Although Hannah's parents were non-religious, they were happy to allow Max Arendt to take Hannah to the Reform synagogue. She also received religious instruction from the rabbi, Hermann Vogelstein, who would come to her school for that purpose. At the time the young Hannah confided that she wished to marry him when she grew up. Her family moved in circles that included many intellectuals and professionals. It was a social circle of high standards and ideals. As she recalled it:
My early intellectual formation occurred in an atmosphere where nobody paid much attention to moral questions; we were brought up under the assumption: , moral conduct is a matter of course.
This time was a particularly favorable period for the Jewish community in Königsberg, an important center of the Haskalah (enlightenment). Arendt's family was thoroughly assimilated ("Germanized") and she later remembered: "With us from Germany, the word 'assimilation' received a 'deep' philosophical meaning. You can hardly realize how serious we were about it." Despite these conditions, the Jewish population lacked full citizenship rights, and although antisemitism was not overt, it was not absent. Arendt came to define her Jewish identity negatively after encountering overt antisemitism as an adult. She came to greatly identify with Rahel Varnhagen (1771–1833), the Prussian socialite who desperately wanted to assimilate into German culture, only to be rejected because she was born Jewish. Arendt later said of Varnhagen that she was "my very closest woman friend, unfortunately dead a hundred years now." Varnhagen would later become the subject of a biography by Hannah.
In the last two years of the First World War, Hannah's mother organized social democratic discussion groups and became a follower of Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919) as socialist uprisings broke out across Germany. Luxemburg's writings would later influence Hannah's political thinking. In 1920, Martha Cohn married Martin Beerwald (1869–1941), an ironmonger and widower of four years, and they moved to his home, two blocks away, at Busoldstrasse 6, providing Hannah with improved social and financial security. Hannah was 14 at the time and acquired two older stepsisters, Clara (1901–1932) and Eva (1902–1988).
Education
Early education
Hannah Arendt's mother, who considered herself progressive, sought to raise her daughter along strict Goethean lines, which amongst other things, involved the reading of the complete works of Goethe, often summed up in the phrase from Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship (1796) as – (And just what is your duty? The demands of the day). Goethe, at the time, was considered the essential mentor of (education), the conscious formation of mind, body and spirit. The key elements were considered to be self-discipline, constructive channeling of passion, renunciation and responsibility for others. Hannah's developmental progress () was carefully documented by her mother in a book, which she titled (Our Child) and measured her against the benchmark of what was then considered ("normal development").
Arendt attended kindergarten from 1910 where her precocity impressed her teachers and enrolled in the Szittnich School, Königsberg (Hufen-Oberlyzeum), on Bahnstraße in August 1913, but her studies there were interrupted by the outbreak of World War I, forcing the family to temporarily flee to Berlin on 23 August 1914, in the face of the advancing Russian army. There they stayed with her mother's younger sister, Margarethe Fürst (1884–1942), and her three children, while Hannah attended a girl's school in Berlin-Charlottenburg. After ten weeks, when Königsberg appeared to be no longer threatened, the Arendts were able to return, where they spent the remaining war years at her grandfather's house. Arendt's precocity continued, learning ancient Greek as a child, writing poetry in her teenage years, and starting both a philosophy club and Greek Graecae at her school. She was fiercely independent in her schooling and a voracious reader, absorbing French and German literature and poetry (committing large amounts to heart) and philosophy. By the age of 14, she had read Kierkegaard, Jaspers' and Kant's (Critique of Pure Reason). Kant, whose home town was also Königsberg, was an important influence on her thinking, and it was Kant who had written about Königsberg that "such a town is the right place for gaining knowledge concerning men and the world even without travelling".
Arendt attended the Königin-Luise-Schule for her secondary education, a girls' Gymnasium on Landhofmeisterstraße. Most of her friends, while at school, were gifted children of Jewish professional families, generally older than she and went on to university education. Among them was Ernst Grumach (1902–1967), who introduced her to his girlfriend, Anne Mendelssohn, who would become a lifelong friend. When Anne moved away, Ernst became Arendt's first romantic relationship. Like Arendt, Anne would go on to become a philosopher, obtaining her doctorate at Hamburg, while Ernst became a philologist.
Higher education (1922–1929)
Berlin (1922–1924)
Arendt's education at the Luise-Schule ended in 1922 when she was expelled at the age of 15 for leading a boycott of a teacher who insulted her. Instead, her mother arranged for her to go to Berlin to be with Social Democrat family friends. In Berlin she lived in a student residence and audited courses of her choosing at the University of Berlin (1922–1923), including classics and Christian theology under Romano Guardini. This enabled her to successfully sit the entrance examination () for the University of Marburg, where Ernst Grumach had studied under Martin Heidegger, who had been appointed a professor there in 1922. For the examination, her mother engaged a private tutor, while her aunt Frieda Arendt, a teacher, also helped her, and Frieda's husband Ernst Aron provided financial assistance for her to attend university.
Marburg (1924–1926)
In Berlin, Guardini had introduced her to Kierkegaard, and she resolved to make theology her major field. At Marburg (1924–1926) she studied classical languages, German literature, Protestant theology with Rudolf Bultmann and philosophy with Nicolai Hartmann and Heidegger. Arendt arrived at Marburg that fall in the middle of an intellectual revolution led by the young Heidegger, of whom she was in awe, describing him as "the hidden king [who] reigned in the realm of thinking".
Heidegger had broken away from the intellectual movement started by Edmund Husserl, whose assistant he had been at University of Freiburg before coming to Marburg. This was a period when Heidegger was preparing his lectures on Kant, which he would develop in the second part of his (Being and Time) in 1927 and (1929). Although Heidegger had dedicated the first edition of Being and Time to Edmund Husserl, Husserl gave the book a poor review, and in the second edition Heidegger removed that dedication.
In his classes he and his students struggled with the meaning of "Being" as they worked together through Aristotle's concept of ἀλήθεια (truth) and Plato's Sophist. Many years later Arendt would describe these classes, how people came to Marburg to hear him, and how, above all he imparted the idea of ("thinking") as activity, which she qualified as "passionate thinking".
Arendt was restless. To date her studies had not been either emotionally or intellectually satisfying. She was ready for passion, finishing her poem (Consolation, 1923) with the lines:
(The hours run downThe days pass on.One achievement remains:Merely being alive)
Her encounter with Heidegger represented a dramatic departure from the past. He was handsome, a genius, romantic, and taught that thinking and "aliveness" were but one. The 17-year-old Arendt then began a long romantic relationship with the 35-year-old Heidegger, who was married with two young sons. Arendt later faced criticism for this because of Heidegger's support for the Nazi Party after his election as rector at the University of Freiburg in 1933. Nevertheless, he remained one of the most profound influences on her thinking, and he would later relate that she had been the inspiration for his work on passionate thinking in those days. They agreed to keep the details of the relationship a secret, preserving their letters but keeping them unavailable. The relationship was not known until Elisabeth Young-Bruehl's biography of Arendt appeared in 1982. At the time of publishing, Arendt and Heidegger were deceased and Heidegger's wife, Elfride (1893–1992), was still alive. The affair was not well known until 1995, when Elzbieta Ettinger gained access to the sealed correspondence and published a controversial account that was used by Arendt's detractors to cast doubt on her integrity. That account, which caused a scandal, was subsequently refuted.
At Marburg, Arendt lived at Lutherstraße 4. Among her friends there was Hans Jonas, her only Jewish classmate. Another fellow student of Heidegger's was Jonas' friend, the Jewish philosopher Gunther Siegmund Stern (1902–1992)son of the noted psychologist Ludwig Wilhelm Sternwho would later become her first husband. Stern had completed his doctoral dissertation with Edmund Husserl at Freiburg, and was now working on his Habilitation thesis with Heidegger, but Arendt, involved with Heidegger, took little notice of him at the time.
Die Schatten (1925)
In the summer of 1925, while home at Königsberg, Arendt composed her sole autobiographical piece, (The Shadows), a "description of herself" addressed to Heidegger. In this essay, full of anguish and Heideggerian language, she reveals her insecurities relating to her femininity and Jewishness, writing abstractly in the third person. She describes a state of "" (alienation), on the one hand an abrupt loss of youth and innocence, on the other an "" (strangeness), the finding of the remarkable in the banal. In her detailing of the pain of her childhood and longing for protection she shows her vulnerabilities and how her love for Heidegger had released her and once again filled her world with color and mystery. She refers to her relationship with Heidegger as "" ("an unbending devotion to a unique man"). This period of intense introspection was also one of the most productive of her poetic output, such as (Lost in Self-Contemplation).
Freiburg and Heidelberg (1926–1929)
After a year at Marburg, Arendt spent a semester at Freiburg, attending the lectures of Husserl. In 1926 she moved to the University of Heidelberg, where in 1929, she completed her dissertation under the other leading figure of the then new and revolutionary Existenzphilosophie, Karl Jaspers (1883–1969), a friend of Heidegger's. Her thesis was entitled Der Liebesbegriff bei Augustin: Versuch einer philosophischen Interpretation (On the concept of love in the thought of Saint Augustine: Attempt at a philosophical interpretation). She remained a lifelong friend of Jaspers and his wife, Gertrud Mayer (1879–1974), developing a deep intellectual relationship with him. At Heidelberg, her circle of friends included Hans Jonas, who had also moved from Marburg to study Augustine, working on his (1930), and also a group of three young philosophers: Karl Frankenstein, Erich Neumann and Erwin Loewenson. Other friends and students of Jaspers were the linguists Benno von Wiese and Hugo Friedrich (seen with Hannah, below), with whom she attended lectures by Friedrich Gundolf at Jaspers' suggestion and who kindled in her an interest in German Romanticism. She also became reacquainted, at a lecture, with Kurt Blumenfeld, who introduced her to Jewish politics. At Heidelberg, she lived in the old town () near the castle, at Schlossberg 16. The house was demolished in the 1960s, but the one remaining wall bears a plaque commemorating her time there (see image).
On completing her dissertation, Arendt turned to her , initially on German Romanticism, and thereafter an academic teaching career. However 1929 was also the year of the Depression and the end of the golden years () of the Weimar Republic, which was to become increasingly unstable over its remaining four years. Arendt, as a Jew, had little if any chance of obtaining an academic appointment in Germany. Nevertheless, she completed most of the work before she was forced to leave Germany.
Career
Germany (1929–1933)
Berlin-Potsdam (1929)
In 1929, Arendt met Günther Stern again, this time in Berlin at a New Year's masked ball, and began a relationship with him. Within a month she had moved in with him in a one-room studio, shared with a dancing school in Berlin-Halensee. Then they moved to Merkurstraße 3, Nowawes, in Potsdam and were married there on 26 September. They had much in common and the marriage was welcomed by both sets of parents. In the summer, Hannah Arendt successfully applied to the for a grant to support her Habilitation, which was supported by Heidegger and Jaspers among others, and in the meantime, with Günther's help was working on revisions to get her dissertation published.
Wanderjahre (1929–1931)
After Arendt and Günther were married, they began two years of what Christian Dries refers to as the (years of wandering). They had the ultimately fruitless aim of having Günther accepted for an academic appointment. They lived for a while in Drewitz, a southern neighborhood of Potsdam, before moving to Heidelberg, where they lived with the Jaspers. After Heidelberg, where Günther completed the first draft of his thesis, the Sterns then moved to Frankfurt where Günther hoped to finish it. There, Arendt participated in the university's intellectual life, attending lectures by Karl Mannheim and Paul Tillich, among others. The Sterns collaborated intellectually, writing an article together on Rilke's (1923) and both reviewing Mannheim's (1929). The latter was Arendt's sole contribution in sociology. In both her treatment of Mannheim and Rilke, Arendt found love to be a transcendent principle "Because there is no true transcendence in this ordered world, one also cannot exceed the world, but only succeed to higher ranks". In Rilke she saw a latter day secular Augustine, describing the as the (ultimate form of religious document). Later, she would discover the limitations of transcendent love in explaining the historical events that pushed her into political action. Another theme from Rilke that she would develop was the despair of not being heard. Reflecting on Rilke's opening lines, which she placed as an epigram at the beginning of their essay
(Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angel's hierarchies?)
Arendt and Stern begin by stating
The paradoxical, ambiguous, and desperate situation from which standpoint the Duino Elegies may alone be understood has two characteristics: the absence of an echo and the knowledge of futility. The conscious renunciation of the demand to be heard, the despair at not being able to be heard, and finally the need to speak even without an answer–these are the real reasons for the darkness, asperity, and tension of the style in which poetry indicates its own possibilities and its will to form
Arendt also published an article on Augustine (354–430) in the Frankfurter Zeitung to mark the 1500th anniversary of his death. She saw this article as forming a bridge between her treatment of Augustine in her dissertation and her subsequent work on Romanticism. When it became evident Stern would not succeed in obtaining an appointment, the Sterns returned to Berlin in 1931.
Return to Berlin (1931–1933)
In Berlin, where the couple initially lived in the predominantly Jewish area of (Bavarian Quarter or "Jewish Switzerland") in Schöneberg, Stern obtained a position as a staff-writer for the cultural supplement of the Berliner Börsen-Courier, edited by Herbert Ihering, with the help of Bertold Brecht. There he started writing using the nom-de-plume of Günther Anders, i.e. "Günther Other". Arendt assisted Günther with his work, but the shadow of Heidegger hung over their relationship. While Günther was working on his , Arendt had abandoned the original subject of German Romanticism for her thesis in 1930, and turned instead to Rahel Varnhagen and the question of assimilation. Anne Mendelssohn had accidentally acquired a copy of Varnhagen's correspondence and excitedly introduced her to Arendt, donating her collection to her. A little later, Arendt's own work on Romanticism led her to a study of Jewish salons and eventually to those of Varnhagen. In Rahel, she found qualities she felt reflected her own, particularly those of sensibility and vulnerability. Rahel, like Hannah, found her destiny in her Jewishness. Hannah Arendt would come to call Rahel Varnhagen's discovery of living with her destiny as being a "conscious pariah". This was a personal trait that Arendt had recognized in herself, although she did not embrace the term until later.
Back in Berlin, Arendt found herself becoming more involved in politics and started studying political theory, and reading Marx and Trotsky, while developing contacts at the Deutsche Hochschule für Politik. Despite the political leanings of her mother and husband she never saw herself as a political leftist, justifying her activism as being through her Jewishness. Her increasing interest in Jewish politics and her examination of assimilation in her study of Varnhagen led her to publish her first article on Judaism, ("The Enlightenment and the Jewish Question", 1932). Blumenfeld had introduced her to the "Jewish question", which would be his lifelong concern. Meanwhile, her views on German Romanticism were evolving. She wrote a review of Hans Weil's (The Origin of German Educational Principle, 1930), which dealt with the emergence of (educational elite) in the time of Rahel Varnhagen. At the same time she began to be occupied by Max Weber's description of the status of Jewish people within a state as (pariah people) in his Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft (1922), while borrowing Bernard Lazare's term paria conscient (conscious pariah) with which she identified. In both these articles she advanced the views of Johann Herder. Another interest of hers at the time was the status of women, resulting in her 1932 review of Alice Rühle-Gerstel's book (Contemporary Women's Issues: A psychological balance sheet). Although not a supporter of the women's movement, the review was sympathetic. At least in terms of the status of women at that time, she was skeptical of the movement's ability to achieve political change. She was also critical of the movement, because it was a women's movement, rather than contributing with men to a political movement, abstract rather than striving for concrete goals. In this manner she echoed Rosa Luxemburg. Like Luxemburg, she would later criticize Jewish movements for the same reason. Arendt consistently prioritized political over social questions.
By 1932, faced with a deteriorating political situation, Arendt was deeply troubled by reports that Heidegger was speaking at National Socialist meetings. She wrote, asking him to deny that he was attracted to National Socialism. Heidegger replied that he did not seek to deny the rumors (which were true), and merely assured her that his feelings for her were unchanged. As a Jew in Nazi Germany, Arendt was prevented from making a living and discriminated against and confided to Anne Mendelssohn that emigration was probably inevitable. Jaspers had tried to persuade her to consider herself as a German first, a position she distanced herself from, pointing out that she was a Jew and that "" (For me, Germany is the mother tongue, philosophy and poetry), rather than her identity. This position puzzled Jaspers, replying "It is strange to me that as a Jew you want to be different from the Germans".
By 1933, life for the Jewish population in Germany was becoming precarious. Adolf Hitler became (Chancellor) in January, and the Reichstag was burned down () the following month. This led to the suspension of civil liberties, with attacks on the left, and, in particular, members of the Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (German Communist Party: KPD). Stern, who had communist associations, fled to Paris, but Arendt stayed on to become an activist. Knowing her time was limited, she used the apartment at Opitzstraße 6 in Berlin-Steglitz that she had occupied with Stern since 1932 as an underground railway way-station for fugitives. Her rescue operation there is now recognized with a plaque on the wall.
Arendt had already positioned herself as a critic of the rising Nazi Party in 1932 by publishing "Adam-Müller-Renaissance?" a critique of the appropriation of the life of Adam Müller to support right wing ideology. The beginnings of anti-Jewish laws and boycott came in the spring of 1933. Confronted with systemic antisemitism, Arendt adopted the motiv "If one is attacked as a Jew one must defend oneself as a Jew. Not as a German, not as a world citizen, not as an upholder of the Rights of Man." This was Arendt's introduction of the concept of Jew as Pariah that would occupy her for the rest of her life in her Jewish writings. She took a public position by publishing part of her largely completed biography of Rahel Varnhagen as "" ("Original Assimilation: An Epilogue to the One Hundredth Anniversary of Rahel Varnhagen's Death") in the on 7 March 1933 and a little later also in . In the article she argues that the age of assimilation that began with Varnhagen's generation had come to an end with an official state policy of antisemitism. She opened with the declaration:
Today in Germany it seems Jewish assimilation must declare its bankruptcy. The general social antisemitism and its official legitimation affects in the first instance assimilated Jews, who can no longer protect themselves through baptism or by emphasizing their differences from Eastern Judaism.
As a Jew, Arendt was anxious to inform the world of what was happening to her people in 1930–1933. She surrounded herself with Zionist activists, including Kurt Blumenfeld, Martin Buber and Salman Schocken, and started to research antisemitism. Arendt had access to the Prussian State Library for her work on Varnhagen. Blumenfeld's Zionistische Vereinigung für Deutschland (Zionist Federation of Germany) persuaded her to use this access to obtain evidence of the extent of antisemitism, for a planned speech to the Zionist Congress in Prague. This research was illegal at the time. Her actions led to her being denounced by a librarian for anti-state propaganda, resulting in the arrest of both Arendt and her mother by the Gestapo. They served eight days in prison but her notebooks were in code and could not be deciphered, and she was released by a young, sympathetic arresting officer to await trial.
Exile: France (1933–1941)
Paris (1933–1940)
On release, realizing the danger she was now in, Arendt and her mother fled Germany following the established escape route over the Erzgebirge Mountains by night into Czechoslovakia and on to Prague and then by train to Geneva. In Geneva, she made a conscious decision to commit herself to "the Jewish cause". She obtained work with a friend of her mother's at the League of Nations' Jewish Agency for Palestine, distributing visas and writing speeches.
From Geneva the Arendts traveled to Paris in the autumn, where she was reunited with Stern, joining a stream of refugees. While Arendt had left Germany without papers, her mother had travel documents and returned to Königsberg and her husband. In Paris, she befriended Stern's cousin, the Marxist literary critic and philosopher Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) and also the Jewish French philosopher Raymond Aron (1905–1983).
Arendt was now an émigrée, an exile, stateless, without papers, and had turned her back on the Germany and Germans of the . Her legal status was precarious and she was coping with a foreign language and culture, all of which took its toll on her mentally and physically. In 1934 she started working for the Zionist-funded outreach program Agriculture et Artisanat, giving lectures, and organizing clothing, documents, medications and education for Jewish youth seeking to emigrate to the British Mandate of Palestine, mainly as agricultural workers. Initially she was employed as a secretary, and then office manager. To improve her skills she studied French, Hebrew and Yiddish. In this way she was able to support herself and her husband. When the organization closed in 1935, her work for Blumenfeld and the Zionists in Germany brought her into contact with the wealthy philanthropist Baroness Germaine Alice de Rothschild (born Halphen, 1884–1975), wife of Édouard Alphonse James de Rothschild, becoming her assistant. In this position she oversaw the baroness' contributions to Jewish charities through the Paris Consistoire, although she had little time for the family as a whole. The Rothschilds had headed the central Consistoire for a century but stood for everything Arendt did not, opposing immigration and any connection with German Jewry.
Later in 1935, Arendt joined Youth Aliyah (Youth immigration), an organization similar to Agriculture et Artisanat that was founded in Berlin on the day Hitler seized power. It was affiliated with Hadassah organization, which later saved many from the nearing Holocaust, and there Arendt eventually became Secretary-General (1935–1939). Her work with Youth Aliyah also involved finding food, clothing, social workers and lawyers, but above all, fund raising. She made her first visit to British Mandate of Palestine in 1935, accompanying one of these groups and meeting with her cousin Ernst Fürst there. With the Nazi annexation of Austria and invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1938, Paris was flooded with refugees, and she became the special agent for the rescue of the children from those countries. In 1938, Arendt completed her biography of Rahel Varnhagen, although this was not published until 1957. In April 1939, following the devastating Kristallnacht pogrom of November 1938, Martha Beerwald realized her daughter would not return and made the decision to leave her husband and join Arendt in Paris. One stepdaughter had died and the other had moved to England, Martin Beerwald would not leave and she no longer had any close ties to Königsberg.
Heinrich Blücher
In 1936, Arendt met the self-educated Berlin poet and Marxist philosopher Heinrich Blücher (1899–1970) in Paris. Blücher had been a Spartacist and then a founding member of the KPD, but had been expelled due to his work in the (Conciliator faction). Although Arendt had rejoined Stern in 1933, their marriage existed in name only, with their having separated in Berlin. She fulfilled her social obligations and used the name Hannah Stern, but the relationship effectively ended when Stern, perhaps recognizing the danger better than she, emigrated to America with his parents in 1936. In 1937, Arendt was stripped of her German citizenship and she and Stern divorced. She had begun seeing more of Blücher, and eventually they began living together. It was Blücher's long political activism that began to move Arendt's thinking towards political action. Arendt and Blücher married on 16 January 1940, shortly after their divorces were finalized.
Internment and escape (1940–1941)
On 5 May 1940, in anticipation of the German invasion of France and the Low Countries that month, the military governor of Paris issued a proclamation ordering all "enemy aliens" between 17 and 55 who had come from Germany (predominantly Jews) to report separately for internment. The women were gathered together in the Vélodrome d'Hiver on 15 May, so Hannah Arendt's mother, being over 55, was allowed to stay in Paris. Arendt described the process of making refugees as "the new type of human being created by contemporary history ... put into concentration camps by their foes and into internment camps by their friends". The men, including Blücher, were sent to Camp Vernet in southern France, close to the Spanish border. Arendt and the other women were sent to Camp Gurs, to the west of Gurs, a week later. The camp had earlier been set up to accommodate refugees from Spain. On 22 June, France capitulated and signed the Compiègne armistice, dividing the country. Gurs was in the southern Vichy controlled section. Arendt describes how, "in the resulting chaos we succeeded in getting hold of liberation papers with which we were able to leave the camp", which she did with about 200 of the 7,000 women held there, about four weeks later. There was no Résistance then, but she managed to walk and hitchhike north to Montauban, near Toulouse where she knew she would find help.
Montauban had become an unofficial capital for former detainees, and Arendt's friend Lotta Sempell Klembort was staying there. Blücher's camp had been evacuated in the wake of the German advance, and he managed to escape from a forced march, making his way to Montauban, where the two of them led a fugitive life. Soon they were joined by Anne Mendelssohn and Arendt's mother. Escape from France was extremely difficult without official papers; their friend Walter Benjamin had taken his own life after being apprehended trying to escape to Spain. One of the best known illegal routes operated out of Marseilles, where Varian Fry, an American journalist, worked to raise funds, forge papers and bribe officials with Hiram Bingham, the American vice-consul there.
Fry and Bingham secured exit papers and American visas for thousands, and with help from Günther Stern, Arendt, her husband, and her mother managed to secure the requisite permits to travel by train in January 1941 through Spain to Lisbon, Portugal, where they rented a flat at Rua da Sociedade Farmacêutica, 6b. They eventually secured passage to New York in May on the Companhia Colonial de Navegação's S/S Guiné II. A few months later, Fry's operations were shut down and the borders sealed.
New York (1941–1975)
World War II (1941–1945)
Upon arriving in New York City on 22 May 1941 with very little, they received assistance from the Zionist Organization of America and the local German immigrant population, including Paul Tillich and neighbors from Königsberg. They rented rooms at 317 West 95th Street and Martha Arendt joined them there in June. There was an urgent need to acquire English, and it was decided that Hannah Arendt should spend two months with an American family in Winchester, Massachusetts, through Self-Help for Refugees, in July. She found the experience difficult but formulated her early appraisal of American life, (The fundamental contradiction of the country is political freedom coupled with social slavery).
On returning to New York, Arendt was anxious to resume writing and became active in the German-Jewish community, publishing her first article, "From the Dreyfus Affair to France Today" (in translation from her German) in July 1942. While she was working on this article, she was looking for employment and in November 1941 was hired by the New York German-language Jewish newspaper and from 1941 to 1945, she wrote a political column for it, covering anti-semitism, refugees and the need for a Jewish army. She also contributed to the Menorah Journal, a Jewish-American magazine, and other German émigré publications.
Arendt's first full-time salaried job came in 1944, when she became the director of research and Executive Director for the newly emerging Commission on European Jewish Cultural Reconstruction, a project of the Conference on Jewish Relations. She was recruited "because of her great interest in the Commission's activities, her previous experience as an administrator, and her connections with Germany". There she compiled lists of Jewish cultural assets in Germany and Nazi occupied Europe, to aid in their recovery after the war. Together with her husband, she lived at 370 Riverside Drive in New York City and at Kingston, New York, where Blücher taught at nearby Bard College for many years.
Post-war (1945–1975)
In July 1946, Arendt left her position at the Commission on European Jewish Cultural Reconstruction to become an editor at Schocken Books, which later published some of her works. In 1948, she became engaged with the campaign of Judah Magnes for a solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. She famously opposed the establishment of a Jewish nation state in Palestine and initially also opposed the establishment of a binational Arab-Jewish state. Instead, she advocated for the inclusion of Palestine into a multi-ethnic federation. Only in 1948 in an effort to forestall partition did she support a binational one-state solution. She returned to the Commission in August 1949. In her capacity as executive secretary, she traveled to Europe, where she worked in Germany, Britain and France (December 1949 to March 1950) to negotiate the return of archival material from German institutions, an experience she found frustrating, but providing regular field reports. In January 1952, she became secretary to the Board, although the work of the organization was winding down and she was simultaneously pursuing her own intellectual activities; she retained this position until her death. Arendt's work on cultural restitution provided further material for her study of totalitarianism.
In the 1950s Arendt wrote The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), The Human Condition (1958) and On Revolution (1963). Arendt began corresponding with the American author Mary McCarthy, six years her junior, in 1950 and they soon became lifelong friends. In 1950, Arendt also became a naturalized citizen of the United States. The same year, she started seeing Martin Heidegger again, and had what the American writer Adam Kirsch called a "quasi-romance", lasting for two years, with the man who had previously been her mentor, teacher, and lover. During this time, Arendt defended him against critics who noted his enthusiastic membership in the Nazi Party. She portrayed Heidegger as a naïve man swept up by forces beyond his control, and pointed out that Heidegger's philosophy had nothing to do with National Socialism. In 1961 she traveled to Jerusalem to report about Eichmann's trial for The New Yorker. This report strongly influenced her popular recognition, and raised much controversy (see below). Her work was recognized by many awards, including the Danish Sonning Prize in 1975 for Contributions to European Civilization.
A few years later she spoke in New York City on the legitimacy of violence as a political act: "Generally speaking, violence always rises out of impotence. It is the hope of those who have no power to find a substitute for it and this hope, I think, is in vain. Violence can destroy power, but it can never replace it."
Teaching
Arendt taught at many institutions of higher learning from 1951 onwards, but, preserving her independence, consistently refused tenure-track positions. She served as a visiting scholar at the University of Notre Dame; University of California, Berkeley; Princeton University (where she was the first woman to be appointed a full professor in 1959); and Northwestern University. She also taught at the University of Chicago from 1963 to 1967, where she was a member of the Committee on Social Thought; The New School in Manhattan where she taught as a university professor from 1967; Yale University, where she was a fellow; and the Center for Advanced Studies at Wesleyan University (1961–62, 1962–63). She was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1962 and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1964.
In 1974, Arendt was instrumental in the creation of Structured Liberal Education (SLE) at Stanford University. She wrote a letter to the president of Stanford to persuade the university to enact Stanford history professor Mark Mancall's vision of a residentially-based humanities program. At the time of her death, she was University Professor of Political Philosophy at the New School.
Relationships
In addition to her affair with Heidegger, and her two marriages, Arendt had close friendships. Since her death, her correspondence with many of them has been published, revealing much information about her thinking. To her friends she was both loyal and generous, dedicating several of her works to them. (friendship) she described as being one of "" (the active modes of being alive), and, to her, friendship was central both to her life and to the concept of politics. Hans Jonas described her as having a "genius for friendship", and, in her own words, "" (love of friendship).
Her philosophy-based friendships were male and European, while her later American friendships were more diverse, literary, and political. Although she became an American citizen in 1950, her cultural roots remained European, and her language remained her German "" (mother tongue). She surrounded herself with German-speaking émigrés, sometimes referred to as "The Tribe". To her, (real people) were "pariahs", not in the sense of outcasts, but in the sense of outsiders, unassimilated, with the virtue of "social nonconformism ... the sine qua non of intellectual achievement", a sentiment she shared with Jaspers.
Arendt always had a . In her teens she had formed a lifelong relationship with her , Anne Mendelssohn Weil ("Ännchen"). After her emigration to America, Hilde Fränkel, Paul Tillich's secretary and mistress, filled that role until her death in 1950. After the war, Arendt was able to return to Germany and renew her relationship with Weil, who made several visits to New York, especially after Blücher's death in 1970. Their last meeting was in Tegna, Switzerland in 1975, shortly before Arendt's death. With Fränkel's death, Mary McCarthy became Arendt's closest friend and confidante.
Final illness and death
Heinrich Blücher had survived a cerebral aneurysm in 1961 and remained unwell after 1963, sustaining a series of heart attacks. On 31 October 1970 he died of a massive heart attack. A devastated Arendt had previously told Mary McCarthy, "Life without him would be unthinkable". Arendt was also a heavy smoker and was frequently depicted with a cigarette in her hand. She sustained a near fatal heart attack while lecturing in Scotland in May 1974, and although she recovered, she remained in poor health afterwards, and continued to smoke. On the evening of 4 December 1975, shortly after her 69th birthday, she had a further heart attack in her apartment while entertaining friends, and was pronounced dead at the scene. Her ashes were buried alongside those of Blücher at Bard College, in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York in May 1976.
After Arendt's death the title page of the final part of The Life of the Mind ("Judging") was found in her typewriter, which she had just started, consisting of the title and two epigraphs. This has subsequently been reproduced (see image).
Work
Arendt wrote works on intellectual history as a philosopher, using events and actions to develop insights into contemporary totalitarian movements and the threat to human freedom presented by scientific abstraction and bourgeois morality. Intellectually, she was an independent thinker, a loner not a "joiner," separating herself from schools of thought or ideology. In addition to her major texts she published anthologies, including Between Past and Future (1961), Men in Dark Times (1968) and Crises of the Republic (1972). She also contributed to many publications, including The New York Review of Books, Commonweal, Dissent and The New Yorker. She is perhaps best known for her accounts of Adolf Eichmann and his trial, because of the intense controversy that it generated.
Political theory and philosophical system
While Arendt never developed a coherent political theory and her writing does not easily lend itself to categorization, the tradition of thought most closely identified with Arendt is that of civic republicanism, from Aristotle to Tocqueville. Her political concept is centered around active citizenship that emphasizes civic engagement and collective deliberation. She believed that no matter how bad, government could never succeed in extinguishing human freedom, despite holding that modern societies frequently retreat from democratic freedom with its inherent disorder for the relative comfort of administrative bureaucracy. Her political legacy is her strong defence of freedom in the face of an increasingly less than free world. She does not adhere to a single systematic philosophy, but rather spans a range of subjects covering totalitarianism, revolution, the nature of freedom and the faculties of thought and judgment.
While she is best known for her work on "dark times", the nature of totalitarianism and evil, she imbued this with a spark of hope and confidence in the nature of mankind:
That even in the darkest of times we have the right to expect some illumination, and that such illumination might well come less from theories and concepts than from the uncertain, flickering, and often weak light that some men and women, in their lives and their works, will kindle under almost all circumstances and shed over the time span that was given to them.
Love and Saint Augustine (1929)
Arendt's doctoral thesis, (Love and Saint Augustine), was published in 1929 and attracted critical interest, although an English translation did not appear until 1996. In this work, she combines approaches of both Heidegger and Jaspers. Arendt's interpretation of love in the work of Augustine deals with three concepts, love as craving or desire (Amor qua appetitus), love in the relationship between man (creatura) and creator (Creator – Creatura), and neighborly love (Dilectio proximi). Love as craving anticipates the future, while love for the Creator deals with the remembered past. Of the three, dilectio proximi or caritas is perceived as the most fundamental, to which the first two are oriented, which she treats under vita socialis (social life). The second of the Great Commandments (or Golden Rule) "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" uniting and transcending the former. Augustine's influence (and Jaspers' views on his work) persisted in Arendt's writings for the rest of her life.
Some of the leitmotifs of her canon were apparent, introducing the concept of (Natality) as a key condition of human existence and its role in the development of the individual, developing this further in The Human Condition (1958). She explained that the construct of natality was implied in her discussion of new beginnings and man's elation to the Creator as nova creatura. The centrality of the theme of birth and renewal is apparent in the constant reference to Augustinian thought, and specifically the innovative nature of birth, from this, her first work, to her last, The Life of the Mind.
Love is another connecting theme. In addition to the Augustinian loves expostulated in her dissertation, the phrase amor mundi (love of the world) is one often associated with Arendt and both permeates her work and was an absorbing passion throughout her work. She took the phrase from Augustine's homily on the first epistle of St John, "If love of the world dwell in us". Amor mundi was her original title for The Human Condition (1958), the subtitle of Elisabeth Young-Bruehl's biography (1982), the title of a collection of writing on faith in her work and is the newsletter of the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College.
The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951)
Arendt's first major book, The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), examined the roots of Stalinism and Nazism, structured as three essays, "Antisemitism", "Imperialism" and "Totalitarianism". Arendt argues that totalitarianism was a "novel form of government," that "differs essentially from other forms of political oppression known to us such as despotism, tyranny and dictatorship" in that it applied terror to subjugate mass populations rather than just political adversaries. Arendt also maintained that Jewry was not the operative factor in the Holocaust, but merely a convenient proxy because Nazism was about terror and consistency, not merely eradicating Jews. Arendt explained the tyranny using Kant's phrase "radical evil", by which their victims became "superfluous people". In later editions she enlarged the text to include her work on "Ideology and Terror: A novel form of government" and the Hungarian Revolution, but then published the latter separately.
Criticism of Origins has often focused on its portrayal of the two movements, Hitlerism and Stalinism, as equally tyrannical.
Rahel Varnhagen: The Life of a Jewess (1957)
Arendt's on Rahel Varnhagen was completed while she was living in exile in Paris in 1938, but not published till 1957, in the United Kingdom by East and West Library, part of the Leo Baeck Institute. This biography of a 19th century Jewish socialite, formed an important step in her analysis of Jewish history and the subjects of assimilation and emancipation, and introduced her treatment of the Jewish diaspora as either pariah or parvenu. In addition it represents an early version of her concept of history. The book is dedicated to Anne Mendelssohn, who first drew her attention to Varnhagen. Arendt's relation to Varnhagen permeates her subsequent work. Her account of Varnhagen's life was perceived during a time of the destruction of German-Jewish culture. It partially reflects Arendt's own view of herself as a German-Jewish woman driven out of her own culture into a stateless existence, leading to the description "biography as autobiography".
The Human Condition (1958)
In what is arguably her most influential work, The Human Condition (1958), Arendt differentiates political and social concepts, labor and work, and various forms of actions; she then explores the implications of those distinctions. Her theory of political action, corresponding to the existence of a public realm, is extensively developed in this work. Arendt argues that, while human life always evolves within societies, the social part of human nature, political life, has been intentionally realized in only a few societies as a space for individuals to achieve freedom. Conceptual categories, which attempt to bridge the gap between ontological and sociological structures, are sharply delineated. While Arendt relegates labor and work to the realm of the social, she favors the human condition of action as that which is both existential and aesthetic. Of human actions, Arendt identifies two that she considers essential. These are forgiving past wrong (or unfixing the fixed past) and promising future benefit (or fixing the unfixed future).
Arendt had first introduced the concept of "natality" in her Love and Saint Augustine (1929) and in The Human Condition starts to develop this further. In this, she departs from Heidegger's emphasis on mortality. Arendt's positive message is one of the "miracle of beginning", the continual arrival of the new to create action, that is to alter the state of affairs brought about by previous actions. "Men", she wrote "though they must die, are not born in order to die but in order to begin". She defined her use of "natality" as:
The miracle that saves the world, the realm of human affairs, from its normal, "natural" ruin is ultimately the fact of natality, in which the faculty of action is ontologically rooted. It is, in other words, the birth of new men and the new beginning, the action they are capable of by virtue of being born.
Natality would go on to become a central concept of her political theory, and also what Karin Fry considers its most optimistic one.
Between Past and Future (1954...1968)
Between Past and Future is an anthology of eight essays written between 1954 and 1968, dealing with a variety of different but connected philosophical subjects. These essays share the central idea that humans live between the past and the uncertain future. Man must permanently think to exist, but must learn thinking. Humans have resorted to tradition, but are abandoning respect for this tradition and culture. Arendt tries to find solutions to help humans think again, since modern philosophy has not succeeded in helping humans to live correctly.
On Revolution (1963)
Arendt's book On Revolution presents a comparison of two of the main revolutions of the 18th century, the American and French Revolutions. She goes against a common impression of both Marxist and leftist views when she argues that France, while well-studied and often emulated, was a disaster and that the largely ignored American Revolution was a success. The turning point in the French Revolution occurred when the leaders rejected their goals of freedom in order to focus on compassion for the masses. In the United States, the founders never betray the goal of . Arendt believes the revolutionary spirit of those men had been lost, however, and advocates a "council system" as an appropriate institution to regain that spirit.
Men in Dark Times (1968)
The anthology of essays Men in Dark Times presents intellectual biographies of some creative and moral figures of the 20th century, such as Walter Benjamin, Karl Jaspers, Rosa Luxemburg, Hermann Broch, Pope John XXIII, and Isak Dinesen.
Crises of the Republic (1972)
Crises of the Republic was the third of Arendt's anthologies, consisting of four essays, "Lying in Politics", "Civil Disobedience", "On Violence" and "Thoughts on Politics and Revolution". These related essays deal with contemporary American politics and the crises it faced in the 1960s and 1970s. "Lying in Politics" looks for an explanation behind the administration's deception regarding the Vietnam War, as revealed in the Pentagon Papers. "Civil Disobedience" examines the opposition movements, while the final "Thoughts on Politics and Revolution" is a commentary, in the form of an interview on the third essay, "On Violence". In "On Violence" Arendt substantiates that violence presupposes power which she understands as a property of groups. Thus, she breaks with the predominant conception of power as derived from violence.
When Hannah Arendt died in 1975, she left a major work incomplete, which was later published in 1978 as The Life of the Mind. Since then some of her minor works have been collected and published, mainly under the editorship of Jerome Kohn. In 1994 "Essays in Understanding" appeared as the first of a series covering the period 1930–1954, but attracted little attention. A new version of Origins of Totalitarianism appeared in 2004 followed by The Promise of Politics in 2005. The renewed interest in Arendtiana following these publications led to a second series of essays, Thinking Without a Banister: Essays in Understanding, 1953–1975, published in 2018. Other collections have dealt with her Jewish identity, including The Jew as Pariah (1978) and The Jewish Writings (2007), moral philosophy including Lectures on Kant's Political Philosophy (1982) and Responsibility and Judgment (2003), together with her literary works as Reflections on Literature and Culture (2007).
The Life of the Mind (1978)
Arendt's last major work, The Life of the Mind remained incomplete at the time of her death, but marked a return to moral philosophy. The outline of the book was based on her graduate level political philosophy class, Philosophy of the Mind, and her Gifford Lectures in Scotland. She conceived of the work as a trilogy based on the mental activities of thinking, willing, and judging. Her most recent work had focused on the first two, but went beyond this in terms of . Her discussion of thinking was based on Socrates and his notion of thinking as a solitary dialogue between oneself, leading her to novel concepts of conscience.
Arendt died suddenly five days after completing the second part, with the first page of Judging still in her typewriter, and McCarthy then edited the first two parts and provided some indication of the direction of the third. Arendt's exact intentions for the third part are unknown but she left several manuscripts (such as Thinking and Moral Considerations, Some Questions on Moral Philosophy and Lectures on Kant's Political Philosophy) relating to her thoughts on the mental faculty of Judging. These have since been published separately.
Collected works
After Hannah Arendt's death, her essays and notes have continued to be edited and published posthumously by friends and colleagues, including those that give some insight into the unfinished third part of The Life of the Mind. The Jew as Pariah: Jewish Identity and Politics in the Modern Age (1978), is a collection of 15 essays and letters from the period 1943–1966 on the situation of Jews in modern times, to try and throw some light on her views on the Jewish world, following the backlash to Eichmann, but proved to be equally polarizing. A further collection of her writings on being Jewish was published as The Jewish Writings (2007). Other work includes the collection of forty, largely fugitive, essays, addresses, and reviews entitled Essays in Understanding 1930–1954: Formation, Exile, and Totalitarianism (1994), that presaged her monumental The Origins of Totalitarianism, in particular On the Nature of Totalitarianism (1953) and The Concern with Politics in Contemporary European Philosophical Thought (1954). The remaining essays were published as Thinking Without a Banister: Essays in Understanding, 1953-1975 (2018). Her notebooks which form a series of memoirs, were published as in 2002.
Some further insight into her thinking is provided in the continuing posthumous publication of her correspondence with many of the important figures in her life, including Karl Jaspers (1992), Mary McCarthy (1995), Heinrich Blücher (1996), Martin Heidegger (2004), Alfred Kazin (2005), Walter Benjamin (2006), Gershom Scholem (2011) and Günther Stern (2016). Other correspondences that have been published include those with women friends such as Hilde Fränkel and Anne Mendelsohn Weil (see Relationships).
Arendt and the Eichmann trial (1961–1963)
In 1960, on hearing of Adolf Eichmann's capture and plans for his trial, Hannah Arendt contacted The New Yorker and offered to travel to Israel to cover it when it opened on 11 April 1961. Arendt was anxious to test her theories, developed in The Origins of Totalitarianism, and see how justice would be administered to the sort of man she had written about. Also she had witnessed "little of the Nazi regime directly" and this was an opportunity to witness an agent of totalitarianism first hand. The offer was accepted and she attended six weeks of the five-month trial with her young cousin from Israel, Edna Brocke. On arrival she was treated as a celebrity, meeting with the trial chief judge, Moshe Landau, and the foreign minister, Golda Meir. In her subsequent 1963 report, based on her observations and transcripts, and which evolved into the book Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, most famously, Arendt coined the phrase "the banality of evil" to describe the phenomenon of Eichmann. She, like others, was struck by his very ordinariness and the demeanor he exhibited of a small, slightly balding, bland bureaucrat, in contrast to the horrific crimes he stood accused of. He was, she wrote, "terribly and terrifyingly normal." She examined the question of whether evil is radical or simply a function of thoughtlessness, a tendency of ordinary people to obey orders and conform to mass opinion without a critical evaluation of the consequences of their actions. Arendt's argument was that Eichmann was not a monster, contrasting the immensity of his actions with the very ordinariness of the man himself. Eichmann, she stated, not only called himself a Zionist, having initially opposed the Jewish persecution, but also expected his captors to understand him. She pointed out that his actions were not driven by malice, but rather blind dedication to the regime and his need to belong, to be a "joiner."
On this, Arendt would later state "Going along with the rest and wanting to say 'we' were quite enough to make the greatest of all crimes possible". What Arendt observed during the trial was a bourgeois sales clerk who found a meaningful role for himself and a sense of importance in the Nazi movement. She noted that his addiction to clichés and use of bureaucratic morality clouded his ability to question his actions, "to think". This led her to set out her most famous, and most debated, dictum: "the lesson that this long course in human wickedness had taught us – the lesson of the fearsome, word-and-thought-defying banality of evil." By stating that Eichmann did not think, she did not imply lack of conscious awareness of his actions, but by "thinking" she implied reflective rationality, that was lacking.
Arendt was critical of the way the trial was conducted by the Israelis as a "show trial" with ulterior motives other than simply trying evidence and administering justice. Arendt was also critical of the way Israel depicted Eichmann's crimes as crimes against a nation state, rather than against humanity itself. She objected to the idea that a strong Israel was necessary to protect world Jewry being again placed where "they'll let themselves be slaughtered like sheep," recalling the biblical phrase. She portrayed the prosecutor, Attorney General Gideon Hausner, as employing hyperbolic rhetoric in the pursuit of Prime Minister Ben-Gurion's political agenda. Arendt, who believed she could maintain her focus on moral principles in the face of outrage, became increasingly frustrated with Hausner, describing his parade of survivors as having "no apparent bearing on the case". She was particularly concerned that Hausner repeatedly asked "why did you not rebel?" rather than question the role of the Jewish leaders. Arendt argued that some Jewish leaders associated with the Jewish Councils (Judenräte), notably M. C. Rumkowski, acted during the Holocaust, in cooperating with Eichmann "almost without exception" in the destruction of their own people. She had expressed concerns on this point prior to the trial. She described this as a moral catastrophe. While her argument was not to allocate blame, rather she mourned what she considered a moral failure of compromising the imperative that it is better to suffer wrong than to do wrong. She describes the cooperation of the Jewish leaders in terms of a disintegration of Jewish morality: "This role of the Jewish leaders in the destruction of their own people is undoubtedly the darkest chapter in the whole dark story". Widely misunderstood, this caused an even greater controversy and particularly animosity toward her in the Jewish community and in Israel. For Arendt, the Eichmann trial marked a turning point in her thinking in the final decade of her life, becoming increasingly preoccupied with moral philosophy.
Reception
Arendt's five-part series "Eichmann in Jerusalem" appeared in The New Yorker in February 1963 some nine months after Eichmann was hanged on 31 May 1962. By this time his trial was largely forgotten in the popular mind, superseded by intervening world events. However, no other account of either Eichmann or National Socialism has aroused so much controversy. Prior to its publication, Arendt was considered a brilliant humanistic original political thinker. However her mentor, Karl Jaspers, warned her about a possible adverse outcome, "The Eichmann trial will be no pleasure for you. I'm afraid it cannot go well". On publication, three controversies immediately occupied public attention: the concept of Eichmann as banal, her criticism of the role of Israel and her description of the role played by the Jewish people themselves.
Arendt was profoundly shocked by the response, writing to Karl Jaspers "People are resorting to any means to destroy my reputation ... They have spent weeks trying to find something in my past that they can hang on me". Now she was being called arrogant, heartless and ill-informed. She was accused of being duped by Eichmann, of being a "self-hating Jewess", and even an enemy of Israel. Her critics included The Anti-Defamation League and many other Jewish groups, editors of publications she was a contributor to, faculty at the universities she taught at and friends from all parts of her life. Her friend Gershom Scholem, a major scholar of Jewish mysticism, broke off relations with her, publishing their correspondence without her permission. Arendt was criticized by many Jewish public figures, who charged her with coldness and lack of sympathy for the victims of the Holocaust. Because of this lingering criticism neither this book nor any of her other works were translated into Hebrew until 1999. Arendt responded to the controversies in the book's Postscript.
Although Arendt complained that she was being criticized for telling the truth – "what a risky business to tell the truth on a factual level without theoretical and scholarly embroidery" – the criticism was largely directed to her theorizing on the nature of mankind and evil and that ordinary people were driven to commit the inexplicable not so much by hatred and ideology as ambition, and inability to empathize. Equally problematic was the suggestion that the victims deceived themselves and complied in their own destruction. Prior to Arendt's depiction of Eichmann, his popular image had been, as The New York Times put it "the most evil monster of humanity" and as a representative of "an atrocious crime, unparalleled in history", "the extermination of European Jews". As it turned out Arendt and others were correct in pointing out that Eichmann's characterization by the prosecution as the architect and chief technician of the Holocaust was not entirely credible.
While much has been made of Arendt's treatment of Eichmann, Ada Ushpiz, in her 2015 documentary Vita Activa: The Spirit of Hannah Arendt, placed it in a much broader context of the use of rationality to explain seemingly irrational historical events.
In an interview with Joachim Fest in 1964, Arendt was asked about Eichmann's defense that he had made Kant's principle of the duty of obedience his guiding principle all his life. Arendt replied that that was outrageous and that Eichmann was misusing Kant, by not considering the element of judgement required in assessing one's own actions – "" (No man has, according to Kant, the right to obey), she stated, paraphrasing Kant. The reference was to Kant's (Religion within the Bounds of Bare Reason 1793) in which he states:
(The saying, "We must hearken to God, rather than to man," signifies no more than this, viz. that should any earthly legislation enjoin something immediately contradictory of the moral law, obedience is not to be rendered)
Kant clearly defines a higher moral duty than rendering merely unto Caesar. Arendt herself had written in her book "This was outrageous, on the face of it, and also incomprehensible, since Kant's moral philosophy is so closely bound up with man's faculty of judgment, which rules out blind obedience." Arendt's reply to Fest was subsequently corrupted to read (No one has the right to obey), which has been widely reproduced, although it does encapsulate an aspect of her moral philosophy.
The phrase has become one of her iconic images, appearing on the wall of the house in which she was born (see Commemorations), among other places. A fascist bas-relief on the Palazzo degli Uffici Finanziari (1942), in the Piazza del Tribunale, Bolzano, Italy celebrating Mussolini, read Credere, Obbedire, Combattere (Believe, Obey, Combat). In 2017 it was altered to read Hannah Arendt's original words on obedience in the three official languages of the region.
The phrase has been appearing in other artistic work featuring political messages, such as the 2015 installation by Wilfried Gerstel, which has evoked the concept of resistance to dictatorship, as expressed in her essay "Personal Responsibility under Dictatorship" (1964).
List of selected publications
Bibliographies
, in
Books
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Full text on Internet Archive
Also available in English as: Full text on Internet Archive
400 pages. (see Rahel Varnhagen)
, (see also The Origins of Totalitarianism and Comparison of Nazism and Stalinism) Full text (1979 edition) on Internet Archive
(see also The Human Condition)
(see also Between Past and Future)
(see also On Revolution) Full text on Internet Archive
Full text: 1964 edition (see also Eichmann in Jerusalem)
Articles and essays
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Correspondence
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Posthumous
Online text at Pensar el Espacio Público
Online text also Internet Archive
Full text on Internet Archive
(original German transcription)
(also in )
, partly based on Was ist Politik? (1993), French translation as Qu'est-ce que la politique?
(fragments)
see also (extract)
at Pensar el Espacio Público
Collections
Miscellaneous
(Original video)
, reprinted as the Prologue in
Views
In 1961, while covering the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem, Arendt wrote a letter to Karl Jaspers that Adam Kirsch described as reflecting "pure racism" toward Sephardic Jews from the Middle East and Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe. She wrote:
On top, the judges, the best of German Jewry. Below them, the prosecuting attorneys, Galicians, but still Europeans. Everything is organized by a police force that gives me the creeps, speaks only Hebrew, and looks Arabic. Some downright brutal types among them. They would obey any order. And outside the doors, the oriental mob, as if one were in Istanbul or some other half-Asiatic country.
Although Arendt remained a Zionist both during and after World War II, she made it clear that she favored the creation of a Jewish-Arab federated state in British Mandate of Palestine (now Israel and the Palestinian territories), rather than a purely Jewish state. She believed that this was a way to address Jewish statelessness and to avoid the pitfalls of nationalism.
Accusations of racism
It was not just Arendt's analysis of the Eichmann trial that drew accusations of racism. In her 1958 essay in Dissent entitled Reflections on Little Rock she expressed opposition to desegregation following the 1957 Little Rock Integration Crisis in Arkansas. As she explains in the preface, for a long time the magazine was reluctant to print her contribution, so far did it appear to differ from the publication's liberal values. Eventually it was printed alongside critical responses. Later The New Yorker would express similar hesitancy over the Eichmann papers. So vehement was the response, that Arendt felt obliged to defend herself in a sequel. The debate over this essay has continued since. William Simmons devotes a whole section of his 2011 text on human rights (Human Rights Law and the Marginalized Other) to a critique of Arendt's position and in particular on Little Rock. While some critics feel she was fundamentally racist, many of those who have defended Arendt's position have pointed out that her concerns were for the welfare of the children, a position she maintained throughout her life. She felt that the children were being subjected to trauma to serve a broader political strategy of forcible integration. While over time Arendt conceded some ground to her critics, namely that she argued as an outsider, she remained committed to her central critique that children should not be thrust into the front-lines of geopolitical conflict.
Feminism
Embraced by feminists as a pioneer in a world dominated by men up to her time, Arendt did not call herself a feminist and would be very surprised to hear herself described as a feminist, remaining opposed to the social dimensions of Women's Liberation, urging independence, but always keeping in mind la petite différence! On becoming the first woman to be appointed a professor at Princeton in 1953, the media were much engaged in this exceptional achievement, but she never wanted to be seen as an exception, either as a woman (an "exception woman") or a Jew, stating emphatically "I am not disturbed at all about being a woman professor, because I am quite used to being a woman". In 1972, discussing women's liberation, she observed "the real question to ask is, what will we lose if we win?". She rather enjoyed what she saw as the privileges of being feminine as opposed to feminist, "Intensely feminine and therefore no feminist", stated Hans Jonas. Arendt considered some professions and positions unsuitable for women, particularly those involving leadership, telling Günter Gaus "It just doesn't look good when a woman gives orders". Despite these views, and having been labelled "anti-feminist", much space has been devoted to examining Arendt's place in relation to feminism. In the last years of her life, Virginia Held noted that Arendt's views evolved with the emergence of a new feminism in America in the 1970s to recognize the importance of the women's movement.
Critique of human rights
In The Origins of Totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt devotes a lengthy chapter (The Decline of the Nation-State and the End of the Rights of Man) to a critical analysis of human rights, in what has been described as "the most widely read essay on refugees ever published". Arendt is not skeptical of the notion of political rights in general, but instead defends a national or civil conception of rights. Human rights, or the Rights of Man as they were commonly called, are universal, inalienable, and possessed simply by virtue of being human. In contrast, civil rights are possessed by virtue of belonging to a political community, most commonly by being a citizen. Arendt's primary criticism of human rights is that they are ineffectual and illusory because their enforcement is in tension with national sovereignty. She argued that since there is no political authority above that of sovereign nations, state governments have little incentive to respect human rights when such policies conflict with national interests. This can be seen most clearly by examining the treatment of refugees and other stateless people. Since the refugee has no state to secure their civil rights, the only rights they have to fall back on are human rights. In this way Arendt uses the refugee as a test case for examining human rights in isolation from civil rights.
Arendt's analysis draws on the refugee upheavals in the first half of the 20th century along with her own experience as a refugee fleeing Nazi Germany. She argued that as state governments began to emphasize national identity as a prerequisite for full legal status, the number of minority resident aliens increased along with the number of stateless persons whom no state was willing to recognize legally. The two potential solutions to the refugee problem, repatriation and naturalization, both proved incapable of solving the crisis. Arendt argued that repatriation failed to solve the refugee crisis because no government was willing to take them in and claim them as their own. When refugees were forcibly deported to neighboring countries, such immigration was deemed illegal by the receiving country, and so failed to change the fundamental status of the migrants as stateless. Attempts at naturalizing and assimilating refugees also had little success. This failure was primarily the result of resistance from both state governments and the majority of citizens, since both tended to see the refugees as undesirables who threatened their national identity. Resistance to naturalization also came from the refugees themselves who resisted assimilation and attempted to maintain their own ethnic and national identities. Arendt contends that neither naturalization nor the tradition of asylum was capable of handling the sheer number of refugees. Instead of accepting some refugees with legal status, the state often responded by denaturalizing minorities who shared national or ethnic ties with stateless refugees.
Arendt argues that the consistent mistreatment of refugees, most of whom were placed in internment camps, is evidence against the existence of human rights. If the notion of human rights as universal and inalienable is to be taken seriously, the rights must be realizable given the features of the modern liberal state. She concluded "The Rights of Man, supposedly inalienable, proved to be unenforceable–even in countries whose constitutions were based upon them–whenever people appeared who were no longer citizens of any sovereign state". Arendt contends that they are not realizable because they are in tension with at least one feature of the liberal state—national sovereignty. One of the primary ways in which a nation exercises sovereignty is through control over national borders. State governments consistently grant their citizens free movement to traverse national borders. In contrast, the movement of refugees is often restricted in the name of national interests. This restriction presents a dilemma for liberalism because liberal theorists typically are committed to both human rights and the existence of sovereign nations.
In one of her most quoted passages, she puts forward the concept that human rights are little more than an abstraction:
The conception of human rights based upon the assumed existence of a human being as such broke down at the very moment when those who professed to believe in it were for the first time confronted with people who had indeed lost all other qualities and specific relationships - except that they were still human. The world found nothing sacred in the abstract nakedness of being human.
In popular culture
Several authors have written biographies that focus on the relationship between Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger. In 1999, the French feminist philosopher Catherine Clément wrote a novel, Martin and Hannah, speculating on the triangular relationship between Heidegger and the two women in his life, Arendt and Heidegger's wife Elfriede Petri. In addition to the relationships, the novel is a serious exploration of philosophical ideas, that centers on Arendt's last meeting with Heidegger in Freiburg in 1975. The scene is based on Elisabeth Young-Bruehl's description in Hannah Arendt: For Love of the World (1982), but reaches back to their childhoods, and Heidegger's role in encouraging the relationship between the two women. The novel explores Heidegger's embrace of Nazism as a proxy for that of Germany and, as in Arendt's treatment of Eichmann, the difficult relationship between collective guilt and personal responsibility. Clément also brings Hannah's other mentor and confidante, Karl Jaspers, into the matrix of relationships.
Arendt's life remains part of current culture and thought. In 2012 the German film, Hannah Arendt, directed by Margarethe von Trotta was released. The film, with Barbara Sukowa in the title role, depicted the controversy over Arendt's coverage of the Eichmann trial and subsequent book, in which she was widely misunderstood as defending Eichmann and blaming Jewish leaders for the Holocaust.
Legacy
Hannah Arendt is considered one of the most influential political philosophers of the 20th century. In 1998 Walter Laqueur stated "No twentieth-century philosopher and political thinker has at the present time as wide an echo", as philosopher, historian, sociologist and also journalist. Arendt's legacy has been described as a cult. In a 2016 review of a documentary about Arendt, the journalist A. O. Scott describes Hannah Arendt as "of unmatched range and rigor" as a thinker, although she is primarily known for the article Eichmann in Jerusalem that she wrote for The New Yorker, and in particular for the one phrase "the banality of evil".
She shunned publicity, never expecting, as she explained to Karl Jaspers in 1951, to see herself as a "cover girl" on the newsstands. In Germany, there are tours available of sites associated with her life.
The study of the life and work of Hannah Arendt, and of her political and philosophical theory is described as Arendtian. In her will she established the Hannah Arendt Bluecher Literary Trust as the custodian of her writings and photographs. Her personal library was deposited at Bard College at the Stevenson Library in 1976, and includes approximately 4,000 books, ephemera, and pamphlets from Arendt's last apartment as well as her desk (in McCarthy House). The college has begun archiving some of the collection digitally, which is available at The Hannah Arendt Collection. Most of her papers were deposited at the Library of Congress and her correspondence with her German friends and mentors, such as Heidegger, Blumenfeld and Jaspers, at the Deutsches Literaturarchiv in Marbach. The Library of Congress listed more than 50 books written about her in 1998, and that number has continued to grow, as have the number of scholarly articles, estimated as 1000 at that time.
Her life and work is recognized by the institutions most closely associated with her teaching, by the creation of Hannah Arendt Centers at both Bard (Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities) and The New School, both in New York State. In Germany, her contributions to understanding authoritarianism is recognised by the Hannah-Arendt-Institut für Totalitarismusforschung (Hannah Arendt Institute for the Research on Totalitarianism) in Dresden. There are Hannah Arendt Associations (Hannah Arendt Verein) such as the Hannah Arendt Verein für politisches Denken in Bremen that awards the annual Hannah-Arendt-Preis für politisches Denken (Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thinking) established in 1995. In Oldenburg, the Hannah Arendt Center at Carl von Ossietzky University was established in 1999, and holds a large collection of her work (Hannah Arendt Archiv), and administers the internet portal HannahArendt.net (A Journal for Political Thinking) as well as a monograph series, the Hannah Arendt-Studien. In Italy, the Hannah Arendt Center for Political Studies is situated at the University of Verona for Arendtian studies.
In 2017 a journal, Arendt Studies, was launched to publish articles related to the study of the life, work, and legacy of Hannah Arendt. Many places associated with her, have memorabilia of her on display, such as her student card at the University of Heidelberg (see image). 2006, the anniversary of her birth, saw commemorations of her work in conferences and celebrations around the world.
In 2015, the filmmaker Ada Ushpiz produced a documentary on Hannah Arendt, Vita Activa: The Spirit of Hannah Arendt. The New York Times designated it a New York Times critics pick. Of the many photographic portraits of Arendt, that taken in 1944 by Fred Stein (see image), whose work she greatly admired, has become iconic, and has been described as better known than the photographer himself, having appeared on a German postage stamp.(see image) Among organizations that have recognized Arendt's contributions to civilization and human rights, is the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
Contemporary interest
The rise of nativism, such as the election of Donald Trump in the United States, and concerns regarding an increasingly authoritarian style of governance has led to a surge of interest in Arendt and her writings, including radio broadcasts and writers, including Jeremy Adelman and Zoe Williams, to revisit Arendt's ideas to seek the extent to which they inform our understanding of such movements, which are being described as "Dark Times". At the same time Amazon reported that it had sold out of copies of The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951). Michiko Kakutani has addressed what she refers to as "the death of truth". In her 2018 book, The Death of Truth: Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump, she argues that the rise of totalitarianism has been founded on the violation of truth. She begins her book with an extensive quote from The Origins of Totalitarianism:
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist
Kakutani and others believed that Arendt's words speak not just events of a previous century but apply equally to the contemporary cultural landscape populated with fake news and lies. She also draws on Arendt's essay "Lying in Politics" from Crises in the Republic pointing to the lines:
The historian knows how vulnerable is the whole texture of facts in which we spend our daily life; it is always in danger of being perforated by single lies or torn to shreds by the organized lying of groups, nations, or classes, or denied and distorted, often carefully covered up by reams of falsehoods or simply allowed to fall into oblivion. Facts need testimony to be remembered and trustworthy witnesses to be established in order to find a secure dwelling place in the domain of human affairs
Arendt drew attention to the critical role that propaganda plays in gaslighting populations, Kakutani observes, citing the passage:
In an ever-changing, incomprehensible world the masses had reached the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, think that everything was possible and that nothing was true . ... The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness
It is also relevant that Arendt took a broader perspective on history than merely totalitarianism in the early 20th century, stating "the deliberate falsehood and the outright lie have been used as legitimate means to achieve political ends since the beginning of recorded history." Contemporary relevance is also reflected in the increasing use of the phrase, attributed to her, "No one has the right to obey" to reflect that actions result from choices, and hence judgement, and that we cannot disclaim responsibility for that which we have the power to act upon. In addition those centers established to promote Arendtian studies continue to seek solutions to a wide range of contemporary issues in her writing.
Arendt's teachings on obedience have also been linked to the controversial psychology experiments by Stanley Milgram, that implied that ordinary people can easily be induced to commit atrocities. Milgram himself drew attention to this in 1974, stating that he was testing the theory that Eichmann like others would merely follow orders, but unlike Milgram she argued that actions involve responsibility.
Arendt's theories on the political consequences of how nations deal with refugees has remained relevant and compelling. Arendt had observed first hand the displacement of large stateless and rightsless populations, treated not so much as people in need than as problems to solve, and in many cases, resist. She wrote about this in her 1943 essay "We refugees". Another Arendtian theme that finds an echo in contemporary society is her observation, inspired by Rilke, of the despair of not being heard, the futility of tragedy that finds no listener that can bring comfort, assurance and intervention. An example of this being gun violence in America and the resulting political inaction.
In Search of the Last Agora, an illustrated documentary film by Lebanese director Rayyan Dabbous about Hannah Arendt's 1958 work The Human Condition, was released in 2018 to mark the book's 50th anniversary. Screened at Bard College, the experimental film is described as finding "new meaning in the political theorist's conceptions of politics, technology and society in the 1950s", particularly in her prediction of abuses of phenomena unknown in Arendt's time, including social media, intense globalization, and obsessive celebrity culture.
Hannah Arendt's life and work continue to be commemorated in many different ways, including plaques (Gedenktafeln) indicating places she has lived. Public places and institutions bear her name, including schools. There is also a Hannah Arendt Day (Hannah Arendt Tag) in her birthplace. Objects named after her vary from asteroids to trains and she has been commemorated in stamps. Museums and foundations include her name.
Arendt Studies
Arendt Studies is a peer-reviewed academic journal that examines the life, work, and legacy of Hannah Arendt. Established in 2017, it publishes research articles and translations, including the first English translation of Hannah Arendt's "Nation-State and Democracy" (1963) Notable contributors include Andrew Benjamin, Peg Birmingham, Adriana Cavarero, Robert P. Crease, and Celso Lafer. Articles published in this journal are covered in the international Hannah Arendt Bibliographie. Arendt Studies is also included in JSTOR. The journal is edited by James Barry at Indiana University and published by the Philosophy Documentation Center.
Family tree
See also
American philosophy
German philosophy
Hannah Arendt Award
List of refugees
List of women philosophers
Women in philosophy
Notes
References
Bibliography
Articles (journals and proceedings)
(French translation)
, reprinted in
Rahel Varnhagen
Special issues and proceedings
Audiovisual
(see also Hannah Arendt)
Bernstein, Richard (2019): Podcast conversation: "Hannah Arendt is Alarmingly Relevant"
Books and monographs
"Ethics in many different voices" pp. 247–268, see also revised versions as and
(see also excerpt at
(see also Obedience to Authority)
Autobiography and biography
excerpt
(full text)
(updated by way of a second preface, pagination unchanged)
Critical works
excerpt, see also
text at Pensar el Espacio Público
Historical
, available in Latin as
facsimile text at Gallica, and reproduced on Wikisource
full text available on Internet Archive
Chapters and contributions
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
Guilherme, Alexandre and Morgan, W. John, 'Hannah Arendt (1906-1975)-dialogue as a public space'. Chapter 4 in Philosophy, Dialogue, and Education: Nine modern European philosophers, Routledge, London and New York, pp. 55–71, .
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
Dictionaries and encyclopedias
(Version: January 2019)
, in
Magazines
, reprinted in
, reprinted from
, reprinted in
Newspapers
Theses
(at Theses.fr)
Websites
- includes Brecht reading (english)
(English translation by A. S. Kline 2004)
Biography, genealogy and timelines
see also: Principal Dates in
, in
Institutions, locations and organizations
Hannah Arendt Center (Bard)
Maps
External images
Bibliographic notes
External links
1906 births
1975 deaths
20th-century American educators
20th-century American essayists
20th-century American historians
20th-century American philosophers
20th-century American women educators
20th-century American women writers
20th-century German educators
20th-century German historians
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Exilliteratur writers
Existentialists
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Historians from California
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Historians of communism
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[
"a TEN Talk (originally 10Talk) is a short presentation on a topic of the speaker's choosing given at a BarCamp type conference. It derives from a TED Talk and originated at the 2012 RefreshCache v4 developer conference (now defunct) in Gilbert, Arizona during the open floor demo time with a description of \"Fast paced 10 minute presentations by the you and the other leaders among us.\" Since the term was still somewhat new at the time, a \"What is a Ten-Talk?\" page was created on the RefreshCache site with the following abbreviated description so potential Ten-Talk presenters would know exactly what was expected of them:\n \n A Ten-Talk is a fast-paced, ten minute POLISHED presentation on an interesting topic that you think will appeal to the Church IT / Web Developer audiences.\n \n Here are some examples of Ten-Talk topics:\n (1) Have you implemented something at your church that has been a radical success or epic failure? We can learn from either of these!\n (2) Do you have an inspirational message that can lead others to action? Even better if you can share how this message inspired you to action and then show us what you did.\n (3) Have you spent time researching and understanding something in the world of ministry software or Church IT? Maybe you are an expert in [redacted]. Present this to the Church IT Network /RefreshCache community and share what you know. Your research may help another church find the solution to a problem they are facing, or save them the trouble of doing all the research you just did by realizing it won't work for them.\n\nIt was later adopted at the national Church IT Round Table conference held in February 2013 in Phoenix, Arizona when the two events began to intermingle and used again in 2014 at the Peoria, Illinois event where it was re-described as \"10Talks (or TEN-Talks) are 10 minute, fast paced talks on a topic. These are perfect sessions for raising awareness about a topic, tool, or idea that you think your peers should know.\"\n\nIts use outside of CITRT conferences is thought to begin with the WLAN professionals summit in February 2014.\n\nReferences\n\nPresentation",
"The Missing Head of Damasceno Monteiro () is a 1997 crime novel by the Italian writer Antonio Tabucchi. It is set in Porto, Portugal, and follows a murder investigation after a headless body has been found.\n\nReception\nMichael Pye of The New York Times called the novel \"a vivid book\" and wrote that Tabucchi \"writes with all his senses\". He noted how the book often reflects on subjects in ways conventional crime novels do not, and wrote: \"Much of this works very well, but you should be warned about Tabucchi's tendency to slam the door on the captive reader and start a seminar. ... You may sometimes want to snort with exasperation and send Tabucchi's book skirling across the room. But, then again, when did you last find a novel this interesting?\"\n\nSee also\n 1997 in literature\n Italian literature\n\nReferences\n\n1997 novels\nItalian crime novels\nNovels by Antonio Tabucchi\nNovels set in Portugal\n20th-century Italian novels"
] |
[
"Hannah Arendt",
"Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil",
"Why was Eichmann in Jerusalem?",
"the 1961 Adolf Eichmann trial",
"How long did the trial last?",
"I don't know.",
"What did you find interesting about this?",
"She also was critical of the way that some Jewish leaders, notably M. C. Rumkowski, acted during the Holocaust."
] |
C_f518fee4cca94e3b940e1e9703364de9_0
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What was the result of the trials?
| 4 |
What was the result of the Adolf Eichmann trials?
|
Hannah Arendt
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In her reporting of the 1961 Adolf Eichmann trial for The New Yorker, which evolved into Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (1963), she coined the phrase "the banality of evil" to describe the phenomenon of Eichmann. She examined the question of whether evil is radical or simply a function of thoughtlessness, a tendency of ordinary people to obey orders and conform to mass opinion without a critical evaluation of the consequences of their actions. She was sharply critical of the way the trial was conducted in Israel. She also was critical of the way that some Jewish leaders, notably M. C. Rumkowski, acted during the Holocaust. This caused a considerable controversy and even animosity toward Arendt in the Jewish community. Her friend Gershom Scholem, a major scholar of Jewish mysticism, broke off relations with her. Arendt was criticized by many Jewish public figures, who charged her with coldness and lack of sympathy for the victims of the Holocaust. Because of this lingering criticism neither this book nor any of her other works were translated into Hebrew, until 1999. This controversy was answered by Hannah Arendt in the book's Postscript. The controversy began by calling attention to the conduct of the Jewish people during the years of the Final Solution, thus following up the question, first raised by the Israeli prosecutor, of whether the Jews could or should have defended themselves. I had dismissed that question as silly and cruel, since it testified to a fatal ignorance of the conditions at the time. It has now been discussed to exhaustion, and the most amazing conclusions have been drawn. The well-known historico-sociological construct of "ghetto mentality"... has been repeatedly dragged in to explain behavior which was not at all confined to the Jewish people and which therefore cannot be explained by specifically Jewish factors... This was the unexpected conclusion certain reviewers chose to draw from the "image" of a book, created by certain interest groups, in which I allegedly had claimed that the Jews had murdered themselves. Arendt ended the book by writing: Just as you Eichmann supported and carried out a policy of not wanting to share the earth with the Jewish people and the people of a number of other nations--as though you and your superiors had any right to determine who should and who should not inhabit the world--we find that no one, that is, no member of the human race, can be expected to want to share the earth with you. This is the reason, and the only reason, you must hang. CANNOTANSWER
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This is the reason, and the only reason, you must hang.
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Hannah Arendt (, , ; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a political philosopher, author, and Holocaust survivor. Her contributions influenced 20th and 21st century political theorists.
Arendt was born in Linden, a district of Hanover, in 1906, to a Jewish family. At the age of three, her family moved to Königsberg, the capital of East Prussia, so that her father's syphilis could be treated. Paul Arendt had contracted the disease in his youth, and it was thought to be in remission when Arendt was born. He died when she was seven. Arendt was raised in a politically progressive, secular family. Her mother was an ardent supporter of the Social Democrats. After completing her secondary education in Berlin, she studied at the University of Marburg under Martin Heidegger, with whom she had a brief affair. She obtained her doctorate in philosophy writing on Love and Saint Augustine at the University of Heidelberg in 1929 under the direction of the existentialist philosopher Karl Jaspers.
Hannah Arendt married Günther Stern in 1929, but soon began to encounter increasing anti-Jewish discrimination in 1930s Nazi Germany. In 1933, the year Adolf Hitler came to power, Arendt was arrested and briefly imprisoned by the Gestapo for performing illegal research into antisemitism in Nazi Germany. On release, she fled Germany, living in Czechoslovakia and Switzerland before settling in Paris. There she worked for Youth Aliyah, assisting young Jews to emigrate to the British Mandate of Palestine. Divorcing Stern in 1937, she married Heinrich Blücher in 1940, but when Germany invaded France in 1940 she was detained by the French as an alien, despite having been stripped of her German citizenship in 1937. She escaped and made her way to the United States in 1941 via Portugal. She settled in New York, which remained her principal residence for the rest of her life. She became a writer and editor and worked for the Jewish Cultural Reconstruction, becoming an American citizen in 1950. With the publication of The Origins of Totalitarianism in 1951, her reputation as a thinker and writer was established and a series of works followed. These included the books The Human Condition in 1958, as well as Eichmann in Jerusalem and On Revolution in 1963. She taught at many American universities, while declining tenure-track appointments. She died suddenly of a heart attack in 1975, at the age of 69, leaving her last work, The Life of the Mind, unfinished.
Her works cover a broad range of topics, but she is best known for those dealing with the nature of power and evil, as well as politics, direct democracy, authority, and totalitarianism. In the popular mind she is best remembered for the controversy surrounding the trial of Adolf Eichmann, her attempt to explain how ordinary people become actors in totalitarian systems, which was considered by some an apologia, and for the phrase "the banality of evil". She is commemorated by institutions and journals devoted to her thinking, the Hannah Arendt Prize for political thinking, and on stamps, street names and schools, amongst other things.
Early life and education (1906–1929)
Family
Hannah Arendt was born Johanna Arendt in 1906 into a comfortable educated secular family of German Jews in Linden, Prussia (now a part of Hanover), in Wilhelmine Germany. Her family were merchants of Russian extraction from Königsberg, the East Prussian capital. Arendt's grandparents were members of the Reform Jewish community there. Hannah's paternal grandfather, (1843–1913), was a prominent businessman, local politician, one of the leaders of the Königsberg Jewish community and a member of the Centralverein deutscher Staatsbürger jüdischen Glaubens (Central Organization for German Citizens of the Jewish Faith). Like other members of the Centralverein he primarily saw himself as a German and disapproved of the activities of Zionists, such as the young Kurt Blumenfeld (1884–1963), who was a frequent visitor to their home and would later become one of Hannah's mentors. Of Max Arendt's children, Paul Arendt (1873–1913) was an engineer and Henriette Arendt (1874–1922) was a policewoman who became a social worker.
Hannah was the only child of Paul and Martha Arendt (née Cohn) (1874–1948), who were married on 11 April 1902. She was named after her paternal grandmother. The Cohns had originally come to Königsberg from nearby Russian territory (now Lithuania) in 1852, as refugees from anti-Semitism, and made their living as tea importers; J. N. Cohn & Company became the largest business in the city. The Arendts had reached Germany from Russia a century earlier. Hannah's extended family contained many more women, who shared the loss of husbands and children. Hannah's parents were more educated and politically more to the left than her grandparents. The young couple became members of the Social Democrats, rather than the German Democratic Party that most of their contemporaries supported. Paul Arendt was educated at the Albertina (University of Königsberg). Though he worked as an engineer, he prided himself on his love of Classics. He collected a large library, in which Hannah immersed herself. Martha Cohn, a musician, had studied for three years in Paris.
In the first four years of their marriage, the Arendts lived in Berlin, where they were supporters of the socialist journal . At the time of Hannah's birth, Paul Arendt was employed by an electrical engineering firm in Linden, and they lived in a frame house on the market square (Marktplatz). The Arendt family moved back to Königsberg in 1909, because of Paul's deteriorating health. Hannah's father suffered from a prolonged illness with syphilis and had to be institutionalized in the Königsberg psychiatric hospital in 1911. For years afterward, Hannah had to have annual WR tests for congenital syphilis. He died on 30 October 1913, when Hannah was seven, leaving her mother to raise her. They lived at Hannah's grandfather's house at Tiergartenstraße 6, a leafy residential street adjacent to the Königsberg Tiergarten, in the predominantly Jewish neighborhood of Hufen. Although Hannah's parents were non-religious, they were happy to allow Max Arendt to take Hannah to the Reform synagogue. She also received religious instruction from the rabbi, Hermann Vogelstein, who would come to her school for that purpose. At the time the young Hannah confided that she wished to marry him when she grew up. Her family moved in circles that included many intellectuals and professionals. It was a social circle of high standards and ideals. As she recalled it:
My early intellectual formation occurred in an atmosphere where nobody paid much attention to moral questions; we were brought up under the assumption: , moral conduct is a matter of course.
This time was a particularly favorable period for the Jewish community in Königsberg, an important center of the Haskalah (enlightenment). Arendt's family was thoroughly assimilated ("Germanized") and she later remembered: "With us from Germany, the word 'assimilation' received a 'deep' philosophical meaning. You can hardly realize how serious we were about it." Despite these conditions, the Jewish population lacked full citizenship rights, and although antisemitism was not overt, it was not absent. Arendt came to define her Jewish identity negatively after encountering overt antisemitism as an adult. She came to greatly identify with Rahel Varnhagen (1771–1833), the Prussian socialite who desperately wanted to assimilate into German culture, only to be rejected because she was born Jewish. Arendt later said of Varnhagen that she was "my very closest woman friend, unfortunately dead a hundred years now." Varnhagen would later become the subject of a biography by Hannah.
In the last two years of the First World War, Hannah's mother organized social democratic discussion groups and became a follower of Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919) as socialist uprisings broke out across Germany. Luxemburg's writings would later influence Hannah's political thinking. In 1920, Martha Cohn married Martin Beerwald (1869–1941), an ironmonger and widower of four years, and they moved to his home, two blocks away, at Busoldstrasse 6, providing Hannah with improved social and financial security. Hannah was 14 at the time and acquired two older stepsisters, Clara (1901–1932) and Eva (1902–1988).
Education
Early education
Hannah Arendt's mother, who considered herself progressive, sought to raise her daughter along strict Goethean lines, which amongst other things, involved the reading of the complete works of Goethe, often summed up in the phrase from Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship (1796) as – (And just what is your duty? The demands of the day). Goethe, at the time, was considered the essential mentor of (education), the conscious formation of mind, body and spirit. The key elements were considered to be self-discipline, constructive channeling of passion, renunciation and responsibility for others. Hannah's developmental progress () was carefully documented by her mother in a book, which she titled (Our Child) and measured her against the benchmark of what was then considered ("normal development").
Arendt attended kindergarten from 1910 where her precocity impressed her teachers and enrolled in the Szittnich School, Königsberg (Hufen-Oberlyzeum), on Bahnstraße in August 1913, but her studies there were interrupted by the outbreak of World War I, forcing the family to temporarily flee to Berlin on 23 August 1914, in the face of the advancing Russian army. There they stayed with her mother's younger sister, Margarethe Fürst (1884–1942), and her three children, while Hannah attended a girl's school in Berlin-Charlottenburg. After ten weeks, when Königsberg appeared to be no longer threatened, the Arendts were able to return, where they spent the remaining war years at her grandfather's house. Arendt's precocity continued, learning ancient Greek as a child, writing poetry in her teenage years, and starting both a philosophy club and Greek Graecae at her school. She was fiercely independent in her schooling and a voracious reader, absorbing French and German literature and poetry (committing large amounts to heart) and philosophy. By the age of 14, she had read Kierkegaard, Jaspers' and Kant's (Critique of Pure Reason). Kant, whose home town was also Königsberg, was an important influence on her thinking, and it was Kant who had written about Königsberg that "such a town is the right place for gaining knowledge concerning men and the world even without travelling".
Arendt attended the Königin-Luise-Schule for her secondary education, a girls' Gymnasium on Landhofmeisterstraße. Most of her friends, while at school, were gifted children of Jewish professional families, generally older than she and went on to university education. Among them was Ernst Grumach (1902–1967), who introduced her to his girlfriend, Anne Mendelssohn, who would become a lifelong friend. When Anne moved away, Ernst became Arendt's first romantic relationship. Like Arendt, Anne would go on to become a philosopher, obtaining her doctorate at Hamburg, while Ernst became a philologist.
Higher education (1922–1929)
Berlin (1922–1924)
Arendt's education at the Luise-Schule ended in 1922 when she was expelled at the age of 15 for leading a boycott of a teacher who insulted her. Instead, her mother arranged for her to go to Berlin to be with Social Democrat family friends. In Berlin she lived in a student residence and audited courses of her choosing at the University of Berlin (1922–1923), including classics and Christian theology under Romano Guardini. This enabled her to successfully sit the entrance examination () for the University of Marburg, where Ernst Grumach had studied under Martin Heidegger, who had been appointed a professor there in 1922. For the examination, her mother engaged a private tutor, while her aunt Frieda Arendt, a teacher, also helped her, and Frieda's husband Ernst Aron provided financial assistance for her to attend university.
Marburg (1924–1926)
In Berlin, Guardini had introduced her to Kierkegaard, and she resolved to make theology her major field. At Marburg (1924–1926) she studied classical languages, German literature, Protestant theology with Rudolf Bultmann and philosophy with Nicolai Hartmann and Heidegger. Arendt arrived at Marburg that fall in the middle of an intellectual revolution led by the young Heidegger, of whom she was in awe, describing him as "the hidden king [who] reigned in the realm of thinking".
Heidegger had broken away from the intellectual movement started by Edmund Husserl, whose assistant he had been at University of Freiburg before coming to Marburg. This was a period when Heidegger was preparing his lectures on Kant, which he would develop in the second part of his (Being and Time) in 1927 and (1929). Although Heidegger had dedicated the first edition of Being and Time to Edmund Husserl, Husserl gave the book a poor review, and in the second edition Heidegger removed that dedication.
In his classes he and his students struggled with the meaning of "Being" as they worked together through Aristotle's concept of ἀλήθεια (truth) and Plato's Sophist. Many years later Arendt would describe these classes, how people came to Marburg to hear him, and how, above all he imparted the idea of ("thinking") as activity, which she qualified as "passionate thinking".
Arendt was restless. To date her studies had not been either emotionally or intellectually satisfying. She was ready for passion, finishing her poem (Consolation, 1923) with the lines:
(The hours run downThe days pass on.One achievement remains:Merely being alive)
Her encounter with Heidegger represented a dramatic departure from the past. He was handsome, a genius, romantic, and taught that thinking and "aliveness" were but one. The 17-year-old Arendt then began a long romantic relationship with the 35-year-old Heidegger, who was married with two young sons. Arendt later faced criticism for this because of Heidegger's support for the Nazi Party after his election as rector at the University of Freiburg in 1933. Nevertheless, he remained one of the most profound influences on her thinking, and he would later relate that she had been the inspiration for his work on passionate thinking in those days. They agreed to keep the details of the relationship a secret, preserving their letters but keeping them unavailable. The relationship was not known until Elisabeth Young-Bruehl's biography of Arendt appeared in 1982. At the time of publishing, Arendt and Heidegger were deceased and Heidegger's wife, Elfride (1893–1992), was still alive. The affair was not well known until 1995, when Elzbieta Ettinger gained access to the sealed correspondence and published a controversial account that was used by Arendt's detractors to cast doubt on her integrity. That account, which caused a scandal, was subsequently refuted.
At Marburg, Arendt lived at Lutherstraße 4. Among her friends there was Hans Jonas, her only Jewish classmate. Another fellow student of Heidegger's was Jonas' friend, the Jewish philosopher Gunther Siegmund Stern (1902–1992)son of the noted psychologist Ludwig Wilhelm Sternwho would later become her first husband. Stern had completed his doctoral dissertation with Edmund Husserl at Freiburg, and was now working on his Habilitation thesis with Heidegger, but Arendt, involved with Heidegger, took little notice of him at the time.
Die Schatten (1925)
In the summer of 1925, while home at Königsberg, Arendt composed her sole autobiographical piece, (The Shadows), a "description of herself" addressed to Heidegger. In this essay, full of anguish and Heideggerian language, she reveals her insecurities relating to her femininity and Jewishness, writing abstractly in the third person. She describes a state of "" (alienation), on the one hand an abrupt loss of youth and innocence, on the other an "" (strangeness), the finding of the remarkable in the banal. In her detailing of the pain of her childhood and longing for protection she shows her vulnerabilities and how her love for Heidegger had released her and once again filled her world with color and mystery. She refers to her relationship with Heidegger as "" ("an unbending devotion to a unique man"). This period of intense introspection was also one of the most productive of her poetic output, such as (Lost in Self-Contemplation).
Freiburg and Heidelberg (1926–1929)
After a year at Marburg, Arendt spent a semester at Freiburg, attending the lectures of Husserl. In 1926 she moved to the University of Heidelberg, where in 1929, she completed her dissertation under the other leading figure of the then new and revolutionary Existenzphilosophie, Karl Jaspers (1883–1969), a friend of Heidegger's. Her thesis was entitled Der Liebesbegriff bei Augustin: Versuch einer philosophischen Interpretation (On the concept of love in the thought of Saint Augustine: Attempt at a philosophical interpretation). She remained a lifelong friend of Jaspers and his wife, Gertrud Mayer (1879–1974), developing a deep intellectual relationship with him. At Heidelberg, her circle of friends included Hans Jonas, who had also moved from Marburg to study Augustine, working on his (1930), and also a group of three young philosophers: Karl Frankenstein, Erich Neumann and Erwin Loewenson. Other friends and students of Jaspers were the linguists Benno von Wiese and Hugo Friedrich (seen with Hannah, below), with whom she attended lectures by Friedrich Gundolf at Jaspers' suggestion and who kindled in her an interest in German Romanticism. She also became reacquainted, at a lecture, with Kurt Blumenfeld, who introduced her to Jewish politics. At Heidelberg, she lived in the old town () near the castle, at Schlossberg 16. The house was demolished in the 1960s, but the one remaining wall bears a plaque commemorating her time there (see image).
On completing her dissertation, Arendt turned to her , initially on German Romanticism, and thereafter an academic teaching career. However 1929 was also the year of the Depression and the end of the golden years () of the Weimar Republic, which was to become increasingly unstable over its remaining four years. Arendt, as a Jew, had little if any chance of obtaining an academic appointment in Germany. Nevertheless, she completed most of the work before she was forced to leave Germany.
Career
Germany (1929–1933)
Berlin-Potsdam (1929)
In 1929, Arendt met Günther Stern again, this time in Berlin at a New Year's masked ball, and began a relationship with him. Within a month she had moved in with him in a one-room studio, shared with a dancing school in Berlin-Halensee. Then they moved to Merkurstraße 3, Nowawes, in Potsdam and were married there on 26 September. They had much in common and the marriage was welcomed by both sets of parents. In the summer, Hannah Arendt successfully applied to the for a grant to support her Habilitation, which was supported by Heidegger and Jaspers among others, and in the meantime, with Günther's help was working on revisions to get her dissertation published.
Wanderjahre (1929–1931)
After Arendt and Günther were married, they began two years of what Christian Dries refers to as the (years of wandering). They had the ultimately fruitless aim of having Günther accepted for an academic appointment. They lived for a while in Drewitz, a southern neighborhood of Potsdam, before moving to Heidelberg, where they lived with the Jaspers. After Heidelberg, where Günther completed the first draft of his thesis, the Sterns then moved to Frankfurt where Günther hoped to finish it. There, Arendt participated in the university's intellectual life, attending lectures by Karl Mannheim and Paul Tillich, among others. The Sterns collaborated intellectually, writing an article together on Rilke's (1923) and both reviewing Mannheim's (1929). The latter was Arendt's sole contribution in sociology. In both her treatment of Mannheim and Rilke, Arendt found love to be a transcendent principle "Because there is no true transcendence in this ordered world, one also cannot exceed the world, but only succeed to higher ranks". In Rilke she saw a latter day secular Augustine, describing the as the (ultimate form of religious document). Later, she would discover the limitations of transcendent love in explaining the historical events that pushed her into political action. Another theme from Rilke that she would develop was the despair of not being heard. Reflecting on Rilke's opening lines, which she placed as an epigram at the beginning of their essay
(Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angel's hierarchies?)
Arendt and Stern begin by stating
The paradoxical, ambiguous, and desperate situation from which standpoint the Duino Elegies may alone be understood has two characteristics: the absence of an echo and the knowledge of futility. The conscious renunciation of the demand to be heard, the despair at not being able to be heard, and finally the need to speak even without an answer–these are the real reasons for the darkness, asperity, and tension of the style in which poetry indicates its own possibilities and its will to form
Arendt also published an article on Augustine (354–430) in the Frankfurter Zeitung to mark the 1500th anniversary of his death. She saw this article as forming a bridge between her treatment of Augustine in her dissertation and her subsequent work on Romanticism. When it became evident Stern would not succeed in obtaining an appointment, the Sterns returned to Berlin in 1931.
Return to Berlin (1931–1933)
In Berlin, where the couple initially lived in the predominantly Jewish area of (Bavarian Quarter or "Jewish Switzerland") in Schöneberg, Stern obtained a position as a staff-writer for the cultural supplement of the Berliner Börsen-Courier, edited by Herbert Ihering, with the help of Bertold Brecht. There he started writing using the nom-de-plume of Günther Anders, i.e. "Günther Other". Arendt assisted Günther with his work, but the shadow of Heidegger hung over their relationship. While Günther was working on his , Arendt had abandoned the original subject of German Romanticism for her thesis in 1930, and turned instead to Rahel Varnhagen and the question of assimilation. Anne Mendelssohn had accidentally acquired a copy of Varnhagen's correspondence and excitedly introduced her to Arendt, donating her collection to her. A little later, Arendt's own work on Romanticism led her to a study of Jewish salons and eventually to those of Varnhagen. In Rahel, she found qualities she felt reflected her own, particularly those of sensibility and vulnerability. Rahel, like Hannah, found her destiny in her Jewishness. Hannah Arendt would come to call Rahel Varnhagen's discovery of living with her destiny as being a "conscious pariah". This was a personal trait that Arendt had recognized in herself, although she did not embrace the term until later.
Back in Berlin, Arendt found herself becoming more involved in politics and started studying political theory, and reading Marx and Trotsky, while developing contacts at the Deutsche Hochschule für Politik. Despite the political leanings of her mother and husband she never saw herself as a political leftist, justifying her activism as being through her Jewishness. Her increasing interest in Jewish politics and her examination of assimilation in her study of Varnhagen led her to publish her first article on Judaism, ("The Enlightenment and the Jewish Question", 1932). Blumenfeld had introduced her to the "Jewish question", which would be his lifelong concern. Meanwhile, her views on German Romanticism were evolving. She wrote a review of Hans Weil's (The Origin of German Educational Principle, 1930), which dealt with the emergence of (educational elite) in the time of Rahel Varnhagen. At the same time she began to be occupied by Max Weber's description of the status of Jewish people within a state as (pariah people) in his Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft (1922), while borrowing Bernard Lazare's term paria conscient (conscious pariah) with which she identified. In both these articles she advanced the views of Johann Herder. Another interest of hers at the time was the status of women, resulting in her 1932 review of Alice Rühle-Gerstel's book (Contemporary Women's Issues: A psychological balance sheet). Although not a supporter of the women's movement, the review was sympathetic. At least in terms of the status of women at that time, she was skeptical of the movement's ability to achieve political change. She was also critical of the movement, because it was a women's movement, rather than contributing with men to a political movement, abstract rather than striving for concrete goals. In this manner she echoed Rosa Luxemburg. Like Luxemburg, she would later criticize Jewish movements for the same reason. Arendt consistently prioritized political over social questions.
By 1932, faced with a deteriorating political situation, Arendt was deeply troubled by reports that Heidegger was speaking at National Socialist meetings. She wrote, asking him to deny that he was attracted to National Socialism. Heidegger replied that he did not seek to deny the rumors (which were true), and merely assured her that his feelings for her were unchanged. As a Jew in Nazi Germany, Arendt was prevented from making a living and discriminated against and confided to Anne Mendelssohn that emigration was probably inevitable. Jaspers had tried to persuade her to consider herself as a German first, a position she distanced herself from, pointing out that she was a Jew and that "" (For me, Germany is the mother tongue, philosophy and poetry), rather than her identity. This position puzzled Jaspers, replying "It is strange to me that as a Jew you want to be different from the Germans".
By 1933, life for the Jewish population in Germany was becoming precarious. Adolf Hitler became (Chancellor) in January, and the Reichstag was burned down () the following month. This led to the suspension of civil liberties, with attacks on the left, and, in particular, members of the Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (German Communist Party: KPD). Stern, who had communist associations, fled to Paris, but Arendt stayed on to become an activist. Knowing her time was limited, she used the apartment at Opitzstraße 6 in Berlin-Steglitz that she had occupied with Stern since 1932 as an underground railway way-station for fugitives. Her rescue operation there is now recognized with a plaque on the wall.
Arendt had already positioned herself as a critic of the rising Nazi Party in 1932 by publishing "Adam-Müller-Renaissance?" a critique of the appropriation of the life of Adam Müller to support right wing ideology. The beginnings of anti-Jewish laws and boycott came in the spring of 1933. Confronted with systemic antisemitism, Arendt adopted the motiv "If one is attacked as a Jew one must defend oneself as a Jew. Not as a German, not as a world citizen, not as an upholder of the Rights of Man." This was Arendt's introduction of the concept of Jew as Pariah that would occupy her for the rest of her life in her Jewish writings. She took a public position by publishing part of her largely completed biography of Rahel Varnhagen as "" ("Original Assimilation: An Epilogue to the One Hundredth Anniversary of Rahel Varnhagen's Death") in the on 7 March 1933 and a little later also in . In the article she argues that the age of assimilation that began with Varnhagen's generation had come to an end with an official state policy of antisemitism. She opened with the declaration:
Today in Germany it seems Jewish assimilation must declare its bankruptcy. The general social antisemitism and its official legitimation affects in the first instance assimilated Jews, who can no longer protect themselves through baptism or by emphasizing their differences from Eastern Judaism.
As a Jew, Arendt was anxious to inform the world of what was happening to her people in 1930–1933. She surrounded herself with Zionist activists, including Kurt Blumenfeld, Martin Buber and Salman Schocken, and started to research antisemitism. Arendt had access to the Prussian State Library for her work on Varnhagen. Blumenfeld's Zionistische Vereinigung für Deutschland (Zionist Federation of Germany) persuaded her to use this access to obtain evidence of the extent of antisemitism, for a planned speech to the Zionist Congress in Prague. This research was illegal at the time. Her actions led to her being denounced by a librarian for anti-state propaganda, resulting in the arrest of both Arendt and her mother by the Gestapo. They served eight days in prison but her notebooks were in code and could not be deciphered, and she was released by a young, sympathetic arresting officer to await trial.
Exile: France (1933–1941)
Paris (1933–1940)
On release, realizing the danger she was now in, Arendt and her mother fled Germany following the established escape route over the Erzgebirge Mountains by night into Czechoslovakia and on to Prague and then by train to Geneva. In Geneva, she made a conscious decision to commit herself to "the Jewish cause". She obtained work with a friend of her mother's at the League of Nations' Jewish Agency for Palestine, distributing visas and writing speeches.
From Geneva the Arendts traveled to Paris in the autumn, where she was reunited with Stern, joining a stream of refugees. While Arendt had left Germany without papers, her mother had travel documents and returned to Königsberg and her husband. In Paris, she befriended Stern's cousin, the Marxist literary critic and philosopher Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) and also the Jewish French philosopher Raymond Aron (1905–1983).
Arendt was now an émigrée, an exile, stateless, without papers, and had turned her back on the Germany and Germans of the . Her legal status was precarious and she was coping with a foreign language and culture, all of which took its toll on her mentally and physically. In 1934 she started working for the Zionist-funded outreach program Agriculture et Artisanat, giving lectures, and organizing clothing, documents, medications and education for Jewish youth seeking to emigrate to the British Mandate of Palestine, mainly as agricultural workers. Initially she was employed as a secretary, and then office manager. To improve her skills she studied French, Hebrew and Yiddish. In this way she was able to support herself and her husband. When the organization closed in 1935, her work for Blumenfeld and the Zionists in Germany brought her into contact with the wealthy philanthropist Baroness Germaine Alice de Rothschild (born Halphen, 1884–1975), wife of Édouard Alphonse James de Rothschild, becoming her assistant. In this position she oversaw the baroness' contributions to Jewish charities through the Paris Consistoire, although she had little time for the family as a whole. The Rothschilds had headed the central Consistoire for a century but stood for everything Arendt did not, opposing immigration and any connection with German Jewry.
Later in 1935, Arendt joined Youth Aliyah (Youth immigration), an organization similar to Agriculture et Artisanat that was founded in Berlin on the day Hitler seized power. It was affiliated with Hadassah organization, which later saved many from the nearing Holocaust, and there Arendt eventually became Secretary-General (1935–1939). Her work with Youth Aliyah also involved finding food, clothing, social workers and lawyers, but above all, fund raising. She made her first visit to British Mandate of Palestine in 1935, accompanying one of these groups and meeting with her cousin Ernst Fürst there. With the Nazi annexation of Austria and invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1938, Paris was flooded with refugees, and she became the special agent for the rescue of the children from those countries. In 1938, Arendt completed her biography of Rahel Varnhagen, although this was not published until 1957. In April 1939, following the devastating Kristallnacht pogrom of November 1938, Martha Beerwald realized her daughter would not return and made the decision to leave her husband and join Arendt in Paris. One stepdaughter had died and the other had moved to England, Martin Beerwald would not leave and she no longer had any close ties to Königsberg.
Heinrich Blücher
In 1936, Arendt met the self-educated Berlin poet and Marxist philosopher Heinrich Blücher (1899–1970) in Paris. Blücher had been a Spartacist and then a founding member of the KPD, but had been expelled due to his work in the (Conciliator faction). Although Arendt had rejoined Stern in 1933, their marriage existed in name only, with their having separated in Berlin. She fulfilled her social obligations and used the name Hannah Stern, but the relationship effectively ended when Stern, perhaps recognizing the danger better than she, emigrated to America with his parents in 1936. In 1937, Arendt was stripped of her German citizenship and she and Stern divorced. She had begun seeing more of Blücher, and eventually they began living together. It was Blücher's long political activism that began to move Arendt's thinking towards political action. Arendt and Blücher married on 16 January 1940, shortly after their divorces were finalized.
Internment and escape (1940–1941)
On 5 May 1940, in anticipation of the German invasion of France and the Low Countries that month, the military governor of Paris issued a proclamation ordering all "enemy aliens" between 17 and 55 who had come from Germany (predominantly Jews) to report separately for internment. The women were gathered together in the Vélodrome d'Hiver on 15 May, so Hannah Arendt's mother, being over 55, was allowed to stay in Paris. Arendt described the process of making refugees as "the new type of human being created by contemporary history ... put into concentration camps by their foes and into internment camps by their friends". The men, including Blücher, were sent to Camp Vernet in southern France, close to the Spanish border. Arendt and the other women were sent to Camp Gurs, to the west of Gurs, a week later. The camp had earlier been set up to accommodate refugees from Spain. On 22 June, France capitulated and signed the Compiègne armistice, dividing the country. Gurs was in the southern Vichy controlled section. Arendt describes how, "in the resulting chaos we succeeded in getting hold of liberation papers with which we were able to leave the camp", which she did with about 200 of the 7,000 women held there, about four weeks later. There was no Résistance then, but she managed to walk and hitchhike north to Montauban, near Toulouse where she knew she would find help.
Montauban had become an unofficial capital for former detainees, and Arendt's friend Lotta Sempell Klembort was staying there. Blücher's camp had been evacuated in the wake of the German advance, and he managed to escape from a forced march, making his way to Montauban, where the two of them led a fugitive life. Soon they were joined by Anne Mendelssohn and Arendt's mother. Escape from France was extremely difficult without official papers; their friend Walter Benjamin had taken his own life after being apprehended trying to escape to Spain. One of the best known illegal routes operated out of Marseilles, where Varian Fry, an American journalist, worked to raise funds, forge papers and bribe officials with Hiram Bingham, the American vice-consul there.
Fry and Bingham secured exit papers and American visas for thousands, and with help from Günther Stern, Arendt, her husband, and her mother managed to secure the requisite permits to travel by train in January 1941 through Spain to Lisbon, Portugal, where they rented a flat at Rua da Sociedade Farmacêutica, 6b. They eventually secured passage to New York in May on the Companhia Colonial de Navegação's S/S Guiné II. A few months later, Fry's operations were shut down and the borders sealed.
New York (1941–1975)
World War II (1941–1945)
Upon arriving in New York City on 22 May 1941 with very little, they received assistance from the Zionist Organization of America and the local German immigrant population, including Paul Tillich and neighbors from Königsberg. They rented rooms at 317 West 95th Street and Martha Arendt joined them there in June. There was an urgent need to acquire English, and it was decided that Hannah Arendt should spend two months with an American family in Winchester, Massachusetts, through Self-Help for Refugees, in July. She found the experience difficult but formulated her early appraisal of American life, (The fundamental contradiction of the country is political freedom coupled with social slavery).
On returning to New York, Arendt was anxious to resume writing and became active in the German-Jewish community, publishing her first article, "From the Dreyfus Affair to France Today" (in translation from her German) in July 1942. While she was working on this article, she was looking for employment and in November 1941 was hired by the New York German-language Jewish newspaper and from 1941 to 1945, she wrote a political column for it, covering anti-semitism, refugees and the need for a Jewish army. She also contributed to the Menorah Journal, a Jewish-American magazine, and other German émigré publications.
Arendt's first full-time salaried job came in 1944, when she became the director of research and Executive Director for the newly emerging Commission on European Jewish Cultural Reconstruction, a project of the Conference on Jewish Relations. She was recruited "because of her great interest in the Commission's activities, her previous experience as an administrator, and her connections with Germany". There she compiled lists of Jewish cultural assets in Germany and Nazi occupied Europe, to aid in their recovery after the war. Together with her husband, she lived at 370 Riverside Drive in New York City and at Kingston, New York, where Blücher taught at nearby Bard College for many years.
Post-war (1945–1975)
In July 1946, Arendt left her position at the Commission on European Jewish Cultural Reconstruction to become an editor at Schocken Books, which later published some of her works. In 1948, she became engaged with the campaign of Judah Magnes for a solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. She famously opposed the establishment of a Jewish nation state in Palestine and initially also opposed the establishment of a binational Arab-Jewish state. Instead, she advocated for the inclusion of Palestine into a multi-ethnic federation. Only in 1948 in an effort to forestall partition did she support a binational one-state solution. She returned to the Commission in August 1949. In her capacity as executive secretary, she traveled to Europe, where she worked in Germany, Britain and France (December 1949 to March 1950) to negotiate the return of archival material from German institutions, an experience she found frustrating, but providing regular field reports. In January 1952, she became secretary to the Board, although the work of the organization was winding down and she was simultaneously pursuing her own intellectual activities; she retained this position until her death. Arendt's work on cultural restitution provided further material for her study of totalitarianism.
In the 1950s Arendt wrote The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), The Human Condition (1958) and On Revolution (1963). Arendt began corresponding with the American author Mary McCarthy, six years her junior, in 1950 and they soon became lifelong friends. In 1950, Arendt also became a naturalized citizen of the United States. The same year, she started seeing Martin Heidegger again, and had what the American writer Adam Kirsch called a "quasi-romance", lasting for two years, with the man who had previously been her mentor, teacher, and lover. During this time, Arendt defended him against critics who noted his enthusiastic membership in the Nazi Party. She portrayed Heidegger as a naïve man swept up by forces beyond his control, and pointed out that Heidegger's philosophy had nothing to do with National Socialism. In 1961 she traveled to Jerusalem to report about Eichmann's trial for The New Yorker. This report strongly influenced her popular recognition, and raised much controversy (see below). Her work was recognized by many awards, including the Danish Sonning Prize in 1975 for Contributions to European Civilization.
A few years later she spoke in New York City on the legitimacy of violence as a political act: "Generally speaking, violence always rises out of impotence. It is the hope of those who have no power to find a substitute for it and this hope, I think, is in vain. Violence can destroy power, but it can never replace it."
Teaching
Arendt taught at many institutions of higher learning from 1951 onwards, but, preserving her independence, consistently refused tenure-track positions. She served as a visiting scholar at the University of Notre Dame; University of California, Berkeley; Princeton University (where she was the first woman to be appointed a full professor in 1959); and Northwestern University. She also taught at the University of Chicago from 1963 to 1967, where she was a member of the Committee on Social Thought; The New School in Manhattan where she taught as a university professor from 1967; Yale University, where she was a fellow; and the Center for Advanced Studies at Wesleyan University (1961–62, 1962–63). She was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1962 and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1964.
In 1974, Arendt was instrumental in the creation of Structured Liberal Education (SLE) at Stanford University. She wrote a letter to the president of Stanford to persuade the university to enact Stanford history professor Mark Mancall's vision of a residentially-based humanities program. At the time of her death, she was University Professor of Political Philosophy at the New School.
Relationships
In addition to her affair with Heidegger, and her two marriages, Arendt had close friendships. Since her death, her correspondence with many of them has been published, revealing much information about her thinking. To her friends she was both loyal and generous, dedicating several of her works to them. (friendship) she described as being one of "" (the active modes of being alive), and, to her, friendship was central both to her life and to the concept of politics. Hans Jonas described her as having a "genius for friendship", and, in her own words, "" (love of friendship).
Her philosophy-based friendships were male and European, while her later American friendships were more diverse, literary, and political. Although she became an American citizen in 1950, her cultural roots remained European, and her language remained her German "" (mother tongue). She surrounded herself with German-speaking émigrés, sometimes referred to as "The Tribe". To her, (real people) were "pariahs", not in the sense of outcasts, but in the sense of outsiders, unassimilated, with the virtue of "social nonconformism ... the sine qua non of intellectual achievement", a sentiment she shared with Jaspers.
Arendt always had a . In her teens she had formed a lifelong relationship with her , Anne Mendelssohn Weil ("Ännchen"). After her emigration to America, Hilde Fränkel, Paul Tillich's secretary and mistress, filled that role until her death in 1950. After the war, Arendt was able to return to Germany and renew her relationship with Weil, who made several visits to New York, especially after Blücher's death in 1970. Their last meeting was in Tegna, Switzerland in 1975, shortly before Arendt's death. With Fränkel's death, Mary McCarthy became Arendt's closest friend and confidante.
Final illness and death
Heinrich Blücher had survived a cerebral aneurysm in 1961 and remained unwell after 1963, sustaining a series of heart attacks. On 31 October 1970 he died of a massive heart attack. A devastated Arendt had previously told Mary McCarthy, "Life without him would be unthinkable". Arendt was also a heavy smoker and was frequently depicted with a cigarette in her hand. She sustained a near fatal heart attack while lecturing in Scotland in May 1974, and although she recovered, she remained in poor health afterwards, and continued to smoke. On the evening of 4 December 1975, shortly after her 69th birthday, she had a further heart attack in her apartment while entertaining friends, and was pronounced dead at the scene. Her ashes were buried alongside those of Blücher at Bard College, in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York in May 1976.
After Arendt's death the title page of the final part of The Life of the Mind ("Judging") was found in her typewriter, which she had just started, consisting of the title and two epigraphs. This has subsequently been reproduced (see image).
Work
Arendt wrote works on intellectual history as a philosopher, using events and actions to develop insights into contemporary totalitarian movements and the threat to human freedom presented by scientific abstraction and bourgeois morality. Intellectually, she was an independent thinker, a loner not a "joiner," separating herself from schools of thought or ideology. In addition to her major texts she published anthologies, including Between Past and Future (1961), Men in Dark Times (1968) and Crises of the Republic (1972). She also contributed to many publications, including The New York Review of Books, Commonweal, Dissent and The New Yorker. She is perhaps best known for her accounts of Adolf Eichmann and his trial, because of the intense controversy that it generated.
Political theory and philosophical system
While Arendt never developed a coherent political theory and her writing does not easily lend itself to categorization, the tradition of thought most closely identified with Arendt is that of civic republicanism, from Aristotle to Tocqueville. Her political concept is centered around active citizenship that emphasizes civic engagement and collective deliberation. She believed that no matter how bad, government could never succeed in extinguishing human freedom, despite holding that modern societies frequently retreat from democratic freedom with its inherent disorder for the relative comfort of administrative bureaucracy. Her political legacy is her strong defence of freedom in the face of an increasingly less than free world. She does not adhere to a single systematic philosophy, but rather spans a range of subjects covering totalitarianism, revolution, the nature of freedom and the faculties of thought and judgment.
While she is best known for her work on "dark times", the nature of totalitarianism and evil, she imbued this with a spark of hope and confidence in the nature of mankind:
That even in the darkest of times we have the right to expect some illumination, and that such illumination might well come less from theories and concepts than from the uncertain, flickering, and often weak light that some men and women, in their lives and their works, will kindle under almost all circumstances and shed over the time span that was given to them.
Love and Saint Augustine (1929)
Arendt's doctoral thesis, (Love and Saint Augustine), was published in 1929 and attracted critical interest, although an English translation did not appear until 1996. In this work, she combines approaches of both Heidegger and Jaspers. Arendt's interpretation of love in the work of Augustine deals with three concepts, love as craving or desire (Amor qua appetitus), love in the relationship between man (creatura) and creator (Creator – Creatura), and neighborly love (Dilectio proximi). Love as craving anticipates the future, while love for the Creator deals with the remembered past. Of the three, dilectio proximi or caritas is perceived as the most fundamental, to which the first two are oriented, which she treats under vita socialis (social life). The second of the Great Commandments (or Golden Rule) "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" uniting and transcending the former. Augustine's influence (and Jaspers' views on his work) persisted in Arendt's writings for the rest of her life.
Some of the leitmotifs of her canon were apparent, introducing the concept of (Natality) as a key condition of human existence and its role in the development of the individual, developing this further in The Human Condition (1958). She explained that the construct of natality was implied in her discussion of new beginnings and man's elation to the Creator as nova creatura. The centrality of the theme of birth and renewal is apparent in the constant reference to Augustinian thought, and specifically the innovative nature of birth, from this, her first work, to her last, The Life of the Mind.
Love is another connecting theme. In addition to the Augustinian loves expostulated in her dissertation, the phrase amor mundi (love of the world) is one often associated with Arendt and both permeates her work and was an absorbing passion throughout her work. She took the phrase from Augustine's homily on the first epistle of St John, "If love of the world dwell in us". Amor mundi was her original title for The Human Condition (1958), the subtitle of Elisabeth Young-Bruehl's biography (1982), the title of a collection of writing on faith in her work and is the newsletter of the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College.
The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951)
Arendt's first major book, The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), examined the roots of Stalinism and Nazism, structured as three essays, "Antisemitism", "Imperialism" and "Totalitarianism". Arendt argues that totalitarianism was a "novel form of government," that "differs essentially from other forms of political oppression known to us such as despotism, tyranny and dictatorship" in that it applied terror to subjugate mass populations rather than just political adversaries. Arendt also maintained that Jewry was not the operative factor in the Holocaust, but merely a convenient proxy because Nazism was about terror and consistency, not merely eradicating Jews. Arendt explained the tyranny using Kant's phrase "radical evil", by which their victims became "superfluous people". In later editions she enlarged the text to include her work on "Ideology and Terror: A novel form of government" and the Hungarian Revolution, but then published the latter separately.
Criticism of Origins has often focused on its portrayal of the two movements, Hitlerism and Stalinism, as equally tyrannical.
Rahel Varnhagen: The Life of a Jewess (1957)
Arendt's on Rahel Varnhagen was completed while she was living in exile in Paris in 1938, but not published till 1957, in the United Kingdom by East and West Library, part of the Leo Baeck Institute. This biography of a 19th century Jewish socialite, formed an important step in her analysis of Jewish history and the subjects of assimilation and emancipation, and introduced her treatment of the Jewish diaspora as either pariah or parvenu. In addition it represents an early version of her concept of history. The book is dedicated to Anne Mendelssohn, who first drew her attention to Varnhagen. Arendt's relation to Varnhagen permeates her subsequent work. Her account of Varnhagen's life was perceived during a time of the destruction of German-Jewish culture. It partially reflects Arendt's own view of herself as a German-Jewish woman driven out of her own culture into a stateless existence, leading to the description "biography as autobiography".
The Human Condition (1958)
In what is arguably her most influential work, The Human Condition (1958), Arendt differentiates political and social concepts, labor and work, and various forms of actions; she then explores the implications of those distinctions. Her theory of political action, corresponding to the existence of a public realm, is extensively developed in this work. Arendt argues that, while human life always evolves within societies, the social part of human nature, political life, has been intentionally realized in only a few societies as a space for individuals to achieve freedom. Conceptual categories, which attempt to bridge the gap between ontological and sociological structures, are sharply delineated. While Arendt relegates labor and work to the realm of the social, she favors the human condition of action as that which is both existential and aesthetic. Of human actions, Arendt identifies two that she considers essential. These are forgiving past wrong (or unfixing the fixed past) and promising future benefit (or fixing the unfixed future).
Arendt had first introduced the concept of "natality" in her Love and Saint Augustine (1929) and in The Human Condition starts to develop this further. In this, she departs from Heidegger's emphasis on mortality. Arendt's positive message is one of the "miracle of beginning", the continual arrival of the new to create action, that is to alter the state of affairs brought about by previous actions. "Men", she wrote "though they must die, are not born in order to die but in order to begin". She defined her use of "natality" as:
The miracle that saves the world, the realm of human affairs, from its normal, "natural" ruin is ultimately the fact of natality, in which the faculty of action is ontologically rooted. It is, in other words, the birth of new men and the new beginning, the action they are capable of by virtue of being born.
Natality would go on to become a central concept of her political theory, and also what Karin Fry considers its most optimistic one.
Between Past and Future (1954...1968)
Between Past and Future is an anthology of eight essays written between 1954 and 1968, dealing with a variety of different but connected philosophical subjects. These essays share the central idea that humans live between the past and the uncertain future. Man must permanently think to exist, but must learn thinking. Humans have resorted to tradition, but are abandoning respect for this tradition and culture. Arendt tries to find solutions to help humans think again, since modern philosophy has not succeeded in helping humans to live correctly.
On Revolution (1963)
Arendt's book On Revolution presents a comparison of two of the main revolutions of the 18th century, the American and French Revolutions. She goes against a common impression of both Marxist and leftist views when she argues that France, while well-studied and often emulated, was a disaster and that the largely ignored American Revolution was a success. The turning point in the French Revolution occurred when the leaders rejected their goals of freedom in order to focus on compassion for the masses. In the United States, the founders never betray the goal of . Arendt believes the revolutionary spirit of those men had been lost, however, and advocates a "council system" as an appropriate institution to regain that spirit.
Men in Dark Times (1968)
The anthology of essays Men in Dark Times presents intellectual biographies of some creative and moral figures of the 20th century, such as Walter Benjamin, Karl Jaspers, Rosa Luxemburg, Hermann Broch, Pope John XXIII, and Isak Dinesen.
Crises of the Republic (1972)
Crises of the Republic was the third of Arendt's anthologies, consisting of four essays, "Lying in Politics", "Civil Disobedience", "On Violence" and "Thoughts on Politics and Revolution". These related essays deal with contemporary American politics and the crises it faced in the 1960s and 1970s. "Lying in Politics" looks for an explanation behind the administration's deception regarding the Vietnam War, as revealed in the Pentagon Papers. "Civil Disobedience" examines the opposition movements, while the final "Thoughts on Politics and Revolution" is a commentary, in the form of an interview on the third essay, "On Violence". In "On Violence" Arendt substantiates that violence presupposes power which she understands as a property of groups. Thus, she breaks with the predominant conception of power as derived from violence.
When Hannah Arendt died in 1975, she left a major work incomplete, which was later published in 1978 as The Life of the Mind. Since then some of her minor works have been collected and published, mainly under the editorship of Jerome Kohn. In 1994 "Essays in Understanding" appeared as the first of a series covering the period 1930–1954, but attracted little attention. A new version of Origins of Totalitarianism appeared in 2004 followed by The Promise of Politics in 2005. The renewed interest in Arendtiana following these publications led to a second series of essays, Thinking Without a Banister: Essays in Understanding, 1953–1975, published in 2018. Other collections have dealt with her Jewish identity, including The Jew as Pariah (1978) and The Jewish Writings (2007), moral philosophy including Lectures on Kant's Political Philosophy (1982) and Responsibility and Judgment (2003), together with her literary works as Reflections on Literature and Culture (2007).
The Life of the Mind (1978)
Arendt's last major work, The Life of the Mind remained incomplete at the time of her death, but marked a return to moral philosophy. The outline of the book was based on her graduate level political philosophy class, Philosophy of the Mind, and her Gifford Lectures in Scotland. She conceived of the work as a trilogy based on the mental activities of thinking, willing, and judging. Her most recent work had focused on the first two, but went beyond this in terms of . Her discussion of thinking was based on Socrates and his notion of thinking as a solitary dialogue between oneself, leading her to novel concepts of conscience.
Arendt died suddenly five days after completing the second part, with the first page of Judging still in her typewriter, and McCarthy then edited the first two parts and provided some indication of the direction of the third. Arendt's exact intentions for the third part are unknown but she left several manuscripts (such as Thinking and Moral Considerations, Some Questions on Moral Philosophy and Lectures on Kant's Political Philosophy) relating to her thoughts on the mental faculty of Judging. These have since been published separately.
Collected works
After Hannah Arendt's death, her essays and notes have continued to be edited and published posthumously by friends and colleagues, including those that give some insight into the unfinished third part of The Life of the Mind. The Jew as Pariah: Jewish Identity and Politics in the Modern Age (1978), is a collection of 15 essays and letters from the period 1943–1966 on the situation of Jews in modern times, to try and throw some light on her views on the Jewish world, following the backlash to Eichmann, but proved to be equally polarizing. A further collection of her writings on being Jewish was published as The Jewish Writings (2007). Other work includes the collection of forty, largely fugitive, essays, addresses, and reviews entitled Essays in Understanding 1930–1954: Formation, Exile, and Totalitarianism (1994), that presaged her monumental The Origins of Totalitarianism, in particular On the Nature of Totalitarianism (1953) and The Concern with Politics in Contemporary European Philosophical Thought (1954). The remaining essays were published as Thinking Without a Banister: Essays in Understanding, 1953-1975 (2018). Her notebooks which form a series of memoirs, were published as in 2002.
Some further insight into her thinking is provided in the continuing posthumous publication of her correspondence with many of the important figures in her life, including Karl Jaspers (1992), Mary McCarthy (1995), Heinrich Blücher (1996), Martin Heidegger (2004), Alfred Kazin (2005), Walter Benjamin (2006), Gershom Scholem (2011) and Günther Stern (2016). Other correspondences that have been published include those with women friends such as Hilde Fränkel and Anne Mendelsohn Weil (see Relationships).
Arendt and the Eichmann trial (1961–1963)
In 1960, on hearing of Adolf Eichmann's capture and plans for his trial, Hannah Arendt contacted The New Yorker and offered to travel to Israel to cover it when it opened on 11 April 1961. Arendt was anxious to test her theories, developed in The Origins of Totalitarianism, and see how justice would be administered to the sort of man she had written about. Also she had witnessed "little of the Nazi regime directly" and this was an opportunity to witness an agent of totalitarianism first hand. The offer was accepted and she attended six weeks of the five-month trial with her young cousin from Israel, Edna Brocke. On arrival she was treated as a celebrity, meeting with the trial chief judge, Moshe Landau, and the foreign minister, Golda Meir. In her subsequent 1963 report, based on her observations and transcripts, and which evolved into the book Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, most famously, Arendt coined the phrase "the banality of evil" to describe the phenomenon of Eichmann. She, like others, was struck by his very ordinariness and the demeanor he exhibited of a small, slightly balding, bland bureaucrat, in contrast to the horrific crimes he stood accused of. He was, she wrote, "terribly and terrifyingly normal." She examined the question of whether evil is radical or simply a function of thoughtlessness, a tendency of ordinary people to obey orders and conform to mass opinion without a critical evaluation of the consequences of their actions. Arendt's argument was that Eichmann was not a monster, contrasting the immensity of his actions with the very ordinariness of the man himself. Eichmann, she stated, not only called himself a Zionist, having initially opposed the Jewish persecution, but also expected his captors to understand him. She pointed out that his actions were not driven by malice, but rather blind dedication to the regime and his need to belong, to be a "joiner."
On this, Arendt would later state "Going along with the rest and wanting to say 'we' were quite enough to make the greatest of all crimes possible". What Arendt observed during the trial was a bourgeois sales clerk who found a meaningful role for himself and a sense of importance in the Nazi movement. She noted that his addiction to clichés and use of bureaucratic morality clouded his ability to question his actions, "to think". This led her to set out her most famous, and most debated, dictum: "the lesson that this long course in human wickedness had taught us – the lesson of the fearsome, word-and-thought-defying banality of evil." By stating that Eichmann did not think, she did not imply lack of conscious awareness of his actions, but by "thinking" she implied reflective rationality, that was lacking.
Arendt was critical of the way the trial was conducted by the Israelis as a "show trial" with ulterior motives other than simply trying evidence and administering justice. Arendt was also critical of the way Israel depicted Eichmann's crimes as crimes against a nation state, rather than against humanity itself. She objected to the idea that a strong Israel was necessary to protect world Jewry being again placed where "they'll let themselves be slaughtered like sheep," recalling the biblical phrase. She portrayed the prosecutor, Attorney General Gideon Hausner, as employing hyperbolic rhetoric in the pursuit of Prime Minister Ben-Gurion's political agenda. Arendt, who believed she could maintain her focus on moral principles in the face of outrage, became increasingly frustrated with Hausner, describing his parade of survivors as having "no apparent bearing on the case". She was particularly concerned that Hausner repeatedly asked "why did you not rebel?" rather than question the role of the Jewish leaders. Arendt argued that some Jewish leaders associated with the Jewish Councils (Judenräte), notably M. C. Rumkowski, acted during the Holocaust, in cooperating with Eichmann "almost without exception" in the destruction of their own people. She had expressed concerns on this point prior to the trial. She described this as a moral catastrophe. While her argument was not to allocate blame, rather she mourned what she considered a moral failure of compromising the imperative that it is better to suffer wrong than to do wrong. She describes the cooperation of the Jewish leaders in terms of a disintegration of Jewish morality: "This role of the Jewish leaders in the destruction of their own people is undoubtedly the darkest chapter in the whole dark story". Widely misunderstood, this caused an even greater controversy and particularly animosity toward her in the Jewish community and in Israel. For Arendt, the Eichmann trial marked a turning point in her thinking in the final decade of her life, becoming increasingly preoccupied with moral philosophy.
Reception
Arendt's five-part series "Eichmann in Jerusalem" appeared in The New Yorker in February 1963 some nine months after Eichmann was hanged on 31 May 1962. By this time his trial was largely forgotten in the popular mind, superseded by intervening world events. However, no other account of either Eichmann or National Socialism has aroused so much controversy. Prior to its publication, Arendt was considered a brilliant humanistic original political thinker. However her mentor, Karl Jaspers, warned her about a possible adverse outcome, "The Eichmann trial will be no pleasure for you. I'm afraid it cannot go well". On publication, three controversies immediately occupied public attention: the concept of Eichmann as banal, her criticism of the role of Israel and her description of the role played by the Jewish people themselves.
Arendt was profoundly shocked by the response, writing to Karl Jaspers "People are resorting to any means to destroy my reputation ... They have spent weeks trying to find something in my past that they can hang on me". Now she was being called arrogant, heartless and ill-informed. She was accused of being duped by Eichmann, of being a "self-hating Jewess", and even an enemy of Israel. Her critics included The Anti-Defamation League and many other Jewish groups, editors of publications she was a contributor to, faculty at the universities she taught at and friends from all parts of her life. Her friend Gershom Scholem, a major scholar of Jewish mysticism, broke off relations with her, publishing their correspondence without her permission. Arendt was criticized by many Jewish public figures, who charged her with coldness and lack of sympathy for the victims of the Holocaust. Because of this lingering criticism neither this book nor any of her other works were translated into Hebrew until 1999. Arendt responded to the controversies in the book's Postscript.
Although Arendt complained that she was being criticized for telling the truth – "what a risky business to tell the truth on a factual level without theoretical and scholarly embroidery" – the criticism was largely directed to her theorizing on the nature of mankind and evil and that ordinary people were driven to commit the inexplicable not so much by hatred and ideology as ambition, and inability to empathize. Equally problematic was the suggestion that the victims deceived themselves and complied in their own destruction. Prior to Arendt's depiction of Eichmann, his popular image had been, as The New York Times put it "the most evil monster of humanity" and as a representative of "an atrocious crime, unparalleled in history", "the extermination of European Jews". As it turned out Arendt and others were correct in pointing out that Eichmann's characterization by the prosecution as the architect and chief technician of the Holocaust was not entirely credible.
While much has been made of Arendt's treatment of Eichmann, Ada Ushpiz, in her 2015 documentary Vita Activa: The Spirit of Hannah Arendt, placed it in a much broader context of the use of rationality to explain seemingly irrational historical events.
In an interview with Joachim Fest in 1964, Arendt was asked about Eichmann's defense that he had made Kant's principle of the duty of obedience his guiding principle all his life. Arendt replied that that was outrageous and that Eichmann was misusing Kant, by not considering the element of judgement required in assessing one's own actions – "" (No man has, according to Kant, the right to obey), she stated, paraphrasing Kant. The reference was to Kant's (Religion within the Bounds of Bare Reason 1793) in which he states:
(The saying, "We must hearken to God, rather than to man," signifies no more than this, viz. that should any earthly legislation enjoin something immediately contradictory of the moral law, obedience is not to be rendered)
Kant clearly defines a higher moral duty than rendering merely unto Caesar. Arendt herself had written in her book "This was outrageous, on the face of it, and also incomprehensible, since Kant's moral philosophy is so closely bound up with man's faculty of judgment, which rules out blind obedience." Arendt's reply to Fest was subsequently corrupted to read (No one has the right to obey), which has been widely reproduced, although it does encapsulate an aspect of her moral philosophy.
The phrase has become one of her iconic images, appearing on the wall of the house in which she was born (see Commemorations), among other places. A fascist bas-relief on the Palazzo degli Uffici Finanziari (1942), in the Piazza del Tribunale, Bolzano, Italy celebrating Mussolini, read Credere, Obbedire, Combattere (Believe, Obey, Combat). In 2017 it was altered to read Hannah Arendt's original words on obedience in the three official languages of the region.
The phrase has been appearing in other artistic work featuring political messages, such as the 2015 installation by Wilfried Gerstel, which has evoked the concept of resistance to dictatorship, as expressed in her essay "Personal Responsibility under Dictatorship" (1964).
List of selected publications
Bibliographies
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Books
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Full text on Internet Archive
Also available in English as: Full text on Internet Archive
400 pages. (see Rahel Varnhagen)
, (see also The Origins of Totalitarianism and Comparison of Nazism and Stalinism) Full text (1979 edition) on Internet Archive
(see also The Human Condition)
(see also Between Past and Future)
(see also On Revolution) Full text on Internet Archive
Full text: 1964 edition (see also Eichmann in Jerusalem)
Articles and essays
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Correspondence
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Posthumous
Online text at Pensar el Espacio Público
Online text also Internet Archive
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(original German transcription)
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, partly based on Was ist Politik? (1993), French translation as Qu'est-ce que la politique?
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see also (extract)
at Pensar el Espacio Público
Collections
Miscellaneous
(Original video)
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Views
In 1961, while covering the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem, Arendt wrote a letter to Karl Jaspers that Adam Kirsch described as reflecting "pure racism" toward Sephardic Jews from the Middle East and Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe. She wrote:
On top, the judges, the best of German Jewry. Below them, the prosecuting attorneys, Galicians, but still Europeans. Everything is organized by a police force that gives me the creeps, speaks only Hebrew, and looks Arabic. Some downright brutal types among them. They would obey any order. And outside the doors, the oriental mob, as if one were in Istanbul or some other half-Asiatic country.
Although Arendt remained a Zionist both during and after World War II, she made it clear that she favored the creation of a Jewish-Arab federated state in British Mandate of Palestine (now Israel and the Palestinian territories), rather than a purely Jewish state. She believed that this was a way to address Jewish statelessness and to avoid the pitfalls of nationalism.
Accusations of racism
It was not just Arendt's analysis of the Eichmann trial that drew accusations of racism. In her 1958 essay in Dissent entitled Reflections on Little Rock she expressed opposition to desegregation following the 1957 Little Rock Integration Crisis in Arkansas. As she explains in the preface, for a long time the magazine was reluctant to print her contribution, so far did it appear to differ from the publication's liberal values. Eventually it was printed alongside critical responses. Later The New Yorker would express similar hesitancy over the Eichmann papers. So vehement was the response, that Arendt felt obliged to defend herself in a sequel. The debate over this essay has continued since. William Simmons devotes a whole section of his 2011 text on human rights (Human Rights Law and the Marginalized Other) to a critique of Arendt's position and in particular on Little Rock. While some critics feel she was fundamentally racist, many of those who have defended Arendt's position have pointed out that her concerns were for the welfare of the children, a position she maintained throughout her life. She felt that the children were being subjected to trauma to serve a broader political strategy of forcible integration. While over time Arendt conceded some ground to her critics, namely that she argued as an outsider, she remained committed to her central critique that children should not be thrust into the front-lines of geopolitical conflict.
Feminism
Embraced by feminists as a pioneer in a world dominated by men up to her time, Arendt did not call herself a feminist and would be very surprised to hear herself described as a feminist, remaining opposed to the social dimensions of Women's Liberation, urging independence, but always keeping in mind la petite différence! On becoming the first woman to be appointed a professor at Princeton in 1953, the media were much engaged in this exceptional achievement, but she never wanted to be seen as an exception, either as a woman (an "exception woman") or a Jew, stating emphatically "I am not disturbed at all about being a woman professor, because I am quite used to being a woman". In 1972, discussing women's liberation, she observed "the real question to ask is, what will we lose if we win?". She rather enjoyed what she saw as the privileges of being feminine as opposed to feminist, "Intensely feminine and therefore no feminist", stated Hans Jonas. Arendt considered some professions and positions unsuitable for women, particularly those involving leadership, telling Günter Gaus "It just doesn't look good when a woman gives orders". Despite these views, and having been labelled "anti-feminist", much space has been devoted to examining Arendt's place in relation to feminism. In the last years of her life, Virginia Held noted that Arendt's views evolved with the emergence of a new feminism in America in the 1970s to recognize the importance of the women's movement.
Critique of human rights
In The Origins of Totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt devotes a lengthy chapter (The Decline of the Nation-State and the End of the Rights of Man) to a critical analysis of human rights, in what has been described as "the most widely read essay on refugees ever published". Arendt is not skeptical of the notion of political rights in general, but instead defends a national or civil conception of rights. Human rights, or the Rights of Man as they were commonly called, are universal, inalienable, and possessed simply by virtue of being human. In contrast, civil rights are possessed by virtue of belonging to a political community, most commonly by being a citizen. Arendt's primary criticism of human rights is that they are ineffectual and illusory because their enforcement is in tension with national sovereignty. She argued that since there is no political authority above that of sovereign nations, state governments have little incentive to respect human rights when such policies conflict with national interests. This can be seen most clearly by examining the treatment of refugees and other stateless people. Since the refugee has no state to secure their civil rights, the only rights they have to fall back on are human rights. In this way Arendt uses the refugee as a test case for examining human rights in isolation from civil rights.
Arendt's analysis draws on the refugee upheavals in the first half of the 20th century along with her own experience as a refugee fleeing Nazi Germany. She argued that as state governments began to emphasize national identity as a prerequisite for full legal status, the number of minority resident aliens increased along with the number of stateless persons whom no state was willing to recognize legally. The two potential solutions to the refugee problem, repatriation and naturalization, both proved incapable of solving the crisis. Arendt argued that repatriation failed to solve the refugee crisis because no government was willing to take them in and claim them as their own. When refugees were forcibly deported to neighboring countries, such immigration was deemed illegal by the receiving country, and so failed to change the fundamental status of the migrants as stateless. Attempts at naturalizing and assimilating refugees also had little success. This failure was primarily the result of resistance from both state governments and the majority of citizens, since both tended to see the refugees as undesirables who threatened their national identity. Resistance to naturalization also came from the refugees themselves who resisted assimilation and attempted to maintain their own ethnic and national identities. Arendt contends that neither naturalization nor the tradition of asylum was capable of handling the sheer number of refugees. Instead of accepting some refugees with legal status, the state often responded by denaturalizing minorities who shared national or ethnic ties with stateless refugees.
Arendt argues that the consistent mistreatment of refugees, most of whom were placed in internment camps, is evidence against the existence of human rights. If the notion of human rights as universal and inalienable is to be taken seriously, the rights must be realizable given the features of the modern liberal state. She concluded "The Rights of Man, supposedly inalienable, proved to be unenforceable–even in countries whose constitutions were based upon them–whenever people appeared who were no longer citizens of any sovereign state". Arendt contends that they are not realizable because they are in tension with at least one feature of the liberal state—national sovereignty. One of the primary ways in which a nation exercises sovereignty is through control over national borders. State governments consistently grant their citizens free movement to traverse national borders. In contrast, the movement of refugees is often restricted in the name of national interests. This restriction presents a dilemma for liberalism because liberal theorists typically are committed to both human rights and the existence of sovereign nations.
In one of her most quoted passages, she puts forward the concept that human rights are little more than an abstraction:
The conception of human rights based upon the assumed existence of a human being as such broke down at the very moment when those who professed to believe in it were for the first time confronted with people who had indeed lost all other qualities and specific relationships - except that they were still human. The world found nothing sacred in the abstract nakedness of being human.
In popular culture
Several authors have written biographies that focus on the relationship between Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger. In 1999, the French feminist philosopher Catherine Clément wrote a novel, Martin and Hannah, speculating on the triangular relationship between Heidegger and the two women in his life, Arendt and Heidegger's wife Elfriede Petri. In addition to the relationships, the novel is a serious exploration of philosophical ideas, that centers on Arendt's last meeting with Heidegger in Freiburg in 1975. The scene is based on Elisabeth Young-Bruehl's description in Hannah Arendt: For Love of the World (1982), but reaches back to their childhoods, and Heidegger's role in encouraging the relationship between the two women. The novel explores Heidegger's embrace of Nazism as a proxy for that of Germany and, as in Arendt's treatment of Eichmann, the difficult relationship between collective guilt and personal responsibility. Clément also brings Hannah's other mentor and confidante, Karl Jaspers, into the matrix of relationships.
Arendt's life remains part of current culture and thought. In 2012 the German film, Hannah Arendt, directed by Margarethe von Trotta was released. The film, with Barbara Sukowa in the title role, depicted the controversy over Arendt's coverage of the Eichmann trial and subsequent book, in which she was widely misunderstood as defending Eichmann and blaming Jewish leaders for the Holocaust.
Legacy
Hannah Arendt is considered one of the most influential political philosophers of the 20th century. In 1998 Walter Laqueur stated "No twentieth-century philosopher and political thinker has at the present time as wide an echo", as philosopher, historian, sociologist and also journalist. Arendt's legacy has been described as a cult. In a 2016 review of a documentary about Arendt, the journalist A. O. Scott describes Hannah Arendt as "of unmatched range and rigor" as a thinker, although she is primarily known for the article Eichmann in Jerusalem that she wrote for The New Yorker, and in particular for the one phrase "the banality of evil".
She shunned publicity, never expecting, as she explained to Karl Jaspers in 1951, to see herself as a "cover girl" on the newsstands. In Germany, there are tours available of sites associated with her life.
The study of the life and work of Hannah Arendt, and of her political and philosophical theory is described as Arendtian. In her will she established the Hannah Arendt Bluecher Literary Trust as the custodian of her writings and photographs. Her personal library was deposited at Bard College at the Stevenson Library in 1976, and includes approximately 4,000 books, ephemera, and pamphlets from Arendt's last apartment as well as her desk (in McCarthy House). The college has begun archiving some of the collection digitally, which is available at The Hannah Arendt Collection. Most of her papers were deposited at the Library of Congress and her correspondence with her German friends and mentors, such as Heidegger, Blumenfeld and Jaspers, at the Deutsches Literaturarchiv in Marbach. The Library of Congress listed more than 50 books written about her in 1998, and that number has continued to grow, as have the number of scholarly articles, estimated as 1000 at that time.
Her life and work is recognized by the institutions most closely associated with her teaching, by the creation of Hannah Arendt Centers at both Bard (Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities) and The New School, both in New York State. In Germany, her contributions to understanding authoritarianism is recognised by the Hannah-Arendt-Institut für Totalitarismusforschung (Hannah Arendt Institute for the Research on Totalitarianism) in Dresden. There are Hannah Arendt Associations (Hannah Arendt Verein) such as the Hannah Arendt Verein für politisches Denken in Bremen that awards the annual Hannah-Arendt-Preis für politisches Denken (Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thinking) established in 1995. In Oldenburg, the Hannah Arendt Center at Carl von Ossietzky University was established in 1999, and holds a large collection of her work (Hannah Arendt Archiv), and administers the internet portal HannahArendt.net (A Journal for Political Thinking) as well as a monograph series, the Hannah Arendt-Studien. In Italy, the Hannah Arendt Center for Political Studies is situated at the University of Verona for Arendtian studies.
In 2017 a journal, Arendt Studies, was launched to publish articles related to the study of the life, work, and legacy of Hannah Arendt. Many places associated with her, have memorabilia of her on display, such as her student card at the University of Heidelberg (see image). 2006, the anniversary of her birth, saw commemorations of her work in conferences and celebrations around the world.
In 2015, the filmmaker Ada Ushpiz produced a documentary on Hannah Arendt, Vita Activa: The Spirit of Hannah Arendt. The New York Times designated it a New York Times critics pick. Of the many photographic portraits of Arendt, that taken in 1944 by Fred Stein (see image), whose work she greatly admired, has become iconic, and has been described as better known than the photographer himself, having appeared on a German postage stamp.(see image) Among organizations that have recognized Arendt's contributions to civilization and human rights, is the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
Contemporary interest
The rise of nativism, such as the election of Donald Trump in the United States, and concerns regarding an increasingly authoritarian style of governance has led to a surge of interest in Arendt and her writings, including radio broadcasts and writers, including Jeremy Adelman and Zoe Williams, to revisit Arendt's ideas to seek the extent to which they inform our understanding of such movements, which are being described as "Dark Times". At the same time Amazon reported that it had sold out of copies of The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951). Michiko Kakutani has addressed what she refers to as "the death of truth". In her 2018 book, The Death of Truth: Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump, she argues that the rise of totalitarianism has been founded on the violation of truth. She begins her book with an extensive quote from The Origins of Totalitarianism:
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist
Kakutani and others believed that Arendt's words speak not just events of a previous century but apply equally to the contemporary cultural landscape populated with fake news and lies. She also draws on Arendt's essay "Lying in Politics" from Crises in the Republic pointing to the lines:
The historian knows how vulnerable is the whole texture of facts in which we spend our daily life; it is always in danger of being perforated by single lies or torn to shreds by the organized lying of groups, nations, or classes, or denied and distorted, often carefully covered up by reams of falsehoods or simply allowed to fall into oblivion. Facts need testimony to be remembered and trustworthy witnesses to be established in order to find a secure dwelling place in the domain of human affairs
Arendt drew attention to the critical role that propaganda plays in gaslighting populations, Kakutani observes, citing the passage:
In an ever-changing, incomprehensible world the masses had reached the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, think that everything was possible and that nothing was true . ... The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness
It is also relevant that Arendt took a broader perspective on history than merely totalitarianism in the early 20th century, stating "the deliberate falsehood and the outright lie have been used as legitimate means to achieve political ends since the beginning of recorded history." Contemporary relevance is also reflected in the increasing use of the phrase, attributed to her, "No one has the right to obey" to reflect that actions result from choices, and hence judgement, and that we cannot disclaim responsibility for that which we have the power to act upon. In addition those centers established to promote Arendtian studies continue to seek solutions to a wide range of contemporary issues in her writing.
Arendt's teachings on obedience have also been linked to the controversial psychology experiments by Stanley Milgram, that implied that ordinary people can easily be induced to commit atrocities. Milgram himself drew attention to this in 1974, stating that he was testing the theory that Eichmann like others would merely follow orders, but unlike Milgram she argued that actions involve responsibility.
Arendt's theories on the political consequences of how nations deal with refugees has remained relevant and compelling. Arendt had observed first hand the displacement of large stateless and rightsless populations, treated not so much as people in need than as problems to solve, and in many cases, resist. She wrote about this in her 1943 essay "We refugees". Another Arendtian theme that finds an echo in contemporary society is her observation, inspired by Rilke, of the despair of not being heard, the futility of tragedy that finds no listener that can bring comfort, assurance and intervention. An example of this being gun violence in America and the resulting political inaction.
In Search of the Last Agora, an illustrated documentary film by Lebanese director Rayyan Dabbous about Hannah Arendt's 1958 work The Human Condition, was released in 2018 to mark the book's 50th anniversary. Screened at Bard College, the experimental film is described as finding "new meaning in the political theorist's conceptions of politics, technology and society in the 1950s", particularly in her prediction of abuses of phenomena unknown in Arendt's time, including social media, intense globalization, and obsessive celebrity culture.
Hannah Arendt's life and work continue to be commemorated in many different ways, including plaques (Gedenktafeln) indicating places she has lived. Public places and institutions bear her name, including schools. There is also a Hannah Arendt Day (Hannah Arendt Tag) in her birthplace. Objects named after her vary from asteroids to trains and she has been commemorated in stamps. Museums and foundations include her name.
Arendt Studies
Arendt Studies is a peer-reviewed academic journal that examines the life, work, and legacy of Hannah Arendt. Established in 2017, it publishes research articles and translations, including the first English translation of Hannah Arendt's "Nation-State and Democracy" (1963) Notable contributors include Andrew Benjamin, Peg Birmingham, Adriana Cavarero, Robert P. Crease, and Celso Lafer. Articles published in this journal are covered in the international Hannah Arendt Bibliographie. Arendt Studies is also included in JSTOR. The journal is edited by James Barry at Indiana University and published by the Philosophy Documentation Center.
Family tree
See also
American philosophy
German philosophy
Hannah Arendt Award
List of refugees
List of women philosophers
Women in philosophy
Notes
References
Bibliography
Articles (journals and proceedings)
(French translation)
, reprinted in
Rahel Varnhagen
Special issues and proceedings
Audiovisual
(see also Hannah Arendt)
Bernstein, Richard (2019): Podcast conversation: "Hannah Arendt is Alarmingly Relevant"
Books and monographs
"Ethics in many different voices" pp. 247–268, see also revised versions as and
(see also excerpt at
(see also Obedience to Authority)
Autobiography and biography
excerpt
(full text)
(updated by way of a second preface, pagination unchanged)
Critical works
excerpt, see also
text at Pensar el Espacio Público
Historical
, available in Latin as
facsimile text at Gallica, and reproduced on Wikisource
full text available on Internet Archive
Chapters and contributions
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
Guilherme, Alexandre and Morgan, W. John, 'Hannah Arendt (1906-1975)-dialogue as a public space'. Chapter 4 in Philosophy, Dialogue, and Education: Nine modern European philosophers, Routledge, London and New York, pp. 55–71, .
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
Dictionaries and encyclopedias
(Version: January 2019)
, in
Magazines
, reprinted in
, reprinted from
, reprinted in
Newspapers
Theses
(at Theses.fr)
Websites
- includes Brecht reading (english)
(English translation by A. S. Kline 2004)
Biography, genealogy and timelines
see also: Principal Dates in
, in
Institutions, locations and organizations
Hannah Arendt Center (Bard)
Maps
External images
Bibliographic notes
External links
1906 births
1975 deaths
20th-century American educators
20th-century American essayists
20th-century American historians
20th-century American philosophers
20th-century American women educators
20th-century American women writers
20th-century German educators
20th-century German historians
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Historians from California
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Historians of communism
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| false |
[
"Annie Putnam (October 18, 1679 – 1716) was an important witness at the Salem Witch Trials of Massachusetts during the later portion of 17th-century Colonial America. Born 1679 in Salem Village, Essex County, Massachusetts Bay Colony, she was the eldest child of Thomas (1652–1699) and Ann (Née Carr) Putnam (1661–1699).\n\nShe was friends with some of the girls who claimed to be afflicted by witchcraft and, in March 1692, proclaimed to be afflicted herself, along with Elizabeth Hubbard, Mary Walcott, Mercy Lewis, Abigail Williams, and Mary Warren. Putnam is responsible for the accusations of 62 people, which, along with the accusations of others, resulted in the executions of twenty people, as well as the deaths of several others in prison.\n\nShe was a first cousin once removed of Generals Israel and Rufus Putnam.\n\nEarly life\nAnnie was born on October 18, 1679, to Thomas Putnam (of the Putnam family) and Ann (née Carr) Putnam, who had twelve children in total. Ann was the eldest. Fellow accuser Mercy Lewis was a servant in the Putnam household, and Mary Walcott was, perhaps, Annie's best friend. These three girls would become the first afflicted girls outside of the Parris household.\n\nThe Putnam family lived on the southwest side of Hathorne Hill, approximately in the area of what is today Danielle Drive in Danvers, Massachusetts. (For many years, a house that stands back from Putnam Lane was misidentified as the Putnam House, but this house was likely built circa 1891. Images of this house are still routinely misidentified as Annie's home). Shortly after the trials were over, the family built a new house in the general area of what is today Dayton and Maple Streets in Danvers where Annie spent the rest of her life.\n\nSalem witch trials\n\nAnnie was one of the \"afflicted girls\", the primary accusers during the trials.\n\nAftermath\nAccording to Upham, and implied by her own will, Annie was chronically ill in the years after the trials, and that led to her death at a young age.\n\nWhen both her parents died in 1699, Putnam was left to raise her nine surviving siblings. She never married.\n\nIn 1706, Ann Putnam publicly apologized for the part she had played in the witch trials, the only one of the accusers to do so:\n\nThe surviving victims of the witch trials, and the families of those who had been executed as a result of her accusations, accepted her apology and were reconciled with her.\n\nDeath\nShe died in 1716 and is buried with her parents in an unmarked grave in Danvers, Massachusetts. Her will entered probate on June 29, 1716, so she presumably died shortly before then. In it, she refers to eight surviving siblings. Her four brothers inherited the land she had inherited from her parents, and her personal estate was divided between her four sisters.\n\nIn popular culture\n\nIn Arthur Miller's play The Crucible, her character's name is Ruth, to avoid confusion with her mother, Ann Putnam (Sr.)\n\nConversion by Katherine Howe describes the mass hysteria of the fictional St. Joan's Academy in Danvers, Massachusetts, interlaced with intercalary chapters from Annie's perspective as she tells the town's new reverend how the witch hunt began and escalated based on her testimony and the testimonies of the other girls. The novel explores the occurrence of modern-day hysteria through juxtaposition against the Salem Witch Trials.\n\nReferences\n\nSources\n Biography of Ann Putnam Jr., umkc.edu; accessed December 23, 2014.\n\n1679 births\n1716 deaths\nAccusers in witch trials\nColonial American women\nPeople of the Salem witch trials\nPlace of death missing\nAnn",
"Elizabeth Hubbard is best known as the primary instigator of the Salem Witch Trials. Hubbard was 17 years old in the spring of 1692 when the trials began. In the 15 months the trials took place, 20 people were executed.\n\nEarly life \nElizabeth Hubbard was born in Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1674. Hubbard was an orphan who lived with her uncle, Dr. William Griggs. She served as his maidservant.\n\nInvolvement in Salem Witch Trials \nA group of girls ranging in age from 12 to 20 were the main accusers in the Salem witch trials. This group, of which Elizabeth Hubbard was a part, also included Ann Putnam Jr., Mary Walcott, Elizabeth “Betty” Parris, Abigail Williams, Elizabeth Booth, Mercy Lewis, and Mary Warren.\n\nAbigail Williams and Betty Parris were the first to experience mysterious \"fits\", of which symptoms included throwing of objects, screaming, and contortion of the body. Dr. Griggs, acting as town physician, concluded that the source of the girls' behavior was supernatural. As Elizabeth Hubbard was the maidservant of Griggs, it is likely that she was intimately aware of the symptoms involved in the fits. Hubbard had her first recorded fit on February 1, 1692.\n\nHubbard's age allowed her to testify under oath, leading her to have a major role in the trials. Her testimony was considered especially convincing, and she was known for being particularly susceptible to being thrown into fits during trials. During Elizabeth Proctor's trial, Hubbard purported to be under a deep trance and unable to speak: \"I saw the apparition of Sarah Good, which did torture me most grievously, but I did not know her name until the 27th of February, and then she told me her name was Sarah Good, and then she did prick me and pinch me most grievously, and also since, several times, urging me vehemently to write in her [devil’s] book” As the trials progressed, Hubbard began instigating more and more accusations. She gave her last testimony on January 7, 1693. Records show that she filed 40 legal complaints and testified 32 times. As a result of her testimonies, 17 people were arrested, 13 were hanged, and two died in jail.\n\nLife after trials \nIt is unclear what happened to Hubbard after the trials concluded. American historian Mary Beth Norton states in her book In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692 that Hubbard moved from Salem to Gloucester in Massachusetts. Norton purports that Hubbard married a man named John Bennett, with whom she had four children. Norton cites a published marriage record of a woman named Elizabeth Hibbert, but it is not known with certainty that Elizabeth Hibbert was Elizabeth Hubbard.\n\nReferences\n\n1670s births\nYear of death unknown\nPlace of death unknown\nAccusers in witch trials\nAmerican children\nColonial American women\nDate of birth unknown\nIndentured servants\nPeople from Boston\nPeople of the Salem witch trials\nAmerican domestic workers"
] |
[
"Hannah Arendt",
"Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil",
"Why was Eichmann in Jerusalem?",
"the 1961 Adolf Eichmann trial",
"How long did the trial last?",
"I don't know.",
"What did you find interesting about this?",
"She also was critical of the way that some Jewish leaders, notably M. C. Rumkowski, acted during the Holocaust.",
"What was the result of the trials?",
"This is the reason, and the only reason, you must hang."
] |
C_f518fee4cca94e3b940e1e9703364de9_0
|
What was Adolf accused of?
| 5 |
What was Adolf accused of?
|
Hannah Arendt
|
In her reporting of the 1961 Adolf Eichmann trial for The New Yorker, which evolved into Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (1963), she coined the phrase "the banality of evil" to describe the phenomenon of Eichmann. She examined the question of whether evil is radical or simply a function of thoughtlessness, a tendency of ordinary people to obey orders and conform to mass opinion without a critical evaluation of the consequences of their actions. She was sharply critical of the way the trial was conducted in Israel. She also was critical of the way that some Jewish leaders, notably M. C. Rumkowski, acted during the Holocaust. This caused a considerable controversy and even animosity toward Arendt in the Jewish community. Her friend Gershom Scholem, a major scholar of Jewish mysticism, broke off relations with her. Arendt was criticized by many Jewish public figures, who charged her with coldness and lack of sympathy for the victims of the Holocaust. Because of this lingering criticism neither this book nor any of her other works were translated into Hebrew, until 1999. This controversy was answered by Hannah Arendt in the book's Postscript. The controversy began by calling attention to the conduct of the Jewish people during the years of the Final Solution, thus following up the question, first raised by the Israeli prosecutor, of whether the Jews could or should have defended themselves. I had dismissed that question as silly and cruel, since it testified to a fatal ignorance of the conditions at the time. It has now been discussed to exhaustion, and the most amazing conclusions have been drawn. The well-known historico-sociological construct of "ghetto mentality"... has been repeatedly dragged in to explain behavior which was not at all confined to the Jewish people and which therefore cannot be explained by specifically Jewish factors... This was the unexpected conclusion certain reviewers chose to draw from the "image" of a book, created by certain interest groups, in which I allegedly had claimed that the Jews had murdered themselves. Arendt ended the book by writing: Just as you Eichmann supported and carried out a policy of not wanting to share the earth with the Jewish people and the people of a number of other nations--as though you and your superiors had any right to determine who should and who should not inhabit the world--we find that no one, that is, no member of the human race, can be expected to want to share the earth with you. This is the reason, and the only reason, you must hang. CANNOTANSWER
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Eichmann supported and carried out a policy of not wanting to share the earth with the Jewish people and the people of a number of other nations
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Hannah Arendt (, , ; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a political philosopher, author, and Holocaust survivor. Her contributions influenced 20th and 21st century political theorists.
Arendt was born in Linden, a district of Hanover, in 1906, to a Jewish family. At the age of three, her family moved to Königsberg, the capital of East Prussia, so that her father's syphilis could be treated. Paul Arendt had contracted the disease in his youth, and it was thought to be in remission when Arendt was born. He died when she was seven. Arendt was raised in a politically progressive, secular family. Her mother was an ardent supporter of the Social Democrats. After completing her secondary education in Berlin, she studied at the University of Marburg under Martin Heidegger, with whom she had a brief affair. She obtained her doctorate in philosophy writing on Love and Saint Augustine at the University of Heidelberg in 1929 under the direction of the existentialist philosopher Karl Jaspers.
Hannah Arendt married Günther Stern in 1929, but soon began to encounter increasing anti-Jewish discrimination in 1930s Nazi Germany. In 1933, the year Adolf Hitler came to power, Arendt was arrested and briefly imprisoned by the Gestapo for performing illegal research into antisemitism in Nazi Germany. On release, she fled Germany, living in Czechoslovakia and Switzerland before settling in Paris. There she worked for Youth Aliyah, assisting young Jews to emigrate to the British Mandate of Palestine. Divorcing Stern in 1937, she married Heinrich Blücher in 1940, but when Germany invaded France in 1940 she was detained by the French as an alien, despite having been stripped of her German citizenship in 1937. She escaped and made her way to the United States in 1941 via Portugal. She settled in New York, which remained her principal residence for the rest of her life. She became a writer and editor and worked for the Jewish Cultural Reconstruction, becoming an American citizen in 1950. With the publication of The Origins of Totalitarianism in 1951, her reputation as a thinker and writer was established and a series of works followed. These included the books The Human Condition in 1958, as well as Eichmann in Jerusalem and On Revolution in 1963. She taught at many American universities, while declining tenure-track appointments. She died suddenly of a heart attack in 1975, at the age of 69, leaving her last work, The Life of the Mind, unfinished.
Her works cover a broad range of topics, but she is best known for those dealing with the nature of power and evil, as well as politics, direct democracy, authority, and totalitarianism. In the popular mind she is best remembered for the controversy surrounding the trial of Adolf Eichmann, her attempt to explain how ordinary people become actors in totalitarian systems, which was considered by some an apologia, and for the phrase "the banality of evil". She is commemorated by institutions and journals devoted to her thinking, the Hannah Arendt Prize for political thinking, and on stamps, street names and schools, amongst other things.
Early life and education (1906–1929)
Family
Hannah Arendt was born Johanna Arendt in 1906 into a comfortable educated secular family of German Jews in Linden, Prussia (now a part of Hanover), in Wilhelmine Germany. Her family were merchants of Russian extraction from Königsberg, the East Prussian capital. Arendt's grandparents were members of the Reform Jewish community there. Hannah's paternal grandfather, (1843–1913), was a prominent businessman, local politician, one of the leaders of the Königsberg Jewish community and a member of the Centralverein deutscher Staatsbürger jüdischen Glaubens (Central Organization for German Citizens of the Jewish Faith). Like other members of the Centralverein he primarily saw himself as a German and disapproved of the activities of Zionists, such as the young Kurt Blumenfeld (1884–1963), who was a frequent visitor to their home and would later become one of Hannah's mentors. Of Max Arendt's children, Paul Arendt (1873–1913) was an engineer and Henriette Arendt (1874–1922) was a policewoman who became a social worker.
Hannah was the only child of Paul and Martha Arendt (née Cohn) (1874–1948), who were married on 11 April 1902. She was named after her paternal grandmother. The Cohns had originally come to Königsberg from nearby Russian territory (now Lithuania) in 1852, as refugees from anti-Semitism, and made their living as tea importers; J. N. Cohn & Company became the largest business in the city. The Arendts had reached Germany from Russia a century earlier. Hannah's extended family contained many more women, who shared the loss of husbands and children. Hannah's parents were more educated and politically more to the left than her grandparents. The young couple became members of the Social Democrats, rather than the German Democratic Party that most of their contemporaries supported. Paul Arendt was educated at the Albertina (University of Königsberg). Though he worked as an engineer, he prided himself on his love of Classics. He collected a large library, in which Hannah immersed herself. Martha Cohn, a musician, had studied for three years in Paris.
In the first four years of their marriage, the Arendts lived in Berlin, where they were supporters of the socialist journal . At the time of Hannah's birth, Paul Arendt was employed by an electrical engineering firm in Linden, and they lived in a frame house on the market square (Marktplatz). The Arendt family moved back to Königsberg in 1909, because of Paul's deteriorating health. Hannah's father suffered from a prolonged illness with syphilis and had to be institutionalized in the Königsberg psychiatric hospital in 1911. For years afterward, Hannah had to have annual WR tests for congenital syphilis. He died on 30 October 1913, when Hannah was seven, leaving her mother to raise her. They lived at Hannah's grandfather's house at Tiergartenstraße 6, a leafy residential street adjacent to the Königsberg Tiergarten, in the predominantly Jewish neighborhood of Hufen. Although Hannah's parents were non-religious, they were happy to allow Max Arendt to take Hannah to the Reform synagogue. She also received religious instruction from the rabbi, Hermann Vogelstein, who would come to her school for that purpose. At the time the young Hannah confided that she wished to marry him when she grew up. Her family moved in circles that included many intellectuals and professionals. It was a social circle of high standards and ideals. As she recalled it:
My early intellectual formation occurred in an atmosphere where nobody paid much attention to moral questions; we were brought up under the assumption: , moral conduct is a matter of course.
This time was a particularly favorable period for the Jewish community in Königsberg, an important center of the Haskalah (enlightenment). Arendt's family was thoroughly assimilated ("Germanized") and she later remembered: "With us from Germany, the word 'assimilation' received a 'deep' philosophical meaning. You can hardly realize how serious we were about it." Despite these conditions, the Jewish population lacked full citizenship rights, and although antisemitism was not overt, it was not absent. Arendt came to define her Jewish identity negatively after encountering overt antisemitism as an adult. She came to greatly identify with Rahel Varnhagen (1771–1833), the Prussian socialite who desperately wanted to assimilate into German culture, only to be rejected because she was born Jewish. Arendt later said of Varnhagen that she was "my very closest woman friend, unfortunately dead a hundred years now." Varnhagen would later become the subject of a biography by Hannah.
In the last two years of the First World War, Hannah's mother organized social democratic discussion groups and became a follower of Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919) as socialist uprisings broke out across Germany. Luxemburg's writings would later influence Hannah's political thinking. In 1920, Martha Cohn married Martin Beerwald (1869–1941), an ironmonger and widower of four years, and they moved to his home, two blocks away, at Busoldstrasse 6, providing Hannah with improved social and financial security. Hannah was 14 at the time and acquired two older stepsisters, Clara (1901–1932) and Eva (1902–1988).
Education
Early education
Hannah Arendt's mother, who considered herself progressive, sought to raise her daughter along strict Goethean lines, which amongst other things, involved the reading of the complete works of Goethe, often summed up in the phrase from Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship (1796) as – (And just what is your duty? The demands of the day). Goethe, at the time, was considered the essential mentor of (education), the conscious formation of mind, body and spirit. The key elements were considered to be self-discipline, constructive channeling of passion, renunciation and responsibility for others. Hannah's developmental progress () was carefully documented by her mother in a book, which she titled (Our Child) and measured her against the benchmark of what was then considered ("normal development").
Arendt attended kindergarten from 1910 where her precocity impressed her teachers and enrolled in the Szittnich School, Königsberg (Hufen-Oberlyzeum), on Bahnstraße in August 1913, but her studies there were interrupted by the outbreak of World War I, forcing the family to temporarily flee to Berlin on 23 August 1914, in the face of the advancing Russian army. There they stayed with her mother's younger sister, Margarethe Fürst (1884–1942), and her three children, while Hannah attended a girl's school in Berlin-Charlottenburg. After ten weeks, when Königsberg appeared to be no longer threatened, the Arendts were able to return, where they spent the remaining war years at her grandfather's house. Arendt's precocity continued, learning ancient Greek as a child, writing poetry in her teenage years, and starting both a philosophy club and Greek Graecae at her school. She was fiercely independent in her schooling and a voracious reader, absorbing French and German literature and poetry (committing large amounts to heart) and philosophy. By the age of 14, she had read Kierkegaard, Jaspers' and Kant's (Critique of Pure Reason). Kant, whose home town was also Königsberg, was an important influence on her thinking, and it was Kant who had written about Königsberg that "such a town is the right place for gaining knowledge concerning men and the world even without travelling".
Arendt attended the Königin-Luise-Schule for her secondary education, a girls' Gymnasium on Landhofmeisterstraße. Most of her friends, while at school, were gifted children of Jewish professional families, generally older than she and went on to university education. Among them was Ernst Grumach (1902–1967), who introduced her to his girlfriend, Anne Mendelssohn, who would become a lifelong friend. When Anne moved away, Ernst became Arendt's first romantic relationship. Like Arendt, Anne would go on to become a philosopher, obtaining her doctorate at Hamburg, while Ernst became a philologist.
Higher education (1922–1929)
Berlin (1922–1924)
Arendt's education at the Luise-Schule ended in 1922 when she was expelled at the age of 15 for leading a boycott of a teacher who insulted her. Instead, her mother arranged for her to go to Berlin to be with Social Democrat family friends. In Berlin she lived in a student residence and audited courses of her choosing at the University of Berlin (1922–1923), including classics and Christian theology under Romano Guardini. This enabled her to successfully sit the entrance examination () for the University of Marburg, where Ernst Grumach had studied under Martin Heidegger, who had been appointed a professor there in 1922. For the examination, her mother engaged a private tutor, while her aunt Frieda Arendt, a teacher, also helped her, and Frieda's husband Ernst Aron provided financial assistance for her to attend university.
Marburg (1924–1926)
In Berlin, Guardini had introduced her to Kierkegaard, and she resolved to make theology her major field. At Marburg (1924–1926) she studied classical languages, German literature, Protestant theology with Rudolf Bultmann and philosophy with Nicolai Hartmann and Heidegger. Arendt arrived at Marburg that fall in the middle of an intellectual revolution led by the young Heidegger, of whom she was in awe, describing him as "the hidden king [who] reigned in the realm of thinking".
Heidegger had broken away from the intellectual movement started by Edmund Husserl, whose assistant he had been at University of Freiburg before coming to Marburg. This was a period when Heidegger was preparing his lectures on Kant, which he would develop in the second part of his (Being and Time) in 1927 and (1929). Although Heidegger had dedicated the first edition of Being and Time to Edmund Husserl, Husserl gave the book a poor review, and in the second edition Heidegger removed that dedication.
In his classes he and his students struggled with the meaning of "Being" as they worked together through Aristotle's concept of ἀλήθεια (truth) and Plato's Sophist. Many years later Arendt would describe these classes, how people came to Marburg to hear him, and how, above all he imparted the idea of ("thinking") as activity, which she qualified as "passionate thinking".
Arendt was restless. To date her studies had not been either emotionally or intellectually satisfying. She was ready for passion, finishing her poem (Consolation, 1923) with the lines:
(The hours run downThe days pass on.One achievement remains:Merely being alive)
Her encounter with Heidegger represented a dramatic departure from the past. He was handsome, a genius, romantic, and taught that thinking and "aliveness" were but one. The 17-year-old Arendt then began a long romantic relationship with the 35-year-old Heidegger, who was married with two young sons. Arendt later faced criticism for this because of Heidegger's support for the Nazi Party after his election as rector at the University of Freiburg in 1933. Nevertheless, he remained one of the most profound influences on her thinking, and he would later relate that she had been the inspiration for his work on passionate thinking in those days. They agreed to keep the details of the relationship a secret, preserving their letters but keeping them unavailable. The relationship was not known until Elisabeth Young-Bruehl's biography of Arendt appeared in 1982. At the time of publishing, Arendt and Heidegger were deceased and Heidegger's wife, Elfride (1893–1992), was still alive. The affair was not well known until 1995, when Elzbieta Ettinger gained access to the sealed correspondence and published a controversial account that was used by Arendt's detractors to cast doubt on her integrity. That account, which caused a scandal, was subsequently refuted.
At Marburg, Arendt lived at Lutherstraße 4. Among her friends there was Hans Jonas, her only Jewish classmate. Another fellow student of Heidegger's was Jonas' friend, the Jewish philosopher Gunther Siegmund Stern (1902–1992)son of the noted psychologist Ludwig Wilhelm Sternwho would later become her first husband. Stern had completed his doctoral dissertation with Edmund Husserl at Freiburg, and was now working on his Habilitation thesis with Heidegger, but Arendt, involved with Heidegger, took little notice of him at the time.
Die Schatten (1925)
In the summer of 1925, while home at Königsberg, Arendt composed her sole autobiographical piece, (The Shadows), a "description of herself" addressed to Heidegger. In this essay, full of anguish and Heideggerian language, she reveals her insecurities relating to her femininity and Jewishness, writing abstractly in the third person. She describes a state of "" (alienation), on the one hand an abrupt loss of youth and innocence, on the other an "" (strangeness), the finding of the remarkable in the banal. In her detailing of the pain of her childhood and longing for protection she shows her vulnerabilities and how her love for Heidegger had released her and once again filled her world with color and mystery. She refers to her relationship with Heidegger as "" ("an unbending devotion to a unique man"). This period of intense introspection was also one of the most productive of her poetic output, such as (Lost in Self-Contemplation).
Freiburg and Heidelberg (1926–1929)
After a year at Marburg, Arendt spent a semester at Freiburg, attending the lectures of Husserl. In 1926 she moved to the University of Heidelberg, where in 1929, she completed her dissertation under the other leading figure of the then new and revolutionary Existenzphilosophie, Karl Jaspers (1883–1969), a friend of Heidegger's. Her thesis was entitled Der Liebesbegriff bei Augustin: Versuch einer philosophischen Interpretation (On the concept of love in the thought of Saint Augustine: Attempt at a philosophical interpretation). She remained a lifelong friend of Jaspers and his wife, Gertrud Mayer (1879–1974), developing a deep intellectual relationship with him. At Heidelberg, her circle of friends included Hans Jonas, who had also moved from Marburg to study Augustine, working on his (1930), and also a group of three young philosophers: Karl Frankenstein, Erich Neumann and Erwin Loewenson. Other friends and students of Jaspers were the linguists Benno von Wiese and Hugo Friedrich (seen with Hannah, below), with whom she attended lectures by Friedrich Gundolf at Jaspers' suggestion and who kindled in her an interest in German Romanticism. She also became reacquainted, at a lecture, with Kurt Blumenfeld, who introduced her to Jewish politics. At Heidelberg, she lived in the old town () near the castle, at Schlossberg 16. The house was demolished in the 1960s, but the one remaining wall bears a plaque commemorating her time there (see image).
On completing her dissertation, Arendt turned to her , initially on German Romanticism, and thereafter an academic teaching career. However 1929 was also the year of the Depression and the end of the golden years () of the Weimar Republic, which was to become increasingly unstable over its remaining four years. Arendt, as a Jew, had little if any chance of obtaining an academic appointment in Germany. Nevertheless, she completed most of the work before she was forced to leave Germany.
Career
Germany (1929–1933)
Berlin-Potsdam (1929)
In 1929, Arendt met Günther Stern again, this time in Berlin at a New Year's masked ball, and began a relationship with him. Within a month she had moved in with him in a one-room studio, shared with a dancing school in Berlin-Halensee. Then they moved to Merkurstraße 3, Nowawes, in Potsdam and were married there on 26 September. They had much in common and the marriage was welcomed by both sets of parents. In the summer, Hannah Arendt successfully applied to the for a grant to support her Habilitation, which was supported by Heidegger and Jaspers among others, and in the meantime, with Günther's help was working on revisions to get her dissertation published.
Wanderjahre (1929–1931)
After Arendt and Günther were married, they began two years of what Christian Dries refers to as the (years of wandering). They had the ultimately fruitless aim of having Günther accepted for an academic appointment. They lived for a while in Drewitz, a southern neighborhood of Potsdam, before moving to Heidelberg, where they lived with the Jaspers. After Heidelberg, where Günther completed the first draft of his thesis, the Sterns then moved to Frankfurt where Günther hoped to finish it. There, Arendt participated in the university's intellectual life, attending lectures by Karl Mannheim and Paul Tillich, among others. The Sterns collaborated intellectually, writing an article together on Rilke's (1923) and both reviewing Mannheim's (1929). The latter was Arendt's sole contribution in sociology. In both her treatment of Mannheim and Rilke, Arendt found love to be a transcendent principle "Because there is no true transcendence in this ordered world, one also cannot exceed the world, but only succeed to higher ranks". In Rilke she saw a latter day secular Augustine, describing the as the (ultimate form of religious document). Later, she would discover the limitations of transcendent love in explaining the historical events that pushed her into political action. Another theme from Rilke that she would develop was the despair of not being heard. Reflecting on Rilke's opening lines, which she placed as an epigram at the beginning of their essay
(Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angel's hierarchies?)
Arendt and Stern begin by stating
The paradoxical, ambiguous, and desperate situation from which standpoint the Duino Elegies may alone be understood has two characteristics: the absence of an echo and the knowledge of futility. The conscious renunciation of the demand to be heard, the despair at not being able to be heard, and finally the need to speak even without an answer–these are the real reasons for the darkness, asperity, and tension of the style in which poetry indicates its own possibilities and its will to form
Arendt also published an article on Augustine (354–430) in the Frankfurter Zeitung to mark the 1500th anniversary of his death. She saw this article as forming a bridge between her treatment of Augustine in her dissertation and her subsequent work on Romanticism. When it became evident Stern would not succeed in obtaining an appointment, the Sterns returned to Berlin in 1931.
Return to Berlin (1931–1933)
In Berlin, where the couple initially lived in the predominantly Jewish area of (Bavarian Quarter or "Jewish Switzerland") in Schöneberg, Stern obtained a position as a staff-writer for the cultural supplement of the Berliner Börsen-Courier, edited by Herbert Ihering, with the help of Bertold Brecht. There he started writing using the nom-de-plume of Günther Anders, i.e. "Günther Other". Arendt assisted Günther with his work, but the shadow of Heidegger hung over their relationship. While Günther was working on his , Arendt had abandoned the original subject of German Romanticism for her thesis in 1930, and turned instead to Rahel Varnhagen and the question of assimilation. Anne Mendelssohn had accidentally acquired a copy of Varnhagen's correspondence and excitedly introduced her to Arendt, donating her collection to her. A little later, Arendt's own work on Romanticism led her to a study of Jewish salons and eventually to those of Varnhagen. In Rahel, she found qualities she felt reflected her own, particularly those of sensibility and vulnerability. Rahel, like Hannah, found her destiny in her Jewishness. Hannah Arendt would come to call Rahel Varnhagen's discovery of living with her destiny as being a "conscious pariah". This was a personal trait that Arendt had recognized in herself, although she did not embrace the term until later.
Back in Berlin, Arendt found herself becoming more involved in politics and started studying political theory, and reading Marx and Trotsky, while developing contacts at the Deutsche Hochschule für Politik. Despite the political leanings of her mother and husband she never saw herself as a political leftist, justifying her activism as being through her Jewishness. Her increasing interest in Jewish politics and her examination of assimilation in her study of Varnhagen led her to publish her first article on Judaism, ("The Enlightenment and the Jewish Question", 1932). Blumenfeld had introduced her to the "Jewish question", which would be his lifelong concern. Meanwhile, her views on German Romanticism were evolving. She wrote a review of Hans Weil's (The Origin of German Educational Principle, 1930), which dealt with the emergence of (educational elite) in the time of Rahel Varnhagen. At the same time she began to be occupied by Max Weber's description of the status of Jewish people within a state as (pariah people) in his Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft (1922), while borrowing Bernard Lazare's term paria conscient (conscious pariah) with which she identified. In both these articles she advanced the views of Johann Herder. Another interest of hers at the time was the status of women, resulting in her 1932 review of Alice Rühle-Gerstel's book (Contemporary Women's Issues: A psychological balance sheet). Although not a supporter of the women's movement, the review was sympathetic. At least in terms of the status of women at that time, she was skeptical of the movement's ability to achieve political change. She was also critical of the movement, because it was a women's movement, rather than contributing with men to a political movement, abstract rather than striving for concrete goals. In this manner she echoed Rosa Luxemburg. Like Luxemburg, she would later criticize Jewish movements for the same reason. Arendt consistently prioritized political over social questions.
By 1932, faced with a deteriorating political situation, Arendt was deeply troubled by reports that Heidegger was speaking at National Socialist meetings. She wrote, asking him to deny that he was attracted to National Socialism. Heidegger replied that he did not seek to deny the rumors (which were true), and merely assured her that his feelings for her were unchanged. As a Jew in Nazi Germany, Arendt was prevented from making a living and discriminated against and confided to Anne Mendelssohn that emigration was probably inevitable. Jaspers had tried to persuade her to consider herself as a German first, a position she distanced herself from, pointing out that she was a Jew and that "" (For me, Germany is the mother tongue, philosophy and poetry), rather than her identity. This position puzzled Jaspers, replying "It is strange to me that as a Jew you want to be different from the Germans".
By 1933, life for the Jewish population in Germany was becoming precarious. Adolf Hitler became (Chancellor) in January, and the Reichstag was burned down () the following month. This led to the suspension of civil liberties, with attacks on the left, and, in particular, members of the Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (German Communist Party: KPD). Stern, who had communist associations, fled to Paris, but Arendt stayed on to become an activist. Knowing her time was limited, she used the apartment at Opitzstraße 6 in Berlin-Steglitz that she had occupied with Stern since 1932 as an underground railway way-station for fugitives. Her rescue operation there is now recognized with a plaque on the wall.
Arendt had already positioned herself as a critic of the rising Nazi Party in 1932 by publishing "Adam-Müller-Renaissance?" a critique of the appropriation of the life of Adam Müller to support right wing ideology. The beginnings of anti-Jewish laws and boycott came in the spring of 1933. Confronted with systemic antisemitism, Arendt adopted the motiv "If one is attacked as a Jew one must defend oneself as a Jew. Not as a German, not as a world citizen, not as an upholder of the Rights of Man." This was Arendt's introduction of the concept of Jew as Pariah that would occupy her for the rest of her life in her Jewish writings. She took a public position by publishing part of her largely completed biography of Rahel Varnhagen as "" ("Original Assimilation: An Epilogue to the One Hundredth Anniversary of Rahel Varnhagen's Death") in the on 7 March 1933 and a little later also in . In the article she argues that the age of assimilation that began with Varnhagen's generation had come to an end with an official state policy of antisemitism. She opened with the declaration:
Today in Germany it seems Jewish assimilation must declare its bankruptcy. The general social antisemitism and its official legitimation affects in the first instance assimilated Jews, who can no longer protect themselves through baptism or by emphasizing their differences from Eastern Judaism.
As a Jew, Arendt was anxious to inform the world of what was happening to her people in 1930–1933. She surrounded herself with Zionist activists, including Kurt Blumenfeld, Martin Buber and Salman Schocken, and started to research antisemitism. Arendt had access to the Prussian State Library for her work on Varnhagen. Blumenfeld's Zionistische Vereinigung für Deutschland (Zionist Federation of Germany) persuaded her to use this access to obtain evidence of the extent of antisemitism, for a planned speech to the Zionist Congress in Prague. This research was illegal at the time. Her actions led to her being denounced by a librarian for anti-state propaganda, resulting in the arrest of both Arendt and her mother by the Gestapo. They served eight days in prison but her notebooks were in code and could not be deciphered, and she was released by a young, sympathetic arresting officer to await trial.
Exile: France (1933–1941)
Paris (1933–1940)
On release, realizing the danger she was now in, Arendt and her mother fled Germany following the established escape route over the Erzgebirge Mountains by night into Czechoslovakia and on to Prague and then by train to Geneva. In Geneva, she made a conscious decision to commit herself to "the Jewish cause". She obtained work with a friend of her mother's at the League of Nations' Jewish Agency for Palestine, distributing visas and writing speeches.
From Geneva the Arendts traveled to Paris in the autumn, where she was reunited with Stern, joining a stream of refugees. While Arendt had left Germany without papers, her mother had travel documents and returned to Königsberg and her husband. In Paris, she befriended Stern's cousin, the Marxist literary critic and philosopher Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) and also the Jewish French philosopher Raymond Aron (1905–1983).
Arendt was now an émigrée, an exile, stateless, without papers, and had turned her back on the Germany and Germans of the . Her legal status was precarious and she was coping with a foreign language and culture, all of which took its toll on her mentally and physically. In 1934 she started working for the Zionist-funded outreach program Agriculture et Artisanat, giving lectures, and organizing clothing, documents, medications and education for Jewish youth seeking to emigrate to the British Mandate of Palestine, mainly as agricultural workers. Initially she was employed as a secretary, and then office manager. To improve her skills she studied French, Hebrew and Yiddish. In this way she was able to support herself and her husband. When the organization closed in 1935, her work for Blumenfeld and the Zionists in Germany brought her into contact with the wealthy philanthropist Baroness Germaine Alice de Rothschild (born Halphen, 1884–1975), wife of Édouard Alphonse James de Rothschild, becoming her assistant. In this position she oversaw the baroness' contributions to Jewish charities through the Paris Consistoire, although she had little time for the family as a whole. The Rothschilds had headed the central Consistoire for a century but stood for everything Arendt did not, opposing immigration and any connection with German Jewry.
Later in 1935, Arendt joined Youth Aliyah (Youth immigration), an organization similar to Agriculture et Artisanat that was founded in Berlin on the day Hitler seized power. It was affiliated with Hadassah organization, which later saved many from the nearing Holocaust, and there Arendt eventually became Secretary-General (1935–1939). Her work with Youth Aliyah also involved finding food, clothing, social workers and lawyers, but above all, fund raising. She made her first visit to British Mandate of Palestine in 1935, accompanying one of these groups and meeting with her cousin Ernst Fürst there. With the Nazi annexation of Austria and invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1938, Paris was flooded with refugees, and she became the special agent for the rescue of the children from those countries. In 1938, Arendt completed her biography of Rahel Varnhagen, although this was not published until 1957. In April 1939, following the devastating Kristallnacht pogrom of November 1938, Martha Beerwald realized her daughter would not return and made the decision to leave her husband and join Arendt in Paris. One stepdaughter had died and the other had moved to England, Martin Beerwald would not leave and she no longer had any close ties to Königsberg.
Heinrich Blücher
In 1936, Arendt met the self-educated Berlin poet and Marxist philosopher Heinrich Blücher (1899–1970) in Paris. Blücher had been a Spartacist and then a founding member of the KPD, but had been expelled due to his work in the (Conciliator faction). Although Arendt had rejoined Stern in 1933, their marriage existed in name only, with their having separated in Berlin. She fulfilled her social obligations and used the name Hannah Stern, but the relationship effectively ended when Stern, perhaps recognizing the danger better than she, emigrated to America with his parents in 1936. In 1937, Arendt was stripped of her German citizenship and she and Stern divorced. She had begun seeing more of Blücher, and eventually they began living together. It was Blücher's long political activism that began to move Arendt's thinking towards political action. Arendt and Blücher married on 16 January 1940, shortly after their divorces were finalized.
Internment and escape (1940–1941)
On 5 May 1940, in anticipation of the German invasion of France and the Low Countries that month, the military governor of Paris issued a proclamation ordering all "enemy aliens" between 17 and 55 who had come from Germany (predominantly Jews) to report separately for internment. The women were gathered together in the Vélodrome d'Hiver on 15 May, so Hannah Arendt's mother, being over 55, was allowed to stay in Paris. Arendt described the process of making refugees as "the new type of human being created by contemporary history ... put into concentration camps by their foes and into internment camps by their friends". The men, including Blücher, were sent to Camp Vernet in southern France, close to the Spanish border. Arendt and the other women were sent to Camp Gurs, to the west of Gurs, a week later. The camp had earlier been set up to accommodate refugees from Spain. On 22 June, France capitulated and signed the Compiègne armistice, dividing the country. Gurs was in the southern Vichy controlled section. Arendt describes how, "in the resulting chaos we succeeded in getting hold of liberation papers with which we were able to leave the camp", which she did with about 200 of the 7,000 women held there, about four weeks later. There was no Résistance then, but she managed to walk and hitchhike north to Montauban, near Toulouse where she knew she would find help.
Montauban had become an unofficial capital for former detainees, and Arendt's friend Lotta Sempell Klembort was staying there. Blücher's camp had been evacuated in the wake of the German advance, and he managed to escape from a forced march, making his way to Montauban, where the two of them led a fugitive life. Soon they were joined by Anne Mendelssohn and Arendt's mother. Escape from France was extremely difficult without official papers; their friend Walter Benjamin had taken his own life after being apprehended trying to escape to Spain. One of the best known illegal routes operated out of Marseilles, where Varian Fry, an American journalist, worked to raise funds, forge papers and bribe officials with Hiram Bingham, the American vice-consul there.
Fry and Bingham secured exit papers and American visas for thousands, and with help from Günther Stern, Arendt, her husband, and her mother managed to secure the requisite permits to travel by train in January 1941 through Spain to Lisbon, Portugal, where they rented a flat at Rua da Sociedade Farmacêutica, 6b. They eventually secured passage to New York in May on the Companhia Colonial de Navegação's S/S Guiné II. A few months later, Fry's operations were shut down and the borders sealed.
New York (1941–1975)
World War II (1941–1945)
Upon arriving in New York City on 22 May 1941 with very little, they received assistance from the Zionist Organization of America and the local German immigrant population, including Paul Tillich and neighbors from Königsberg. They rented rooms at 317 West 95th Street and Martha Arendt joined them there in June. There was an urgent need to acquire English, and it was decided that Hannah Arendt should spend two months with an American family in Winchester, Massachusetts, through Self-Help for Refugees, in July. She found the experience difficult but formulated her early appraisal of American life, (The fundamental contradiction of the country is political freedom coupled with social slavery).
On returning to New York, Arendt was anxious to resume writing and became active in the German-Jewish community, publishing her first article, "From the Dreyfus Affair to France Today" (in translation from her German) in July 1942. While she was working on this article, she was looking for employment and in November 1941 was hired by the New York German-language Jewish newspaper and from 1941 to 1945, she wrote a political column for it, covering anti-semitism, refugees and the need for a Jewish army. She also contributed to the Menorah Journal, a Jewish-American magazine, and other German émigré publications.
Arendt's first full-time salaried job came in 1944, when she became the director of research and Executive Director for the newly emerging Commission on European Jewish Cultural Reconstruction, a project of the Conference on Jewish Relations. She was recruited "because of her great interest in the Commission's activities, her previous experience as an administrator, and her connections with Germany". There she compiled lists of Jewish cultural assets in Germany and Nazi occupied Europe, to aid in their recovery after the war. Together with her husband, she lived at 370 Riverside Drive in New York City and at Kingston, New York, where Blücher taught at nearby Bard College for many years.
Post-war (1945–1975)
In July 1946, Arendt left her position at the Commission on European Jewish Cultural Reconstruction to become an editor at Schocken Books, which later published some of her works. In 1948, she became engaged with the campaign of Judah Magnes for a solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. She famously opposed the establishment of a Jewish nation state in Palestine and initially also opposed the establishment of a binational Arab-Jewish state. Instead, she advocated for the inclusion of Palestine into a multi-ethnic federation. Only in 1948 in an effort to forestall partition did she support a binational one-state solution. She returned to the Commission in August 1949. In her capacity as executive secretary, she traveled to Europe, where she worked in Germany, Britain and France (December 1949 to March 1950) to negotiate the return of archival material from German institutions, an experience she found frustrating, but providing regular field reports. In January 1952, she became secretary to the Board, although the work of the organization was winding down and she was simultaneously pursuing her own intellectual activities; she retained this position until her death. Arendt's work on cultural restitution provided further material for her study of totalitarianism.
In the 1950s Arendt wrote The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), The Human Condition (1958) and On Revolution (1963). Arendt began corresponding with the American author Mary McCarthy, six years her junior, in 1950 and they soon became lifelong friends. In 1950, Arendt also became a naturalized citizen of the United States. The same year, she started seeing Martin Heidegger again, and had what the American writer Adam Kirsch called a "quasi-romance", lasting for two years, with the man who had previously been her mentor, teacher, and lover. During this time, Arendt defended him against critics who noted his enthusiastic membership in the Nazi Party. She portrayed Heidegger as a naïve man swept up by forces beyond his control, and pointed out that Heidegger's philosophy had nothing to do with National Socialism. In 1961 she traveled to Jerusalem to report about Eichmann's trial for The New Yorker. This report strongly influenced her popular recognition, and raised much controversy (see below). Her work was recognized by many awards, including the Danish Sonning Prize in 1975 for Contributions to European Civilization.
A few years later she spoke in New York City on the legitimacy of violence as a political act: "Generally speaking, violence always rises out of impotence. It is the hope of those who have no power to find a substitute for it and this hope, I think, is in vain. Violence can destroy power, but it can never replace it."
Teaching
Arendt taught at many institutions of higher learning from 1951 onwards, but, preserving her independence, consistently refused tenure-track positions. She served as a visiting scholar at the University of Notre Dame; University of California, Berkeley; Princeton University (where she was the first woman to be appointed a full professor in 1959); and Northwestern University. She also taught at the University of Chicago from 1963 to 1967, where she was a member of the Committee on Social Thought; The New School in Manhattan where she taught as a university professor from 1967; Yale University, where she was a fellow; and the Center for Advanced Studies at Wesleyan University (1961–62, 1962–63). She was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1962 and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1964.
In 1974, Arendt was instrumental in the creation of Structured Liberal Education (SLE) at Stanford University. She wrote a letter to the president of Stanford to persuade the university to enact Stanford history professor Mark Mancall's vision of a residentially-based humanities program. At the time of her death, she was University Professor of Political Philosophy at the New School.
Relationships
In addition to her affair with Heidegger, and her two marriages, Arendt had close friendships. Since her death, her correspondence with many of them has been published, revealing much information about her thinking. To her friends she was both loyal and generous, dedicating several of her works to them. (friendship) she described as being one of "" (the active modes of being alive), and, to her, friendship was central both to her life and to the concept of politics. Hans Jonas described her as having a "genius for friendship", and, in her own words, "" (love of friendship).
Her philosophy-based friendships were male and European, while her later American friendships were more diverse, literary, and political. Although she became an American citizen in 1950, her cultural roots remained European, and her language remained her German "" (mother tongue). She surrounded herself with German-speaking émigrés, sometimes referred to as "The Tribe". To her, (real people) were "pariahs", not in the sense of outcasts, but in the sense of outsiders, unassimilated, with the virtue of "social nonconformism ... the sine qua non of intellectual achievement", a sentiment she shared with Jaspers.
Arendt always had a . In her teens she had formed a lifelong relationship with her , Anne Mendelssohn Weil ("Ännchen"). After her emigration to America, Hilde Fränkel, Paul Tillich's secretary and mistress, filled that role until her death in 1950. After the war, Arendt was able to return to Germany and renew her relationship with Weil, who made several visits to New York, especially after Blücher's death in 1970. Their last meeting was in Tegna, Switzerland in 1975, shortly before Arendt's death. With Fränkel's death, Mary McCarthy became Arendt's closest friend and confidante.
Final illness and death
Heinrich Blücher had survived a cerebral aneurysm in 1961 and remained unwell after 1963, sustaining a series of heart attacks. On 31 October 1970 he died of a massive heart attack. A devastated Arendt had previously told Mary McCarthy, "Life without him would be unthinkable". Arendt was also a heavy smoker and was frequently depicted with a cigarette in her hand. She sustained a near fatal heart attack while lecturing in Scotland in May 1974, and although she recovered, she remained in poor health afterwards, and continued to smoke. On the evening of 4 December 1975, shortly after her 69th birthday, she had a further heart attack in her apartment while entertaining friends, and was pronounced dead at the scene. Her ashes were buried alongside those of Blücher at Bard College, in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York in May 1976.
After Arendt's death the title page of the final part of The Life of the Mind ("Judging") was found in her typewriter, which she had just started, consisting of the title and two epigraphs. This has subsequently been reproduced (see image).
Work
Arendt wrote works on intellectual history as a philosopher, using events and actions to develop insights into contemporary totalitarian movements and the threat to human freedom presented by scientific abstraction and bourgeois morality. Intellectually, she was an independent thinker, a loner not a "joiner," separating herself from schools of thought or ideology. In addition to her major texts she published anthologies, including Between Past and Future (1961), Men in Dark Times (1968) and Crises of the Republic (1972). She also contributed to many publications, including The New York Review of Books, Commonweal, Dissent and The New Yorker. She is perhaps best known for her accounts of Adolf Eichmann and his trial, because of the intense controversy that it generated.
Political theory and philosophical system
While Arendt never developed a coherent political theory and her writing does not easily lend itself to categorization, the tradition of thought most closely identified with Arendt is that of civic republicanism, from Aristotle to Tocqueville. Her political concept is centered around active citizenship that emphasizes civic engagement and collective deliberation. She believed that no matter how bad, government could never succeed in extinguishing human freedom, despite holding that modern societies frequently retreat from democratic freedom with its inherent disorder for the relative comfort of administrative bureaucracy. Her political legacy is her strong defence of freedom in the face of an increasingly less than free world. She does not adhere to a single systematic philosophy, but rather spans a range of subjects covering totalitarianism, revolution, the nature of freedom and the faculties of thought and judgment.
While she is best known for her work on "dark times", the nature of totalitarianism and evil, she imbued this with a spark of hope and confidence in the nature of mankind:
That even in the darkest of times we have the right to expect some illumination, and that such illumination might well come less from theories and concepts than from the uncertain, flickering, and often weak light that some men and women, in their lives and their works, will kindle under almost all circumstances and shed over the time span that was given to them.
Love and Saint Augustine (1929)
Arendt's doctoral thesis, (Love and Saint Augustine), was published in 1929 and attracted critical interest, although an English translation did not appear until 1996. In this work, she combines approaches of both Heidegger and Jaspers. Arendt's interpretation of love in the work of Augustine deals with three concepts, love as craving or desire (Amor qua appetitus), love in the relationship between man (creatura) and creator (Creator – Creatura), and neighborly love (Dilectio proximi). Love as craving anticipates the future, while love for the Creator deals with the remembered past. Of the three, dilectio proximi or caritas is perceived as the most fundamental, to which the first two are oriented, which she treats under vita socialis (social life). The second of the Great Commandments (or Golden Rule) "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" uniting and transcending the former. Augustine's influence (and Jaspers' views on his work) persisted in Arendt's writings for the rest of her life.
Some of the leitmotifs of her canon were apparent, introducing the concept of (Natality) as a key condition of human existence and its role in the development of the individual, developing this further in The Human Condition (1958). She explained that the construct of natality was implied in her discussion of new beginnings and man's elation to the Creator as nova creatura. The centrality of the theme of birth and renewal is apparent in the constant reference to Augustinian thought, and specifically the innovative nature of birth, from this, her first work, to her last, The Life of the Mind.
Love is another connecting theme. In addition to the Augustinian loves expostulated in her dissertation, the phrase amor mundi (love of the world) is one often associated with Arendt and both permeates her work and was an absorbing passion throughout her work. She took the phrase from Augustine's homily on the first epistle of St John, "If love of the world dwell in us". Amor mundi was her original title for The Human Condition (1958), the subtitle of Elisabeth Young-Bruehl's biography (1982), the title of a collection of writing on faith in her work and is the newsletter of the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College.
The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951)
Arendt's first major book, The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), examined the roots of Stalinism and Nazism, structured as three essays, "Antisemitism", "Imperialism" and "Totalitarianism". Arendt argues that totalitarianism was a "novel form of government," that "differs essentially from other forms of political oppression known to us such as despotism, tyranny and dictatorship" in that it applied terror to subjugate mass populations rather than just political adversaries. Arendt also maintained that Jewry was not the operative factor in the Holocaust, but merely a convenient proxy because Nazism was about terror and consistency, not merely eradicating Jews. Arendt explained the tyranny using Kant's phrase "radical evil", by which their victims became "superfluous people". In later editions she enlarged the text to include her work on "Ideology and Terror: A novel form of government" and the Hungarian Revolution, but then published the latter separately.
Criticism of Origins has often focused on its portrayal of the two movements, Hitlerism and Stalinism, as equally tyrannical.
Rahel Varnhagen: The Life of a Jewess (1957)
Arendt's on Rahel Varnhagen was completed while she was living in exile in Paris in 1938, but not published till 1957, in the United Kingdom by East and West Library, part of the Leo Baeck Institute. This biography of a 19th century Jewish socialite, formed an important step in her analysis of Jewish history and the subjects of assimilation and emancipation, and introduced her treatment of the Jewish diaspora as either pariah or parvenu. In addition it represents an early version of her concept of history. The book is dedicated to Anne Mendelssohn, who first drew her attention to Varnhagen. Arendt's relation to Varnhagen permeates her subsequent work. Her account of Varnhagen's life was perceived during a time of the destruction of German-Jewish culture. It partially reflects Arendt's own view of herself as a German-Jewish woman driven out of her own culture into a stateless existence, leading to the description "biography as autobiography".
The Human Condition (1958)
In what is arguably her most influential work, The Human Condition (1958), Arendt differentiates political and social concepts, labor and work, and various forms of actions; she then explores the implications of those distinctions. Her theory of political action, corresponding to the existence of a public realm, is extensively developed in this work. Arendt argues that, while human life always evolves within societies, the social part of human nature, political life, has been intentionally realized in only a few societies as a space for individuals to achieve freedom. Conceptual categories, which attempt to bridge the gap between ontological and sociological structures, are sharply delineated. While Arendt relegates labor and work to the realm of the social, she favors the human condition of action as that which is both existential and aesthetic. Of human actions, Arendt identifies two that she considers essential. These are forgiving past wrong (or unfixing the fixed past) and promising future benefit (or fixing the unfixed future).
Arendt had first introduced the concept of "natality" in her Love and Saint Augustine (1929) and in The Human Condition starts to develop this further. In this, she departs from Heidegger's emphasis on mortality. Arendt's positive message is one of the "miracle of beginning", the continual arrival of the new to create action, that is to alter the state of affairs brought about by previous actions. "Men", she wrote "though they must die, are not born in order to die but in order to begin". She defined her use of "natality" as:
The miracle that saves the world, the realm of human affairs, from its normal, "natural" ruin is ultimately the fact of natality, in which the faculty of action is ontologically rooted. It is, in other words, the birth of new men and the new beginning, the action they are capable of by virtue of being born.
Natality would go on to become a central concept of her political theory, and also what Karin Fry considers its most optimistic one.
Between Past and Future (1954...1968)
Between Past and Future is an anthology of eight essays written between 1954 and 1968, dealing with a variety of different but connected philosophical subjects. These essays share the central idea that humans live between the past and the uncertain future. Man must permanently think to exist, but must learn thinking. Humans have resorted to tradition, but are abandoning respect for this tradition and culture. Arendt tries to find solutions to help humans think again, since modern philosophy has not succeeded in helping humans to live correctly.
On Revolution (1963)
Arendt's book On Revolution presents a comparison of two of the main revolutions of the 18th century, the American and French Revolutions. She goes against a common impression of both Marxist and leftist views when she argues that France, while well-studied and often emulated, was a disaster and that the largely ignored American Revolution was a success. The turning point in the French Revolution occurred when the leaders rejected their goals of freedom in order to focus on compassion for the masses. In the United States, the founders never betray the goal of . Arendt believes the revolutionary spirit of those men had been lost, however, and advocates a "council system" as an appropriate institution to regain that spirit.
Men in Dark Times (1968)
The anthology of essays Men in Dark Times presents intellectual biographies of some creative and moral figures of the 20th century, such as Walter Benjamin, Karl Jaspers, Rosa Luxemburg, Hermann Broch, Pope John XXIII, and Isak Dinesen.
Crises of the Republic (1972)
Crises of the Republic was the third of Arendt's anthologies, consisting of four essays, "Lying in Politics", "Civil Disobedience", "On Violence" and "Thoughts on Politics and Revolution". These related essays deal with contemporary American politics and the crises it faced in the 1960s and 1970s. "Lying in Politics" looks for an explanation behind the administration's deception regarding the Vietnam War, as revealed in the Pentagon Papers. "Civil Disobedience" examines the opposition movements, while the final "Thoughts on Politics and Revolution" is a commentary, in the form of an interview on the third essay, "On Violence". In "On Violence" Arendt substantiates that violence presupposes power which she understands as a property of groups. Thus, she breaks with the predominant conception of power as derived from violence.
When Hannah Arendt died in 1975, she left a major work incomplete, which was later published in 1978 as The Life of the Mind. Since then some of her minor works have been collected and published, mainly under the editorship of Jerome Kohn. In 1994 "Essays in Understanding" appeared as the first of a series covering the period 1930–1954, but attracted little attention. A new version of Origins of Totalitarianism appeared in 2004 followed by The Promise of Politics in 2005. The renewed interest in Arendtiana following these publications led to a second series of essays, Thinking Without a Banister: Essays in Understanding, 1953–1975, published in 2018. Other collections have dealt with her Jewish identity, including The Jew as Pariah (1978) and The Jewish Writings (2007), moral philosophy including Lectures on Kant's Political Philosophy (1982) and Responsibility and Judgment (2003), together with her literary works as Reflections on Literature and Culture (2007).
The Life of the Mind (1978)
Arendt's last major work, The Life of the Mind remained incomplete at the time of her death, but marked a return to moral philosophy. The outline of the book was based on her graduate level political philosophy class, Philosophy of the Mind, and her Gifford Lectures in Scotland. She conceived of the work as a trilogy based on the mental activities of thinking, willing, and judging. Her most recent work had focused on the first two, but went beyond this in terms of . Her discussion of thinking was based on Socrates and his notion of thinking as a solitary dialogue between oneself, leading her to novel concepts of conscience.
Arendt died suddenly five days after completing the second part, with the first page of Judging still in her typewriter, and McCarthy then edited the first two parts and provided some indication of the direction of the third. Arendt's exact intentions for the third part are unknown but she left several manuscripts (such as Thinking and Moral Considerations, Some Questions on Moral Philosophy and Lectures on Kant's Political Philosophy) relating to her thoughts on the mental faculty of Judging. These have since been published separately.
Collected works
After Hannah Arendt's death, her essays and notes have continued to be edited and published posthumously by friends and colleagues, including those that give some insight into the unfinished third part of The Life of the Mind. The Jew as Pariah: Jewish Identity and Politics in the Modern Age (1978), is a collection of 15 essays and letters from the period 1943–1966 on the situation of Jews in modern times, to try and throw some light on her views on the Jewish world, following the backlash to Eichmann, but proved to be equally polarizing. A further collection of her writings on being Jewish was published as The Jewish Writings (2007). Other work includes the collection of forty, largely fugitive, essays, addresses, and reviews entitled Essays in Understanding 1930–1954: Formation, Exile, and Totalitarianism (1994), that presaged her monumental The Origins of Totalitarianism, in particular On the Nature of Totalitarianism (1953) and The Concern with Politics in Contemporary European Philosophical Thought (1954). The remaining essays were published as Thinking Without a Banister: Essays in Understanding, 1953-1975 (2018). Her notebooks which form a series of memoirs, were published as in 2002.
Some further insight into her thinking is provided in the continuing posthumous publication of her correspondence with many of the important figures in her life, including Karl Jaspers (1992), Mary McCarthy (1995), Heinrich Blücher (1996), Martin Heidegger (2004), Alfred Kazin (2005), Walter Benjamin (2006), Gershom Scholem (2011) and Günther Stern (2016). Other correspondences that have been published include those with women friends such as Hilde Fränkel and Anne Mendelsohn Weil (see Relationships).
Arendt and the Eichmann trial (1961–1963)
In 1960, on hearing of Adolf Eichmann's capture and plans for his trial, Hannah Arendt contacted The New Yorker and offered to travel to Israel to cover it when it opened on 11 April 1961. Arendt was anxious to test her theories, developed in The Origins of Totalitarianism, and see how justice would be administered to the sort of man she had written about. Also she had witnessed "little of the Nazi regime directly" and this was an opportunity to witness an agent of totalitarianism first hand. The offer was accepted and she attended six weeks of the five-month trial with her young cousin from Israel, Edna Brocke. On arrival she was treated as a celebrity, meeting with the trial chief judge, Moshe Landau, and the foreign minister, Golda Meir. In her subsequent 1963 report, based on her observations and transcripts, and which evolved into the book Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, most famously, Arendt coined the phrase "the banality of evil" to describe the phenomenon of Eichmann. She, like others, was struck by his very ordinariness and the demeanor he exhibited of a small, slightly balding, bland bureaucrat, in contrast to the horrific crimes he stood accused of. He was, she wrote, "terribly and terrifyingly normal." She examined the question of whether evil is radical or simply a function of thoughtlessness, a tendency of ordinary people to obey orders and conform to mass opinion without a critical evaluation of the consequences of their actions. Arendt's argument was that Eichmann was not a monster, contrasting the immensity of his actions with the very ordinariness of the man himself. Eichmann, she stated, not only called himself a Zionist, having initially opposed the Jewish persecution, but also expected his captors to understand him. She pointed out that his actions were not driven by malice, but rather blind dedication to the regime and his need to belong, to be a "joiner."
On this, Arendt would later state "Going along with the rest and wanting to say 'we' were quite enough to make the greatest of all crimes possible". What Arendt observed during the trial was a bourgeois sales clerk who found a meaningful role for himself and a sense of importance in the Nazi movement. She noted that his addiction to clichés and use of bureaucratic morality clouded his ability to question his actions, "to think". This led her to set out her most famous, and most debated, dictum: "the lesson that this long course in human wickedness had taught us – the lesson of the fearsome, word-and-thought-defying banality of evil." By stating that Eichmann did not think, she did not imply lack of conscious awareness of his actions, but by "thinking" she implied reflective rationality, that was lacking.
Arendt was critical of the way the trial was conducted by the Israelis as a "show trial" with ulterior motives other than simply trying evidence and administering justice. Arendt was also critical of the way Israel depicted Eichmann's crimes as crimes against a nation state, rather than against humanity itself. She objected to the idea that a strong Israel was necessary to protect world Jewry being again placed where "they'll let themselves be slaughtered like sheep," recalling the biblical phrase. She portrayed the prosecutor, Attorney General Gideon Hausner, as employing hyperbolic rhetoric in the pursuit of Prime Minister Ben-Gurion's political agenda. Arendt, who believed she could maintain her focus on moral principles in the face of outrage, became increasingly frustrated with Hausner, describing his parade of survivors as having "no apparent bearing on the case". She was particularly concerned that Hausner repeatedly asked "why did you not rebel?" rather than question the role of the Jewish leaders. Arendt argued that some Jewish leaders associated with the Jewish Councils (Judenräte), notably M. C. Rumkowski, acted during the Holocaust, in cooperating with Eichmann "almost without exception" in the destruction of their own people. She had expressed concerns on this point prior to the trial. She described this as a moral catastrophe. While her argument was not to allocate blame, rather she mourned what she considered a moral failure of compromising the imperative that it is better to suffer wrong than to do wrong. She describes the cooperation of the Jewish leaders in terms of a disintegration of Jewish morality: "This role of the Jewish leaders in the destruction of their own people is undoubtedly the darkest chapter in the whole dark story". Widely misunderstood, this caused an even greater controversy and particularly animosity toward her in the Jewish community and in Israel. For Arendt, the Eichmann trial marked a turning point in her thinking in the final decade of her life, becoming increasingly preoccupied with moral philosophy.
Reception
Arendt's five-part series "Eichmann in Jerusalem" appeared in The New Yorker in February 1963 some nine months after Eichmann was hanged on 31 May 1962. By this time his trial was largely forgotten in the popular mind, superseded by intervening world events. However, no other account of either Eichmann or National Socialism has aroused so much controversy. Prior to its publication, Arendt was considered a brilliant humanistic original political thinker. However her mentor, Karl Jaspers, warned her about a possible adverse outcome, "The Eichmann trial will be no pleasure for you. I'm afraid it cannot go well". On publication, three controversies immediately occupied public attention: the concept of Eichmann as banal, her criticism of the role of Israel and her description of the role played by the Jewish people themselves.
Arendt was profoundly shocked by the response, writing to Karl Jaspers "People are resorting to any means to destroy my reputation ... They have spent weeks trying to find something in my past that they can hang on me". Now she was being called arrogant, heartless and ill-informed. She was accused of being duped by Eichmann, of being a "self-hating Jewess", and even an enemy of Israel. Her critics included The Anti-Defamation League and many other Jewish groups, editors of publications she was a contributor to, faculty at the universities she taught at and friends from all parts of her life. Her friend Gershom Scholem, a major scholar of Jewish mysticism, broke off relations with her, publishing their correspondence without her permission. Arendt was criticized by many Jewish public figures, who charged her with coldness and lack of sympathy for the victims of the Holocaust. Because of this lingering criticism neither this book nor any of her other works were translated into Hebrew until 1999. Arendt responded to the controversies in the book's Postscript.
Although Arendt complained that she was being criticized for telling the truth – "what a risky business to tell the truth on a factual level without theoretical and scholarly embroidery" – the criticism was largely directed to her theorizing on the nature of mankind and evil and that ordinary people were driven to commit the inexplicable not so much by hatred and ideology as ambition, and inability to empathize. Equally problematic was the suggestion that the victims deceived themselves and complied in their own destruction. Prior to Arendt's depiction of Eichmann, his popular image had been, as The New York Times put it "the most evil monster of humanity" and as a representative of "an atrocious crime, unparalleled in history", "the extermination of European Jews". As it turned out Arendt and others were correct in pointing out that Eichmann's characterization by the prosecution as the architect and chief technician of the Holocaust was not entirely credible.
While much has been made of Arendt's treatment of Eichmann, Ada Ushpiz, in her 2015 documentary Vita Activa: The Spirit of Hannah Arendt, placed it in a much broader context of the use of rationality to explain seemingly irrational historical events.
In an interview with Joachim Fest in 1964, Arendt was asked about Eichmann's defense that he had made Kant's principle of the duty of obedience his guiding principle all his life. Arendt replied that that was outrageous and that Eichmann was misusing Kant, by not considering the element of judgement required in assessing one's own actions – "" (No man has, according to Kant, the right to obey), she stated, paraphrasing Kant. The reference was to Kant's (Religion within the Bounds of Bare Reason 1793) in which he states:
(The saying, "We must hearken to God, rather than to man," signifies no more than this, viz. that should any earthly legislation enjoin something immediately contradictory of the moral law, obedience is not to be rendered)
Kant clearly defines a higher moral duty than rendering merely unto Caesar. Arendt herself had written in her book "This was outrageous, on the face of it, and also incomprehensible, since Kant's moral philosophy is so closely bound up with man's faculty of judgment, which rules out blind obedience." Arendt's reply to Fest was subsequently corrupted to read (No one has the right to obey), which has been widely reproduced, although it does encapsulate an aspect of her moral philosophy.
The phrase has become one of her iconic images, appearing on the wall of the house in which she was born (see Commemorations), among other places. A fascist bas-relief on the Palazzo degli Uffici Finanziari (1942), in the Piazza del Tribunale, Bolzano, Italy celebrating Mussolini, read Credere, Obbedire, Combattere (Believe, Obey, Combat). In 2017 it was altered to read Hannah Arendt's original words on obedience in the three official languages of the region.
The phrase has been appearing in other artistic work featuring political messages, such as the 2015 installation by Wilfried Gerstel, which has evoked the concept of resistance to dictatorship, as expressed in her essay "Personal Responsibility under Dictatorship" (1964).
List of selected publications
Bibliographies
, in
Books
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Full text on Internet Archive
Also available in English as: Full text on Internet Archive
400 pages. (see Rahel Varnhagen)
, (see also The Origins of Totalitarianism and Comparison of Nazism and Stalinism) Full text (1979 edition) on Internet Archive
(see also The Human Condition)
(see also Between Past and Future)
(see also On Revolution) Full text on Internet Archive
Full text: 1964 edition (see also Eichmann in Jerusalem)
Articles and essays
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(reprinted in )
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(reprinted in
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Correspondence
(excerpts)
Posthumous
Online text at Pensar el Espacio Público
Online text also Internet Archive
Full text on Internet Archive
(original German transcription)
(also in )
, partly based on Was ist Politik? (1993), French translation as Qu'est-ce que la politique?
(fragments)
see also (extract)
at Pensar el Espacio Público
Collections
Miscellaneous
(Original video)
, reprinted as the Prologue in
Views
In 1961, while covering the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem, Arendt wrote a letter to Karl Jaspers that Adam Kirsch described as reflecting "pure racism" toward Sephardic Jews from the Middle East and Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe. She wrote:
On top, the judges, the best of German Jewry. Below them, the prosecuting attorneys, Galicians, but still Europeans. Everything is organized by a police force that gives me the creeps, speaks only Hebrew, and looks Arabic. Some downright brutal types among them. They would obey any order. And outside the doors, the oriental mob, as if one were in Istanbul or some other half-Asiatic country.
Although Arendt remained a Zionist both during and after World War II, she made it clear that she favored the creation of a Jewish-Arab federated state in British Mandate of Palestine (now Israel and the Palestinian territories), rather than a purely Jewish state. She believed that this was a way to address Jewish statelessness and to avoid the pitfalls of nationalism.
Accusations of racism
It was not just Arendt's analysis of the Eichmann trial that drew accusations of racism. In her 1958 essay in Dissent entitled Reflections on Little Rock she expressed opposition to desegregation following the 1957 Little Rock Integration Crisis in Arkansas. As she explains in the preface, for a long time the magazine was reluctant to print her contribution, so far did it appear to differ from the publication's liberal values. Eventually it was printed alongside critical responses. Later The New Yorker would express similar hesitancy over the Eichmann papers. So vehement was the response, that Arendt felt obliged to defend herself in a sequel. The debate over this essay has continued since. William Simmons devotes a whole section of his 2011 text on human rights (Human Rights Law and the Marginalized Other) to a critique of Arendt's position and in particular on Little Rock. While some critics feel she was fundamentally racist, many of those who have defended Arendt's position have pointed out that her concerns were for the welfare of the children, a position she maintained throughout her life. She felt that the children were being subjected to trauma to serve a broader political strategy of forcible integration. While over time Arendt conceded some ground to her critics, namely that she argued as an outsider, she remained committed to her central critique that children should not be thrust into the front-lines of geopolitical conflict.
Feminism
Embraced by feminists as a pioneer in a world dominated by men up to her time, Arendt did not call herself a feminist and would be very surprised to hear herself described as a feminist, remaining opposed to the social dimensions of Women's Liberation, urging independence, but always keeping in mind la petite différence! On becoming the first woman to be appointed a professor at Princeton in 1953, the media were much engaged in this exceptional achievement, but she never wanted to be seen as an exception, either as a woman (an "exception woman") or a Jew, stating emphatically "I am not disturbed at all about being a woman professor, because I am quite used to being a woman". In 1972, discussing women's liberation, she observed "the real question to ask is, what will we lose if we win?". She rather enjoyed what she saw as the privileges of being feminine as opposed to feminist, "Intensely feminine and therefore no feminist", stated Hans Jonas. Arendt considered some professions and positions unsuitable for women, particularly those involving leadership, telling Günter Gaus "It just doesn't look good when a woman gives orders". Despite these views, and having been labelled "anti-feminist", much space has been devoted to examining Arendt's place in relation to feminism. In the last years of her life, Virginia Held noted that Arendt's views evolved with the emergence of a new feminism in America in the 1970s to recognize the importance of the women's movement.
Critique of human rights
In The Origins of Totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt devotes a lengthy chapter (The Decline of the Nation-State and the End of the Rights of Man) to a critical analysis of human rights, in what has been described as "the most widely read essay on refugees ever published". Arendt is not skeptical of the notion of political rights in general, but instead defends a national or civil conception of rights. Human rights, or the Rights of Man as they were commonly called, are universal, inalienable, and possessed simply by virtue of being human. In contrast, civil rights are possessed by virtue of belonging to a political community, most commonly by being a citizen. Arendt's primary criticism of human rights is that they are ineffectual and illusory because their enforcement is in tension with national sovereignty. She argued that since there is no political authority above that of sovereign nations, state governments have little incentive to respect human rights when such policies conflict with national interests. This can be seen most clearly by examining the treatment of refugees and other stateless people. Since the refugee has no state to secure their civil rights, the only rights they have to fall back on are human rights. In this way Arendt uses the refugee as a test case for examining human rights in isolation from civil rights.
Arendt's analysis draws on the refugee upheavals in the first half of the 20th century along with her own experience as a refugee fleeing Nazi Germany. She argued that as state governments began to emphasize national identity as a prerequisite for full legal status, the number of minority resident aliens increased along with the number of stateless persons whom no state was willing to recognize legally. The two potential solutions to the refugee problem, repatriation and naturalization, both proved incapable of solving the crisis. Arendt argued that repatriation failed to solve the refugee crisis because no government was willing to take them in and claim them as their own. When refugees were forcibly deported to neighboring countries, such immigration was deemed illegal by the receiving country, and so failed to change the fundamental status of the migrants as stateless. Attempts at naturalizing and assimilating refugees also had little success. This failure was primarily the result of resistance from both state governments and the majority of citizens, since both tended to see the refugees as undesirables who threatened their national identity. Resistance to naturalization also came from the refugees themselves who resisted assimilation and attempted to maintain their own ethnic and national identities. Arendt contends that neither naturalization nor the tradition of asylum was capable of handling the sheer number of refugees. Instead of accepting some refugees with legal status, the state often responded by denaturalizing minorities who shared national or ethnic ties with stateless refugees.
Arendt argues that the consistent mistreatment of refugees, most of whom were placed in internment camps, is evidence against the existence of human rights. If the notion of human rights as universal and inalienable is to be taken seriously, the rights must be realizable given the features of the modern liberal state. She concluded "The Rights of Man, supposedly inalienable, proved to be unenforceable–even in countries whose constitutions were based upon them–whenever people appeared who were no longer citizens of any sovereign state". Arendt contends that they are not realizable because they are in tension with at least one feature of the liberal state—national sovereignty. One of the primary ways in which a nation exercises sovereignty is through control over national borders. State governments consistently grant their citizens free movement to traverse national borders. In contrast, the movement of refugees is often restricted in the name of national interests. This restriction presents a dilemma for liberalism because liberal theorists typically are committed to both human rights and the existence of sovereign nations.
In one of her most quoted passages, she puts forward the concept that human rights are little more than an abstraction:
The conception of human rights based upon the assumed existence of a human being as such broke down at the very moment when those who professed to believe in it were for the first time confronted with people who had indeed lost all other qualities and specific relationships - except that they were still human. The world found nothing sacred in the abstract nakedness of being human.
In popular culture
Several authors have written biographies that focus on the relationship between Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger. In 1999, the French feminist philosopher Catherine Clément wrote a novel, Martin and Hannah, speculating on the triangular relationship between Heidegger and the two women in his life, Arendt and Heidegger's wife Elfriede Petri. In addition to the relationships, the novel is a serious exploration of philosophical ideas, that centers on Arendt's last meeting with Heidegger in Freiburg in 1975. The scene is based on Elisabeth Young-Bruehl's description in Hannah Arendt: For Love of the World (1982), but reaches back to their childhoods, and Heidegger's role in encouraging the relationship between the two women. The novel explores Heidegger's embrace of Nazism as a proxy for that of Germany and, as in Arendt's treatment of Eichmann, the difficult relationship between collective guilt and personal responsibility. Clément also brings Hannah's other mentor and confidante, Karl Jaspers, into the matrix of relationships.
Arendt's life remains part of current culture and thought. In 2012 the German film, Hannah Arendt, directed by Margarethe von Trotta was released. The film, with Barbara Sukowa in the title role, depicted the controversy over Arendt's coverage of the Eichmann trial and subsequent book, in which she was widely misunderstood as defending Eichmann and blaming Jewish leaders for the Holocaust.
Legacy
Hannah Arendt is considered one of the most influential political philosophers of the 20th century. In 1998 Walter Laqueur stated "No twentieth-century philosopher and political thinker has at the present time as wide an echo", as philosopher, historian, sociologist and also journalist. Arendt's legacy has been described as a cult. In a 2016 review of a documentary about Arendt, the journalist A. O. Scott describes Hannah Arendt as "of unmatched range and rigor" as a thinker, although she is primarily known for the article Eichmann in Jerusalem that she wrote for The New Yorker, and in particular for the one phrase "the banality of evil".
She shunned publicity, never expecting, as she explained to Karl Jaspers in 1951, to see herself as a "cover girl" on the newsstands. In Germany, there are tours available of sites associated with her life.
The study of the life and work of Hannah Arendt, and of her political and philosophical theory is described as Arendtian. In her will she established the Hannah Arendt Bluecher Literary Trust as the custodian of her writings and photographs. Her personal library was deposited at Bard College at the Stevenson Library in 1976, and includes approximately 4,000 books, ephemera, and pamphlets from Arendt's last apartment as well as her desk (in McCarthy House). The college has begun archiving some of the collection digitally, which is available at The Hannah Arendt Collection. Most of her papers were deposited at the Library of Congress and her correspondence with her German friends and mentors, such as Heidegger, Blumenfeld and Jaspers, at the Deutsches Literaturarchiv in Marbach. The Library of Congress listed more than 50 books written about her in 1998, and that number has continued to grow, as have the number of scholarly articles, estimated as 1000 at that time.
Her life and work is recognized by the institutions most closely associated with her teaching, by the creation of Hannah Arendt Centers at both Bard (Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities) and The New School, both in New York State. In Germany, her contributions to understanding authoritarianism is recognised by the Hannah-Arendt-Institut für Totalitarismusforschung (Hannah Arendt Institute for the Research on Totalitarianism) in Dresden. There are Hannah Arendt Associations (Hannah Arendt Verein) such as the Hannah Arendt Verein für politisches Denken in Bremen that awards the annual Hannah-Arendt-Preis für politisches Denken (Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thinking) established in 1995. In Oldenburg, the Hannah Arendt Center at Carl von Ossietzky University was established in 1999, and holds a large collection of her work (Hannah Arendt Archiv), and administers the internet portal HannahArendt.net (A Journal for Political Thinking) as well as a monograph series, the Hannah Arendt-Studien. In Italy, the Hannah Arendt Center for Political Studies is situated at the University of Verona for Arendtian studies.
In 2017 a journal, Arendt Studies, was launched to publish articles related to the study of the life, work, and legacy of Hannah Arendt. Many places associated with her, have memorabilia of her on display, such as her student card at the University of Heidelberg (see image). 2006, the anniversary of her birth, saw commemorations of her work in conferences and celebrations around the world.
In 2015, the filmmaker Ada Ushpiz produced a documentary on Hannah Arendt, Vita Activa: The Spirit of Hannah Arendt. The New York Times designated it a New York Times critics pick. Of the many photographic portraits of Arendt, that taken in 1944 by Fred Stein (see image), whose work she greatly admired, has become iconic, and has been described as better known than the photographer himself, having appeared on a German postage stamp.(see image) Among organizations that have recognized Arendt's contributions to civilization and human rights, is the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
Contemporary interest
The rise of nativism, such as the election of Donald Trump in the United States, and concerns regarding an increasingly authoritarian style of governance has led to a surge of interest in Arendt and her writings, including radio broadcasts and writers, including Jeremy Adelman and Zoe Williams, to revisit Arendt's ideas to seek the extent to which they inform our understanding of such movements, which are being described as "Dark Times". At the same time Amazon reported that it had sold out of copies of The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951). Michiko Kakutani has addressed what she refers to as "the death of truth". In her 2018 book, The Death of Truth: Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump, she argues that the rise of totalitarianism has been founded on the violation of truth. She begins her book with an extensive quote from The Origins of Totalitarianism:
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist
Kakutani and others believed that Arendt's words speak not just events of a previous century but apply equally to the contemporary cultural landscape populated with fake news and lies. She also draws on Arendt's essay "Lying in Politics" from Crises in the Republic pointing to the lines:
The historian knows how vulnerable is the whole texture of facts in which we spend our daily life; it is always in danger of being perforated by single lies or torn to shreds by the organized lying of groups, nations, or classes, or denied and distorted, often carefully covered up by reams of falsehoods or simply allowed to fall into oblivion. Facts need testimony to be remembered and trustworthy witnesses to be established in order to find a secure dwelling place in the domain of human affairs
Arendt drew attention to the critical role that propaganda plays in gaslighting populations, Kakutani observes, citing the passage:
In an ever-changing, incomprehensible world the masses had reached the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, think that everything was possible and that nothing was true . ... The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness
It is also relevant that Arendt took a broader perspective on history than merely totalitarianism in the early 20th century, stating "the deliberate falsehood and the outright lie have been used as legitimate means to achieve political ends since the beginning of recorded history." Contemporary relevance is also reflected in the increasing use of the phrase, attributed to her, "No one has the right to obey" to reflect that actions result from choices, and hence judgement, and that we cannot disclaim responsibility for that which we have the power to act upon. In addition those centers established to promote Arendtian studies continue to seek solutions to a wide range of contemporary issues in her writing.
Arendt's teachings on obedience have also been linked to the controversial psychology experiments by Stanley Milgram, that implied that ordinary people can easily be induced to commit atrocities. Milgram himself drew attention to this in 1974, stating that he was testing the theory that Eichmann like others would merely follow orders, but unlike Milgram she argued that actions involve responsibility.
Arendt's theories on the political consequences of how nations deal with refugees has remained relevant and compelling. Arendt had observed first hand the displacement of large stateless and rightsless populations, treated not so much as people in need than as problems to solve, and in many cases, resist. She wrote about this in her 1943 essay "We refugees". Another Arendtian theme that finds an echo in contemporary society is her observation, inspired by Rilke, of the despair of not being heard, the futility of tragedy that finds no listener that can bring comfort, assurance and intervention. An example of this being gun violence in America and the resulting political inaction.
In Search of the Last Agora, an illustrated documentary film by Lebanese director Rayyan Dabbous about Hannah Arendt's 1958 work The Human Condition, was released in 2018 to mark the book's 50th anniversary. Screened at Bard College, the experimental film is described as finding "new meaning in the political theorist's conceptions of politics, technology and society in the 1950s", particularly in her prediction of abuses of phenomena unknown in Arendt's time, including social media, intense globalization, and obsessive celebrity culture.
Hannah Arendt's life and work continue to be commemorated in many different ways, including plaques (Gedenktafeln) indicating places she has lived. Public places and institutions bear her name, including schools. There is also a Hannah Arendt Day (Hannah Arendt Tag) in her birthplace. Objects named after her vary from asteroids to trains and she has been commemorated in stamps. Museums and foundations include her name.
Arendt Studies
Arendt Studies is a peer-reviewed academic journal that examines the life, work, and legacy of Hannah Arendt. Established in 2017, it publishes research articles and translations, including the first English translation of Hannah Arendt's "Nation-State and Democracy" (1963) Notable contributors include Andrew Benjamin, Peg Birmingham, Adriana Cavarero, Robert P. Crease, and Celso Lafer. Articles published in this journal are covered in the international Hannah Arendt Bibliographie. Arendt Studies is also included in JSTOR. The journal is edited by James Barry at Indiana University and published by the Philosophy Documentation Center.
Family tree
See also
American philosophy
German philosophy
Hannah Arendt Award
List of refugees
List of women philosophers
Women in philosophy
Notes
References
Bibliography
Articles (journals and proceedings)
(French translation)
, reprinted in
Rahel Varnhagen
Special issues and proceedings
Audiovisual
(see also Hannah Arendt)
Bernstein, Richard (2019): Podcast conversation: "Hannah Arendt is Alarmingly Relevant"
Books and monographs
"Ethics in many different voices" pp. 247–268, see also revised versions as and
(see also excerpt at
(see also Obedience to Authority)
Autobiography and biography
excerpt
(full text)
(updated by way of a second preface, pagination unchanged)
Critical works
excerpt, see also
text at Pensar el Espacio Público
Historical
, available in Latin as
facsimile text at Gallica, and reproduced on Wikisource
full text available on Internet Archive
Chapters and contributions
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
Guilherme, Alexandre and Morgan, W. John, 'Hannah Arendt (1906-1975)-dialogue as a public space'. Chapter 4 in Philosophy, Dialogue, and Education: Nine modern European philosophers, Routledge, London and New York, pp. 55–71, .
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
Dictionaries and encyclopedias
(Version: January 2019)
, in
Magazines
, reprinted in
, reprinted from
, reprinted in
Newspapers
Theses
(at Theses.fr)
Websites
- includes Brecht reading (english)
(English translation by A. S. Kline 2004)
Biography, genealogy and timelines
see also: Principal Dates in
, in
Institutions, locations and organizations
Hannah Arendt Center (Bard)
Maps
External images
Bibliographic notes
External links
1906 births
1975 deaths
20th-century American educators
20th-century American essayists
20th-century American historians
20th-century American philosophers
20th-century American women educators
20th-century American women writers
20th-century German educators
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American agnostics
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Cultural critics
Exilliteratur writers
Existentialists
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
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Gurs internment camp survivors
Heidelberg University alumni
Historians from California
Historians from New York (state)
Historians of communism
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International criminal law scholars
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Social critics
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University of Chicago faculty
University of Marburg alumni
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Women religious writers
Writers from Königsberg
Yale University faculty
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[
"Benjamin Halevy (, 6 May 1910 – 7 August 1996) was an Israeli judge and politician.\n\nBiography\nHalevy was born Ernst Levi in Weißenfels, Germany and educated at the Universities of Freiburg, Göttingen and Berlin. He immigrated to what was then the British Mandate of Palestine in 1933 after Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, and studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.\n\nHalevy was a Magistrate Judge in Jerusalem during the Mandate period, from 1938 until Israel's declaration of independence in 1948. He served as a District Judge and the President of the Jerusalem District Court until 1963 when he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Israel.\n\nHalevy was the sole judge in what became known as the \"Kastner trial,\" a libel lawsuit against Malchiel Gruenwald, a hotelier, who accused Rudolf Kastner of having been a Nazi collaborator. Halevy allowed the scope of the trial to be expanded and ruled that Kastner had indeed, in his words, \"sold his soul to the devil.\" Kastner was later assassinated and Halevy's ruling was mostly overturned by the Supreme Court. The manner in which he conducted the trial was criticized.\n\nHalevy was the sole judge at the trial of the Kafr Qasim massacre's perpetrators, and in his decision famously wrote, \"The distinguishing mark of a manifestly illegal order is that above such an order should fly, like a black flag, a warning saying: 'Prohibited!'\" He was later a judge at the trial of Adolf Eichmann, along with Yitzhak Raveh and Moshe Landau.\n\nIn 1969 Halevy resigned from the court in order to enter politics. He was elected to the Seventh Knesset for the Gahal (Herut-Liberal Bloc) list, and again to the Eighth Knesset in 1973 after Gahal had merged into Likud. He later left the party to sit as an independent MK. In the 1977 elections, he was returned to the Knesset on Dash's list, but the party split up after a year, and Halevy joined the Democratic Movement, before leaving to again sit as an independent. During the Ninth Knesset he also served as deputy speaker.\n\nToday a street in his birthplace Weißenfels is named after him.\n\nHe was married for many years to Luba. They had a son and daughter. After Luba's death he married Michal Halevy.\n\nSee also\nIsraeli judicial system\nAdolf Eichmann\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n1910 births\n1996 deaths\nUniversity of Göttingen alumni\nIsraeli judges\nJudges of the Supreme Court of Israel\nJewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to Mandatory Palestine\nDemocratic Movement (Israel) politicians\nDemocratic Movement for Change politicians\nLikud politicians\nGahal politicians\nPeople from Weißenfels\nPeople from the Province of Saxony\nAdolf Eichmann\nMembers of the 7th Knesset (1969–1974)\nMembers of the 8th Knesset (1974–1977)\nMembers of the 9th Knesset (1977–1981)\nDeputy Speakers of the Knesset",
"Ida Hedevig Moltke (1744–1816) was a Danish countess and letter writer.\n\nLife\nShe was born to nobleman Frederik von Buchwald and Henriette Emilie von Holstein and became the cousin of Amalie Sofie Holstein and sister-in-law of Count Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff. In 1760, she married the courtier count Christian Frederik Moltke (1736–1771). \n\nThe court office of her first spouse made her a participator in Danish court life, where she became known for her love life. While her spouse was the lover of Elisabet von Eyben, she had an affair with the Spanish envoy Sebastian de Llano y la Quadra. Although her spouse was on the queen's side against the king's favorite Conrad Holck, he lost his office in 1771 and the couple had to leave court. \n\nWhen Moltke died shortly after, a scandal occurred when his widow was accused of having caused his death by infecting him with a venereal disease, by having caused him to commit suicide out of sorrow because of her adultery, or by having been poisoned by her and her lover courtier nobleman Karl Adolf von Plessen. In 1771, she married Karl Adolf von Plessen shortly after she became a widow, which made them suspicious. They were never openly accused.\n\nKarl Adolf von Plessen belonged to the circle of Schack Carl Rantzau–Ascheberg, who planned to make an alliance with Sweden against Russia, during which her spouse was to be sent as an agent to Sweden and Enevold Brandt to France. These plans were never realized.\n\nHer preserved correspondence is generally regarded as a valuable historic source about the courtiers of the Danish royal court of her time.\n\nSee also\n Luise Gramm\n\nReferences\n\nSources \n August Fjelstrup: Damerne ved Karoline Mathildes Hof, 1909.\n\n1744 births\n1816 deaths\n18th-century Danish people\n18th-century Danish writers\n18th-century Danish women writers\nDanish letter writers\nWomen letter writers\nDanish countesses"
] |
[
"Hannah Arendt",
"Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil",
"Why was Eichmann in Jerusalem?",
"the 1961 Adolf Eichmann trial",
"How long did the trial last?",
"I don't know.",
"What did you find interesting about this?",
"She also was critical of the way that some Jewish leaders, notably M. C. Rumkowski, acted during the Holocaust.",
"What was the result of the trials?",
"This is the reason, and the only reason, you must hang.",
"What was Adolf accused of?",
"Eichmann supported and carried out a policy of not wanting to share the earth with the Jewish people and the people of a number of other nations"
] |
C_f518fee4cca94e3b940e1e9703364de9_0
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Did many agree with him?
| 6 |
Did many agree with Adolf Eichmann?
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Hannah Arendt
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In her reporting of the 1961 Adolf Eichmann trial for The New Yorker, which evolved into Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (1963), she coined the phrase "the banality of evil" to describe the phenomenon of Eichmann. She examined the question of whether evil is radical or simply a function of thoughtlessness, a tendency of ordinary people to obey orders and conform to mass opinion without a critical evaluation of the consequences of their actions. She was sharply critical of the way the trial was conducted in Israel. She also was critical of the way that some Jewish leaders, notably M. C. Rumkowski, acted during the Holocaust. This caused a considerable controversy and even animosity toward Arendt in the Jewish community. Her friend Gershom Scholem, a major scholar of Jewish mysticism, broke off relations with her. Arendt was criticized by many Jewish public figures, who charged her with coldness and lack of sympathy for the victims of the Holocaust. Because of this lingering criticism neither this book nor any of her other works were translated into Hebrew, until 1999. This controversy was answered by Hannah Arendt in the book's Postscript. The controversy began by calling attention to the conduct of the Jewish people during the years of the Final Solution, thus following up the question, first raised by the Israeli prosecutor, of whether the Jews could or should have defended themselves. I had dismissed that question as silly and cruel, since it testified to a fatal ignorance of the conditions at the time. It has now been discussed to exhaustion, and the most amazing conclusions have been drawn. The well-known historico-sociological construct of "ghetto mentality"... has been repeatedly dragged in to explain behavior which was not at all confined to the Jewish people and which therefore cannot be explained by specifically Jewish factors... This was the unexpected conclusion certain reviewers chose to draw from the "image" of a book, created by certain interest groups, in which I allegedly had claimed that the Jews had murdered themselves. Arendt ended the book by writing: Just as you Eichmann supported and carried out a policy of not wanting to share the earth with the Jewish people and the people of a number of other nations--as though you and your superiors had any right to determine who should and who should not inhabit the world--we find that no one, that is, no member of the human race, can be expected to want to share the earth with you. This is the reason, and the only reason, you must hang. CANNOTANSWER
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Arendt was criticized by many Jewish public figures, who charged her with coldness and lack of sympathy for the victims of the Holocaust.
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Hannah Arendt (, , ; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a political philosopher, author, and Holocaust survivor. Her contributions influenced 20th and 21st century political theorists.
Arendt was born in Linden, a district of Hanover, in 1906, to a Jewish family. At the age of three, her family moved to Königsberg, the capital of East Prussia, so that her father's syphilis could be treated. Paul Arendt had contracted the disease in his youth, and it was thought to be in remission when Arendt was born. He died when she was seven. Arendt was raised in a politically progressive, secular family. Her mother was an ardent supporter of the Social Democrats. After completing her secondary education in Berlin, she studied at the University of Marburg under Martin Heidegger, with whom she had a brief affair. She obtained her doctorate in philosophy writing on Love and Saint Augustine at the University of Heidelberg in 1929 under the direction of the existentialist philosopher Karl Jaspers.
Hannah Arendt married Günther Stern in 1929, but soon began to encounter increasing anti-Jewish discrimination in 1930s Nazi Germany. In 1933, the year Adolf Hitler came to power, Arendt was arrested and briefly imprisoned by the Gestapo for performing illegal research into antisemitism in Nazi Germany. On release, she fled Germany, living in Czechoslovakia and Switzerland before settling in Paris. There she worked for Youth Aliyah, assisting young Jews to emigrate to the British Mandate of Palestine. Divorcing Stern in 1937, she married Heinrich Blücher in 1940, but when Germany invaded France in 1940 she was detained by the French as an alien, despite having been stripped of her German citizenship in 1937. She escaped and made her way to the United States in 1941 via Portugal. She settled in New York, which remained her principal residence for the rest of her life. She became a writer and editor and worked for the Jewish Cultural Reconstruction, becoming an American citizen in 1950. With the publication of The Origins of Totalitarianism in 1951, her reputation as a thinker and writer was established and a series of works followed. These included the books The Human Condition in 1958, as well as Eichmann in Jerusalem and On Revolution in 1963. She taught at many American universities, while declining tenure-track appointments. She died suddenly of a heart attack in 1975, at the age of 69, leaving her last work, The Life of the Mind, unfinished.
Her works cover a broad range of topics, but she is best known for those dealing with the nature of power and evil, as well as politics, direct democracy, authority, and totalitarianism. In the popular mind she is best remembered for the controversy surrounding the trial of Adolf Eichmann, her attempt to explain how ordinary people become actors in totalitarian systems, which was considered by some an apologia, and for the phrase "the banality of evil". She is commemorated by institutions and journals devoted to her thinking, the Hannah Arendt Prize for political thinking, and on stamps, street names and schools, amongst other things.
Early life and education (1906–1929)
Family
Hannah Arendt was born Johanna Arendt in 1906 into a comfortable educated secular family of German Jews in Linden, Prussia (now a part of Hanover), in Wilhelmine Germany. Her family were merchants of Russian extraction from Königsberg, the East Prussian capital. Arendt's grandparents were members of the Reform Jewish community there. Hannah's paternal grandfather, (1843–1913), was a prominent businessman, local politician, one of the leaders of the Königsberg Jewish community and a member of the Centralverein deutscher Staatsbürger jüdischen Glaubens (Central Organization for German Citizens of the Jewish Faith). Like other members of the Centralverein he primarily saw himself as a German and disapproved of the activities of Zionists, such as the young Kurt Blumenfeld (1884–1963), who was a frequent visitor to their home and would later become one of Hannah's mentors. Of Max Arendt's children, Paul Arendt (1873–1913) was an engineer and Henriette Arendt (1874–1922) was a policewoman who became a social worker.
Hannah was the only child of Paul and Martha Arendt (née Cohn) (1874–1948), who were married on 11 April 1902. She was named after her paternal grandmother. The Cohns had originally come to Königsberg from nearby Russian territory (now Lithuania) in 1852, as refugees from anti-Semitism, and made their living as tea importers; J. N. Cohn & Company became the largest business in the city. The Arendts had reached Germany from Russia a century earlier. Hannah's extended family contained many more women, who shared the loss of husbands and children. Hannah's parents were more educated and politically more to the left than her grandparents. The young couple became members of the Social Democrats, rather than the German Democratic Party that most of their contemporaries supported. Paul Arendt was educated at the Albertina (University of Königsberg). Though he worked as an engineer, he prided himself on his love of Classics. He collected a large library, in which Hannah immersed herself. Martha Cohn, a musician, had studied for three years in Paris.
In the first four years of their marriage, the Arendts lived in Berlin, where they were supporters of the socialist journal . At the time of Hannah's birth, Paul Arendt was employed by an electrical engineering firm in Linden, and they lived in a frame house on the market square (Marktplatz). The Arendt family moved back to Königsberg in 1909, because of Paul's deteriorating health. Hannah's father suffered from a prolonged illness with syphilis and had to be institutionalized in the Königsberg psychiatric hospital in 1911. For years afterward, Hannah had to have annual WR tests for congenital syphilis. He died on 30 October 1913, when Hannah was seven, leaving her mother to raise her. They lived at Hannah's grandfather's house at Tiergartenstraße 6, a leafy residential street adjacent to the Königsberg Tiergarten, in the predominantly Jewish neighborhood of Hufen. Although Hannah's parents were non-religious, they were happy to allow Max Arendt to take Hannah to the Reform synagogue. She also received religious instruction from the rabbi, Hermann Vogelstein, who would come to her school for that purpose. At the time the young Hannah confided that she wished to marry him when she grew up. Her family moved in circles that included many intellectuals and professionals. It was a social circle of high standards and ideals. As she recalled it:
My early intellectual formation occurred in an atmosphere where nobody paid much attention to moral questions; we were brought up under the assumption: , moral conduct is a matter of course.
This time was a particularly favorable period for the Jewish community in Königsberg, an important center of the Haskalah (enlightenment). Arendt's family was thoroughly assimilated ("Germanized") and she later remembered: "With us from Germany, the word 'assimilation' received a 'deep' philosophical meaning. You can hardly realize how serious we were about it." Despite these conditions, the Jewish population lacked full citizenship rights, and although antisemitism was not overt, it was not absent. Arendt came to define her Jewish identity negatively after encountering overt antisemitism as an adult. She came to greatly identify with Rahel Varnhagen (1771–1833), the Prussian socialite who desperately wanted to assimilate into German culture, only to be rejected because she was born Jewish. Arendt later said of Varnhagen that she was "my very closest woman friend, unfortunately dead a hundred years now." Varnhagen would later become the subject of a biography by Hannah.
In the last two years of the First World War, Hannah's mother organized social democratic discussion groups and became a follower of Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919) as socialist uprisings broke out across Germany. Luxemburg's writings would later influence Hannah's political thinking. In 1920, Martha Cohn married Martin Beerwald (1869–1941), an ironmonger and widower of four years, and they moved to his home, two blocks away, at Busoldstrasse 6, providing Hannah with improved social and financial security. Hannah was 14 at the time and acquired two older stepsisters, Clara (1901–1932) and Eva (1902–1988).
Education
Early education
Hannah Arendt's mother, who considered herself progressive, sought to raise her daughter along strict Goethean lines, which amongst other things, involved the reading of the complete works of Goethe, often summed up in the phrase from Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship (1796) as – (And just what is your duty? The demands of the day). Goethe, at the time, was considered the essential mentor of (education), the conscious formation of mind, body and spirit. The key elements were considered to be self-discipline, constructive channeling of passion, renunciation and responsibility for others. Hannah's developmental progress () was carefully documented by her mother in a book, which she titled (Our Child) and measured her against the benchmark of what was then considered ("normal development").
Arendt attended kindergarten from 1910 where her precocity impressed her teachers and enrolled in the Szittnich School, Königsberg (Hufen-Oberlyzeum), on Bahnstraße in August 1913, but her studies there were interrupted by the outbreak of World War I, forcing the family to temporarily flee to Berlin on 23 August 1914, in the face of the advancing Russian army. There they stayed with her mother's younger sister, Margarethe Fürst (1884–1942), and her three children, while Hannah attended a girl's school in Berlin-Charlottenburg. After ten weeks, when Königsberg appeared to be no longer threatened, the Arendts were able to return, where they spent the remaining war years at her grandfather's house. Arendt's precocity continued, learning ancient Greek as a child, writing poetry in her teenage years, and starting both a philosophy club and Greek Graecae at her school. She was fiercely independent in her schooling and a voracious reader, absorbing French and German literature and poetry (committing large amounts to heart) and philosophy. By the age of 14, she had read Kierkegaard, Jaspers' and Kant's (Critique of Pure Reason). Kant, whose home town was also Königsberg, was an important influence on her thinking, and it was Kant who had written about Königsberg that "such a town is the right place for gaining knowledge concerning men and the world even without travelling".
Arendt attended the Königin-Luise-Schule for her secondary education, a girls' Gymnasium on Landhofmeisterstraße. Most of her friends, while at school, were gifted children of Jewish professional families, generally older than she and went on to university education. Among them was Ernst Grumach (1902–1967), who introduced her to his girlfriend, Anne Mendelssohn, who would become a lifelong friend. When Anne moved away, Ernst became Arendt's first romantic relationship. Like Arendt, Anne would go on to become a philosopher, obtaining her doctorate at Hamburg, while Ernst became a philologist.
Higher education (1922–1929)
Berlin (1922–1924)
Arendt's education at the Luise-Schule ended in 1922 when she was expelled at the age of 15 for leading a boycott of a teacher who insulted her. Instead, her mother arranged for her to go to Berlin to be with Social Democrat family friends. In Berlin she lived in a student residence and audited courses of her choosing at the University of Berlin (1922–1923), including classics and Christian theology under Romano Guardini. This enabled her to successfully sit the entrance examination () for the University of Marburg, where Ernst Grumach had studied under Martin Heidegger, who had been appointed a professor there in 1922. For the examination, her mother engaged a private tutor, while her aunt Frieda Arendt, a teacher, also helped her, and Frieda's husband Ernst Aron provided financial assistance for her to attend university.
Marburg (1924–1926)
In Berlin, Guardini had introduced her to Kierkegaard, and she resolved to make theology her major field. At Marburg (1924–1926) she studied classical languages, German literature, Protestant theology with Rudolf Bultmann and philosophy with Nicolai Hartmann and Heidegger. Arendt arrived at Marburg that fall in the middle of an intellectual revolution led by the young Heidegger, of whom she was in awe, describing him as "the hidden king [who] reigned in the realm of thinking".
Heidegger had broken away from the intellectual movement started by Edmund Husserl, whose assistant he had been at University of Freiburg before coming to Marburg. This was a period when Heidegger was preparing his lectures on Kant, which he would develop in the second part of his (Being and Time) in 1927 and (1929). Although Heidegger had dedicated the first edition of Being and Time to Edmund Husserl, Husserl gave the book a poor review, and in the second edition Heidegger removed that dedication.
In his classes he and his students struggled with the meaning of "Being" as they worked together through Aristotle's concept of ἀλήθεια (truth) and Plato's Sophist. Many years later Arendt would describe these classes, how people came to Marburg to hear him, and how, above all he imparted the idea of ("thinking") as activity, which she qualified as "passionate thinking".
Arendt was restless. To date her studies had not been either emotionally or intellectually satisfying. She was ready for passion, finishing her poem (Consolation, 1923) with the lines:
(The hours run downThe days pass on.One achievement remains:Merely being alive)
Her encounter with Heidegger represented a dramatic departure from the past. He was handsome, a genius, romantic, and taught that thinking and "aliveness" were but one. The 17-year-old Arendt then began a long romantic relationship with the 35-year-old Heidegger, who was married with two young sons. Arendt later faced criticism for this because of Heidegger's support for the Nazi Party after his election as rector at the University of Freiburg in 1933. Nevertheless, he remained one of the most profound influences on her thinking, and he would later relate that she had been the inspiration for his work on passionate thinking in those days. They agreed to keep the details of the relationship a secret, preserving their letters but keeping them unavailable. The relationship was not known until Elisabeth Young-Bruehl's biography of Arendt appeared in 1982. At the time of publishing, Arendt and Heidegger were deceased and Heidegger's wife, Elfride (1893–1992), was still alive. The affair was not well known until 1995, when Elzbieta Ettinger gained access to the sealed correspondence and published a controversial account that was used by Arendt's detractors to cast doubt on her integrity. That account, which caused a scandal, was subsequently refuted.
At Marburg, Arendt lived at Lutherstraße 4. Among her friends there was Hans Jonas, her only Jewish classmate. Another fellow student of Heidegger's was Jonas' friend, the Jewish philosopher Gunther Siegmund Stern (1902–1992)son of the noted psychologist Ludwig Wilhelm Sternwho would later become her first husband. Stern had completed his doctoral dissertation with Edmund Husserl at Freiburg, and was now working on his Habilitation thesis with Heidegger, but Arendt, involved with Heidegger, took little notice of him at the time.
Die Schatten (1925)
In the summer of 1925, while home at Königsberg, Arendt composed her sole autobiographical piece, (The Shadows), a "description of herself" addressed to Heidegger. In this essay, full of anguish and Heideggerian language, she reveals her insecurities relating to her femininity and Jewishness, writing abstractly in the third person. She describes a state of "" (alienation), on the one hand an abrupt loss of youth and innocence, on the other an "" (strangeness), the finding of the remarkable in the banal. In her detailing of the pain of her childhood and longing for protection she shows her vulnerabilities and how her love for Heidegger had released her and once again filled her world with color and mystery. She refers to her relationship with Heidegger as "" ("an unbending devotion to a unique man"). This period of intense introspection was also one of the most productive of her poetic output, such as (Lost in Self-Contemplation).
Freiburg and Heidelberg (1926–1929)
After a year at Marburg, Arendt spent a semester at Freiburg, attending the lectures of Husserl. In 1926 she moved to the University of Heidelberg, where in 1929, she completed her dissertation under the other leading figure of the then new and revolutionary Existenzphilosophie, Karl Jaspers (1883–1969), a friend of Heidegger's. Her thesis was entitled Der Liebesbegriff bei Augustin: Versuch einer philosophischen Interpretation (On the concept of love in the thought of Saint Augustine: Attempt at a philosophical interpretation). She remained a lifelong friend of Jaspers and his wife, Gertrud Mayer (1879–1974), developing a deep intellectual relationship with him. At Heidelberg, her circle of friends included Hans Jonas, who had also moved from Marburg to study Augustine, working on his (1930), and also a group of three young philosophers: Karl Frankenstein, Erich Neumann and Erwin Loewenson. Other friends and students of Jaspers were the linguists Benno von Wiese and Hugo Friedrich (seen with Hannah, below), with whom she attended lectures by Friedrich Gundolf at Jaspers' suggestion and who kindled in her an interest in German Romanticism. She also became reacquainted, at a lecture, with Kurt Blumenfeld, who introduced her to Jewish politics. At Heidelberg, she lived in the old town () near the castle, at Schlossberg 16. The house was demolished in the 1960s, but the one remaining wall bears a plaque commemorating her time there (see image).
On completing her dissertation, Arendt turned to her , initially on German Romanticism, and thereafter an academic teaching career. However 1929 was also the year of the Depression and the end of the golden years () of the Weimar Republic, which was to become increasingly unstable over its remaining four years. Arendt, as a Jew, had little if any chance of obtaining an academic appointment in Germany. Nevertheless, she completed most of the work before she was forced to leave Germany.
Career
Germany (1929–1933)
Berlin-Potsdam (1929)
In 1929, Arendt met Günther Stern again, this time in Berlin at a New Year's masked ball, and began a relationship with him. Within a month she had moved in with him in a one-room studio, shared with a dancing school in Berlin-Halensee. Then they moved to Merkurstraße 3, Nowawes, in Potsdam and were married there on 26 September. They had much in common and the marriage was welcomed by both sets of parents. In the summer, Hannah Arendt successfully applied to the for a grant to support her Habilitation, which was supported by Heidegger and Jaspers among others, and in the meantime, with Günther's help was working on revisions to get her dissertation published.
Wanderjahre (1929–1931)
After Arendt and Günther were married, they began two years of what Christian Dries refers to as the (years of wandering). They had the ultimately fruitless aim of having Günther accepted for an academic appointment. They lived for a while in Drewitz, a southern neighborhood of Potsdam, before moving to Heidelberg, where they lived with the Jaspers. After Heidelberg, where Günther completed the first draft of his thesis, the Sterns then moved to Frankfurt where Günther hoped to finish it. There, Arendt participated in the university's intellectual life, attending lectures by Karl Mannheim and Paul Tillich, among others. The Sterns collaborated intellectually, writing an article together on Rilke's (1923) and both reviewing Mannheim's (1929). The latter was Arendt's sole contribution in sociology. In both her treatment of Mannheim and Rilke, Arendt found love to be a transcendent principle "Because there is no true transcendence in this ordered world, one also cannot exceed the world, but only succeed to higher ranks". In Rilke she saw a latter day secular Augustine, describing the as the (ultimate form of religious document). Later, she would discover the limitations of transcendent love in explaining the historical events that pushed her into political action. Another theme from Rilke that she would develop was the despair of not being heard. Reflecting on Rilke's opening lines, which she placed as an epigram at the beginning of their essay
(Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angel's hierarchies?)
Arendt and Stern begin by stating
The paradoxical, ambiguous, and desperate situation from which standpoint the Duino Elegies may alone be understood has two characteristics: the absence of an echo and the knowledge of futility. The conscious renunciation of the demand to be heard, the despair at not being able to be heard, and finally the need to speak even without an answer–these are the real reasons for the darkness, asperity, and tension of the style in which poetry indicates its own possibilities and its will to form
Arendt also published an article on Augustine (354–430) in the Frankfurter Zeitung to mark the 1500th anniversary of his death. She saw this article as forming a bridge between her treatment of Augustine in her dissertation and her subsequent work on Romanticism. When it became evident Stern would not succeed in obtaining an appointment, the Sterns returned to Berlin in 1931.
Return to Berlin (1931–1933)
In Berlin, where the couple initially lived in the predominantly Jewish area of (Bavarian Quarter or "Jewish Switzerland") in Schöneberg, Stern obtained a position as a staff-writer for the cultural supplement of the Berliner Börsen-Courier, edited by Herbert Ihering, with the help of Bertold Brecht. There he started writing using the nom-de-plume of Günther Anders, i.e. "Günther Other". Arendt assisted Günther with his work, but the shadow of Heidegger hung over their relationship. While Günther was working on his , Arendt had abandoned the original subject of German Romanticism for her thesis in 1930, and turned instead to Rahel Varnhagen and the question of assimilation. Anne Mendelssohn had accidentally acquired a copy of Varnhagen's correspondence and excitedly introduced her to Arendt, donating her collection to her. A little later, Arendt's own work on Romanticism led her to a study of Jewish salons and eventually to those of Varnhagen. In Rahel, she found qualities she felt reflected her own, particularly those of sensibility and vulnerability. Rahel, like Hannah, found her destiny in her Jewishness. Hannah Arendt would come to call Rahel Varnhagen's discovery of living with her destiny as being a "conscious pariah". This was a personal trait that Arendt had recognized in herself, although she did not embrace the term until later.
Back in Berlin, Arendt found herself becoming more involved in politics and started studying political theory, and reading Marx and Trotsky, while developing contacts at the Deutsche Hochschule für Politik. Despite the political leanings of her mother and husband she never saw herself as a political leftist, justifying her activism as being through her Jewishness. Her increasing interest in Jewish politics and her examination of assimilation in her study of Varnhagen led her to publish her first article on Judaism, ("The Enlightenment and the Jewish Question", 1932). Blumenfeld had introduced her to the "Jewish question", which would be his lifelong concern. Meanwhile, her views on German Romanticism were evolving. She wrote a review of Hans Weil's (The Origin of German Educational Principle, 1930), which dealt with the emergence of (educational elite) in the time of Rahel Varnhagen. At the same time she began to be occupied by Max Weber's description of the status of Jewish people within a state as (pariah people) in his Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft (1922), while borrowing Bernard Lazare's term paria conscient (conscious pariah) with which she identified. In both these articles she advanced the views of Johann Herder. Another interest of hers at the time was the status of women, resulting in her 1932 review of Alice Rühle-Gerstel's book (Contemporary Women's Issues: A psychological balance sheet). Although not a supporter of the women's movement, the review was sympathetic. At least in terms of the status of women at that time, she was skeptical of the movement's ability to achieve political change. She was also critical of the movement, because it was a women's movement, rather than contributing with men to a political movement, abstract rather than striving for concrete goals. In this manner she echoed Rosa Luxemburg. Like Luxemburg, she would later criticize Jewish movements for the same reason. Arendt consistently prioritized political over social questions.
By 1932, faced with a deteriorating political situation, Arendt was deeply troubled by reports that Heidegger was speaking at National Socialist meetings. She wrote, asking him to deny that he was attracted to National Socialism. Heidegger replied that he did not seek to deny the rumors (which were true), and merely assured her that his feelings for her were unchanged. As a Jew in Nazi Germany, Arendt was prevented from making a living and discriminated against and confided to Anne Mendelssohn that emigration was probably inevitable. Jaspers had tried to persuade her to consider herself as a German first, a position she distanced herself from, pointing out that she was a Jew and that "" (For me, Germany is the mother tongue, philosophy and poetry), rather than her identity. This position puzzled Jaspers, replying "It is strange to me that as a Jew you want to be different from the Germans".
By 1933, life for the Jewish population in Germany was becoming precarious. Adolf Hitler became (Chancellor) in January, and the Reichstag was burned down () the following month. This led to the suspension of civil liberties, with attacks on the left, and, in particular, members of the Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (German Communist Party: KPD). Stern, who had communist associations, fled to Paris, but Arendt stayed on to become an activist. Knowing her time was limited, she used the apartment at Opitzstraße 6 in Berlin-Steglitz that she had occupied with Stern since 1932 as an underground railway way-station for fugitives. Her rescue operation there is now recognized with a plaque on the wall.
Arendt had already positioned herself as a critic of the rising Nazi Party in 1932 by publishing "Adam-Müller-Renaissance?" a critique of the appropriation of the life of Adam Müller to support right wing ideology. The beginnings of anti-Jewish laws and boycott came in the spring of 1933. Confronted with systemic antisemitism, Arendt adopted the motiv "If one is attacked as a Jew one must defend oneself as a Jew. Not as a German, not as a world citizen, not as an upholder of the Rights of Man." This was Arendt's introduction of the concept of Jew as Pariah that would occupy her for the rest of her life in her Jewish writings. She took a public position by publishing part of her largely completed biography of Rahel Varnhagen as "" ("Original Assimilation: An Epilogue to the One Hundredth Anniversary of Rahel Varnhagen's Death") in the on 7 March 1933 and a little later also in . In the article she argues that the age of assimilation that began with Varnhagen's generation had come to an end with an official state policy of antisemitism. She opened with the declaration:
Today in Germany it seems Jewish assimilation must declare its bankruptcy. The general social antisemitism and its official legitimation affects in the first instance assimilated Jews, who can no longer protect themselves through baptism or by emphasizing their differences from Eastern Judaism.
As a Jew, Arendt was anxious to inform the world of what was happening to her people in 1930–1933. She surrounded herself with Zionist activists, including Kurt Blumenfeld, Martin Buber and Salman Schocken, and started to research antisemitism. Arendt had access to the Prussian State Library for her work on Varnhagen. Blumenfeld's Zionistische Vereinigung für Deutschland (Zionist Federation of Germany) persuaded her to use this access to obtain evidence of the extent of antisemitism, for a planned speech to the Zionist Congress in Prague. This research was illegal at the time. Her actions led to her being denounced by a librarian for anti-state propaganda, resulting in the arrest of both Arendt and her mother by the Gestapo. They served eight days in prison but her notebooks were in code and could not be deciphered, and she was released by a young, sympathetic arresting officer to await trial.
Exile: France (1933–1941)
Paris (1933–1940)
On release, realizing the danger she was now in, Arendt and her mother fled Germany following the established escape route over the Erzgebirge Mountains by night into Czechoslovakia and on to Prague and then by train to Geneva. In Geneva, she made a conscious decision to commit herself to "the Jewish cause". She obtained work with a friend of her mother's at the League of Nations' Jewish Agency for Palestine, distributing visas and writing speeches.
From Geneva the Arendts traveled to Paris in the autumn, where she was reunited with Stern, joining a stream of refugees. While Arendt had left Germany without papers, her mother had travel documents and returned to Königsberg and her husband. In Paris, she befriended Stern's cousin, the Marxist literary critic and philosopher Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) and also the Jewish French philosopher Raymond Aron (1905–1983).
Arendt was now an émigrée, an exile, stateless, without papers, and had turned her back on the Germany and Germans of the . Her legal status was precarious and she was coping with a foreign language and culture, all of which took its toll on her mentally and physically. In 1934 she started working for the Zionist-funded outreach program Agriculture et Artisanat, giving lectures, and organizing clothing, documents, medications and education for Jewish youth seeking to emigrate to the British Mandate of Palestine, mainly as agricultural workers. Initially she was employed as a secretary, and then office manager. To improve her skills she studied French, Hebrew and Yiddish. In this way she was able to support herself and her husband. When the organization closed in 1935, her work for Blumenfeld and the Zionists in Germany brought her into contact with the wealthy philanthropist Baroness Germaine Alice de Rothschild (born Halphen, 1884–1975), wife of Édouard Alphonse James de Rothschild, becoming her assistant. In this position she oversaw the baroness' contributions to Jewish charities through the Paris Consistoire, although she had little time for the family as a whole. The Rothschilds had headed the central Consistoire for a century but stood for everything Arendt did not, opposing immigration and any connection with German Jewry.
Later in 1935, Arendt joined Youth Aliyah (Youth immigration), an organization similar to Agriculture et Artisanat that was founded in Berlin on the day Hitler seized power. It was affiliated with Hadassah organization, which later saved many from the nearing Holocaust, and there Arendt eventually became Secretary-General (1935–1939). Her work with Youth Aliyah also involved finding food, clothing, social workers and lawyers, but above all, fund raising. She made her first visit to British Mandate of Palestine in 1935, accompanying one of these groups and meeting with her cousin Ernst Fürst there. With the Nazi annexation of Austria and invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1938, Paris was flooded with refugees, and she became the special agent for the rescue of the children from those countries. In 1938, Arendt completed her biography of Rahel Varnhagen, although this was not published until 1957. In April 1939, following the devastating Kristallnacht pogrom of November 1938, Martha Beerwald realized her daughter would not return and made the decision to leave her husband and join Arendt in Paris. One stepdaughter had died and the other had moved to England, Martin Beerwald would not leave and she no longer had any close ties to Königsberg.
Heinrich Blücher
In 1936, Arendt met the self-educated Berlin poet and Marxist philosopher Heinrich Blücher (1899–1970) in Paris. Blücher had been a Spartacist and then a founding member of the KPD, but had been expelled due to his work in the (Conciliator faction). Although Arendt had rejoined Stern in 1933, their marriage existed in name only, with their having separated in Berlin. She fulfilled her social obligations and used the name Hannah Stern, but the relationship effectively ended when Stern, perhaps recognizing the danger better than she, emigrated to America with his parents in 1936. In 1937, Arendt was stripped of her German citizenship and she and Stern divorced. She had begun seeing more of Blücher, and eventually they began living together. It was Blücher's long political activism that began to move Arendt's thinking towards political action. Arendt and Blücher married on 16 January 1940, shortly after their divorces were finalized.
Internment and escape (1940–1941)
On 5 May 1940, in anticipation of the German invasion of France and the Low Countries that month, the military governor of Paris issued a proclamation ordering all "enemy aliens" between 17 and 55 who had come from Germany (predominantly Jews) to report separately for internment. The women were gathered together in the Vélodrome d'Hiver on 15 May, so Hannah Arendt's mother, being over 55, was allowed to stay in Paris. Arendt described the process of making refugees as "the new type of human being created by contemporary history ... put into concentration camps by their foes and into internment camps by their friends". The men, including Blücher, were sent to Camp Vernet in southern France, close to the Spanish border. Arendt and the other women were sent to Camp Gurs, to the west of Gurs, a week later. The camp had earlier been set up to accommodate refugees from Spain. On 22 June, France capitulated and signed the Compiègne armistice, dividing the country. Gurs was in the southern Vichy controlled section. Arendt describes how, "in the resulting chaos we succeeded in getting hold of liberation papers with which we were able to leave the camp", which she did with about 200 of the 7,000 women held there, about four weeks later. There was no Résistance then, but she managed to walk and hitchhike north to Montauban, near Toulouse where she knew she would find help.
Montauban had become an unofficial capital for former detainees, and Arendt's friend Lotta Sempell Klembort was staying there. Blücher's camp had been evacuated in the wake of the German advance, and he managed to escape from a forced march, making his way to Montauban, where the two of them led a fugitive life. Soon they were joined by Anne Mendelssohn and Arendt's mother. Escape from France was extremely difficult without official papers; their friend Walter Benjamin had taken his own life after being apprehended trying to escape to Spain. One of the best known illegal routes operated out of Marseilles, where Varian Fry, an American journalist, worked to raise funds, forge papers and bribe officials with Hiram Bingham, the American vice-consul there.
Fry and Bingham secured exit papers and American visas for thousands, and with help from Günther Stern, Arendt, her husband, and her mother managed to secure the requisite permits to travel by train in January 1941 through Spain to Lisbon, Portugal, where they rented a flat at Rua da Sociedade Farmacêutica, 6b. They eventually secured passage to New York in May on the Companhia Colonial de Navegação's S/S Guiné II. A few months later, Fry's operations were shut down and the borders sealed.
New York (1941–1975)
World War II (1941–1945)
Upon arriving in New York City on 22 May 1941 with very little, they received assistance from the Zionist Organization of America and the local German immigrant population, including Paul Tillich and neighbors from Königsberg. They rented rooms at 317 West 95th Street and Martha Arendt joined them there in June. There was an urgent need to acquire English, and it was decided that Hannah Arendt should spend two months with an American family in Winchester, Massachusetts, through Self-Help for Refugees, in July. She found the experience difficult but formulated her early appraisal of American life, (The fundamental contradiction of the country is political freedom coupled with social slavery).
On returning to New York, Arendt was anxious to resume writing and became active in the German-Jewish community, publishing her first article, "From the Dreyfus Affair to France Today" (in translation from her German) in July 1942. While she was working on this article, she was looking for employment and in November 1941 was hired by the New York German-language Jewish newspaper and from 1941 to 1945, she wrote a political column for it, covering anti-semitism, refugees and the need for a Jewish army. She also contributed to the Menorah Journal, a Jewish-American magazine, and other German émigré publications.
Arendt's first full-time salaried job came in 1944, when she became the director of research and Executive Director for the newly emerging Commission on European Jewish Cultural Reconstruction, a project of the Conference on Jewish Relations. She was recruited "because of her great interest in the Commission's activities, her previous experience as an administrator, and her connections with Germany". There she compiled lists of Jewish cultural assets in Germany and Nazi occupied Europe, to aid in their recovery after the war. Together with her husband, she lived at 370 Riverside Drive in New York City and at Kingston, New York, where Blücher taught at nearby Bard College for many years.
Post-war (1945–1975)
In July 1946, Arendt left her position at the Commission on European Jewish Cultural Reconstruction to become an editor at Schocken Books, which later published some of her works. In 1948, she became engaged with the campaign of Judah Magnes for a solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. She famously opposed the establishment of a Jewish nation state in Palestine and initially also opposed the establishment of a binational Arab-Jewish state. Instead, she advocated for the inclusion of Palestine into a multi-ethnic federation. Only in 1948 in an effort to forestall partition did she support a binational one-state solution. She returned to the Commission in August 1949. In her capacity as executive secretary, she traveled to Europe, where she worked in Germany, Britain and France (December 1949 to March 1950) to negotiate the return of archival material from German institutions, an experience she found frustrating, but providing regular field reports. In January 1952, she became secretary to the Board, although the work of the organization was winding down and she was simultaneously pursuing her own intellectual activities; she retained this position until her death. Arendt's work on cultural restitution provided further material for her study of totalitarianism.
In the 1950s Arendt wrote The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), The Human Condition (1958) and On Revolution (1963). Arendt began corresponding with the American author Mary McCarthy, six years her junior, in 1950 and they soon became lifelong friends. In 1950, Arendt also became a naturalized citizen of the United States. The same year, she started seeing Martin Heidegger again, and had what the American writer Adam Kirsch called a "quasi-romance", lasting for two years, with the man who had previously been her mentor, teacher, and lover. During this time, Arendt defended him against critics who noted his enthusiastic membership in the Nazi Party. She portrayed Heidegger as a naïve man swept up by forces beyond his control, and pointed out that Heidegger's philosophy had nothing to do with National Socialism. In 1961 she traveled to Jerusalem to report about Eichmann's trial for The New Yorker. This report strongly influenced her popular recognition, and raised much controversy (see below). Her work was recognized by many awards, including the Danish Sonning Prize in 1975 for Contributions to European Civilization.
A few years later she spoke in New York City on the legitimacy of violence as a political act: "Generally speaking, violence always rises out of impotence. It is the hope of those who have no power to find a substitute for it and this hope, I think, is in vain. Violence can destroy power, but it can never replace it."
Teaching
Arendt taught at many institutions of higher learning from 1951 onwards, but, preserving her independence, consistently refused tenure-track positions. She served as a visiting scholar at the University of Notre Dame; University of California, Berkeley; Princeton University (where she was the first woman to be appointed a full professor in 1959); and Northwestern University. She also taught at the University of Chicago from 1963 to 1967, where she was a member of the Committee on Social Thought; The New School in Manhattan where she taught as a university professor from 1967; Yale University, where she was a fellow; and the Center for Advanced Studies at Wesleyan University (1961–62, 1962–63). She was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1962 and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1964.
In 1974, Arendt was instrumental in the creation of Structured Liberal Education (SLE) at Stanford University. She wrote a letter to the president of Stanford to persuade the university to enact Stanford history professor Mark Mancall's vision of a residentially-based humanities program. At the time of her death, she was University Professor of Political Philosophy at the New School.
Relationships
In addition to her affair with Heidegger, and her two marriages, Arendt had close friendships. Since her death, her correspondence with many of them has been published, revealing much information about her thinking. To her friends she was both loyal and generous, dedicating several of her works to them. (friendship) she described as being one of "" (the active modes of being alive), and, to her, friendship was central both to her life and to the concept of politics. Hans Jonas described her as having a "genius for friendship", and, in her own words, "" (love of friendship).
Her philosophy-based friendships were male and European, while her later American friendships were more diverse, literary, and political. Although she became an American citizen in 1950, her cultural roots remained European, and her language remained her German "" (mother tongue). She surrounded herself with German-speaking émigrés, sometimes referred to as "The Tribe". To her, (real people) were "pariahs", not in the sense of outcasts, but in the sense of outsiders, unassimilated, with the virtue of "social nonconformism ... the sine qua non of intellectual achievement", a sentiment she shared with Jaspers.
Arendt always had a . In her teens she had formed a lifelong relationship with her , Anne Mendelssohn Weil ("Ännchen"). After her emigration to America, Hilde Fränkel, Paul Tillich's secretary and mistress, filled that role until her death in 1950. After the war, Arendt was able to return to Germany and renew her relationship with Weil, who made several visits to New York, especially after Blücher's death in 1970. Their last meeting was in Tegna, Switzerland in 1975, shortly before Arendt's death. With Fränkel's death, Mary McCarthy became Arendt's closest friend and confidante.
Final illness and death
Heinrich Blücher had survived a cerebral aneurysm in 1961 and remained unwell after 1963, sustaining a series of heart attacks. On 31 October 1970 he died of a massive heart attack. A devastated Arendt had previously told Mary McCarthy, "Life without him would be unthinkable". Arendt was also a heavy smoker and was frequently depicted with a cigarette in her hand. She sustained a near fatal heart attack while lecturing in Scotland in May 1974, and although she recovered, she remained in poor health afterwards, and continued to smoke. On the evening of 4 December 1975, shortly after her 69th birthday, she had a further heart attack in her apartment while entertaining friends, and was pronounced dead at the scene. Her ashes were buried alongside those of Blücher at Bard College, in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York in May 1976.
After Arendt's death the title page of the final part of The Life of the Mind ("Judging") was found in her typewriter, which she had just started, consisting of the title and two epigraphs. This has subsequently been reproduced (see image).
Work
Arendt wrote works on intellectual history as a philosopher, using events and actions to develop insights into contemporary totalitarian movements and the threat to human freedom presented by scientific abstraction and bourgeois morality. Intellectually, she was an independent thinker, a loner not a "joiner," separating herself from schools of thought or ideology. In addition to her major texts she published anthologies, including Between Past and Future (1961), Men in Dark Times (1968) and Crises of the Republic (1972). She also contributed to many publications, including The New York Review of Books, Commonweal, Dissent and The New Yorker. She is perhaps best known for her accounts of Adolf Eichmann and his trial, because of the intense controversy that it generated.
Political theory and philosophical system
While Arendt never developed a coherent political theory and her writing does not easily lend itself to categorization, the tradition of thought most closely identified with Arendt is that of civic republicanism, from Aristotle to Tocqueville. Her political concept is centered around active citizenship that emphasizes civic engagement and collective deliberation. She believed that no matter how bad, government could never succeed in extinguishing human freedom, despite holding that modern societies frequently retreat from democratic freedom with its inherent disorder for the relative comfort of administrative bureaucracy. Her political legacy is her strong defence of freedom in the face of an increasingly less than free world. She does not adhere to a single systematic philosophy, but rather spans a range of subjects covering totalitarianism, revolution, the nature of freedom and the faculties of thought and judgment.
While she is best known for her work on "dark times", the nature of totalitarianism and evil, she imbued this with a spark of hope and confidence in the nature of mankind:
That even in the darkest of times we have the right to expect some illumination, and that such illumination might well come less from theories and concepts than from the uncertain, flickering, and often weak light that some men and women, in their lives and their works, will kindle under almost all circumstances and shed over the time span that was given to them.
Love and Saint Augustine (1929)
Arendt's doctoral thesis, (Love and Saint Augustine), was published in 1929 and attracted critical interest, although an English translation did not appear until 1996. In this work, she combines approaches of both Heidegger and Jaspers. Arendt's interpretation of love in the work of Augustine deals with three concepts, love as craving or desire (Amor qua appetitus), love in the relationship between man (creatura) and creator (Creator – Creatura), and neighborly love (Dilectio proximi). Love as craving anticipates the future, while love for the Creator deals with the remembered past. Of the three, dilectio proximi or caritas is perceived as the most fundamental, to which the first two are oriented, which she treats under vita socialis (social life). The second of the Great Commandments (or Golden Rule) "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" uniting and transcending the former. Augustine's influence (and Jaspers' views on his work) persisted in Arendt's writings for the rest of her life.
Some of the leitmotifs of her canon were apparent, introducing the concept of (Natality) as a key condition of human existence and its role in the development of the individual, developing this further in The Human Condition (1958). She explained that the construct of natality was implied in her discussion of new beginnings and man's elation to the Creator as nova creatura. The centrality of the theme of birth and renewal is apparent in the constant reference to Augustinian thought, and specifically the innovative nature of birth, from this, her first work, to her last, The Life of the Mind.
Love is another connecting theme. In addition to the Augustinian loves expostulated in her dissertation, the phrase amor mundi (love of the world) is one often associated with Arendt and both permeates her work and was an absorbing passion throughout her work. She took the phrase from Augustine's homily on the first epistle of St John, "If love of the world dwell in us". Amor mundi was her original title for The Human Condition (1958), the subtitle of Elisabeth Young-Bruehl's biography (1982), the title of a collection of writing on faith in her work and is the newsletter of the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College.
The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951)
Arendt's first major book, The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), examined the roots of Stalinism and Nazism, structured as three essays, "Antisemitism", "Imperialism" and "Totalitarianism". Arendt argues that totalitarianism was a "novel form of government," that "differs essentially from other forms of political oppression known to us such as despotism, tyranny and dictatorship" in that it applied terror to subjugate mass populations rather than just political adversaries. Arendt also maintained that Jewry was not the operative factor in the Holocaust, but merely a convenient proxy because Nazism was about terror and consistency, not merely eradicating Jews. Arendt explained the tyranny using Kant's phrase "radical evil", by which their victims became "superfluous people". In later editions she enlarged the text to include her work on "Ideology and Terror: A novel form of government" and the Hungarian Revolution, but then published the latter separately.
Criticism of Origins has often focused on its portrayal of the two movements, Hitlerism and Stalinism, as equally tyrannical.
Rahel Varnhagen: The Life of a Jewess (1957)
Arendt's on Rahel Varnhagen was completed while she was living in exile in Paris in 1938, but not published till 1957, in the United Kingdom by East and West Library, part of the Leo Baeck Institute. This biography of a 19th century Jewish socialite, formed an important step in her analysis of Jewish history and the subjects of assimilation and emancipation, and introduced her treatment of the Jewish diaspora as either pariah or parvenu. In addition it represents an early version of her concept of history. The book is dedicated to Anne Mendelssohn, who first drew her attention to Varnhagen. Arendt's relation to Varnhagen permeates her subsequent work. Her account of Varnhagen's life was perceived during a time of the destruction of German-Jewish culture. It partially reflects Arendt's own view of herself as a German-Jewish woman driven out of her own culture into a stateless existence, leading to the description "biography as autobiography".
The Human Condition (1958)
In what is arguably her most influential work, The Human Condition (1958), Arendt differentiates political and social concepts, labor and work, and various forms of actions; she then explores the implications of those distinctions. Her theory of political action, corresponding to the existence of a public realm, is extensively developed in this work. Arendt argues that, while human life always evolves within societies, the social part of human nature, political life, has been intentionally realized in only a few societies as a space for individuals to achieve freedom. Conceptual categories, which attempt to bridge the gap between ontological and sociological structures, are sharply delineated. While Arendt relegates labor and work to the realm of the social, she favors the human condition of action as that which is both existential and aesthetic. Of human actions, Arendt identifies two that she considers essential. These are forgiving past wrong (or unfixing the fixed past) and promising future benefit (or fixing the unfixed future).
Arendt had first introduced the concept of "natality" in her Love and Saint Augustine (1929) and in The Human Condition starts to develop this further. In this, she departs from Heidegger's emphasis on mortality. Arendt's positive message is one of the "miracle of beginning", the continual arrival of the new to create action, that is to alter the state of affairs brought about by previous actions. "Men", she wrote "though they must die, are not born in order to die but in order to begin". She defined her use of "natality" as:
The miracle that saves the world, the realm of human affairs, from its normal, "natural" ruin is ultimately the fact of natality, in which the faculty of action is ontologically rooted. It is, in other words, the birth of new men and the new beginning, the action they are capable of by virtue of being born.
Natality would go on to become a central concept of her political theory, and also what Karin Fry considers its most optimistic one.
Between Past and Future (1954...1968)
Between Past and Future is an anthology of eight essays written between 1954 and 1968, dealing with a variety of different but connected philosophical subjects. These essays share the central idea that humans live between the past and the uncertain future. Man must permanently think to exist, but must learn thinking. Humans have resorted to tradition, but are abandoning respect for this tradition and culture. Arendt tries to find solutions to help humans think again, since modern philosophy has not succeeded in helping humans to live correctly.
On Revolution (1963)
Arendt's book On Revolution presents a comparison of two of the main revolutions of the 18th century, the American and French Revolutions. She goes against a common impression of both Marxist and leftist views when she argues that France, while well-studied and often emulated, was a disaster and that the largely ignored American Revolution was a success. The turning point in the French Revolution occurred when the leaders rejected their goals of freedom in order to focus on compassion for the masses. In the United States, the founders never betray the goal of . Arendt believes the revolutionary spirit of those men had been lost, however, and advocates a "council system" as an appropriate institution to regain that spirit.
Men in Dark Times (1968)
The anthology of essays Men in Dark Times presents intellectual biographies of some creative and moral figures of the 20th century, such as Walter Benjamin, Karl Jaspers, Rosa Luxemburg, Hermann Broch, Pope John XXIII, and Isak Dinesen.
Crises of the Republic (1972)
Crises of the Republic was the third of Arendt's anthologies, consisting of four essays, "Lying in Politics", "Civil Disobedience", "On Violence" and "Thoughts on Politics and Revolution". These related essays deal with contemporary American politics and the crises it faced in the 1960s and 1970s. "Lying in Politics" looks for an explanation behind the administration's deception regarding the Vietnam War, as revealed in the Pentagon Papers. "Civil Disobedience" examines the opposition movements, while the final "Thoughts on Politics and Revolution" is a commentary, in the form of an interview on the third essay, "On Violence". In "On Violence" Arendt substantiates that violence presupposes power which she understands as a property of groups. Thus, she breaks with the predominant conception of power as derived from violence.
When Hannah Arendt died in 1975, she left a major work incomplete, which was later published in 1978 as The Life of the Mind. Since then some of her minor works have been collected and published, mainly under the editorship of Jerome Kohn. In 1994 "Essays in Understanding" appeared as the first of a series covering the period 1930–1954, but attracted little attention. A new version of Origins of Totalitarianism appeared in 2004 followed by The Promise of Politics in 2005. The renewed interest in Arendtiana following these publications led to a second series of essays, Thinking Without a Banister: Essays in Understanding, 1953–1975, published in 2018. Other collections have dealt with her Jewish identity, including The Jew as Pariah (1978) and The Jewish Writings (2007), moral philosophy including Lectures on Kant's Political Philosophy (1982) and Responsibility and Judgment (2003), together with her literary works as Reflections on Literature and Culture (2007).
The Life of the Mind (1978)
Arendt's last major work, The Life of the Mind remained incomplete at the time of her death, but marked a return to moral philosophy. The outline of the book was based on her graduate level political philosophy class, Philosophy of the Mind, and her Gifford Lectures in Scotland. She conceived of the work as a trilogy based on the mental activities of thinking, willing, and judging. Her most recent work had focused on the first two, but went beyond this in terms of . Her discussion of thinking was based on Socrates and his notion of thinking as a solitary dialogue between oneself, leading her to novel concepts of conscience.
Arendt died suddenly five days after completing the second part, with the first page of Judging still in her typewriter, and McCarthy then edited the first two parts and provided some indication of the direction of the third. Arendt's exact intentions for the third part are unknown but she left several manuscripts (such as Thinking and Moral Considerations, Some Questions on Moral Philosophy and Lectures on Kant's Political Philosophy) relating to her thoughts on the mental faculty of Judging. These have since been published separately.
Collected works
After Hannah Arendt's death, her essays and notes have continued to be edited and published posthumously by friends and colleagues, including those that give some insight into the unfinished third part of The Life of the Mind. The Jew as Pariah: Jewish Identity and Politics in the Modern Age (1978), is a collection of 15 essays and letters from the period 1943–1966 on the situation of Jews in modern times, to try and throw some light on her views on the Jewish world, following the backlash to Eichmann, but proved to be equally polarizing. A further collection of her writings on being Jewish was published as The Jewish Writings (2007). Other work includes the collection of forty, largely fugitive, essays, addresses, and reviews entitled Essays in Understanding 1930–1954: Formation, Exile, and Totalitarianism (1994), that presaged her monumental The Origins of Totalitarianism, in particular On the Nature of Totalitarianism (1953) and The Concern with Politics in Contemporary European Philosophical Thought (1954). The remaining essays were published as Thinking Without a Banister: Essays in Understanding, 1953-1975 (2018). Her notebooks which form a series of memoirs, were published as in 2002.
Some further insight into her thinking is provided in the continuing posthumous publication of her correspondence with many of the important figures in her life, including Karl Jaspers (1992), Mary McCarthy (1995), Heinrich Blücher (1996), Martin Heidegger (2004), Alfred Kazin (2005), Walter Benjamin (2006), Gershom Scholem (2011) and Günther Stern (2016). Other correspondences that have been published include those with women friends such as Hilde Fränkel and Anne Mendelsohn Weil (see Relationships).
Arendt and the Eichmann trial (1961–1963)
In 1960, on hearing of Adolf Eichmann's capture and plans for his trial, Hannah Arendt contacted The New Yorker and offered to travel to Israel to cover it when it opened on 11 April 1961. Arendt was anxious to test her theories, developed in The Origins of Totalitarianism, and see how justice would be administered to the sort of man she had written about. Also she had witnessed "little of the Nazi regime directly" and this was an opportunity to witness an agent of totalitarianism first hand. The offer was accepted and she attended six weeks of the five-month trial with her young cousin from Israel, Edna Brocke. On arrival she was treated as a celebrity, meeting with the trial chief judge, Moshe Landau, and the foreign minister, Golda Meir. In her subsequent 1963 report, based on her observations and transcripts, and which evolved into the book Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, most famously, Arendt coined the phrase "the banality of evil" to describe the phenomenon of Eichmann. She, like others, was struck by his very ordinariness and the demeanor he exhibited of a small, slightly balding, bland bureaucrat, in contrast to the horrific crimes he stood accused of. He was, she wrote, "terribly and terrifyingly normal." She examined the question of whether evil is radical or simply a function of thoughtlessness, a tendency of ordinary people to obey orders and conform to mass opinion without a critical evaluation of the consequences of their actions. Arendt's argument was that Eichmann was not a monster, contrasting the immensity of his actions with the very ordinariness of the man himself. Eichmann, she stated, not only called himself a Zionist, having initially opposed the Jewish persecution, but also expected his captors to understand him. She pointed out that his actions were not driven by malice, but rather blind dedication to the regime and his need to belong, to be a "joiner."
On this, Arendt would later state "Going along with the rest and wanting to say 'we' were quite enough to make the greatest of all crimes possible". What Arendt observed during the trial was a bourgeois sales clerk who found a meaningful role for himself and a sense of importance in the Nazi movement. She noted that his addiction to clichés and use of bureaucratic morality clouded his ability to question his actions, "to think". This led her to set out her most famous, and most debated, dictum: "the lesson that this long course in human wickedness had taught us – the lesson of the fearsome, word-and-thought-defying banality of evil." By stating that Eichmann did not think, she did not imply lack of conscious awareness of his actions, but by "thinking" she implied reflective rationality, that was lacking.
Arendt was critical of the way the trial was conducted by the Israelis as a "show trial" with ulterior motives other than simply trying evidence and administering justice. Arendt was also critical of the way Israel depicted Eichmann's crimes as crimes against a nation state, rather than against humanity itself. She objected to the idea that a strong Israel was necessary to protect world Jewry being again placed where "they'll let themselves be slaughtered like sheep," recalling the biblical phrase. She portrayed the prosecutor, Attorney General Gideon Hausner, as employing hyperbolic rhetoric in the pursuit of Prime Minister Ben-Gurion's political agenda. Arendt, who believed she could maintain her focus on moral principles in the face of outrage, became increasingly frustrated with Hausner, describing his parade of survivors as having "no apparent bearing on the case". She was particularly concerned that Hausner repeatedly asked "why did you not rebel?" rather than question the role of the Jewish leaders. Arendt argued that some Jewish leaders associated with the Jewish Councils (Judenräte), notably M. C. Rumkowski, acted during the Holocaust, in cooperating with Eichmann "almost without exception" in the destruction of their own people. She had expressed concerns on this point prior to the trial. She described this as a moral catastrophe. While her argument was not to allocate blame, rather she mourned what she considered a moral failure of compromising the imperative that it is better to suffer wrong than to do wrong. She describes the cooperation of the Jewish leaders in terms of a disintegration of Jewish morality: "This role of the Jewish leaders in the destruction of their own people is undoubtedly the darkest chapter in the whole dark story". Widely misunderstood, this caused an even greater controversy and particularly animosity toward her in the Jewish community and in Israel. For Arendt, the Eichmann trial marked a turning point in her thinking in the final decade of her life, becoming increasingly preoccupied with moral philosophy.
Reception
Arendt's five-part series "Eichmann in Jerusalem" appeared in The New Yorker in February 1963 some nine months after Eichmann was hanged on 31 May 1962. By this time his trial was largely forgotten in the popular mind, superseded by intervening world events. However, no other account of either Eichmann or National Socialism has aroused so much controversy. Prior to its publication, Arendt was considered a brilliant humanistic original political thinker. However her mentor, Karl Jaspers, warned her about a possible adverse outcome, "The Eichmann trial will be no pleasure for you. I'm afraid it cannot go well". On publication, three controversies immediately occupied public attention: the concept of Eichmann as banal, her criticism of the role of Israel and her description of the role played by the Jewish people themselves.
Arendt was profoundly shocked by the response, writing to Karl Jaspers "People are resorting to any means to destroy my reputation ... They have spent weeks trying to find something in my past that they can hang on me". Now she was being called arrogant, heartless and ill-informed. She was accused of being duped by Eichmann, of being a "self-hating Jewess", and even an enemy of Israel. Her critics included The Anti-Defamation League and many other Jewish groups, editors of publications she was a contributor to, faculty at the universities she taught at and friends from all parts of her life. Her friend Gershom Scholem, a major scholar of Jewish mysticism, broke off relations with her, publishing their correspondence without her permission. Arendt was criticized by many Jewish public figures, who charged her with coldness and lack of sympathy for the victims of the Holocaust. Because of this lingering criticism neither this book nor any of her other works were translated into Hebrew until 1999. Arendt responded to the controversies in the book's Postscript.
Although Arendt complained that she was being criticized for telling the truth – "what a risky business to tell the truth on a factual level without theoretical and scholarly embroidery" – the criticism was largely directed to her theorizing on the nature of mankind and evil and that ordinary people were driven to commit the inexplicable not so much by hatred and ideology as ambition, and inability to empathize. Equally problematic was the suggestion that the victims deceived themselves and complied in their own destruction. Prior to Arendt's depiction of Eichmann, his popular image had been, as The New York Times put it "the most evil monster of humanity" and as a representative of "an atrocious crime, unparalleled in history", "the extermination of European Jews". As it turned out Arendt and others were correct in pointing out that Eichmann's characterization by the prosecution as the architect and chief technician of the Holocaust was not entirely credible.
While much has been made of Arendt's treatment of Eichmann, Ada Ushpiz, in her 2015 documentary Vita Activa: The Spirit of Hannah Arendt, placed it in a much broader context of the use of rationality to explain seemingly irrational historical events.
In an interview with Joachim Fest in 1964, Arendt was asked about Eichmann's defense that he had made Kant's principle of the duty of obedience his guiding principle all his life. Arendt replied that that was outrageous and that Eichmann was misusing Kant, by not considering the element of judgement required in assessing one's own actions – "" (No man has, according to Kant, the right to obey), she stated, paraphrasing Kant. The reference was to Kant's (Religion within the Bounds of Bare Reason 1793) in which he states:
(The saying, "We must hearken to God, rather than to man," signifies no more than this, viz. that should any earthly legislation enjoin something immediately contradictory of the moral law, obedience is not to be rendered)
Kant clearly defines a higher moral duty than rendering merely unto Caesar. Arendt herself had written in her book "This was outrageous, on the face of it, and also incomprehensible, since Kant's moral philosophy is so closely bound up with man's faculty of judgment, which rules out blind obedience." Arendt's reply to Fest was subsequently corrupted to read (No one has the right to obey), which has been widely reproduced, although it does encapsulate an aspect of her moral philosophy.
The phrase has become one of her iconic images, appearing on the wall of the house in which she was born (see Commemorations), among other places. A fascist bas-relief on the Palazzo degli Uffici Finanziari (1942), in the Piazza del Tribunale, Bolzano, Italy celebrating Mussolini, read Credere, Obbedire, Combattere (Believe, Obey, Combat). In 2017 it was altered to read Hannah Arendt's original words on obedience in the three official languages of the region.
The phrase has been appearing in other artistic work featuring political messages, such as the 2015 installation by Wilfried Gerstel, which has evoked the concept of resistance to dictatorship, as expressed in her essay "Personal Responsibility under Dictatorship" (1964).
List of selected publications
Bibliographies
, in
Books
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Full text on Internet Archive
Also available in English as: Full text on Internet Archive
400 pages. (see Rahel Varnhagen)
, (see also The Origins of Totalitarianism and Comparison of Nazism and Stalinism) Full text (1979 edition) on Internet Archive
(see also The Human Condition)
(see also Between Past and Future)
(see also On Revolution) Full text on Internet Archive
Full text: 1964 edition (see also Eichmann in Jerusalem)
Articles and essays
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Correspondence
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Posthumous
Online text at Pensar el Espacio Público
Online text also Internet Archive
Full text on Internet Archive
(original German transcription)
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, partly based on Was ist Politik? (1993), French translation as Qu'est-ce que la politique?
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see also (extract)
at Pensar el Espacio Público
Collections
Miscellaneous
(Original video)
, reprinted as the Prologue in
Views
In 1961, while covering the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem, Arendt wrote a letter to Karl Jaspers that Adam Kirsch described as reflecting "pure racism" toward Sephardic Jews from the Middle East and Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe. She wrote:
On top, the judges, the best of German Jewry. Below them, the prosecuting attorneys, Galicians, but still Europeans. Everything is organized by a police force that gives me the creeps, speaks only Hebrew, and looks Arabic. Some downright brutal types among them. They would obey any order. And outside the doors, the oriental mob, as if one were in Istanbul or some other half-Asiatic country.
Although Arendt remained a Zionist both during and after World War II, she made it clear that she favored the creation of a Jewish-Arab federated state in British Mandate of Palestine (now Israel and the Palestinian territories), rather than a purely Jewish state. She believed that this was a way to address Jewish statelessness and to avoid the pitfalls of nationalism.
Accusations of racism
It was not just Arendt's analysis of the Eichmann trial that drew accusations of racism. In her 1958 essay in Dissent entitled Reflections on Little Rock she expressed opposition to desegregation following the 1957 Little Rock Integration Crisis in Arkansas. As she explains in the preface, for a long time the magazine was reluctant to print her contribution, so far did it appear to differ from the publication's liberal values. Eventually it was printed alongside critical responses. Later The New Yorker would express similar hesitancy over the Eichmann papers. So vehement was the response, that Arendt felt obliged to defend herself in a sequel. The debate over this essay has continued since. William Simmons devotes a whole section of his 2011 text on human rights (Human Rights Law and the Marginalized Other) to a critique of Arendt's position and in particular on Little Rock. While some critics feel she was fundamentally racist, many of those who have defended Arendt's position have pointed out that her concerns were for the welfare of the children, a position she maintained throughout her life. She felt that the children were being subjected to trauma to serve a broader political strategy of forcible integration. While over time Arendt conceded some ground to her critics, namely that she argued as an outsider, she remained committed to her central critique that children should not be thrust into the front-lines of geopolitical conflict.
Feminism
Embraced by feminists as a pioneer in a world dominated by men up to her time, Arendt did not call herself a feminist and would be very surprised to hear herself described as a feminist, remaining opposed to the social dimensions of Women's Liberation, urging independence, but always keeping in mind la petite différence! On becoming the first woman to be appointed a professor at Princeton in 1953, the media were much engaged in this exceptional achievement, but she never wanted to be seen as an exception, either as a woman (an "exception woman") or a Jew, stating emphatically "I am not disturbed at all about being a woman professor, because I am quite used to being a woman". In 1972, discussing women's liberation, she observed "the real question to ask is, what will we lose if we win?". She rather enjoyed what she saw as the privileges of being feminine as opposed to feminist, "Intensely feminine and therefore no feminist", stated Hans Jonas. Arendt considered some professions and positions unsuitable for women, particularly those involving leadership, telling Günter Gaus "It just doesn't look good when a woman gives orders". Despite these views, and having been labelled "anti-feminist", much space has been devoted to examining Arendt's place in relation to feminism. In the last years of her life, Virginia Held noted that Arendt's views evolved with the emergence of a new feminism in America in the 1970s to recognize the importance of the women's movement.
Critique of human rights
In The Origins of Totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt devotes a lengthy chapter (The Decline of the Nation-State and the End of the Rights of Man) to a critical analysis of human rights, in what has been described as "the most widely read essay on refugees ever published". Arendt is not skeptical of the notion of political rights in general, but instead defends a national or civil conception of rights. Human rights, or the Rights of Man as they were commonly called, are universal, inalienable, and possessed simply by virtue of being human. In contrast, civil rights are possessed by virtue of belonging to a political community, most commonly by being a citizen. Arendt's primary criticism of human rights is that they are ineffectual and illusory because their enforcement is in tension with national sovereignty. She argued that since there is no political authority above that of sovereign nations, state governments have little incentive to respect human rights when such policies conflict with national interests. This can be seen most clearly by examining the treatment of refugees and other stateless people. Since the refugee has no state to secure their civil rights, the only rights they have to fall back on are human rights. In this way Arendt uses the refugee as a test case for examining human rights in isolation from civil rights.
Arendt's analysis draws on the refugee upheavals in the first half of the 20th century along with her own experience as a refugee fleeing Nazi Germany. She argued that as state governments began to emphasize national identity as a prerequisite for full legal status, the number of minority resident aliens increased along with the number of stateless persons whom no state was willing to recognize legally. The two potential solutions to the refugee problem, repatriation and naturalization, both proved incapable of solving the crisis. Arendt argued that repatriation failed to solve the refugee crisis because no government was willing to take them in and claim them as their own. When refugees were forcibly deported to neighboring countries, such immigration was deemed illegal by the receiving country, and so failed to change the fundamental status of the migrants as stateless. Attempts at naturalizing and assimilating refugees also had little success. This failure was primarily the result of resistance from both state governments and the majority of citizens, since both tended to see the refugees as undesirables who threatened their national identity. Resistance to naturalization also came from the refugees themselves who resisted assimilation and attempted to maintain their own ethnic and national identities. Arendt contends that neither naturalization nor the tradition of asylum was capable of handling the sheer number of refugees. Instead of accepting some refugees with legal status, the state often responded by denaturalizing minorities who shared national or ethnic ties with stateless refugees.
Arendt argues that the consistent mistreatment of refugees, most of whom were placed in internment camps, is evidence against the existence of human rights. If the notion of human rights as universal and inalienable is to be taken seriously, the rights must be realizable given the features of the modern liberal state. She concluded "The Rights of Man, supposedly inalienable, proved to be unenforceable–even in countries whose constitutions were based upon them–whenever people appeared who were no longer citizens of any sovereign state". Arendt contends that they are not realizable because they are in tension with at least one feature of the liberal state—national sovereignty. One of the primary ways in which a nation exercises sovereignty is through control over national borders. State governments consistently grant their citizens free movement to traverse national borders. In contrast, the movement of refugees is often restricted in the name of national interests. This restriction presents a dilemma for liberalism because liberal theorists typically are committed to both human rights and the existence of sovereign nations.
In one of her most quoted passages, she puts forward the concept that human rights are little more than an abstraction:
The conception of human rights based upon the assumed existence of a human being as such broke down at the very moment when those who professed to believe in it were for the first time confronted with people who had indeed lost all other qualities and specific relationships - except that they were still human. The world found nothing sacred in the abstract nakedness of being human.
In popular culture
Several authors have written biographies that focus on the relationship between Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger. In 1999, the French feminist philosopher Catherine Clément wrote a novel, Martin and Hannah, speculating on the triangular relationship between Heidegger and the two women in his life, Arendt and Heidegger's wife Elfriede Petri. In addition to the relationships, the novel is a serious exploration of philosophical ideas, that centers on Arendt's last meeting with Heidegger in Freiburg in 1975. The scene is based on Elisabeth Young-Bruehl's description in Hannah Arendt: For Love of the World (1982), but reaches back to their childhoods, and Heidegger's role in encouraging the relationship between the two women. The novel explores Heidegger's embrace of Nazism as a proxy for that of Germany and, as in Arendt's treatment of Eichmann, the difficult relationship between collective guilt and personal responsibility. Clément also brings Hannah's other mentor and confidante, Karl Jaspers, into the matrix of relationships.
Arendt's life remains part of current culture and thought. In 2012 the German film, Hannah Arendt, directed by Margarethe von Trotta was released. The film, with Barbara Sukowa in the title role, depicted the controversy over Arendt's coverage of the Eichmann trial and subsequent book, in which she was widely misunderstood as defending Eichmann and blaming Jewish leaders for the Holocaust.
Legacy
Hannah Arendt is considered one of the most influential political philosophers of the 20th century. In 1998 Walter Laqueur stated "No twentieth-century philosopher and political thinker has at the present time as wide an echo", as philosopher, historian, sociologist and also journalist. Arendt's legacy has been described as a cult. In a 2016 review of a documentary about Arendt, the journalist A. O. Scott describes Hannah Arendt as "of unmatched range and rigor" as a thinker, although she is primarily known for the article Eichmann in Jerusalem that she wrote for The New Yorker, and in particular for the one phrase "the banality of evil".
She shunned publicity, never expecting, as she explained to Karl Jaspers in 1951, to see herself as a "cover girl" on the newsstands. In Germany, there are tours available of sites associated with her life.
The study of the life and work of Hannah Arendt, and of her political and philosophical theory is described as Arendtian. In her will she established the Hannah Arendt Bluecher Literary Trust as the custodian of her writings and photographs. Her personal library was deposited at Bard College at the Stevenson Library in 1976, and includes approximately 4,000 books, ephemera, and pamphlets from Arendt's last apartment as well as her desk (in McCarthy House). The college has begun archiving some of the collection digitally, which is available at The Hannah Arendt Collection. Most of her papers were deposited at the Library of Congress and her correspondence with her German friends and mentors, such as Heidegger, Blumenfeld and Jaspers, at the Deutsches Literaturarchiv in Marbach. The Library of Congress listed more than 50 books written about her in 1998, and that number has continued to grow, as have the number of scholarly articles, estimated as 1000 at that time.
Her life and work is recognized by the institutions most closely associated with her teaching, by the creation of Hannah Arendt Centers at both Bard (Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities) and The New School, both in New York State. In Germany, her contributions to understanding authoritarianism is recognised by the Hannah-Arendt-Institut für Totalitarismusforschung (Hannah Arendt Institute for the Research on Totalitarianism) in Dresden. There are Hannah Arendt Associations (Hannah Arendt Verein) such as the Hannah Arendt Verein für politisches Denken in Bremen that awards the annual Hannah-Arendt-Preis für politisches Denken (Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thinking) established in 1995. In Oldenburg, the Hannah Arendt Center at Carl von Ossietzky University was established in 1999, and holds a large collection of her work (Hannah Arendt Archiv), and administers the internet portal HannahArendt.net (A Journal for Political Thinking) as well as a monograph series, the Hannah Arendt-Studien. In Italy, the Hannah Arendt Center for Political Studies is situated at the University of Verona for Arendtian studies.
In 2017 a journal, Arendt Studies, was launched to publish articles related to the study of the life, work, and legacy of Hannah Arendt. Many places associated with her, have memorabilia of her on display, such as her student card at the University of Heidelberg (see image). 2006, the anniversary of her birth, saw commemorations of her work in conferences and celebrations around the world.
In 2015, the filmmaker Ada Ushpiz produced a documentary on Hannah Arendt, Vita Activa: The Spirit of Hannah Arendt. The New York Times designated it a New York Times critics pick. Of the many photographic portraits of Arendt, that taken in 1944 by Fred Stein (see image), whose work she greatly admired, has become iconic, and has been described as better known than the photographer himself, having appeared on a German postage stamp.(see image) Among organizations that have recognized Arendt's contributions to civilization and human rights, is the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
Contemporary interest
The rise of nativism, such as the election of Donald Trump in the United States, and concerns regarding an increasingly authoritarian style of governance has led to a surge of interest in Arendt and her writings, including radio broadcasts and writers, including Jeremy Adelman and Zoe Williams, to revisit Arendt's ideas to seek the extent to which they inform our understanding of such movements, which are being described as "Dark Times". At the same time Amazon reported that it had sold out of copies of The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951). Michiko Kakutani has addressed what she refers to as "the death of truth". In her 2018 book, The Death of Truth: Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump, she argues that the rise of totalitarianism has been founded on the violation of truth. She begins her book with an extensive quote from The Origins of Totalitarianism:
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist
Kakutani and others believed that Arendt's words speak not just events of a previous century but apply equally to the contemporary cultural landscape populated with fake news and lies. She also draws on Arendt's essay "Lying in Politics" from Crises in the Republic pointing to the lines:
The historian knows how vulnerable is the whole texture of facts in which we spend our daily life; it is always in danger of being perforated by single lies or torn to shreds by the organized lying of groups, nations, or classes, or denied and distorted, often carefully covered up by reams of falsehoods or simply allowed to fall into oblivion. Facts need testimony to be remembered and trustworthy witnesses to be established in order to find a secure dwelling place in the domain of human affairs
Arendt drew attention to the critical role that propaganda plays in gaslighting populations, Kakutani observes, citing the passage:
In an ever-changing, incomprehensible world the masses had reached the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, think that everything was possible and that nothing was true . ... The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness
It is also relevant that Arendt took a broader perspective on history than merely totalitarianism in the early 20th century, stating "the deliberate falsehood and the outright lie have been used as legitimate means to achieve political ends since the beginning of recorded history." Contemporary relevance is also reflected in the increasing use of the phrase, attributed to her, "No one has the right to obey" to reflect that actions result from choices, and hence judgement, and that we cannot disclaim responsibility for that which we have the power to act upon. In addition those centers established to promote Arendtian studies continue to seek solutions to a wide range of contemporary issues in her writing.
Arendt's teachings on obedience have also been linked to the controversial psychology experiments by Stanley Milgram, that implied that ordinary people can easily be induced to commit atrocities. Milgram himself drew attention to this in 1974, stating that he was testing the theory that Eichmann like others would merely follow orders, but unlike Milgram she argued that actions involve responsibility.
Arendt's theories on the political consequences of how nations deal with refugees has remained relevant and compelling. Arendt had observed first hand the displacement of large stateless and rightsless populations, treated not so much as people in need than as problems to solve, and in many cases, resist. She wrote about this in her 1943 essay "We refugees". Another Arendtian theme that finds an echo in contemporary society is her observation, inspired by Rilke, of the despair of not being heard, the futility of tragedy that finds no listener that can bring comfort, assurance and intervention. An example of this being gun violence in America and the resulting political inaction.
In Search of the Last Agora, an illustrated documentary film by Lebanese director Rayyan Dabbous about Hannah Arendt's 1958 work The Human Condition, was released in 2018 to mark the book's 50th anniversary. Screened at Bard College, the experimental film is described as finding "new meaning in the political theorist's conceptions of politics, technology and society in the 1950s", particularly in her prediction of abuses of phenomena unknown in Arendt's time, including social media, intense globalization, and obsessive celebrity culture.
Hannah Arendt's life and work continue to be commemorated in many different ways, including plaques (Gedenktafeln) indicating places she has lived. Public places and institutions bear her name, including schools. There is also a Hannah Arendt Day (Hannah Arendt Tag) in her birthplace. Objects named after her vary from asteroids to trains and she has been commemorated in stamps. Museums and foundations include her name.
Arendt Studies
Arendt Studies is a peer-reviewed academic journal that examines the life, work, and legacy of Hannah Arendt. Established in 2017, it publishes research articles and translations, including the first English translation of Hannah Arendt's "Nation-State and Democracy" (1963) Notable contributors include Andrew Benjamin, Peg Birmingham, Adriana Cavarero, Robert P. Crease, and Celso Lafer. Articles published in this journal are covered in the international Hannah Arendt Bibliographie. Arendt Studies is also included in JSTOR. The journal is edited by James Barry at Indiana University and published by the Philosophy Documentation Center.
Family tree
See also
American philosophy
German philosophy
Hannah Arendt Award
List of refugees
List of women philosophers
Women in philosophy
Notes
References
Bibliography
Articles (journals and proceedings)
(French translation)
, reprinted in
Rahel Varnhagen
Special issues and proceedings
Audiovisual
(see also Hannah Arendt)
Bernstein, Richard (2019): Podcast conversation: "Hannah Arendt is Alarmingly Relevant"
Books and monographs
"Ethics in many different voices" pp. 247–268, see also revised versions as and
(see also excerpt at
(see also Obedience to Authority)
Autobiography and biography
excerpt
(full text)
(updated by way of a second preface, pagination unchanged)
Critical works
excerpt, see also
text at Pensar el Espacio Público
Historical
, available in Latin as
facsimile text at Gallica, and reproduced on Wikisource
full text available on Internet Archive
Chapters and contributions
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
Guilherme, Alexandre and Morgan, W. John, 'Hannah Arendt (1906-1975)-dialogue as a public space'. Chapter 4 in Philosophy, Dialogue, and Education: Nine modern European philosophers, Routledge, London and New York, pp. 55–71, .
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
Dictionaries and encyclopedias
(Version: January 2019)
, in
Magazines
, reprinted in
, reprinted from
, reprinted in
Newspapers
Theses
(at Theses.fr)
Websites
- includes Brecht reading (english)
(English translation by A. S. Kline 2004)
Biography, genealogy and timelines
see also: Principal Dates in
, in
Institutions, locations and organizations
Hannah Arendt Center (Bard)
Maps
External images
Bibliographic notes
External links
1906 births
1975 deaths
20th-century American educators
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| true |
[
"Con Poder is the name of the fifth studio album by the Puerto Rican rap and hip hop singer Vico C, released on January 31, 1996 by Sony BMG. It is the first album with Christian content by Vico C, with the singles \"Humolandia\", released in 1995 together with the song \"Necesitamos de Él\" (\"We Need Him\" in English) in 1995, this time with a mastered version.\n\nThis album contains the theme \"Plomo\", based on the soundtrack of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and the song \"Un beso y una flor\" by Nino Bravo, played by the band Seguridad Social and Vico C.\n\nThe artist expressed in Vico C: La Vida del Filósofo, his autobiographical film, that this album did not have the necessary distribution, because his record label did not agree with the lyrics that the singer performed on the album. For this reason, on his album \"Emboscada\", he re-released the song \"La Movida\", with a new version and where he hints at what happened in greater detail.\n\nTrack listing\n\nReferences \n\n1996 albums\nVico C albums",
"Charles Nathanial Agree (April 18, 1897 – March 10, 1982) was an American architect in Detroit, Michigan.\n\nBiography\nAgree moved to Detroit in 1909 at the age of 12. He opened his firm in 1917 after graduating from the Detroit Y.M.C.A. Technical School. His first major commission was in 1921 to build the Whittier Hotel near the bank of the Detroit River. He later went on to design many office buildings, theaters, and ballrooms. Agree was one of the Detroit architects of the 1920s and 1930s who utilized the services of architectural sculptor Corrado Parducci.\n\nAs the architecture changed by the 1960s, so did Agree's commissions. He began designing many modern-style malls. In addition to the office in the Book Tower, Agree's firm later opened an office on McNichols Road in Detroit and then a suburban office in Bloomfield Hills.\n\nSeveral Agree-designed buildings have been plundered by architectural scavengers. These include the Vanity Ballroom, where several Mayan-Deco panels were torn off, and the Grande Ballroom, which brought rock band MC5 into fame, which has sat empty since closing in 1972.\n\nAgree-designed buildings\n\nAll buildings are located in Detroit, unless otherwise indicated.\n\nWhittier Hotel, 1921–1927\n The Sovereign Apartments (Buffalo, New York), 1923 (with Lewis and Hill Architects of Buffalo, New York)\n The Stratford Arms (Buffalo, New York), 1924 (with Lewis and Hill Architects of Buffalo, New York)\n Pilgrim and Puritan Apartment Complex, 1924\nBelcrest Hotel, 1926\nSeville Apartment Hotel, 1926\nHollywood Theater, 1927 (with Graven & Mayger)\nGrande Ballroom, 1928\nVanity Ballroom, 1929\nLincoln Theatre, Lincoln Park, Michigan, 1936 (remodeling)\nWestown Theater, 1936\nBeverly Theatre, 1937\nPalmer Park Theatre, 1937\nHarpos Concert Theatre, 1939\nRoyal Theatre, 1940\nTrans-Lux Krim, 1941\nShowcase Cinemas Dearborn, Dearborn, Michigan, 1941\nDuke Theatre, Oak Park, Michigan, named after Duke Ellington, 1941–1947\nPark Theatre, Lincoln Park, Michigan, 1942 (remodeling)\nNadell Furs Building, 1944\nWoods 6 Theater, Grosse Pointe, Michigan, 1948\nSouthgate Shopping Center, Southgate, Michigan, 1957\nFlint Tavern Hotel, Flint, Michigan\nHighland Lodge Apartment Building, Stamford, Connecticut\nDetroit Zoo Holden Reptile House, Royal Oak, Michigan\nJewish Community Center, West Bloomfield, Michigan\nOakland Mall, Troy, Michigan 1968\nPanama City Mall, Panama City, Florida\nTrenton Village Theatre, Trenton, Michigan\nWabeek Building, Birmingham, Michigan (this is credited to Agree, but all records indicate it was designed by Albert Kahn in 1928)\nWilshire Residential Hotel\n\nReferences\n\n Charles N. Agree, Buffalo As An Architectural Museum, link\n\nFurther reading\n\n1897 births\n1982 deaths\nPeople from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan\nArtists from Detroit\nArchitects from Detroit"
] |
[
"Hannah Arendt",
"Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil",
"Why was Eichmann in Jerusalem?",
"the 1961 Adolf Eichmann trial",
"How long did the trial last?",
"I don't know.",
"What did you find interesting about this?",
"She also was critical of the way that some Jewish leaders, notably M. C. Rumkowski, acted during the Holocaust.",
"What was the result of the trials?",
"This is the reason, and the only reason, you must hang.",
"What was Adolf accused of?",
"Eichmann supported and carried out a policy of not wanting to share the earth with the Jewish people and the people of a number of other nations",
"Did many agree with him?",
"Arendt was criticized by many Jewish public figures, who charged her with coldness and lack of sympathy for the victims of the Holocaust."
] |
C_f518fee4cca94e3b940e1e9703364de9_0
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Did she make any statements saying she was against the holocaust?
| 7 |
Did Arendt make any statements saying she was against the holocaust?
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Hannah Arendt
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In her reporting of the 1961 Adolf Eichmann trial for The New Yorker, which evolved into Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (1963), she coined the phrase "the banality of evil" to describe the phenomenon of Eichmann. She examined the question of whether evil is radical or simply a function of thoughtlessness, a tendency of ordinary people to obey orders and conform to mass opinion without a critical evaluation of the consequences of their actions. She was sharply critical of the way the trial was conducted in Israel. She also was critical of the way that some Jewish leaders, notably M. C. Rumkowski, acted during the Holocaust. This caused a considerable controversy and even animosity toward Arendt in the Jewish community. Her friend Gershom Scholem, a major scholar of Jewish mysticism, broke off relations with her. Arendt was criticized by many Jewish public figures, who charged her with coldness and lack of sympathy for the victims of the Holocaust. Because of this lingering criticism neither this book nor any of her other works were translated into Hebrew, until 1999. This controversy was answered by Hannah Arendt in the book's Postscript. The controversy began by calling attention to the conduct of the Jewish people during the years of the Final Solution, thus following up the question, first raised by the Israeli prosecutor, of whether the Jews could or should have defended themselves. I had dismissed that question as silly and cruel, since it testified to a fatal ignorance of the conditions at the time. It has now been discussed to exhaustion, and the most amazing conclusions have been drawn. The well-known historico-sociological construct of "ghetto mentality"... has been repeatedly dragged in to explain behavior which was not at all confined to the Jewish people and which therefore cannot be explained by specifically Jewish factors... This was the unexpected conclusion certain reviewers chose to draw from the "image" of a book, created by certain interest groups, in which I allegedly had claimed that the Jews had murdered themselves. Arendt ended the book by writing: Just as you Eichmann supported and carried out a policy of not wanting to share the earth with the Jewish people and the people of a number of other nations--as though you and your superiors had any right to determine who should and who should not inhabit the world--we find that no one, that is, no member of the human race, can be expected to want to share the earth with you. This is the reason, and the only reason, you must hang. CANNOTANSWER
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as though you and your superiors had any right to determine who should and who should not inhabit the world--
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Hannah Arendt (, , ; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a political philosopher, author, and Holocaust survivor. Her contributions influenced 20th and 21st century political theorists.
Arendt was born in Linden, a district of Hanover, in 1906, to a Jewish family. At the age of three, her family moved to Königsberg, the capital of East Prussia, so that her father's syphilis could be treated. Paul Arendt had contracted the disease in his youth, and it was thought to be in remission when Arendt was born. He died when she was seven. Arendt was raised in a politically progressive, secular family. Her mother was an ardent supporter of the Social Democrats. After completing her secondary education in Berlin, she studied at the University of Marburg under Martin Heidegger, with whom she had a brief affair. She obtained her doctorate in philosophy writing on Love and Saint Augustine at the University of Heidelberg in 1929 under the direction of the existentialist philosopher Karl Jaspers.
Hannah Arendt married Günther Stern in 1929, but soon began to encounter increasing anti-Jewish discrimination in 1930s Nazi Germany. In 1933, the year Adolf Hitler came to power, Arendt was arrested and briefly imprisoned by the Gestapo for performing illegal research into antisemitism in Nazi Germany. On release, she fled Germany, living in Czechoslovakia and Switzerland before settling in Paris. There she worked for Youth Aliyah, assisting young Jews to emigrate to the British Mandate of Palestine. Divorcing Stern in 1937, she married Heinrich Blücher in 1940, but when Germany invaded France in 1940 she was detained by the French as an alien, despite having been stripped of her German citizenship in 1937. She escaped and made her way to the United States in 1941 via Portugal. She settled in New York, which remained her principal residence for the rest of her life. She became a writer and editor and worked for the Jewish Cultural Reconstruction, becoming an American citizen in 1950. With the publication of The Origins of Totalitarianism in 1951, her reputation as a thinker and writer was established and a series of works followed. These included the books The Human Condition in 1958, as well as Eichmann in Jerusalem and On Revolution in 1963. She taught at many American universities, while declining tenure-track appointments. She died suddenly of a heart attack in 1975, at the age of 69, leaving her last work, The Life of the Mind, unfinished.
Her works cover a broad range of topics, but she is best known for those dealing with the nature of power and evil, as well as politics, direct democracy, authority, and totalitarianism. In the popular mind she is best remembered for the controversy surrounding the trial of Adolf Eichmann, her attempt to explain how ordinary people become actors in totalitarian systems, which was considered by some an apologia, and for the phrase "the banality of evil". She is commemorated by institutions and journals devoted to her thinking, the Hannah Arendt Prize for political thinking, and on stamps, street names and schools, amongst other things.
Early life and education (1906–1929)
Family
Hannah Arendt was born Johanna Arendt in 1906 into a comfortable educated secular family of German Jews in Linden, Prussia (now a part of Hanover), in Wilhelmine Germany. Her family were merchants of Russian extraction from Königsberg, the East Prussian capital. Arendt's grandparents were members of the Reform Jewish community there. Hannah's paternal grandfather, (1843–1913), was a prominent businessman, local politician, one of the leaders of the Königsberg Jewish community and a member of the Centralverein deutscher Staatsbürger jüdischen Glaubens (Central Organization for German Citizens of the Jewish Faith). Like other members of the Centralverein he primarily saw himself as a German and disapproved of the activities of Zionists, such as the young Kurt Blumenfeld (1884–1963), who was a frequent visitor to their home and would later become one of Hannah's mentors. Of Max Arendt's children, Paul Arendt (1873–1913) was an engineer and Henriette Arendt (1874–1922) was a policewoman who became a social worker.
Hannah was the only child of Paul and Martha Arendt (née Cohn) (1874–1948), who were married on 11 April 1902. She was named after her paternal grandmother. The Cohns had originally come to Königsberg from nearby Russian territory (now Lithuania) in 1852, as refugees from anti-Semitism, and made their living as tea importers; J. N. Cohn & Company became the largest business in the city. The Arendts had reached Germany from Russia a century earlier. Hannah's extended family contained many more women, who shared the loss of husbands and children. Hannah's parents were more educated and politically more to the left than her grandparents. The young couple became members of the Social Democrats, rather than the German Democratic Party that most of their contemporaries supported. Paul Arendt was educated at the Albertina (University of Königsberg). Though he worked as an engineer, he prided himself on his love of Classics. He collected a large library, in which Hannah immersed herself. Martha Cohn, a musician, had studied for three years in Paris.
In the first four years of their marriage, the Arendts lived in Berlin, where they were supporters of the socialist journal . At the time of Hannah's birth, Paul Arendt was employed by an electrical engineering firm in Linden, and they lived in a frame house on the market square (Marktplatz). The Arendt family moved back to Königsberg in 1909, because of Paul's deteriorating health. Hannah's father suffered from a prolonged illness with syphilis and had to be institutionalized in the Königsberg psychiatric hospital in 1911. For years afterward, Hannah had to have annual WR tests for congenital syphilis. He died on 30 October 1913, when Hannah was seven, leaving her mother to raise her. They lived at Hannah's grandfather's house at Tiergartenstraße 6, a leafy residential street adjacent to the Königsberg Tiergarten, in the predominantly Jewish neighborhood of Hufen. Although Hannah's parents were non-religious, they were happy to allow Max Arendt to take Hannah to the Reform synagogue. She also received religious instruction from the rabbi, Hermann Vogelstein, who would come to her school for that purpose. At the time the young Hannah confided that she wished to marry him when she grew up. Her family moved in circles that included many intellectuals and professionals. It was a social circle of high standards and ideals. As she recalled it:
My early intellectual formation occurred in an atmosphere where nobody paid much attention to moral questions; we were brought up under the assumption: , moral conduct is a matter of course.
This time was a particularly favorable period for the Jewish community in Königsberg, an important center of the Haskalah (enlightenment). Arendt's family was thoroughly assimilated ("Germanized") and she later remembered: "With us from Germany, the word 'assimilation' received a 'deep' philosophical meaning. You can hardly realize how serious we were about it." Despite these conditions, the Jewish population lacked full citizenship rights, and although antisemitism was not overt, it was not absent. Arendt came to define her Jewish identity negatively after encountering overt antisemitism as an adult. She came to greatly identify with Rahel Varnhagen (1771–1833), the Prussian socialite who desperately wanted to assimilate into German culture, only to be rejected because she was born Jewish. Arendt later said of Varnhagen that she was "my very closest woman friend, unfortunately dead a hundred years now." Varnhagen would later become the subject of a biography by Hannah.
In the last two years of the First World War, Hannah's mother organized social democratic discussion groups and became a follower of Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919) as socialist uprisings broke out across Germany. Luxemburg's writings would later influence Hannah's political thinking. In 1920, Martha Cohn married Martin Beerwald (1869–1941), an ironmonger and widower of four years, and they moved to his home, two blocks away, at Busoldstrasse 6, providing Hannah with improved social and financial security. Hannah was 14 at the time and acquired two older stepsisters, Clara (1901–1932) and Eva (1902–1988).
Education
Early education
Hannah Arendt's mother, who considered herself progressive, sought to raise her daughter along strict Goethean lines, which amongst other things, involved the reading of the complete works of Goethe, often summed up in the phrase from Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship (1796) as – (And just what is your duty? The demands of the day). Goethe, at the time, was considered the essential mentor of (education), the conscious formation of mind, body and spirit. The key elements were considered to be self-discipline, constructive channeling of passion, renunciation and responsibility for others. Hannah's developmental progress () was carefully documented by her mother in a book, which she titled (Our Child) and measured her against the benchmark of what was then considered ("normal development").
Arendt attended kindergarten from 1910 where her precocity impressed her teachers and enrolled in the Szittnich School, Königsberg (Hufen-Oberlyzeum), on Bahnstraße in August 1913, but her studies there were interrupted by the outbreak of World War I, forcing the family to temporarily flee to Berlin on 23 August 1914, in the face of the advancing Russian army. There they stayed with her mother's younger sister, Margarethe Fürst (1884–1942), and her three children, while Hannah attended a girl's school in Berlin-Charlottenburg. After ten weeks, when Königsberg appeared to be no longer threatened, the Arendts were able to return, where they spent the remaining war years at her grandfather's house. Arendt's precocity continued, learning ancient Greek as a child, writing poetry in her teenage years, and starting both a philosophy club and Greek Graecae at her school. She was fiercely independent in her schooling and a voracious reader, absorbing French and German literature and poetry (committing large amounts to heart) and philosophy. By the age of 14, she had read Kierkegaard, Jaspers' and Kant's (Critique of Pure Reason). Kant, whose home town was also Königsberg, was an important influence on her thinking, and it was Kant who had written about Königsberg that "such a town is the right place for gaining knowledge concerning men and the world even without travelling".
Arendt attended the Königin-Luise-Schule for her secondary education, a girls' Gymnasium on Landhofmeisterstraße. Most of her friends, while at school, were gifted children of Jewish professional families, generally older than she and went on to university education. Among them was Ernst Grumach (1902–1967), who introduced her to his girlfriend, Anne Mendelssohn, who would become a lifelong friend. When Anne moved away, Ernst became Arendt's first romantic relationship. Like Arendt, Anne would go on to become a philosopher, obtaining her doctorate at Hamburg, while Ernst became a philologist.
Higher education (1922–1929)
Berlin (1922–1924)
Arendt's education at the Luise-Schule ended in 1922 when she was expelled at the age of 15 for leading a boycott of a teacher who insulted her. Instead, her mother arranged for her to go to Berlin to be with Social Democrat family friends. In Berlin she lived in a student residence and audited courses of her choosing at the University of Berlin (1922–1923), including classics and Christian theology under Romano Guardini. This enabled her to successfully sit the entrance examination () for the University of Marburg, where Ernst Grumach had studied under Martin Heidegger, who had been appointed a professor there in 1922. For the examination, her mother engaged a private tutor, while her aunt Frieda Arendt, a teacher, also helped her, and Frieda's husband Ernst Aron provided financial assistance for her to attend university.
Marburg (1924–1926)
In Berlin, Guardini had introduced her to Kierkegaard, and she resolved to make theology her major field. At Marburg (1924–1926) she studied classical languages, German literature, Protestant theology with Rudolf Bultmann and philosophy with Nicolai Hartmann and Heidegger. Arendt arrived at Marburg that fall in the middle of an intellectual revolution led by the young Heidegger, of whom she was in awe, describing him as "the hidden king [who] reigned in the realm of thinking".
Heidegger had broken away from the intellectual movement started by Edmund Husserl, whose assistant he had been at University of Freiburg before coming to Marburg. This was a period when Heidegger was preparing his lectures on Kant, which he would develop in the second part of his (Being and Time) in 1927 and (1929). Although Heidegger had dedicated the first edition of Being and Time to Edmund Husserl, Husserl gave the book a poor review, and in the second edition Heidegger removed that dedication.
In his classes he and his students struggled with the meaning of "Being" as they worked together through Aristotle's concept of ἀλήθεια (truth) and Plato's Sophist. Many years later Arendt would describe these classes, how people came to Marburg to hear him, and how, above all he imparted the idea of ("thinking") as activity, which she qualified as "passionate thinking".
Arendt was restless. To date her studies had not been either emotionally or intellectually satisfying. She was ready for passion, finishing her poem (Consolation, 1923) with the lines:
(The hours run downThe days pass on.One achievement remains:Merely being alive)
Her encounter with Heidegger represented a dramatic departure from the past. He was handsome, a genius, romantic, and taught that thinking and "aliveness" were but one. The 17-year-old Arendt then began a long romantic relationship with the 35-year-old Heidegger, who was married with two young sons. Arendt later faced criticism for this because of Heidegger's support for the Nazi Party after his election as rector at the University of Freiburg in 1933. Nevertheless, he remained one of the most profound influences on her thinking, and he would later relate that she had been the inspiration for his work on passionate thinking in those days. They agreed to keep the details of the relationship a secret, preserving their letters but keeping them unavailable. The relationship was not known until Elisabeth Young-Bruehl's biography of Arendt appeared in 1982. At the time of publishing, Arendt and Heidegger were deceased and Heidegger's wife, Elfride (1893–1992), was still alive. The affair was not well known until 1995, when Elzbieta Ettinger gained access to the sealed correspondence and published a controversial account that was used by Arendt's detractors to cast doubt on her integrity. That account, which caused a scandal, was subsequently refuted.
At Marburg, Arendt lived at Lutherstraße 4. Among her friends there was Hans Jonas, her only Jewish classmate. Another fellow student of Heidegger's was Jonas' friend, the Jewish philosopher Gunther Siegmund Stern (1902–1992)son of the noted psychologist Ludwig Wilhelm Sternwho would later become her first husband. Stern had completed his doctoral dissertation with Edmund Husserl at Freiburg, and was now working on his Habilitation thesis with Heidegger, but Arendt, involved with Heidegger, took little notice of him at the time.
Die Schatten (1925)
In the summer of 1925, while home at Königsberg, Arendt composed her sole autobiographical piece, (The Shadows), a "description of herself" addressed to Heidegger. In this essay, full of anguish and Heideggerian language, she reveals her insecurities relating to her femininity and Jewishness, writing abstractly in the third person. She describes a state of "" (alienation), on the one hand an abrupt loss of youth and innocence, on the other an "" (strangeness), the finding of the remarkable in the banal. In her detailing of the pain of her childhood and longing for protection she shows her vulnerabilities and how her love for Heidegger had released her and once again filled her world with color and mystery. She refers to her relationship with Heidegger as "" ("an unbending devotion to a unique man"). This period of intense introspection was also one of the most productive of her poetic output, such as (Lost in Self-Contemplation).
Freiburg and Heidelberg (1926–1929)
After a year at Marburg, Arendt spent a semester at Freiburg, attending the lectures of Husserl. In 1926 she moved to the University of Heidelberg, where in 1929, she completed her dissertation under the other leading figure of the then new and revolutionary Existenzphilosophie, Karl Jaspers (1883–1969), a friend of Heidegger's. Her thesis was entitled Der Liebesbegriff bei Augustin: Versuch einer philosophischen Interpretation (On the concept of love in the thought of Saint Augustine: Attempt at a philosophical interpretation). She remained a lifelong friend of Jaspers and his wife, Gertrud Mayer (1879–1974), developing a deep intellectual relationship with him. At Heidelberg, her circle of friends included Hans Jonas, who had also moved from Marburg to study Augustine, working on his (1930), and also a group of three young philosophers: Karl Frankenstein, Erich Neumann and Erwin Loewenson. Other friends and students of Jaspers were the linguists Benno von Wiese and Hugo Friedrich (seen with Hannah, below), with whom she attended lectures by Friedrich Gundolf at Jaspers' suggestion and who kindled in her an interest in German Romanticism. She also became reacquainted, at a lecture, with Kurt Blumenfeld, who introduced her to Jewish politics. At Heidelberg, she lived in the old town () near the castle, at Schlossberg 16. The house was demolished in the 1960s, but the one remaining wall bears a plaque commemorating her time there (see image).
On completing her dissertation, Arendt turned to her , initially on German Romanticism, and thereafter an academic teaching career. However 1929 was also the year of the Depression and the end of the golden years () of the Weimar Republic, which was to become increasingly unstable over its remaining four years. Arendt, as a Jew, had little if any chance of obtaining an academic appointment in Germany. Nevertheless, she completed most of the work before she was forced to leave Germany.
Career
Germany (1929–1933)
Berlin-Potsdam (1929)
In 1929, Arendt met Günther Stern again, this time in Berlin at a New Year's masked ball, and began a relationship with him. Within a month she had moved in with him in a one-room studio, shared with a dancing school in Berlin-Halensee. Then they moved to Merkurstraße 3, Nowawes, in Potsdam and were married there on 26 September. They had much in common and the marriage was welcomed by both sets of parents. In the summer, Hannah Arendt successfully applied to the for a grant to support her Habilitation, which was supported by Heidegger and Jaspers among others, and in the meantime, with Günther's help was working on revisions to get her dissertation published.
Wanderjahre (1929–1931)
After Arendt and Günther were married, they began two years of what Christian Dries refers to as the (years of wandering). They had the ultimately fruitless aim of having Günther accepted for an academic appointment. They lived for a while in Drewitz, a southern neighborhood of Potsdam, before moving to Heidelberg, where they lived with the Jaspers. After Heidelberg, where Günther completed the first draft of his thesis, the Sterns then moved to Frankfurt where Günther hoped to finish it. There, Arendt participated in the university's intellectual life, attending lectures by Karl Mannheim and Paul Tillich, among others. The Sterns collaborated intellectually, writing an article together on Rilke's (1923) and both reviewing Mannheim's (1929). The latter was Arendt's sole contribution in sociology. In both her treatment of Mannheim and Rilke, Arendt found love to be a transcendent principle "Because there is no true transcendence in this ordered world, one also cannot exceed the world, but only succeed to higher ranks". In Rilke she saw a latter day secular Augustine, describing the as the (ultimate form of religious document). Later, she would discover the limitations of transcendent love in explaining the historical events that pushed her into political action. Another theme from Rilke that she would develop was the despair of not being heard. Reflecting on Rilke's opening lines, which she placed as an epigram at the beginning of their essay
(Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angel's hierarchies?)
Arendt and Stern begin by stating
The paradoxical, ambiguous, and desperate situation from which standpoint the Duino Elegies may alone be understood has two characteristics: the absence of an echo and the knowledge of futility. The conscious renunciation of the demand to be heard, the despair at not being able to be heard, and finally the need to speak even without an answer–these are the real reasons for the darkness, asperity, and tension of the style in which poetry indicates its own possibilities and its will to form
Arendt also published an article on Augustine (354–430) in the Frankfurter Zeitung to mark the 1500th anniversary of his death. She saw this article as forming a bridge between her treatment of Augustine in her dissertation and her subsequent work on Romanticism. When it became evident Stern would not succeed in obtaining an appointment, the Sterns returned to Berlin in 1931.
Return to Berlin (1931–1933)
In Berlin, where the couple initially lived in the predominantly Jewish area of (Bavarian Quarter or "Jewish Switzerland") in Schöneberg, Stern obtained a position as a staff-writer for the cultural supplement of the Berliner Börsen-Courier, edited by Herbert Ihering, with the help of Bertold Brecht. There he started writing using the nom-de-plume of Günther Anders, i.e. "Günther Other". Arendt assisted Günther with his work, but the shadow of Heidegger hung over their relationship. While Günther was working on his , Arendt had abandoned the original subject of German Romanticism for her thesis in 1930, and turned instead to Rahel Varnhagen and the question of assimilation. Anne Mendelssohn had accidentally acquired a copy of Varnhagen's correspondence and excitedly introduced her to Arendt, donating her collection to her. A little later, Arendt's own work on Romanticism led her to a study of Jewish salons and eventually to those of Varnhagen. In Rahel, she found qualities she felt reflected her own, particularly those of sensibility and vulnerability. Rahel, like Hannah, found her destiny in her Jewishness. Hannah Arendt would come to call Rahel Varnhagen's discovery of living with her destiny as being a "conscious pariah". This was a personal trait that Arendt had recognized in herself, although she did not embrace the term until later.
Back in Berlin, Arendt found herself becoming more involved in politics and started studying political theory, and reading Marx and Trotsky, while developing contacts at the Deutsche Hochschule für Politik. Despite the political leanings of her mother and husband she never saw herself as a political leftist, justifying her activism as being through her Jewishness. Her increasing interest in Jewish politics and her examination of assimilation in her study of Varnhagen led her to publish her first article on Judaism, ("The Enlightenment and the Jewish Question", 1932). Blumenfeld had introduced her to the "Jewish question", which would be his lifelong concern. Meanwhile, her views on German Romanticism were evolving. She wrote a review of Hans Weil's (The Origin of German Educational Principle, 1930), which dealt with the emergence of (educational elite) in the time of Rahel Varnhagen. At the same time she began to be occupied by Max Weber's description of the status of Jewish people within a state as (pariah people) in his Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft (1922), while borrowing Bernard Lazare's term paria conscient (conscious pariah) with which she identified. In both these articles she advanced the views of Johann Herder. Another interest of hers at the time was the status of women, resulting in her 1932 review of Alice Rühle-Gerstel's book (Contemporary Women's Issues: A psychological balance sheet). Although not a supporter of the women's movement, the review was sympathetic. At least in terms of the status of women at that time, she was skeptical of the movement's ability to achieve political change. She was also critical of the movement, because it was a women's movement, rather than contributing with men to a political movement, abstract rather than striving for concrete goals. In this manner she echoed Rosa Luxemburg. Like Luxemburg, she would later criticize Jewish movements for the same reason. Arendt consistently prioritized political over social questions.
By 1932, faced with a deteriorating political situation, Arendt was deeply troubled by reports that Heidegger was speaking at National Socialist meetings. She wrote, asking him to deny that he was attracted to National Socialism. Heidegger replied that he did not seek to deny the rumors (which were true), and merely assured her that his feelings for her were unchanged. As a Jew in Nazi Germany, Arendt was prevented from making a living and discriminated against and confided to Anne Mendelssohn that emigration was probably inevitable. Jaspers had tried to persuade her to consider herself as a German first, a position she distanced herself from, pointing out that she was a Jew and that "" (For me, Germany is the mother tongue, philosophy and poetry), rather than her identity. This position puzzled Jaspers, replying "It is strange to me that as a Jew you want to be different from the Germans".
By 1933, life for the Jewish population in Germany was becoming precarious. Adolf Hitler became (Chancellor) in January, and the Reichstag was burned down () the following month. This led to the suspension of civil liberties, with attacks on the left, and, in particular, members of the Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (German Communist Party: KPD). Stern, who had communist associations, fled to Paris, but Arendt stayed on to become an activist. Knowing her time was limited, she used the apartment at Opitzstraße 6 in Berlin-Steglitz that she had occupied with Stern since 1932 as an underground railway way-station for fugitives. Her rescue operation there is now recognized with a plaque on the wall.
Arendt had already positioned herself as a critic of the rising Nazi Party in 1932 by publishing "Adam-Müller-Renaissance?" a critique of the appropriation of the life of Adam Müller to support right wing ideology. The beginnings of anti-Jewish laws and boycott came in the spring of 1933. Confronted with systemic antisemitism, Arendt adopted the motiv "If one is attacked as a Jew one must defend oneself as a Jew. Not as a German, not as a world citizen, not as an upholder of the Rights of Man." This was Arendt's introduction of the concept of Jew as Pariah that would occupy her for the rest of her life in her Jewish writings. She took a public position by publishing part of her largely completed biography of Rahel Varnhagen as "" ("Original Assimilation: An Epilogue to the One Hundredth Anniversary of Rahel Varnhagen's Death") in the on 7 March 1933 and a little later also in . In the article she argues that the age of assimilation that began with Varnhagen's generation had come to an end with an official state policy of antisemitism. She opened with the declaration:
Today in Germany it seems Jewish assimilation must declare its bankruptcy. The general social antisemitism and its official legitimation affects in the first instance assimilated Jews, who can no longer protect themselves through baptism or by emphasizing their differences from Eastern Judaism.
As a Jew, Arendt was anxious to inform the world of what was happening to her people in 1930–1933. She surrounded herself with Zionist activists, including Kurt Blumenfeld, Martin Buber and Salman Schocken, and started to research antisemitism. Arendt had access to the Prussian State Library for her work on Varnhagen. Blumenfeld's Zionistische Vereinigung für Deutschland (Zionist Federation of Germany) persuaded her to use this access to obtain evidence of the extent of antisemitism, for a planned speech to the Zionist Congress in Prague. This research was illegal at the time. Her actions led to her being denounced by a librarian for anti-state propaganda, resulting in the arrest of both Arendt and her mother by the Gestapo. They served eight days in prison but her notebooks were in code and could not be deciphered, and she was released by a young, sympathetic arresting officer to await trial.
Exile: France (1933–1941)
Paris (1933–1940)
On release, realizing the danger she was now in, Arendt and her mother fled Germany following the established escape route over the Erzgebirge Mountains by night into Czechoslovakia and on to Prague and then by train to Geneva. In Geneva, she made a conscious decision to commit herself to "the Jewish cause". She obtained work with a friend of her mother's at the League of Nations' Jewish Agency for Palestine, distributing visas and writing speeches.
From Geneva the Arendts traveled to Paris in the autumn, where she was reunited with Stern, joining a stream of refugees. While Arendt had left Germany without papers, her mother had travel documents and returned to Königsberg and her husband. In Paris, she befriended Stern's cousin, the Marxist literary critic and philosopher Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) and also the Jewish French philosopher Raymond Aron (1905–1983).
Arendt was now an émigrée, an exile, stateless, without papers, and had turned her back on the Germany and Germans of the . Her legal status was precarious and she was coping with a foreign language and culture, all of which took its toll on her mentally and physically. In 1934 she started working for the Zionist-funded outreach program Agriculture et Artisanat, giving lectures, and organizing clothing, documents, medications and education for Jewish youth seeking to emigrate to the British Mandate of Palestine, mainly as agricultural workers. Initially she was employed as a secretary, and then office manager. To improve her skills she studied French, Hebrew and Yiddish. In this way she was able to support herself and her husband. When the organization closed in 1935, her work for Blumenfeld and the Zionists in Germany brought her into contact with the wealthy philanthropist Baroness Germaine Alice de Rothschild (born Halphen, 1884–1975), wife of Édouard Alphonse James de Rothschild, becoming her assistant. In this position she oversaw the baroness' contributions to Jewish charities through the Paris Consistoire, although she had little time for the family as a whole. The Rothschilds had headed the central Consistoire for a century but stood for everything Arendt did not, opposing immigration and any connection with German Jewry.
Later in 1935, Arendt joined Youth Aliyah (Youth immigration), an organization similar to Agriculture et Artisanat that was founded in Berlin on the day Hitler seized power. It was affiliated with Hadassah organization, which later saved many from the nearing Holocaust, and there Arendt eventually became Secretary-General (1935–1939). Her work with Youth Aliyah also involved finding food, clothing, social workers and lawyers, but above all, fund raising. She made her first visit to British Mandate of Palestine in 1935, accompanying one of these groups and meeting with her cousin Ernst Fürst there. With the Nazi annexation of Austria and invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1938, Paris was flooded with refugees, and she became the special agent for the rescue of the children from those countries. In 1938, Arendt completed her biography of Rahel Varnhagen, although this was not published until 1957. In April 1939, following the devastating Kristallnacht pogrom of November 1938, Martha Beerwald realized her daughter would not return and made the decision to leave her husband and join Arendt in Paris. One stepdaughter had died and the other had moved to England, Martin Beerwald would not leave and she no longer had any close ties to Königsberg.
Heinrich Blücher
In 1936, Arendt met the self-educated Berlin poet and Marxist philosopher Heinrich Blücher (1899–1970) in Paris. Blücher had been a Spartacist and then a founding member of the KPD, but had been expelled due to his work in the (Conciliator faction). Although Arendt had rejoined Stern in 1933, their marriage existed in name only, with their having separated in Berlin. She fulfilled her social obligations and used the name Hannah Stern, but the relationship effectively ended when Stern, perhaps recognizing the danger better than she, emigrated to America with his parents in 1936. In 1937, Arendt was stripped of her German citizenship and she and Stern divorced. She had begun seeing more of Blücher, and eventually they began living together. It was Blücher's long political activism that began to move Arendt's thinking towards political action. Arendt and Blücher married on 16 January 1940, shortly after their divorces were finalized.
Internment and escape (1940–1941)
On 5 May 1940, in anticipation of the German invasion of France and the Low Countries that month, the military governor of Paris issued a proclamation ordering all "enemy aliens" between 17 and 55 who had come from Germany (predominantly Jews) to report separately for internment. The women were gathered together in the Vélodrome d'Hiver on 15 May, so Hannah Arendt's mother, being over 55, was allowed to stay in Paris. Arendt described the process of making refugees as "the new type of human being created by contemporary history ... put into concentration camps by their foes and into internment camps by their friends". The men, including Blücher, were sent to Camp Vernet in southern France, close to the Spanish border. Arendt and the other women were sent to Camp Gurs, to the west of Gurs, a week later. The camp had earlier been set up to accommodate refugees from Spain. On 22 June, France capitulated and signed the Compiègne armistice, dividing the country. Gurs was in the southern Vichy controlled section. Arendt describes how, "in the resulting chaos we succeeded in getting hold of liberation papers with which we were able to leave the camp", which she did with about 200 of the 7,000 women held there, about four weeks later. There was no Résistance then, but she managed to walk and hitchhike north to Montauban, near Toulouse where she knew she would find help.
Montauban had become an unofficial capital for former detainees, and Arendt's friend Lotta Sempell Klembort was staying there. Blücher's camp had been evacuated in the wake of the German advance, and he managed to escape from a forced march, making his way to Montauban, where the two of them led a fugitive life. Soon they were joined by Anne Mendelssohn and Arendt's mother. Escape from France was extremely difficult without official papers; their friend Walter Benjamin had taken his own life after being apprehended trying to escape to Spain. One of the best known illegal routes operated out of Marseilles, where Varian Fry, an American journalist, worked to raise funds, forge papers and bribe officials with Hiram Bingham, the American vice-consul there.
Fry and Bingham secured exit papers and American visas for thousands, and with help from Günther Stern, Arendt, her husband, and her mother managed to secure the requisite permits to travel by train in January 1941 through Spain to Lisbon, Portugal, where they rented a flat at Rua da Sociedade Farmacêutica, 6b. They eventually secured passage to New York in May on the Companhia Colonial de Navegação's S/S Guiné II. A few months later, Fry's operations were shut down and the borders sealed.
New York (1941–1975)
World War II (1941–1945)
Upon arriving in New York City on 22 May 1941 with very little, they received assistance from the Zionist Organization of America and the local German immigrant population, including Paul Tillich and neighbors from Königsberg. They rented rooms at 317 West 95th Street and Martha Arendt joined them there in June. There was an urgent need to acquire English, and it was decided that Hannah Arendt should spend two months with an American family in Winchester, Massachusetts, through Self-Help for Refugees, in July. She found the experience difficult but formulated her early appraisal of American life, (The fundamental contradiction of the country is political freedom coupled with social slavery).
On returning to New York, Arendt was anxious to resume writing and became active in the German-Jewish community, publishing her first article, "From the Dreyfus Affair to France Today" (in translation from her German) in July 1942. While she was working on this article, she was looking for employment and in November 1941 was hired by the New York German-language Jewish newspaper and from 1941 to 1945, she wrote a political column for it, covering anti-semitism, refugees and the need for a Jewish army. She also contributed to the Menorah Journal, a Jewish-American magazine, and other German émigré publications.
Arendt's first full-time salaried job came in 1944, when she became the director of research and Executive Director for the newly emerging Commission on European Jewish Cultural Reconstruction, a project of the Conference on Jewish Relations. She was recruited "because of her great interest in the Commission's activities, her previous experience as an administrator, and her connections with Germany". There she compiled lists of Jewish cultural assets in Germany and Nazi occupied Europe, to aid in their recovery after the war. Together with her husband, she lived at 370 Riverside Drive in New York City and at Kingston, New York, where Blücher taught at nearby Bard College for many years.
Post-war (1945–1975)
In July 1946, Arendt left her position at the Commission on European Jewish Cultural Reconstruction to become an editor at Schocken Books, which later published some of her works. In 1948, she became engaged with the campaign of Judah Magnes for a solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. She famously opposed the establishment of a Jewish nation state in Palestine and initially also opposed the establishment of a binational Arab-Jewish state. Instead, she advocated for the inclusion of Palestine into a multi-ethnic federation. Only in 1948 in an effort to forestall partition did she support a binational one-state solution. She returned to the Commission in August 1949. In her capacity as executive secretary, she traveled to Europe, where she worked in Germany, Britain and France (December 1949 to March 1950) to negotiate the return of archival material from German institutions, an experience she found frustrating, but providing regular field reports. In January 1952, she became secretary to the Board, although the work of the organization was winding down and she was simultaneously pursuing her own intellectual activities; she retained this position until her death. Arendt's work on cultural restitution provided further material for her study of totalitarianism.
In the 1950s Arendt wrote The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), The Human Condition (1958) and On Revolution (1963). Arendt began corresponding with the American author Mary McCarthy, six years her junior, in 1950 and they soon became lifelong friends. In 1950, Arendt also became a naturalized citizen of the United States. The same year, she started seeing Martin Heidegger again, and had what the American writer Adam Kirsch called a "quasi-romance", lasting for two years, with the man who had previously been her mentor, teacher, and lover. During this time, Arendt defended him against critics who noted his enthusiastic membership in the Nazi Party. She portrayed Heidegger as a naïve man swept up by forces beyond his control, and pointed out that Heidegger's philosophy had nothing to do with National Socialism. In 1961 she traveled to Jerusalem to report about Eichmann's trial for The New Yorker. This report strongly influenced her popular recognition, and raised much controversy (see below). Her work was recognized by many awards, including the Danish Sonning Prize in 1975 for Contributions to European Civilization.
A few years later she spoke in New York City on the legitimacy of violence as a political act: "Generally speaking, violence always rises out of impotence. It is the hope of those who have no power to find a substitute for it and this hope, I think, is in vain. Violence can destroy power, but it can never replace it."
Teaching
Arendt taught at many institutions of higher learning from 1951 onwards, but, preserving her independence, consistently refused tenure-track positions. She served as a visiting scholar at the University of Notre Dame; University of California, Berkeley; Princeton University (where she was the first woman to be appointed a full professor in 1959); and Northwestern University. She also taught at the University of Chicago from 1963 to 1967, where she was a member of the Committee on Social Thought; The New School in Manhattan where she taught as a university professor from 1967; Yale University, where she was a fellow; and the Center for Advanced Studies at Wesleyan University (1961–62, 1962–63). She was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1962 and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1964.
In 1974, Arendt was instrumental in the creation of Structured Liberal Education (SLE) at Stanford University. She wrote a letter to the president of Stanford to persuade the university to enact Stanford history professor Mark Mancall's vision of a residentially-based humanities program. At the time of her death, she was University Professor of Political Philosophy at the New School.
Relationships
In addition to her affair with Heidegger, and her two marriages, Arendt had close friendships. Since her death, her correspondence with many of them has been published, revealing much information about her thinking. To her friends she was both loyal and generous, dedicating several of her works to them. (friendship) she described as being one of "" (the active modes of being alive), and, to her, friendship was central both to her life and to the concept of politics. Hans Jonas described her as having a "genius for friendship", and, in her own words, "" (love of friendship).
Her philosophy-based friendships were male and European, while her later American friendships were more diverse, literary, and political. Although she became an American citizen in 1950, her cultural roots remained European, and her language remained her German "" (mother tongue). She surrounded herself with German-speaking émigrés, sometimes referred to as "The Tribe". To her, (real people) were "pariahs", not in the sense of outcasts, but in the sense of outsiders, unassimilated, with the virtue of "social nonconformism ... the sine qua non of intellectual achievement", a sentiment she shared with Jaspers.
Arendt always had a . In her teens she had formed a lifelong relationship with her , Anne Mendelssohn Weil ("Ännchen"). After her emigration to America, Hilde Fränkel, Paul Tillich's secretary and mistress, filled that role until her death in 1950. After the war, Arendt was able to return to Germany and renew her relationship with Weil, who made several visits to New York, especially after Blücher's death in 1970. Their last meeting was in Tegna, Switzerland in 1975, shortly before Arendt's death. With Fränkel's death, Mary McCarthy became Arendt's closest friend and confidante.
Final illness and death
Heinrich Blücher had survived a cerebral aneurysm in 1961 and remained unwell after 1963, sustaining a series of heart attacks. On 31 October 1970 he died of a massive heart attack. A devastated Arendt had previously told Mary McCarthy, "Life without him would be unthinkable". Arendt was also a heavy smoker and was frequently depicted with a cigarette in her hand. She sustained a near fatal heart attack while lecturing in Scotland in May 1974, and although she recovered, she remained in poor health afterwards, and continued to smoke. On the evening of 4 December 1975, shortly after her 69th birthday, she had a further heart attack in her apartment while entertaining friends, and was pronounced dead at the scene. Her ashes were buried alongside those of Blücher at Bard College, in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York in May 1976.
After Arendt's death the title page of the final part of The Life of the Mind ("Judging") was found in her typewriter, which she had just started, consisting of the title and two epigraphs. This has subsequently been reproduced (see image).
Work
Arendt wrote works on intellectual history as a philosopher, using events and actions to develop insights into contemporary totalitarian movements and the threat to human freedom presented by scientific abstraction and bourgeois morality. Intellectually, she was an independent thinker, a loner not a "joiner," separating herself from schools of thought or ideology. In addition to her major texts she published anthologies, including Between Past and Future (1961), Men in Dark Times (1968) and Crises of the Republic (1972). She also contributed to many publications, including The New York Review of Books, Commonweal, Dissent and The New Yorker. She is perhaps best known for her accounts of Adolf Eichmann and his trial, because of the intense controversy that it generated.
Political theory and philosophical system
While Arendt never developed a coherent political theory and her writing does not easily lend itself to categorization, the tradition of thought most closely identified with Arendt is that of civic republicanism, from Aristotle to Tocqueville. Her political concept is centered around active citizenship that emphasizes civic engagement and collective deliberation. She believed that no matter how bad, government could never succeed in extinguishing human freedom, despite holding that modern societies frequently retreat from democratic freedom with its inherent disorder for the relative comfort of administrative bureaucracy. Her political legacy is her strong defence of freedom in the face of an increasingly less than free world. She does not adhere to a single systematic philosophy, but rather spans a range of subjects covering totalitarianism, revolution, the nature of freedom and the faculties of thought and judgment.
While she is best known for her work on "dark times", the nature of totalitarianism and evil, she imbued this with a spark of hope and confidence in the nature of mankind:
That even in the darkest of times we have the right to expect some illumination, and that such illumination might well come less from theories and concepts than from the uncertain, flickering, and often weak light that some men and women, in their lives and their works, will kindle under almost all circumstances and shed over the time span that was given to them.
Love and Saint Augustine (1929)
Arendt's doctoral thesis, (Love and Saint Augustine), was published in 1929 and attracted critical interest, although an English translation did not appear until 1996. In this work, she combines approaches of both Heidegger and Jaspers. Arendt's interpretation of love in the work of Augustine deals with three concepts, love as craving or desire (Amor qua appetitus), love in the relationship between man (creatura) and creator (Creator – Creatura), and neighborly love (Dilectio proximi). Love as craving anticipates the future, while love for the Creator deals with the remembered past. Of the three, dilectio proximi or caritas is perceived as the most fundamental, to which the first two are oriented, which she treats under vita socialis (social life). The second of the Great Commandments (or Golden Rule) "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" uniting and transcending the former. Augustine's influence (and Jaspers' views on his work) persisted in Arendt's writings for the rest of her life.
Some of the leitmotifs of her canon were apparent, introducing the concept of (Natality) as a key condition of human existence and its role in the development of the individual, developing this further in The Human Condition (1958). She explained that the construct of natality was implied in her discussion of new beginnings and man's elation to the Creator as nova creatura. The centrality of the theme of birth and renewal is apparent in the constant reference to Augustinian thought, and specifically the innovative nature of birth, from this, her first work, to her last, The Life of the Mind.
Love is another connecting theme. In addition to the Augustinian loves expostulated in her dissertation, the phrase amor mundi (love of the world) is one often associated with Arendt and both permeates her work and was an absorbing passion throughout her work. She took the phrase from Augustine's homily on the first epistle of St John, "If love of the world dwell in us". Amor mundi was her original title for The Human Condition (1958), the subtitle of Elisabeth Young-Bruehl's biography (1982), the title of a collection of writing on faith in her work and is the newsletter of the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College.
The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951)
Arendt's first major book, The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), examined the roots of Stalinism and Nazism, structured as three essays, "Antisemitism", "Imperialism" and "Totalitarianism". Arendt argues that totalitarianism was a "novel form of government," that "differs essentially from other forms of political oppression known to us such as despotism, tyranny and dictatorship" in that it applied terror to subjugate mass populations rather than just political adversaries. Arendt also maintained that Jewry was not the operative factor in the Holocaust, but merely a convenient proxy because Nazism was about terror and consistency, not merely eradicating Jews. Arendt explained the tyranny using Kant's phrase "radical evil", by which their victims became "superfluous people". In later editions she enlarged the text to include her work on "Ideology and Terror: A novel form of government" and the Hungarian Revolution, but then published the latter separately.
Criticism of Origins has often focused on its portrayal of the two movements, Hitlerism and Stalinism, as equally tyrannical.
Rahel Varnhagen: The Life of a Jewess (1957)
Arendt's on Rahel Varnhagen was completed while she was living in exile in Paris in 1938, but not published till 1957, in the United Kingdom by East and West Library, part of the Leo Baeck Institute. This biography of a 19th century Jewish socialite, formed an important step in her analysis of Jewish history and the subjects of assimilation and emancipation, and introduced her treatment of the Jewish diaspora as either pariah or parvenu. In addition it represents an early version of her concept of history. The book is dedicated to Anne Mendelssohn, who first drew her attention to Varnhagen. Arendt's relation to Varnhagen permeates her subsequent work. Her account of Varnhagen's life was perceived during a time of the destruction of German-Jewish culture. It partially reflects Arendt's own view of herself as a German-Jewish woman driven out of her own culture into a stateless existence, leading to the description "biography as autobiography".
The Human Condition (1958)
In what is arguably her most influential work, The Human Condition (1958), Arendt differentiates political and social concepts, labor and work, and various forms of actions; she then explores the implications of those distinctions. Her theory of political action, corresponding to the existence of a public realm, is extensively developed in this work. Arendt argues that, while human life always evolves within societies, the social part of human nature, political life, has been intentionally realized in only a few societies as a space for individuals to achieve freedom. Conceptual categories, which attempt to bridge the gap between ontological and sociological structures, are sharply delineated. While Arendt relegates labor and work to the realm of the social, she favors the human condition of action as that which is both existential and aesthetic. Of human actions, Arendt identifies two that she considers essential. These are forgiving past wrong (or unfixing the fixed past) and promising future benefit (or fixing the unfixed future).
Arendt had first introduced the concept of "natality" in her Love and Saint Augustine (1929) and in The Human Condition starts to develop this further. In this, she departs from Heidegger's emphasis on mortality. Arendt's positive message is one of the "miracle of beginning", the continual arrival of the new to create action, that is to alter the state of affairs brought about by previous actions. "Men", she wrote "though they must die, are not born in order to die but in order to begin". She defined her use of "natality" as:
The miracle that saves the world, the realm of human affairs, from its normal, "natural" ruin is ultimately the fact of natality, in which the faculty of action is ontologically rooted. It is, in other words, the birth of new men and the new beginning, the action they are capable of by virtue of being born.
Natality would go on to become a central concept of her political theory, and also what Karin Fry considers its most optimistic one.
Between Past and Future (1954...1968)
Between Past and Future is an anthology of eight essays written between 1954 and 1968, dealing with a variety of different but connected philosophical subjects. These essays share the central idea that humans live between the past and the uncertain future. Man must permanently think to exist, but must learn thinking. Humans have resorted to tradition, but are abandoning respect for this tradition and culture. Arendt tries to find solutions to help humans think again, since modern philosophy has not succeeded in helping humans to live correctly.
On Revolution (1963)
Arendt's book On Revolution presents a comparison of two of the main revolutions of the 18th century, the American and French Revolutions. She goes against a common impression of both Marxist and leftist views when she argues that France, while well-studied and often emulated, was a disaster and that the largely ignored American Revolution was a success. The turning point in the French Revolution occurred when the leaders rejected their goals of freedom in order to focus on compassion for the masses. In the United States, the founders never betray the goal of . Arendt believes the revolutionary spirit of those men had been lost, however, and advocates a "council system" as an appropriate institution to regain that spirit.
Men in Dark Times (1968)
The anthology of essays Men in Dark Times presents intellectual biographies of some creative and moral figures of the 20th century, such as Walter Benjamin, Karl Jaspers, Rosa Luxemburg, Hermann Broch, Pope John XXIII, and Isak Dinesen.
Crises of the Republic (1972)
Crises of the Republic was the third of Arendt's anthologies, consisting of four essays, "Lying in Politics", "Civil Disobedience", "On Violence" and "Thoughts on Politics and Revolution". These related essays deal with contemporary American politics and the crises it faced in the 1960s and 1970s. "Lying in Politics" looks for an explanation behind the administration's deception regarding the Vietnam War, as revealed in the Pentagon Papers. "Civil Disobedience" examines the opposition movements, while the final "Thoughts on Politics and Revolution" is a commentary, in the form of an interview on the third essay, "On Violence". In "On Violence" Arendt substantiates that violence presupposes power which she understands as a property of groups. Thus, she breaks with the predominant conception of power as derived from violence.
When Hannah Arendt died in 1975, she left a major work incomplete, which was later published in 1978 as The Life of the Mind. Since then some of her minor works have been collected and published, mainly under the editorship of Jerome Kohn. In 1994 "Essays in Understanding" appeared as the first of a series covering the period 1930–1954, but attracted little attention. A new version of Origins of Totalitarianism appeared in 2004 followed by The Promise of Politics in 2005. The renewed interest in Arendtiana following these publications led to a second series of essays, Thinking Without a Banister: Essays in Understanding, 1953–1975, published in 2018. Other collections have dealt with her Jewish identity, including The Jew as Pariah (1978) and The Jewish Writings (2007), moral philosophy including Lectures on Kant's Political Philosophy (1982) and Responsibility and Judgment (2003), together with her literary works as Reflections on Literature and Culture (2007).
The Life of the Mind (1978)
Arendt's last major work, The Life of the Mind remained incomplete at the time of her death, but marked a return to moral philosophy. The outline of the book was based on her graduate level political philosophy class, Philosophy of the Mind, and her Gifford Lectures in Scotland. She conceived of the work as a trilogy based on the mental activities of thinking, willing, and judging. Her most recent work had focused on the first two, but went beyond this in terms of . Her discussion of thinking was based on Socrates and his notion of thinking as a solitary dialogue between oneself, leading her to novel concepts of conscience.
Arendt died suddenly five days after completing the second part, with the first page of Judging still in her typewriter, and McCarthy then edited the first two parts and provided some indication of the direction of the third. Arendt's exact intentions for the third part are unknown but she left several manuscripts (such as Thinking and Moral Considerations, Some Questions on Moral Philosophy and Lectures on Kant's Political Philosophy) relating to her thoughts on the mental faculty of Judging. These have since been published separately.
Collected works
After Hannah Arendt's death, her essays and notes have continued to be edited and published posthumously by friends and colleagues, including those that give some insight into the unfinished third part of The Life of the Mind. The Jew as Pariah: Jewish Identity and Politics in the Modern Age (1978), is a collection of 15 essays and letters from the period 1943–1966 on the situation of Jews in modern times, to try and throw some light on her views on the Jewish world, following the backlash to Eichmann, but proved to be equally polarizing. A further collection of her writings on being Jewish was published as The Jewish Writings (2007). Other work includes the collection of forty, largely fugitive, essays, addresses, and reviews entitled Essays in Understanding 1930–1954: Formation, Exile, and Totalitarianism (1994), that presaged her monumental The Origins of Totalitarianism, in particular On the Nature of Totalitarianism (1953) and The Concern with Politics in Contemporary European Philosophical Thought (1954). The remaining essays were published as Thinking Without a Banister: Essays in Understanding, 1953-1975 (2018). Her notebooks which form a series of memoirs, were published as in 2002.
Some further insight into her thinking is provided in the continuing posthumous publication of her correspondence with many of the important figures in her life, including Karl Jaspers (1992), Mary McCarthy (1995), Heinrich Blücher (1996), Martin Heidegger (2004), Alfred Kazin (2005), Walter Benjamin (2006), Gershom Scholem (2011) and Günther Stern (2016). Other correspondences that have been published include those with women friends such as Hilde Fränkel and Anne Mendelsohn Weil (see Relationships).
Arendt and the Eichmann trial (1961–1963)
In 1960, on hearing of Adolf Eichmann's capture and plans for his trial, Hannah Arendt contacted The New Yorker and offered to travel to Israel to cover it when it opened on 11 April 1961. Arendt was anxious to test her theories, developed in The Origins of Totalitarianism, and see how justice would be administered to the sort of man she had written about. Also she had witnessed "little of the Nazi regime directly" and this was an opportunity to witness an agent of totalitarianism first hand. The offer was accepted and she attended six weeks of the five-month trial with her young cousin from Israel, Edna Brocke. On arrival she was treated as a celebrity, meeting with the trial chief judge, Moshe Landau, and the foreign minister, Golda Meir. In her subsequent 1963 report, based on her observations and transcripts, and which evolved into the book Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, most famously, Arendt coined the phrase "the banality of evil" to describe the phenomenon of Eichmann. She, like others, was struck by his very ordinariness and the demeanor he exhibited of a small, slightly balding, bland bureaucrat, in contrast to the horrific crimes he stood accused of. He was, she wrote, "terribly and terrifyingly normal." She examined the question of whether evil is radical or simply a function of thoughtlessness, a tendency of ordinary people to obey orders and conform to mass opinion without a critical evaluation of the consequences of their actions. Arendt's argument was that Eichmann was not a monster, contrasting the immensity of his actions with the very ordinariness of the man himself. Eichmann, she stated, not only called himself a Zionist, having initially opposed the Jewish persecution, but also expected his captors to understand him. She pointed out that his actions were not driven by malice, but rather blind dedication to the regime and his need to belong, to be a "joiner."
On this, Arendt would later state "Going along with the rest and wanting to say 'we' were quite enough to make the greatest of all crimes possible". What Arendt observed during the trial was a bourgeois sales clerk who found a meaningful role for himself and a sense of importance in the Nazi movement. She noted that his addiction to clichés and use of bureaucratic morality clouded his ability to question his actions, "to think". This led her to set out her most famous, and most debated, dictum: "the lesson that this long course in human wickedness had taught us – the lesson of the fearsome, word-and-thought-defying banality of evil." By stating that Eichmann did not think, she did not imply lack of conscious awareness of his actions, but by "thinking" she implied reflective rationality, that was lacking.
Arendt was critical of the way the trial was conducted by the Israelis as a "show trial" with ulterior motives other than simply trying evidence and administering justice. Arendt was also critical of the way Israel depicted Eichmann's crimes as crimes against a nation state, rather than against humanity itself. She objected to the idea that a strong Israel was necessary to protect world Jewry being again placed where "they'll let themselves be slaughtered like sheep," recalling the biblical phrase. She portrayed the prosecutor, Attorney General Gideon Hausner, as employing hyperbolic rhetoric in the pursuit of Prime Minister Ben-Gurion's political agenda. Arendt, who believed she could maintain her focus on moral principles in the face of outrage, became increasingly frustrated with Hausner, describing his parade of survivors as having "no apparent bearing on the case". She was particularly concerned that Hausner repeatedly asked "why did you not rebel?" rather than question the role of the Jewish leaders. Arendt argued that some Jewish leaders associated with the Jewish Councils (Judenräte), notably M. C. Rumkowski, acted during the Holocaust, in cooperating with Eichmann "almost without exception" in the destruction of their own people. She had expressed concerns on this point prior to the trial. She described this as a moral catastrophe. While her argument was not to allocate blame, rather she mourned what she considered a moral failure of compromising the imperative that it is better to suffer wrong than to do wrong. She describes the cooperation of the Jewish leaders in terms of a disintegration of Jewish morality: "This role of the Jewish leaders in the destruction of their own people is undoubtedly the darkest chapter in the whole dark story". Widely misunderstood, this caused an even greater controversy and particularly animosity toward her in the Jewish community and in Israel. For Arendt, the Eichmann trial marked a turning point in her thinking in the final decade of her life, becoming increasingly preoccupied with moral philosophy.
Reception
Arendt's five-part series "Eichmann in Jerusalem" appeared in The New Yorker in February 1963 some nine months after Eichmann was hanged on 31 May 1962. By this time his trial was largely forgotten in the popular mind, superseded by intervening world events. However, no other account of either Eichmann or National Socialism has aroused so much controversy. Prior to its publication, Arendt was considered a brilliant humanistic original political thinker. However her mentor, Karl Jaspers, warned her about a possible adverse outcome, "The Eichmann trial will be no pleasure for you. I'm afraid it cannot go well". On publication, three controversies immediately occupied public attention: the concept of Eichmann as banal, her criticism of the role of Israel and her description of the role played by the Jewish people themselves.
Arendt was profoundly shocked by the response, writing to Karl Jaspers "People are resorting to any means to destroy my reputation ... They have spent weeks trying to find something in my past that they can hang on me". Now she was being called arrogant, heartless and ill-informed. She was accused of being duped by Eichmann, of being a "self-hating Jewess", and even an enemy of Israel. Her critics included The Anti-Defamation League and many other Jewish groups, editors of publications she was a contributor to, faculty at the universities she taught at and friends from all parts of her life. Her friend Gershom Scholem, a major scholar of Jewish mysticism, broke off relations with her, publishing their correspondence without her permission. Arendt was criticized by many Jewish public figures, who charged her with coldness and lack of sympathy for the victims of the Holocaust. Because of this lingering criticism neither this book nor any of her other works were translated into Hebrew until 1999. Arendt responded to the controversies in the book's Postscript.
Although Arendt complained that she was being criticized for telling the truth – "what a risky business to tell the truth on a factual level without theoretical and scholarly embroidery" – the criticism was largely directed to her theorizing on the nature of mankind and evil and that ordinary people were driven to commit the inexplicable not so much by hatred and ideology as ambition, and inability to empathize. Equally problematic was the suggestion that the victims deceived themselves and complied in their own destruction. Prior to Arendt's depiction of Eichmann, his popular image had been, as The New York Times put it "the most evil monster of humanity" and as a representative of "an atrocious crime, unparalleled in history", "the extermination of European Jews". As it turned out Arendt and others were correct in pointing out that Eichmann's characterization by the prosecution as the architect and chief technician of the Holocaust was not entirely credible.
While much has been made of Arendt's treatment of Eichmann, Ada Ushpiz, in her 2015 documentary Vita Activa: The Spirit of Hannah Arendt, placed it in a much broader context of the use of rationality to explain seemingly irrational historical events.
In an interview with Joachim Fest in 1964, Arendt was asked about Eichmann's defense that he had made Kant's principle of the duty of obedience his guiding principle all his life. Arendt replied that that was outrageous and that Eichmann was misusing Kant, by not considering the element of judgement required in assessing one's own actions – "" (No man has, according to Kant, the right to obey), she stated, paraphrasing Kant. The reference was to Kant's (Religion within the Bounds of Bare Reason 1793) in which he states:
(The saying, "We must hearken to God, rather than to man," signifies no more than this, viz. that should any earthly legislation enjoin something immediately contradictory of the moral law, obedience is not to be rendered)
Kant clearly defines a higher moral duty than rendering merely unto Caesar. Arendt herself had written in her book "This was outrageous, on the face of it, and also incomprehensible, since Kant's moral philosophy is so closely bound up with man's faculty of judgment, which rules out blind obedience." Arendt's reply to Fest was subsequently corrupted to read (No one has the right to obey), which has been widely reproduced, although it does encapsulate an aspect of her moral philosophy.
The phrase has become one of her iconic images, appearing on the wall of the house in which she was born (see Commemorations), among other places. A fascist bas-relief on the Palazzo degli Uffici Finanziari (1942), in the Piazza del Tribunale, Bolzano, Italy celebrating Mussolini, read Credere, Obbedire, Combattere (Believe, Obey, Combat). In 2017 it was altered to read Hannah Arendt's original words on obedience in the three official languages of the region.
The phrase has been appearing in other artistic work featuring political messages, such as the 2015 installation by Wilfried Gerstel, which has evoked the concept of resistance to dictatorship, as expressed in her essay "Personal Responsibility under Dictatorship" (1964).
List of selected publications
Bibliographies
, in
Books
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Full text on Internet Archive
Also available in English as: Full text on Internet Archive
400 pages. (see Rahel Varnhagen)
, (see also The Origins of Totalitarianism and Comparison of Nazism and Stalinism) Full text (1979 edition) on Internet Archive
(see also The Human Condition)
(see also Between Past and Future)
(see also On Revolution) Full text on Internet Archive
Full text: 1964 edition (see also Eichmann in Jerusalem)
Articles and essays
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Correspondence
(excerpts)
Posthumous
Online text at Pensar el Espacio Público
Online text also Internet Archive
Full text on Internet Archive
(original German transcription)
(also in )
, partly based on Was ist Politik? (1993), French translation as Qu'est-ce que la politique?
(fragments)
see also (extract)
at Pensar el Espacio Público
Collections
Miscellaneous
(Original video)
, reprinted as the Prologue in
Views
In 1961, while covering the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem, Arendt wrote a letter to Karl Jaspers that Adam Kirsch described as reflecting "pure racism" toward Sephardic Jews from the Middle East and Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe. She wrote:
On top, the judges, the best of German Jewry. Below them, the prosecuting attorneys, Galicians, but still Europeans. Everything is organized by a police force that gives me the creeps, speaks only Hebrew, and looks Arabic. Some downright brutal types among them. They would obey any order. And outside the doors, the oriental mob, as if one were in Istanbul or some other half-Asiatic country.
Although Arendt remained a Zionist both during and after World War II, she made it clear that she favored the creation of a Jewish-Arab federated state in British Mandate of Palestine (now Israel and the Palestinian territories), rather than a purely Jewish state. She believed that this was a way to address Jewish statelessness and to avoid the pitfalls of nationalism.
Accusations of racism
It was not just Arendt's analysis of the Eichmann trial that drew accusations of racism. In her 1958 essay in Dissent entitled Reflections on Little Rock she expressed opposition to desegregation following the 1957 Little Rock Integration Crisis in Arkansas. As she explains in the preface, for a long time the magazine was reluctant to print her contribution, so far did it appear to differ from the publication's liberal values. Eventually it was printed alongside critical responses. Later The New Yorker would express similar hesitancy over the Eichmann papers. So vehement was the response, that Arendt felt obliged to defend herself in a sequel. The debate over this essay has continued since. William Simmons devotes a whole section of his 2011 text on human rights (Human Rights Law and the Marginalized Other) to a critique of Arendt's position and in particular on Little Rock. While some critics feel she was fundamentally racist, many of those who have defended Arendt's position have pointed out that her concerns were for the welfare of the children, a position she maintained throughout her life. She felt that the children were being subjected to trauma to serve a broader political strategy of forcible integration. While over time Arendt conceded some ground to her critics, namely that she argued as an outsider, she remained committed to her central critique that children should not be thrust into the front-lines of geopolitical conflict.
Feminism
Embraced by feminists as a pioneer in a world dominated by men up to her time, Arendt did not call herself a feminist and would be very surprised to hear herself described as a feminist, remaining opposed to the social dimensions of Women's Liberation, urging independence, but always keeping in mind la petite différence! On becoming the first woman to be appointed a professor at Princeton in 1953, the media were much engaged in this exceptional achievement, but she never wanted to be seen as an exception, either as a woman (an "exception woman") or a Jew, stating emphatically "I am not disturbed at all about being a woman professor, because I am quite used to being a woman". In 1972, discussing women's liberation, she observed "the real question to ask is, what will we lose if we win?". She rather enjoyed what she saw as the privileges of being feminine as opposed to feminist, "Intensely feminine and therefore no feminist", stated Hans Jonas. Arendt considered some professions and positions unsuitable for women, particularly those involving leadership, telling Günter Gaus "It just doesn't look good when a woman gives orders". Despite these views, and having been labelled "anti-feminist", much space has been devoted to examining Arendt's place in relation to feminism. In the last years of her life, Virginia Held noted that Arendt's views evolved with the emergence of a new feminism in America in the 1970s to recognize the importance of the women's movement.
Critique of human rights
In The Origins of Totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt devotes a lengthy chapter (The Decline of the Nation-State and the End of the Rights of Man) to a critical analysis of human rights, in what has been described as "the most widely read essay on refugees ever published". Arendt is not skeptical of the notion of political rights in general, but instead defends a national or civil conception of rights. Human rights, or the Rights of Man as they were commonly called, are universal, inalienable, and possessed simply by virtue of being human. In contrast, civil rights are possessed by virtue of belonging to a political community, most commonly by being a citizen. Arendt's primary criticism of human rights is that they are ineffectual and illusory because their enforcement is in tension with national sovereignty. She argued that since there is no political authority above that of sovereign nations, state governments have little incentive to respect human rights when such policies conflict with national interests. This can be seen most clearly by examining the treatment of refugees and other stateless people. Since the refugee has no state to secure their civil rights, the only rights they have to fall back on are human rights. In this way Arendt uses the refugee as a test case for examining human rights in isolation from civil rights.
Arendt's analysis draws on the refugee upheavals in the first half of the 20th century along with her own experience as a refugee fleeing Nazi Germany. She argued that as state governments began to emphasize national identity as a prerequisite for full legal status, the number of minority resident aliens increased along with the number of stateless persons whom no state was willing to recognize legally. The two potential solutions to the refugee problem, repatriation and naturalization, both proved incapable of solving the crisis. Arendt argued that repatriation failed to solve the refugee crisis because no government was willing to take them in and claim them as their own. When refugees were forcibly deported to neighboring countries, such immigration was deemed illegal by the receiving country, and so failed to change the fundamental status of the migrants as stateless. Attempts at naturalizing and assimilating refugees also had little success. This failure was primarily the result of resistance from both state governments and the majority of citizens, since both tended to see the refugees as undesirables who threatened their national identity. Resistance to naturalization also came from the refugees themselves who resisted assimilation and attempted to maintain their own ethnic and national identities. Arendt contends that neither naturalization nor the tradition of asylum was capable of handling the sheer number of refugees. Instead of accepting some refugees with legal status, the state often responded by denaturalizing minorities who shared national or ethnic ties with stateless refugees.
Arendt argues that the consistent mistreatment of refugees, most of whom were placed in internment camps, is evidence against the existence of human rights. If the notion of human rights as universal and inalienable is to be taken seriously, the rights must be realizable given the features of the modern liberal state. She concluded "The Rights of Man, supposedly inalienable, proved to be unenforceable–even in countries whose constitutions were based upon them–whenever people appeared who were no longer citizens of any sovereign state". Arendt contends that they are not realizable because they are in tension with at least one feature of the liberal state—national sovereignty. One of the primary ways in which a nation exercises sovereignty is through control over national borders. State governments consistently grant their citizens free movement to traverse national borders. In contrast, the movement of refugees is often restricted in the name of national interests. This restriction presents a dilemma for liberalism because liberal theorists typically are committed to both human rights and the existence of sovereign nations.
In one of her most quoted passages, she puts forward the concept that human rights are little more than an abstraction:
The conception of human rights based upon the assumed existence of a human being as such broke down at the very moment when those who professed to believe in it were for the first time confronted with people who had indeed lost all other qualities and specific relationships - except that they were still human. The world found nothing sacred in the abstract nakedness of being human.
In popular culture
Several authors have written biographies that focus on the relationship between Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger. In 1999, the French feminist philosopher Catherine Clément wrote a novel, Martin and Hannah, speculating on the triangular relationship between Heidegger and the two women in his life, Arendt and Heidegger's wife Elfriede Petri. In addition to the relationships, the novel is a serious exploration of philosophical ideas, that centers on Arendt's last meeting with Heidegger in Freiburg in 1975. The scene is based on Elisabeth Young-Bruehl's description in Hannah Arendt: For Love of the World (1982), but reaches back to their childhoods, and Heidegger's role in encouraging the relationship between the two women. The novel explores Heidegger's embrace of Nazism as a proxy for that of Germany and, as in Arendt's treatment of Eichmann, the difficult relationship between collective guilt and personal responsibility. Clément also brings Hannah's other mentor and confidante, Karl Jaspers, into the matrix of relationships.
Arendt's life remains part of current culture and thought. In 2012 the German film, Hannah Arendt, directed by Margarethe von Trotta was released. The film, with Barbara Sukowa in the title role, depicted the controversy over Arendt's coverage of the Eichmann trial and subsequent book, in which she was widely misunderstood as defending Eichmann and blaming Jewish leaders for the Holocaust.
Legacy
Hannah Arendt is considered one of the most influential political philosophers of the 20th century. In 1998 Walter Laqueur stated "No twentieth-century philosopher and political thinker has at the present time as wide an echo", as philosopher, historian, sociologist and also journalist. Arendt's legacy has been described as a cult. In a 2016 review of a documentary about Arendt, the journalist A. O. Scott describes Hannah Arendt as "of unmatched range and rigor" as a thinker, although she is primarily known for the article Eichmann in Jerusalem that she wrote for The New Yorker, and in particular for the one phrase "the banality of evil".
She shunned publicity, never expecting, as she explained to Karl Jaspers in 1951, to see herself as a "cover girl" on the newsstands. In Germany, there are tours available of sites associated with her life.
The study of the life and work of Hannah Arendt, and of her political and philosophical theory is described as Arendtian. In her will she established the Hannah Arendt Bluecher Literary Trust as the custodian of her writings and photographs. Her personal library was deposited at Bard College at the Stevenson Library in 1976, and includes approximately 4,000 books, ephemera, and pamphlets from Arendt's last apartment as well as her desk (in McCarthy House). The college has begun archiving some of the collection digitally, which is available at The Hannah Arendt Collection. Most of her papers were deposited at the Library of Congress and her correspondence with her German friends and mentors, such as Heidegger, Blumenfeld and Jaspers, at the Deutsches Literaturarchiv in Marbach. The Library of Congress listed more than 50 books written about her in 1998, and that number has continued to grow, as have the number of scholarly articles, estimated as 1000 at that time.
Her life and work is recognized by the institutions most closely associated with her teaching, by the creation of Hannah Arendt Centers at both Bard (Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities) and The New School, both in New York State. In Germany, her contributions to understanding authoritarianism is recognised by the Hannah-Arendt-Institut für Totalitarismusforschung (Hannah Arendt Institute for the Research on Totalitarianism) in Dresden. There are Hannah Arendt Associations (Hannah Arendt Verein) such as the Hannah Arendt Verein für politisches Denken in Bremen that awards the annual Hannah-Arendt-Preis für politisches Denken (Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thinking) established in 1995. In Oldenburg, the Hannah Arendt Center at Carl von Ossietzky University was established in 1999, and holds a large collection of her work (Hannah Arendt Archiv), and administers the internet portal HannahArendt.net (A Journal for Political Thinking) as well as a monograph series, the Hannah Arendt-Studien. In Italy, the Hannah Arendt Center for Political Studies is situated at the University of Verona for Arendtian studies.
In 2017 a journal, Arendt Studies, was launched to publish articles related to the study of the life, work, and legacy of Hannah Arendt. Many places associated with her, have memorabilia of her on display, such as her student card at the University of Heidelberg (see image). 2006, the anniversary of her birth, saw commemorations of her work in conferences and celebrations around the world.
In 2015, the filmmaker Ada Ushpiz produced a documentary on Hannah Arendt, Vita Activa: The Spirit of Hannah Arendt. The New York Times designated it a New York Times critics pick. Of the many photographic portraits of Arendt, that taken in 1944 by Fred Stein (see image), whose work she greatly admired, has become iconic, and has been described as better known than the photographer himself, having appeared on a German postage stamp.(see image) Among organizations that have recognized Arendt's contributions to civilization and human rights, is the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
Contemporary interest
The rise of nativism, such as the election of Donald Trump in the United States, and concerns regarding an increasingly authoritarian style of governance has led to a surge of interest in Arendt and her writings, including radio broadcasts and writers, including Jeremy Adelman and Zoe Williams, to revisit Arendt's ideas to seek the extent to which they inform our understanding of such movements, which are being described as "Dark Times". At the same time Amazon reported that it had sold out of copies of The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951). Michiko Kakutani has addressed what she refers to as "the death of truth". In her 2018 book, The Death of Truth: Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump, she argues that the rise of totalitarianism has been founded on the violation of truth. She begins her book with an extensive quote from The Origins of Totalitarianism:
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist
Kakutani and others believed that Arendt's words speak not just events of a previous century but apply equally to the contemporary cultural landscape populated with fake news and lies. She also draws on Arendt's essay "Lying in Politics" from Crises in the Republic pointing to the lines:
The historian knows how vulnerable is the whole texture of facts in which we spend our daily life; it is always in danger of being perforated by single lies or torn to shreds by the organized lying of groups, nations, or classes, or denied and distorted, often carefully covered up by reams of falsehoods or simply allowed to fall into oblivion. Facts need testimony to be remembered and trustworthy witnesses to be established in order to find a secure dwelling place in the domain of human affairs
Arendt drew attention to the critical role that propaganda plays in gaslighting populations, Kakutani observes, citing the passage:
In an ever-changing, incomprehensible world the masses had reached the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, think that everything was possible and that nothing was true . ... The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness
It is also relevant that Arendt took a broader perspective on history than merely totalitarianism in the early 20th century, stating "the deliberate falsehood and the outright lie have been used as legitimate means to achieve political ends since the beginning of recorded history." Contemporary relevance is also reflected in the increasing use of the phrase, attributed to her, "No one has the right to obey" to reflect that actions result from choices, and hence judgement, and that we cannot disclaim responsibility for that which we have the power to act upon. In addition those centers established to promote Arendtian studies continue to seek solutions to a wide range of contemporary issues in her writing.
Arendt's teachings on obedience have also been linked to the controversial psychology experiments by Stanley Milgram, that implied that ordinary people can easily be induced to commit atrocities. Milgram himself drew attention to this in 1974, stating that he was testing the theory that Eichmann like others would merely follow orders, but unlike Milgram she argued that actions involve responsibility.
Arendt's theories on the political consequences of how nations deal with refugees has remained relevant and compelling. Arendt had observed first hand the displacement of large stateless and rightsless populations, treated not so much as people in need than as problems to solve, and in many cases, resist. She wrote about this in her 1943 essay "We refugees". Another Arendtian theme that finds an echo in contemporary society is her observation, inspired by Rilke, of the despair of not being heard, the futility of tragedy that finds no listener that can bring comfort, assurance and intervention. An example of this being gun violence in America and the resulting political inaction.
In Search of the Last Agora, an illustrated documentary film by Lebanese director Rayyan Dabbous about Hannah Arendt's 1958 work The Human Condition, was released in 2018 to mark the book's 50th anniversary. Screened at Bard College, the experimental film is described as finding "new meaning in the political theorist's conceptions of politics, technology and society in the 1950s", particularly in her prediction of abuses of phenomena unknown in Arendt's time, including social media, intense globalization, and obsessive celebrity culture.
Hannah Arendt's life and work continue to be commemorated in many different ways, including plaques (Gedenktafeln) indicating places she has lived. Public places and institutions bear her name, including schools. There is also a Hannah Arendt Day (Hannah Arendt Tag) in her birthplace. Objects named after her vary from asteroids to trains and she has been commemorated in stamps. Museums and foundations include her name.
Arendt Studies
Arendt Studies is a peer-reviewed academic journal that examines the life, work, and legacy of Hannah Arendt. Established in 2017, it publishes research articles and translations, including the first English translation of Hannah Arendt's "Nation-State and Democracy" (1963) Notable contributors include Andrew Benjamin, Peg Birmingham, Adriana Cavarero, Robert P. Crease, and Celso Lafer. Articles published in this journal are covered in the international Hannah Arendt Bibliographie. Arendt Studies is also included in JSTOR. The journal is edited by James Barry at Indiana University and published by the Philosophy Documentation Center.
Family tree
See also
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List of women philosophers
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Notes
References
Bibliography
Articles (journals and proceedings)
(French translation)
, reprinted in
Rahel Varnhagen
Special issues and proceedings
Audiovisual
(see also Hannah Arendt)
Bernstein, Richard (2019): Podcast conversation: "Hannah Arendt is Alarmingly Relevant"
Books and monographs
"Ethics in many different voices" pp. 247–268, see also revised versions as and
(see also excerpt at
(see also Obedience to Authority)
Autobiography and biography
excerpt
(full text)
(updated by way of a second preface, pagination unchanged)
Critical works
excerpt, see also
text at Pensar el Espacio Público
Historical
, available in Latin as
facsimile text at Gallica, and reproduced on Wikisource
full text available on Internet Archive
Chapters and contributions
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
Guilherme, Alexandre and Morgan, W. John, 'Hannah Arendt (1906-1975)-dialogue as a public space'. Chapter 4 in Philosophy, Dialogue, and Education: Nine modern European philosophers, Routledge, London and New York, pp. 55–71, .
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
, in
Dictionaries and encyclopedias
(Version: January 2019)
, in
Magazines
, reprinted in
, reprinted from
, reprinted in
Newspapers
Theses
(at Theses.fr)
Websites
- includes Brecht reading (english)
(English translation by A. S. Kline 2004)
Biography, genealogy and timelines
see also: Principal Dates in
, in
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[
"Misha: A Mémoire of the Holocaust Years is a literary hoax by Misha Defonseca, first published in 1997. The book was fraudulently published as a memoir telling the supposed true story of how the author survived the Holocaust as a young Jewish girl, wandering Europe searching for her deported parents. The book sold well in several countries and was made into a film, Survivre avec les loups (Surviving with the Wolves), named after the claim that Misha was adopted by a pack of wolves during her journey who protected her.\n\nHowever, on 29 February 2008, Defonseca publicly admitted what many had already suspected, that her book was false. Her real name was Monique de Wael; while her parents had been taken away by the Nazis, they were not Jews but Roman Catholic members of the Belgian Resistance, and she did not leave her home during the war, as the book claims. In a statement released through her lawyers to the Brussels newspaper Le Soir, de Wael attempted to defend the hoax, claiming that the story of \"Misha\" \"is not actual reality, but was my reality, my way of surviving\" and that there were moments when she \"found it difficult to differentiate between what was real and what was part of my imagination.\"\n\nThe real author, Monique de Wael\n\nIt is difficult to be sure of de Wael's true history, since it was obscured for so long behind the falsehood she told. However, at least a fragmentary version can be put together from documentation turned up by researchers and from de Wael's own admissions.\n\nMonique de Wael was born in 1937 in Etterbeek, Belgium, to Robert De Wael and Josephine Donvil. Sources differ as to her birthdate: 12 May (according to a baptismal record) or 2 September (according to records from the school Monique attended in the year 1943–44). Her family was Catholic, and her parents were members of the Belgian resistance, which led to them being arrested by the Nazis on 23 September, 1941. Nazi records indicate that Robert de Wael was executed on May 3 or 4 of 1944, and Donvil died sometime between 1 February and 31 December 1945.\n\nAccording to de Wael's February 2008 statement, her guardianship went first to her grandfather Ernest de Wael, and then to her uncle Maurice de Wael. De Wael says that with the exception of her grandfather, those who took her in treated her badly, including calling her \"the traitor's daughter\" because her father was suspected of having given information under torture in St. Gilles prison. She remained with her uncle's family, and did not go off in search of her missing parents as \"Misha\" did, but according to her statement, this time with her uncle's family was when she began to \"feel Jewish\" and to fantasise about running off with the wolves.\n\nThe book\nBy the late 1980s, de Wael was living in Massachusetts in the United States under the name Misha Defonseca. She was telling people the fictional story of Misha as a recollection of her own life, and presented it to the congregation of a Holliston, Massachusetts, synagogue on Holocaust Memorial Day as her own experience of the Holocaust.\n\nThe character of Misha is eight when her parents are taken away (unlike de Wael, who was four). Before their deportation, her parents placed her with a Roman Catholic family, who give her the pseudonym Monique de Wael (the author's real name). When this family treats her cruelly, Misha goes off in search of her parents, walking through Europe and living by stealing food, clothing and shoes.\n\nAt a time when she faces starvation in a forest, she is adopted by wolves, becoming a feral child. Protected by the pack, she survives by eating offal and worms. All in all, she treks over through Europe, from Belgium to Ukraine, through the Balkans and Germany and Poland (where she sneaks in and out of the Warsaw Ghetto), to Italy by boat and back to Belgium through France. Before the war is over, the character has taken human life to survive, stabbing to death with a pocket knife a rapist Nazi soldier who attacks her.\n\nWhen Jane Daniel, the owner of a small publishing company, Mt. Ivy Press, heard of Misha's dramatic and supposedly true story, she signed Defonseca to write a memoir of her experiences, with Vera Lee, a friend of Daniel's, as co-writer. The book was published in April 1997, and sold only around 5,000 copies in the United States, but was optioned for a film by The Walt Disney Company. Disney declined to make the film, however, in part because of legal difficulties: by 1998, Defonseca and Lee had brought a lawsuit against Daniel, alleging that she had failed to market the book properly in the U.S. and had failed to give the co-authors their proper share of overseas royalties. In 2001 a jury awarded Defonseca and Lee over $10 million. A judge's decision later tripled the amount Daniel was required to pay to over $32 million, with $22.5 million to go to Defonseca and $11 million to Lee. The rights to the book were also awarded to Defonseca.\n\nDefonseca's contract with Daniel and Mt. Ivy Press did not include the European print and film rights, which were sold separately. The book became a bestseller in France, selling more than 30,000 copies, and Defonseca toured France to promote it; in Italy the book sold even better, surpassing 37,000 copies. French film rights were sold to French, Jewish filmmaker Véra Belmont and the resulting film, Survivre avec des loups, opened in Belgium in late 2007.\n\nExposure\nDoubts about the truthfulness of the book surfaced even before the book was published. At least two people who were asked by the publisher to contribute blurbs for the book instead warned the publisher that the story was not true. One of them, Lawrence L. Langer (a 1991 winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism, for his book Holocaust Testimonies: The Ruins of Memory) consulted Holocaust scholar Raul Hilberg, who also thought the story impossible. A third, Bette Greene, asked for her blurb to be removed because she found the book unbelievable. As early as 1996, questions of authenticity were being aired publicly, for instance by Henryk M. Broder in Der Spiegel: \"Falsehood or not a falsehood, that is the question here. Aside from no objective proof exists. And all witnesses who could confirm Misha's story are either dead or disappeared.\"\n\nEven Defonseca's co-author Lee had doubts, leading her to consult Facing History and Ourselves, a nonprofit educational organization which helps to guide how the Holocaust is studied in schools. According to Lee, when the organization's representative told her that the story she was describing was impossible, she tried to bring her concerns to Daniel, only to be rebuffed. When she was told that Defonseca had burned diaries from her teens in which she had written down her story, because the French version of her book had told her story so completely, Lee was surprised because she had never been told of the existence of these diaries, much less been given access to them to assist in writing the book. Nevertheless, Lee would profess surprise in 2008 when Defonseca confessed that she was not Jewish and the story was fictional, saying that no research she did had led her to think the story was anything but true.\n\nAs the publisher of the book, Daniel had made many public statements which addressed the issue of whether Defonseca's memoir was truthful. One of these public statements came in 1999, and was prompted by the public controversy that occurred when Binjamin Wilkomirski's alleged Holocaust memoir Fragments: Memories of a Wartime Childhood 1939–1948 was shown to be a fraud. Daniel wrote \"Is Misha's story fact or invention? Without hard evidence one way or the other, questions will always remain ... It is left to the reader to decide.\" Later, after the first jury award, Daniel would say \"I have no idea whether is true or not. My experience is that all Holocaust stories are far-fetched. All survivor stories are miracles.\" By 2007, however, Daniel was trying to actively debunk the story of Misha in hopes that it would provide a way to challenge the judgement against her. In August 2007, Daniel began a blog titled \"Best-Seller\", telling the story of how the book came to be published, and attracted attention from Sharon Sergeant, a genealogist. Using clues from the various versions of the manuscript, including the \"pseudonym\" of Monique de Wael, Sergeant turned up documents from de Wael's life, such as a baptismal record and a school register showing de Wael enrolled in elementary school in 1943 when Misha was supposed to be wandering through Europe. After Daniel published these documents on the blog in late February 2008, the Belgian newspaper Le Soir took up the controversy, unearthing and publishing more detail on de Wael's parents. Within a week, Defonseca had acknowledged that Monique de Wael was her real name and that the life of Misha was a fantasy.\n\nSee also\n\n The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski \n Angel at the Fence by Herman Rosenblat\n Benjamin Wilkomirski (Fragments)\n Rosemarie Pence (Hannah: From Dachau to the Olympics and Beyond)\n Dog Boy by Eva Sallis was inspired by the story of feral child Ivan Mishukov\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Defonseca's statement to Le Soir\n \n \"Writer admits Holocaust book is not true\", Boston Globe, February 29, 2008.\n Eskin, Blake. \"Crying Wolf: Why did it take so long for a far-fetched Holocaust memoir to be debunked?\", Slate.com, February 29, 2008.\n Belgian Writer Admits Best-Selling Holocaust 'Memoir' a Hoax\n Holocaust wolf memoir a fake, author admits\n Author: My best-selling Holocaust book is a hoax\n \"Best-Seller\", Jane Daniel's blog telling the story of the book's publication\n Untrue Stories, article & video on how Holocaust memoir hoaxes are busted\n Jane Daniel on NPR's Here and Now\n Misha' Publisher Files to Overturn $33 Million Judgment\n\n1997 novels\nLiterary forgeries\nNovels set during World War II\nWolves in literature\nHolocaust-related hoaxes\nWritten fiction presented as fact\nFictional feral children",
"Sabina Citron (born 1928) is a Holocaust survivor. She is a founder and spokesperson of the Canadian Holocaust Remembrance Association, charged a Nazi propagandist under the Canadian Criminal Code with spreading false news in relation to the Holocaust, and prevailed in a civil lawsuit for libel against Hungarian war criminal Imre Finta. She authored The Indictment.\n\nEarly life\nCitron was born in Łódź, Poland. She performed forced labour in an ammunition factory during World War II.\n\nLater during the Holocaust, she was incarcerated in Auschwitz concentration camp, where her oldest brother died. Although the rest of Citron's close relatives managed to survive, almost all of her extended family were killed. She moved to Israel in 1948, later immigrated to Toronto, Canada, and now lives in Jerusalem, Israel.\n\nLater life\nCitron became a founder and spokesperson of the Canadian Holocaust Remembrance Association.\n\nIn 1983 Citron began a private prosecution under the Canadian Criminal Code against Nazi propagandist Ernst Zündel, a Holocaust denier and pamphleteer, charging him with spreading false news.\n\nThe charges were based on two pamphlets he had published. Citron alleged that the publications were \"likely to cause mischief to the public interest in social and racial tolerance\". The case was taken over by the Crown Attorney's office, and Zündel was convicted and sentenced to 15 months in jail.\n\nHowever, on appeal to the Ontario Court of Appeal, the conviction was set aside and a re-trial ordered, due to procedural errors made by the trial judge. Zündel was again convicted at the re-trial and appealed, first to the Ontario Court of Appeal, which dismissed the appeal, and then to the Supreme Court of Canada, which allowed the appeal, overturning the decisions of the courts below. In its decision, the Supreme Court held that the charge of spreading false news was unconstitutional, because it infringed the guarantee of freedom of expression in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.\n\nCitron also prevailed in a civil lawsuit for libel against Imre Finta, after he accused her of being a liar for saying that he had committed war crimes.\n\nCitron is the author of The Indictment: The Arab-Israeli Conflict in Historical Perspective (Gefen Publishing House Ltd, 2006).\n\nReferences\n\nAuschwitz concentration camp survivors\n1928 births\nLiving people\nPeople from Jerusalem\nPeople from Łódź\nPolish emigrants to Canada\nPolish emigrants to Israel\nCanadian non-fiction writers\nWriters from Toronto\nJewish Canadian writers\nHolocaust denial in Canada\nCanadian women non-fiction writers\nJewish women writers"
] |
[
"Ada Lovelace",
"Beyond numbers"
] |
C_47899340436946f4a66e41ddc2156446_0
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what is the significance of Beyond Numbers?
| 1 |
what is the significance of Beyond Numbers by Ada Lovelace?
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Ada Lovelace
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In her notes, Lovelace emphasised the difference between the Analytical Engine and previous calculating machines, particularly its ability to be programmed to solve problems of any complexity. She realised the potential of the device extended far beyond mere number crunching. In her notes, she wrote: [The Analytical Engine] might act upon other things besides number, were objects found whose mutual fundamental relations could be expressed by those of the abstract science of operations, and which should be also susceptible of adaptations to the action of the operating notation and mechanism of the engine...Supposing, for instance, that the fundamental relations of pitched sounds in the science of harmony and of musical composition were susceptible of such expression and adaptations, the engine might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent. This analysis was an important development from previous ideas about the capabilities of computing devices and anticipated the implications of modern computing one hundred years before they were realised. Walter Isaacson ascribes Lovelace's insight regarding the application of computing to any process based on logical symbols to an observation about textiles: "When she saw some mechanical looms that used punchcards to direct the weaving of beautiful patterns, it reminded her of how Babbage's engine used punched cards to make calculations." This insight is seen as significant by writers such as Betty Toole and Benjamin Woolley, as well as the programmer John Graham-Cumming, whose project Plan 28 has the aim of constructing the first complete Analytical Engine. According to the historian of computing and Babbage specialist Doron Swade: Ada saw something that Babbage in some sense failed to see. In Babbage's world his engines were bound by number...What Lovelace saw--what Ada Byron saw--was that number could represent entities other than quantity. So once you had a machine for manipulating numbers, if those numbers represented other things, letters, musical notes, then the machine could manipulate symbols of which number was one instance, according to rules. It is this fundamental transition from a machine which is a number cruncher to a machine for manipulating symbols according to rules that is the fundamental transition from calculation to computation--to general-purpose computation--and looking back from the present high ground of modern computing, if we are looking and sifting history for that transition, then that transition was made explicitly by Ada in that 1843 paper. CANNOTANSWER
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the difference between the Analytical Engine and previous calculating machines, particularly its ability to be programmed to solve problems of any complexity.
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Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (née Byron; 10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852) was an English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. She was the first to recognise that the machine had applications beyond pure calculation, and to have published the first algorithm intended to be carried out by such a machine. As a result, she is often regarded as the first computer programmer.
Ada Byron was the only child of poet Lord Byron and mathematician Lady Byron. All of Byron's other children were born out of wedlock to other women. Byron separated from his wife a month after Ada was born and left England forever. Four months later, he commemorated the parting in a poem that begins, "Is thy face like thy mother's my fair child! ADA! sole daughter of my house and heart?". He died in Greece when Ada was eight years old. Her mother remained bitter and promoted Ada's interest in mathematics and logic in an effort to prevent her from developing her father's perceived insanity. Despite this, Ada remained interested in him, naming her two sons Byron and Gordon. Upon her death, she was buried next to him at her request. Although often ill in her childhood, Ada pursued her studies assiduously. She married William King in 1835. King was made Earl of Lovelace in 1838, Ada thereby becoming Countess of Lovelace.
Her educational and social exploits brought her into contact with scientists such as Andrew Crosse, Charles Babbage, Sir David Brewster, Charles Wheatstone, Michael Faraday and the author Charles Dickens, contacts which she used to further her education. Ada described her approach as "poetical science" and herself as an "Analyst (& Metaphysician)".
When she was a teenager (18), her mathematical talents led her to a long working relationship and friendship with fellow British mathematician Charles Babbage, who is known as "the father of computers". She was in particular interested in Babbage's work on the Analytical Engine. Lovelace first met him in June 1833, through their mutual friend, and her private tutor, Mary Somerville.
Between 1842 and 1843, Ada translated an article by Italian military engineer Luigi Menabrea about the Analytical Engine, supplementing it with an elaborate set of notes, simply called "Notes". Lovelace's notes are important in the early history of computers, containing what many consider to be the first computer program—that is, an algorithm designed to be carried out by a machine. Other historians reject this perspective and point out that Babbage's personal notes from the years 1836/1837 contain the first programs for the engine. She also developed a vision of the capability of computers to go beyond mere calculating or number-crunching, while many others, including Babbage himself, focused only on those capabilities. Her mindset of "poetical science" led her to ask questions about the Analytical Engine (as shown in her notes) examining how individuals and society relate to technology as a collaborative tool.
She died of uterine cancer in 1852 at the age of 36, the same age at which her father died.
Biography
Childhood
Lord Byron expected his child to be a "glorious boy" and was disappointed when Lady Byron gave birth to a girl. The child was named after Byron's half-sister, Augusta Leigh, and was called "Ada" by Byron himself. On 16 January 1816, at Lord Byron's command, Lady Byron left for her parents' home at Kirkby Mallory, taking their five-week-old daughter with her. Although English law at the time granted full custody of children to the father in cases of separation, Lord Byron made no attempt to claim his parental rights, but did request that his sister keep him informed of Ada's welfare.
On 21 April, Lord Byron signed the deed of separation, although very reluctantly, and left England for good a few days later. Aside from an acrimonious separation, Lady Byron continued throughout her life to make allegations about her husband's immoral behaviour. This set of events made Lovelace infamous in Victorian society. Ada did not have a relationship with her father. He died in 1824 when she was eight years old. Her mother was the only significant parental figure in her life. Lovelace was not shown the family portrait of her father until her 20th birthday.
Lovelace did not have a close relationship with her mother. She was often left in the care of her maternal grandmother Judith, Hon. Lady Milbanke, who doted on her. However, because of societal attitudes of the time—which favoured the husband in any separation, with the welfare of any child acting as mitigation—Lady Byron had to present herself as a loving mother to the rest of society. This included writing anxious letters to Lady Milbanke about her daughter's welfare, with a cover note saying to retain the letters in case she had to use them to show maternal concern. In one letter to Lady Milbanke, she referred to her daughter as "it": "I talk to it for your satisfaction, not my own, and shall be very glad when you have it under your own." Lady Byron had her teenage daughter watched by close friends for any sign of moral deviation. Lovelace dubbed these observers the "Furies" and later complained they exaggerated and invented stories about her.
Lovelace was often ill, beginning in early childhood. At the age of eight, she experienced headaches that obscured her vision. In June 1829, she was paralyzed after a bout of measles. She was subjected to continuous bed rest for nearly a year, something which may have extended her period of disability. By 1831, she was able to walk with crutches. Despite the illnesses, she developed her mathematical and technological skills.
Ada Byron had an affair with a tutor in early 1833. She tried to elope with him after she was caught, but the tutor's relatives recognised her and contacted her mother. Lady Byron and her friends covered the incident up to prevent a public scandal. Lovelace never met her younger half-sister, Allegra, the daughter of Lord Byron and Claire Clairmont. Allegra died in 1822 at the age of five. Lovelace did have some contact with Elizabeth Medora Leigh, the daughter of Byron's half-sister Augusta Leigh, who purposely avoided Lovelace as much as possible when introduced at court.
Adult years
Lovelace became close friends with her tutor Mary Somerville, who introduced her to Charles Babbage in 1833. She had a strong respect and affection for Somerville, and they corresponded for many years. Other acquaintances included the scientists Andrew Crosse, Sir David Brewster, Charles Wheatstone, Michael Faraday and the author Charles Dickens. She was presented at Court at the age of seventeen "and became a popular belle of the season" in part because of her "brilliant mind." By 1834 Ada was a regular at Court and started attending various events. She danced often and was able to charm many people, and was described by most people as being dainty, although John Hobhouse, Byron's friend, described her as "a large, coarse-skinned young woman but with something of my friend's features, particularly the mouth". This description followed their meeting on 24 February 1834 in which Ada made it clear to Hobhouse that she did not like him, probably due to her mother's influence, which led her to dislike all of her father's friends. This first impression was not to last, and they later became friends.
On 8 July 1835, she married William, 8th Baron King, becoming Lady King. They had three homes: Ockham Park, Surrey; a Scottish estate on Loch Torridon in Ross-shire; and a house in London. They spent their honeymoon at Worthy Manor in Ashley Combe near Porlock Weir, Somerset. The Manor had been built as a hunting lodge in 1799 and was improved by King in preparation for their honeymoon. It later became their summer retreat and was further improved during this time. From 1845, the family's main house was Horsley Towers, built in the Tudorbethan fashion by the architect of the Houses of Parliament, Charles Barry, and later greatly enlarged to Lovelace's own designs.
They had three children: Byron (born 1836); Anne Isabella (called Annabella, born 1837); and Ralph Gordon (born 1839). Immediately after the birth of Annabella, Lady King experienced "a tedious and suffering illness, which took months to cure." Ada was a descendant of the extinct Barons Lovelace and in 1838, her husband was made Earl of Lovelace and Viscount Ockham, meaning Ada became the Countess of Lovelace. In 1843–44, Ada's mother assigned William Benjamin Carpenter to teach Ada's children and to act as a "moral" instructor for Ada. He quickly fell for her and encouraged her to express any frustrated affections, claiming that his marriage meant he would never act in an "unbecoming" manner. When it became clear that Carpenter was trying to start an affair, Ada cut it off.
In 1841, Lovelace and Medora Leigh (the daughter of Lord Byron's half-sister Augusta Leigh) were told by Ada's mother that Ada's father was also Medora's father. On 27 February 1841, Ada wrote to her mother: "I am not in the least astonished. In fact, you merely confirm what I have for years and years felt scarcely a doubt about, but should have considered it most improper in me to hint to you that I in any way suspected." She did not blame the incestuous relationship on Byron, but instead blamed Augusta Leigh: "I fear she is more inherently wicked than he ever was." In the 1840s, Ada flirted with scandals: firstly, from a relaxed approach to extra-marital relationships with men, leading to rumours of affairs; and secondly, from her love of gambling. She apparently lost more than £3,000 on the horses during the later 1840s. The gambling led to her forming a syndicate with male friends, and an ambitious attempt in 1851 to create a mathematical model for successful large bets. This went disastrously wrong, leaving her thousands of pounds in debt to the syndicate, forcing her to admit it all to her husband. She had a shadowy relationship with Andrew Crosse's son John from 1844 onwards. John Crosse destroyed most of their correspondence after her death as part of a legal agreement. She bequeathed him the only heirlooms her father had personally left to her. During her final illness, she would panic at the idea of the younger Crosse being kept from visiting her.
Education
From 1832, when she was seventeen, her mathematical abilities began to emerge, and her interest in mathematics dominated the majority of her adult life. Her mother's obsession with rooting out any of the insanity of which she accused Byron was one of the reasons that Ada was taught mathematics from an early age. She was privately educated in mathematics and science by William Frend, William King, and Mary Somerville, the noted 19th-century researcher and scientific author. In the 1840s, the mathematician Augustus De Morgan extended her "much help in her mathematical studies" including study of advanced calculus topics including the "numbers of Bernoulli" (that formed her celebrated algorithm for Babbage's Analytical Engine). In a letter to Lady Byron, De Morgan suggested that Ada's skill in mathematics might lead her to become "an original mathematical investigator, perhaps of first-rate eminence."
Lovelace often questioned basic assumptions through integrating poetry and science. Whilst studying differential calculus, she wrote to De Morgan:
I may remark that the curious transformations many formulae can undergo, the unsuspected and to a beginner apparently impossible identity of forms exceedingly dissimilar at first sight, is I think one of the chief difficulties in the early part of mathematical studies. I am often reminded of certain sprites and fairies one reads of, who are at one's elbows in one shape now, and the next minute in a form most dissimilar.
Lovelace believed that intuition and imagination were critical to effectively applying mathematical and scientific concepts. She valued metaphysics as much as mathematics, viewing both as tools for exploring "the unseen worlds around us."
Death
Lovelace died at the age of 36 on 27 November 1852, from uterine cancer. The illness lasted several months, in which time Annabella took command over whom Ada saw, and excluded all of her friends and confidants. Under her mother's influence, Ada had a religious transformation and was coaxed into repenting of her previous conduct and making Annabella her executor. She lost contact with her husband after confessing something to him on 30 August which caused him to abandon her bedside. It is not known what she told him. She was buried, at her request, next to her father at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire. A memorial plaque, written in Latin, to her and her father is in the chapel attached to Horsley Towers.
Work
Throughout her life, Lovelace was strongly interested in scientific developments and fads of the day, including phrenology and mesmerism. After her work with Babbage, Lovelace continued to work on other projects. In 1844, she commented to a friend Woronzow Greig about her desire to create a mathematical model for how the brain gives rise to thoughts and nerves to feelings ("a calculus of the nervous system"). She never achieved this, however. In part, her interest in the brain came from a long-running pre-occupation, inherited from her mother, about her "potential" madness. As part of her research into this project, she visited the electrical engineer Andrew Crosse in 1844 to learn how to carry out electrical experiments. In the same year, she wrote a review of a paper by Baron Karl von Reichenbach, Researches on Magnetism, but this was not published and does not appear to have progressed past the first draft. In 1851, the year before her cancer struck, she wrote to her mother mentioning "certain productions" she was working on regarding the relation of maths and music.
Lovelace first met Charles Babbage in June 1833, through their mutual friend Mary Somerville. Later that month, Babbage invited Lovelace to see the prototype for his difference engine. She became fascinated with the machine and used her relationship with Somerville to visit Babbage as often as she could. Babbage was impressed by Lovelace's intellect and analytic skills. He called her "The Enchantress of Number." In 1843, he wrote to her:
During a nine-month period in 1842–43, Lovelace translated the Italian mathematician Luigi Menabrea's article on Babbage's newest proposed machine, the Analytical Engine. With the article, she appended a set of notes. Explaining the Analytical Engine's function was a difficult task, as many other scientists did not really grasp the concept and the British establishment had shown little interest in it. Lovelace's notes even had to explain how the Analytical Engine differed from the original Difference Engine. Her work was well received at the time; the scientist Michael Faraday described himself as a supporter of her writing.
The notes are around three times longer than the article itself and include (in Note G), in complete detail, a method for calculating a sequence of Bernoulli numbers using the Analytical Engine, which might have run correctly had it ever been built (only Babbage's Difference Engine has been built, completed in London in 2002). Based on this work, Lovelace is now considered by many to be the first computer programmer and her method has been called the world's first computer program. Others dispute this because some of Charles Babbage's earlier writings could be considered computer programs.
Note G also contains Lovelace's dismissal of artificial intelligence. She wrote that "The Analytical Engine has no pretensions whatever to originate anything. It can do whatever we know how to order it to perform. It can follow analysis; but it has no power of anticipating any analytical relations or truths." This objection has been the subject of much debate and rebuttal, for example by Alan Turing in his paper "Computing Machinery and Intelligence".
Lovelace and Babbage had a minor falling out when the papers were published, when he tried to leave his own statement (criticising the government's treatment of his Engine) as an unsigned preface, which could have been mistakenly interpreted as a joint declaration. When Taylor's Scientific Memoirs ruled that the statement should be signed, Babbage wrote to Lovelace asking her to withdraw the paper. This was the first that she knew he was leaving it unsigned, and she wrote back refusing to withdraw the paper. The historian Benjamin Woolley theorised that "His actions suggested he had so enthusiastically sought Ada's involvement, and so happily indulged her ... because of her 'celebrated name'." Their friendship recovered, and they continued to correspond. On 12 August 1851, when she was dying of cancer, Lovelace wrote to him asking him to be her executor, though this letter did not give him the necessary legal authority. Part of the terrace at Worthy Manor was known as Philosopher's Walk, as it was there that Lovelace and Babbage were reputed to have walked while discussing mathematical principles.
First computer program
In 1840, Babbage was invited to give a seminar at the University of Turin about his Analytical Engine. Luigi Menabrea, a young Italian engineer and the future Prime Minister of Italy, transcribed Babbage's lecture into French, and this transcript was subsequently published in the Bibliothèque universelle de Genève in October 1842.
Babbage's friend Charles Wheatstone commissioned Ada Lovelace to translate Menabrea's paper into English. She then augmented the paper with notes, which were added to the translation. Ada Lovelace spent the better part of a year doing this, assisted with input from Babbage. These notes, which are more extensive than Menabrea's paper, were then published in the September 1843 edition of Taylor's Scientific Memoirs under the initialism AAL.
Ada Lovelace's notes were labelled alphabetically from A to G. In note G, she describes an algorithm for the Analytical Engine to compute Bernoulli numbers. It is considered to be the first published algorithm ever specifically tailored for implementation on a computer, and Ada Lovelace has often been cited as the first computer programmer for this reason. The engine was never completed so her program was never tested.
In 1953, more than a century after her death, Ada Lovelace's notes on Babbage's Analytical Engine were republished as an appendix to B. V. Bowden's Faster than Thought: A Symposium on Digital Computing Machines. The engine has now been recognised as an early model for a computer and her notes as a description of a computer and software.
Insight into potential of computing devices
In her notes, Ada Lovelace emphasised the difference between the Analytical Engine and previous calculating machines, particularly its ability to be programmed to solve problems of any complexity. She realised the potential of the device extended far beyond mere number crunching. In her notes, she wrote:
This analysis was an important development from previous ideas about the capabilities of computing devices and anticipated the implications of modern computing one hundred years before they were realised. Walter Isaacson ascribes Ada's insight regarding the application of computing to any process based on logical symbols to an observation about textiles: "When she saw some mechanical looms that used punchcards to direct the weaving of beautiful patterns, it reminded her of how Babbage's engine used punched cards to make calculations." This insight is seen as significant by writers such as Betty Toole and Benjamin Woolley, as well as the programmer John Graham-Cumming, whose project Plan 28 has the aim of constructing the first complete Analytical Engine.
According to the historian of computing and Babbage specialist Doron Swade: Ada saw something that Babbage in some sense failed to see. In Babbage's world his engines were bound by number...What Lovelace saw...was that number could represent entities other than quantity. So once you had a machine for manipulating numbers, if those numbers represented other things, letters, musical notes, then the machine could manipulate symbols of which number was one instance, according to rules. It is this fundamental transition from a machine which is a number cruncher to a machine for manipulating symbols according to rules that is the fundamental transition from calculation to computation—to general-purpose computation—and looking back from the present high ground of modern computing, if we are looking and sifting history for that transition, then that transition was made explicitly by Ada in that 1843 paper.
Controversy over contribution
Though Lovelace is often referred to as the first computer programmer, some biographers, computer scientists and historians of computing claim otherwise.
Allan G. Bromley, in the 1990 article Difference and Analytical Engines:
Bruce Collier, who later wrote a biography of Babbage, wrote in his 1970 Harvard University PhD thesis that Lovelace "made a considerable contribution to publicizing the Analytical Engine, but there is no evidence that she advanced the design or theory of it in any way".
Eugene Eric Kim and Betty Alexandra Toole consider it "incorrect" to regard Lovelace as the first computer programmer, as Babbage wrote the initial programs for his Analytical Engine, although the majority were never published. Bromley notes several dozen sample programs prepared by Babbage between 1837 and 1840, all substantially predating Lovelace's notes. Dorothy K. Stein regards Lovelace's notes as "more a reflection of the mathematical uncertainty of the author, the political purposes of the inventor, and, above all, of the social and cultural context in which it was written, than a blueprint for a scientific development."
Doron Swade, a specialist on history of computing known for his work on Babbage, discussed Lovelace during a lecture on Babbage's analytical engine. He explained that Ada was only a "promising beginner" instead of genius in mathematics, that she began studying basic concepts of mathematics five years after Babbage conceived the analytical engine so she could not have made important contributions to it, and that she only published the first computer program instead of actually writing it. But he agrees that Ada was the only person to see the potential of the analytical engine as a machine capable of expressing entities other than quantities.
In his self-published book, Idea Makers, Stephen Wolfram defends Lovelace's contributions. While acknowledging that Babbage wrote several unpublished algorithms for the Analytical Engine prior to Lovelace's notes, Wolfram argues that "there's nothing as sophisticated—or as clean—as Ada's computation of the Bernoulli numbers. Babbage certainly helped and commented on Ada's work, but she was definitely the driver of it." Wolfram then suggests that Lovelace's main achievement was to distill from Babbage's correspondence "a clear exposition of the abstract operation of the machine—something which Babbage never did."
In popular culture
1810s
Lord Byron wrote the poem "Fare Thee Well" to his wife Lady Byron in 1816, following their separation after the birth of Ada Lovelace. In the poem he writes:
And when thou would'st solace gather—
When our child's first accents flow—
Wilt thou teach her to say "Father!"
Though his care she must forego?
When her little hands shall press thee—
When her lip to thine is pressed—
Think of him whose prayer shall bless thee—
Think of him thy love had blessed!
Should her lineaments resemble
Those thou never more may'st see,
Then thy heart will softly tremble
With a pulse yet true to me.
1970s
Lovelace is portrayed in Romulus Linney's 1977 play Childe Byron.
1990s
In the 1990 steampunk novel The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, Lovelace delivers a lecture on the "punched cards" programme which proves Gödel's incompleteness theorems decades before their actual discovery.
In the 1997 film Conceiving Ada, a computer scientist obsessed with Ada finds a way of communicating with her in the past by means of "undying information waves".
In Tom Stoppard's 1993 play Arcadia, the precocious teenage genius Thomasina Coverly—a character "apparently based" on Ada Lovelace (the play also involves Lord Byron)—comes to understand chaos theory, and theorises the second law of thermodynamics, before either is officially recognised.
2000s
Lovelace features in John Crowley's 2005 novel, Lord Byron's Novel: The Evening Land, as an unseen character whose personality is forcefully depicted in her annotations and anti-heroic efforts to archive her father's lost novel.
2010s
The 2015 play Ada and the Engine by Lauren Gunderson portrays Lovelace and Charles Babbage in unrequited love, and it imagines a post-death meeting between Lovelace and her father.
Lovelace and Babbage are the main characters in Sydney Padua's webcomic and graphic novel The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage. The comic features extensive footnotes on the history of Ada Lovelace, and many lines of dialogue are drawn from actual correspondence.
Lovelace and Mary Shelley as teenagers are the central characters in Jordan Stratford's steampunk series, The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency.
Lovelace, identified as Ada Augusta Byron, is portrayed by Lily Lesser in the second season of The Frankenstein Chronicles. She is employed as an "analyst" to provide the workings of a life-sized humanoid automaton. The brass workings of the machine are reminiscent of Babbage's analytical engine. Her employment is described as keeping her occupied until she returns to her studies in advanced mathematics.
Lovelace and Babbage appear as characters in the second season of the ITV series Victoria (2017). Emerald Fennell portrays Lovelace in the episode, "The Green-Eyed Monster."
The Cardano cryptocurrency platform, which was launched in 2017, uses Ada as the name for their cryptocurrency and Lovelace as the smallest sub-unit of an Ada.
"Lovelace" is the name given to the operating system designed by the character Cameron Howe in Halt and Catch Fire.
Lovelace is a primary character in the 2019 Big Finish Doctor Who audio play The Enchantress of Numbers, starring Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor and Jane Slavin as his current companion, WPC Ann Kelso. Lovelace is played by Finty Williams.
In 2019, Lovelace is a featured character in the play STEM FEMMES by Philadelphia theater company Applied Mechanics.
2020s
Lovelace features as a character in "Spyfall, Part 2", the second episode of Doctor Who, series 12, which first aired on BBC One on 5 January 2020. The character was portrayed by Sylvie Briggs, alongside characterisations of Charles Babbage and Noor Inayat Khan. In 2021, Nvidia named their upcoming GPU architecture (to be released in 2022), "Ada Lovelace", after her.
Commemoration
The computer language Ada, created on behalf of the United States Department of Defense, was named after Lovelace. The reference manual for the language was approved on 10 December 1980 and the Department of Defense Military Standard for the language, MIL-STD-1815, was given the number of the year of her birth.
In 1981, the Association for Women in Computing inaugurated its Ada Lovelace Award. Since 1998, the British Computer Society (BCS) has awarded the Lovelace Medal, and in 2008 initiated an annual competition for women students. BCSWomen sponsors the Lovelace Colloquium, an annual conference for women undergraduates. Ada College is a further-education college in Tottenham Hale, London, focused on digital skills.
Ada Lovelace Day is an annual event celebrated on the second Tuesday of October, which began in 2009. Its goal is to "... raise the profile of women in science, technology, engineering, and maths," and to "create new role models for girls and women" in these fields. Events have included Wikipedia edit-a-thons with the aim of improving the representation of women on Wikipedia in terms of articles and editors to reduce unintended gender bias on Wikipedia. The Ada Initiative was a non-profit organisation dedicated to increasing the involvement of women in the free culture and open source movements.
The Engineering in Computer Science and Telecommunications College building in Zaragoza University is called the Ada Byron Building. The computer centre in the village of Porlock, near where Lovelace lived, is named after her. Ada Lovelace House is a council-owned building in Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, near where Lovelace spent her infancy.
In 2012, a Google Doodle and blog post honoured her on her birthday.
In 2013, Ada Developers Academy was founded and named after her. The mission of Ada Developers Academy is to diversify tech by providing women and gender diverse people the skills, experience, and community support to become professional software developers to change the face of tech.
On 17 September 2013, an episode of Great Lives about Ada Lovelace aired.
As of November 2015, all new British passports have included an illustration of Lovelace and Babbage.
In 2017, a Google Doodle honoured her with other women on International Women's Day.
On 2 February 2018, Satellogic, a high-resolution Earth observation imaging and analytics company, launched a ÑuSat type micro-satellite named in honour of Ada Lovelace.
In March 2018, The New York Times published a belated obituary for Ada Lovelace.
On 27 July 2018, Senator Ron Wyden submitted, in the United States Senate, the designation of 9 October 2018 as National Ada Lovelace Day: "To honor the life and contributions of Ada Lovelace as a leading woman in science and mathematics". The resolution (S.Res.592) was considered, and agreed to without amendment and with a preamble by unanimous consent.
In November 2020 it was announced that Trinity College Dublin whose library had previously held forty busts, all of them of men, was commissioning four new busts of women, one of whom was to be Lovelace.
Bicentenary
The bicentenary of Ada Lovelace's birth was celebrated with a number of events, including:
The Ada Lovelace Bicentenary Lectures on Computability, Israel Institute for Advanced Studies, 20 December 2015 – 31 January 2016.
Ada Lovelace Symposium, University of Oxford, 13–14 October 2015.
Ada.Ada.Ada, a one-woman show about the life and work of Ada Lovelace (using an LED dress), premiered at Edinburgh International Science Festival on 11 April 2015, and continues to touring internationally to promote diversity on STEM at technology conferences, businesses, government and educational organisations.
Special exhibitions were displayed by the Science Museum in London, England and the Weston Library (part of the Bodleian Library) in Oxford, England.
Publications
Lovelace, Ada King. Ada, the Enchantress of Numbers: A Selection from the Letters of Lord Byron's Daughter and her Description of the First Computer. Mill Valley, CA: Strawberry Press, 1992. .
Publication history
Six copies of the 1843 first edition of Sketch of the Analytical Engine with Ada Lovelace's "Notes" have been located. Three are held at Harvard University, one at the University of Oklahoma, and one at the United States Air Force Academy. On 20 July 2018, the sixth copy was sold at auction to an anonymous buyer for £95,000. A digital facsimile of one of the copies in the Harvard University Library is available online.
In December 2016, a letter written by Ada Lovelace was forfeited by Martin Shkreli to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance for unpaid taxes owed by Shkreli.
See also
Ai-Da (robot)
Code: Debugging the Gender Gap
List of pioneers in computer science
Timeline of women in science
Women in computing
Women in STEM fields
Explanatory notes
References
General sources
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With notes upon the memoir by the translator.
Miller, Clair Cain. "Ada Lovelace, 1815–1852," New York Times, 8 March 2018.
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Further reading
Miranda Seymour, In Byron's Wake: The Turbulent Lives of Byron's Wife and Daughter: Annabella Milbanke and Ada Lovelace, Pegasus, 2018, 547 pp.
Christopher Hollings, Ursula Martin, and Adrian Rice, Ada Lovelace: The Making of a Computer Scientist, Bodleian Library, 2018, 114 pp.
Jenny Uglow, "Stepping Out of Byron's Shadow", The New York Review of Books, vol. LXV, no. 18 (22 November 2018), pp. 30–32.
Jennifer Chiaverini, Enchantress of Numbers, Dutton, 2017, 426 pp.
External links
"Ada's Army gets set to rewrite history at Inspirefest 2018" by Luke Maxwell, 4 August 2018
"Untangling the Tale of Ada Lovelace" by Stephen Wolfram, December 2015
1815 births
1852 deaths
19th-century British women scientists
19th-century British writers
19th-century English mathematicians
19th-century English women writers
19th-century British inventors
19th-century English nobility
Ada (programming language)
British countesses
British women computer scientists
British women mathematicians
Burials in Nottinghamshire
Ada
Women computer scientists
Computer designers
Daughters of barons
Deaths from cancer in England
Deaths from uterine cancer
English computer programmers
English people of Scottish descent
English women poets
Lord Byron
Mathematicians from London
Women of the Victorian era
Burials at the Church of St Mary Magdalene, Hucknall
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[
"This is a list of articles about numbers. Due to the infinitude of many sets of numbers, this list will invariably be incomplete. Hence, only particularly notable numbers will be included. Numbers may be included in the list based on their mathematical, historical or cultural notability, but all numbers have qualities which could arguably make them notable. Even the smallest \"uninteresting\" number is paradoxically interesting for that very property. This is known as the interesting number paradox.\n\nThe definition of what is classed as a number is rather diffuse and based on historical distinctions. For example, the pair of numbers (3,4) is commonly regarded as a number when it is in the form of a complex number (3+4i), but not when it is in the form of a vector (3,4). This list will also be categorised with the standard convention of types of numbers.\n\nThis list focuses on numbers as mathematical objects and is not a list of numerals, which are linguistic devices: nouns, adjectives, or adverbs that designate numbers. The distinction is drawn between the number five (an abstract object equal to 2+3), and the numeral five (the noun referring to the number).\n\nNatural numbers \n\nThe natural numbers are a subset of the integers and are of historical and pedagogical value as they can be used for counting and often have ethno-cultural significance (see below). Beyond this, natural numbers are widely used as a building block for other number systems including the integers, rational numbers and real numbers. Natural numbers are those used for counting (as in \"there are six (6) coins on the table\") and ordering (as in \"this is the third (3rd) largest city in the country\"). In common language, words used for counting are \"cardinal numbers\" and words used for ordering are \"ordinal numbers\". Defined by the Peano axioms, the natural numbers form an infinitely large set. Often referred to as \"the naturals\", the natural numbers are usually symbolised by a boldface (or blackboard bold , Unicode ).\n\nThe inclusion of 0 in the set of natural numbers is ambiguous and subject to individual definitions. In set theory and computer science, 0 is typically considered a natural number. In number theory, it usually is not. The ambiguity can be solved with the terms \"non-negative integers\", which includes 0, and \"positive integers\", which does not.\n\nNatural numbers may be used as cardinal numbers, which may go by various names. Natural numbers may also be used as ordinal numbers.\n\nMathematical significance \nNatural numbers may have properties specific to the individual number or may be part of a set (such as prime numbers) of numbers with a particular property.\n\nCultural or practical significance \nAlong with their mathematical properties, many integers have cultural significance or are also notable for their use in computing and measurement. As mathematical properties (such as divisibility) can confer practical utility, there may be interplay and connections between the cultural or practical significance of an integer and its mathematical properties.\n\nClasses of natural numbers \nSubsets of the natural numbers, such as the prime numbers, may be grouped into sets, for instance based on the divisibility of their members. Infinitely many such sets are possible. A list of notable classes of natural numbers may be found at classes of natural numbers.\n\nPrime numbers \n\nA prime number is a positive integer which has exactly two divisors: 1 and itself.\n\nThe first 100 prime numbers are:\n\nHighly composite numbers \n\nA highly composite number (HCN) is a positive integer with more divisors than any smaller positive integer. They are often used in geometry, grouping and time measurement.\n\nThe first 20 highly composite numbers are:\n\n1, 2, 4, 6, 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 120, 180, 240, 360, 720, 840, 1260, 1680, 2520, 5040, 7560\n\nPerfect numbers \n\nA perfect number is an integer that is the sum of its positive proper divisors (all divisors except itself).\n\nThe first 10 perfect numbers:\n\nIntegers \n\nThe integers are a set of numbers commonly encountered in arithmetic and number theory. There are many subsets of the integers, including the natural numbers, prime numbers, perfect numbers, etc. Many integers are notable for their mathematical properties. Integers are usually symbolised by a boldface (or blackboard bold , Unicode ); this became the symbol for the integers based on the German word for \"numbers\" (Zahlen).\n\nNotable integers include −1, the additive inverse of unity, and 0, the additive identity.\n\nAs with the natural numbers, the integers may also have cultural or practical significance. For instance, −40 is the equal point in the Fahrenheit and Celsius scales.\n\nSI prefixes \nOne important use of integers is in orders of magnitude. A power of 10 is a number 10k, where k is an integer. For instance, with k = 0, 1, 2, 3, ..., the appropriate powers of ten are 1, 10, 100, 1000, ... Powers of ten can also be fractional: for instance, k = -3 gives 1/1000, or 0.001. This is used in scientific notation, real numbers are written in the form m × 10n. The number 394,000 is written in this form as 3.94 × 105.\n\nIntegers are used as prefixes in the SI system. A metric prefix is a unit prefix that precedes a basic unit of measure to indicate a multiple or fraction of the unit. Each prefix has a unique symbol that is prepended to the unit symbol. The prefix kilo-, for example, may be added to gram to indicate multiplication by one thousand: one kilogram is equal to one thousand grams. The prefix milli-, likewise, may be added to metre to indicate division by one thousand; one millimetre is equal to one thousandth of a metre.\n\nRational numbers \n\nA rational number is any number that can be expressed as the quotient or fraction of two integers, a numerator and a non-zero denominator . Since may be equal to 1, every integer is trivially a rational number. The set of all rational numbers, often referred to as \"the rationals\", the field of rationals or the field of rational numbers is usually denoted by a boldface (or blackboard bold , Unicode ); it was thus denoted in 1895 by Giuseppe Peano after quoziente, Italian for \"quotient\".\n\nRational numbers such as 0.12 can be represented in infinitely many ways, e.g. zero-point-one-two (0.12), three twenty-fifths (), nine seventy-fifths (), etc. This can be mitigated by representing rational numbers in a canonical form as an irreducible fraction.\n\nA list of rational numbers is shown below. The names of fractions can be found at numeral (linguistics).\n\nIrrational numbers\nThe irrational numbers are a set of numbers that includes all real numbers that are not rational numbers. The irrational numbers are categorised as algebraic numbers (which are the root of a polynomial with rational coefficients) or transcendental numbers, which are not.\n\nAlgebraic numbers\n\nTranscendental numbers\n\nIrrational but not known to be transcendental\nSome numbers are known to be irrational numbers, but have not been proven to be transcendental. This differs from the algebraic numbers, which are known not to be transcendental.\n\nReal numbers \n\nThe real numbers are a superset containing the algebraic and the transcendental numbers. The real numbers, sometimes referred to as \"the reals\", are usually symbolised by a boldface (or blackboard bold , Unicode ). For some numbers, it is not known whether they are algebraic or transcendental. The following list includes real numbers that have not been proved to be irrational, nor transcendental.\n\nReal but not known to be irrational, nor transcendental\n\nNumbers not known with high precision \n\nSome real numbers, including transcendental numbers, are not known with high precision.\n\n The constant in the Berry–Esseen Theorem: 0.4097 < C < 0.4748\n De Bruijn–Newman constant: 0 ≤ Λ ≤ 0.22\n Chaitin's constants Ω, which are transcendental and provably impossible to compute.\n Bloch's constant (also 2nd Landau's constant): 0.4332 < B < 0.4719\n 1st Landau's constant: 0.5 < L < 0.5433\n 3rd Landau's constant: 0.5 < A ≤ 0.7853\n Grothendieck constant: 1.67 < k < 1.79\n Romanov's constant in Romanov's theorem: 0.107648 < d < 0.49094093, Romanov conjectured that it is 0.434\n\nHypercomplex numbers \n\nHypercomplex number is a term for an element of a unital algebra over the field of real numbers. The complex numbers are often symbolised by a boldface (or blackboard bold , Unicode ), while the set of quaternions is denoted by a boldface (or blackboard bold , Unicode ).\n\nAlgebraic complex numbers \n Imaginary unit: \n nth roots of unity: , while , GCD(k, n) = 1\n\nOther hypercomplex numbers\n The quaternions\n The octonions\n The sedenions\n The dual numbers (with an infinitesimal)\n\nTransfinite numbers \n\nTransfinite numbers are numbers that are \"infinite\" in the sense that they are larger than all finite numbers, yet not necessarily absolutely infinite.\n Aleph-null: א: the smallest infinite cardinal, and the cardinality of , the set of natural numbers\n Aleph-one: א: the cardinality of ω1, the set of all countable ordinal numbers\n Beth-one: ב the cardinality of the continuum 2\n ℭ or : the cardinality of the continuum 2\n Omega: ω, the smallest infinite ordinal\n\nNumbers representing physical quantities \n\nPhysical quantities that appear in the universe are often described using physical constants.\n Avogadro constant: \n Electron mass: \n Fine-structure constant: \n Gravitational constant: \n Molar mass constant: \n Planck constant: \n Rydberg constant: \n Speed of light in vacuum: \n Vacuum electric permittivity:\n\nNumbers without specific values \n\nMany languages have words expressing indefinite and fictitious numbers—inexact terms of indefinite size, used for comic effect, for exaggeration, as placeholder names, or when precision is unnecessary or undesirable. One technical term for such words is \"non-numerical vague quantifier\". Such words designed to indicate large quantities can be called \"indefinite hyperbolic numerals\".\n\nNamed numbers \nEddington number, ~1080\nGoogol, 10100\nGoogolplex, 10(10100)\nGraham's number\nHardy–Ramanujan number, 1729\nKaprekar's constant, 6174\nMoser's number\nRayo's number\nShannon number\nSkewes's number\nTREE(3)\n\nSee also \n\n Absolute infinity\n English-language numerals\n Floating point\n Fraction (mathematics)\n Integer sequence\n Interesting number paradox\n Large numbers\n List of mathematical constants\n List of numbers in various languages\n List of prime numbers\n List of types of numbers\n Mathematical constant\n Names of large numbers\n Names of small numbers\n Negative number\n Number prefix\n Numeral (linguistics)\n Order of magnitude\n Orders of magnitude (numbers)\n Ordinal number\n The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Numbers\n Power of two\n Power of 10\n SI prefix\n Surreal number\n Table of prime factors\n\nReferences \n\n \n.\n\nFurther reading \n Kingdom of Infinite Number: A Field Guide by Bryan Bunch, W.H. Freeman & Company, 2001.\n\nExternal links \n The Database of Number Correlations: 1 to 2000+\n What's Special About This Number? A Zoology of Numbers: from 0 to 500\n Name of a Number\n See how to write big numbers\n \n Robert P. Munafo's Large Numbers page\n Different notations for big numbers – by Susan Stepney\n Names for Large Numbers, in How Many? A Dictionary of Units of Measurement by Russ Rowlett\n What's Special About This Number? (from 0 to 9999)\n\n \nMathematical tables",
"In mathematics, a principal n-th root of unity (where n is a positive integer) of a ring is an element satisfying the equations\n\n \n\nIn an integral domain, every primitive n-th root of unity is also a principal -th root of unity. In any ring, if is a power of , then any -th root of is a principal -th root of unity.\n\nA non-example is in the ring of integers modulo ; while and thus is a cube root of unity, meaning that it is not a principal cube root of unity.\n\nThe significance of a root of unity being principal is that it is a necessary condition for the theory of the discrete Fourier transform to work out correctly.\n\nReferences\n\nAlgebraic numbers\nCyclotomic fields\nPolynomials\n1 (number)\nComplex numbers"
] |
[
"Ada Lovelace",
"Beyond numbers",
"what is the significance of Beyond Numbers?",
"the difference between the Analytical Engine and previous calculating machines, particularly its ability to be programmed to solve problems of any complexity."
] |
C_47899340436946f4a66e41ddc2156446_0
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did Ada come up with this theory?
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did Ada Lovelace come up with the theory about the difference between the Analytical Engine and previous calcuating machines??
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Ada Lovelace
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In her notes, Lovelace emphasised the difference between the Analytical Engine and previous calculating machines, particularly its ability to be programmed to solve problems of any complexity. She realised the potential of the device extended far beyond mere number crunching. In her notes, she wrote: [The Analytical Engine] might act upon other things besides number, were objects found whose mutual fundamental relations could be expressed by those of the abstract science of operations, and which should be also susceptible of adaptations to the action of the operating notation and mechanism of the engine...Supposing, for instance, that the fundamental relations of pitched sounds in the science of harmony and of musical composition were susceptible of such expression and adaptations, the engine might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent. This analysis was an important development from previous ideas about the capabilities of computing devices and anticipated the implications of modern computing one hundred years before they were realised. Walter Isaacson ascribes Lovelace's insight regarding the application of computing to any process based on logical symbols to an observation about textiles: "When she saw some mechanical looms that used punchcards to direct the weaving of beautiful patterns, it reminded her of how Babbage's engine used punched cards to make calculations." This insight is seen as significant by writers such as Betty Toole and Benjamin Woolley, as well as the programmer John Graham-Cumming, whose project Plan 28 has the aim of constructing the first complete Analytical Engine. According to the historian of computing and Babbage specialist Doron Swade: Ada saw something that Babbage in some sense failed to see. In Babbage's world his engines were bound by number...What Lovelace saw--what Ada Byron saw--was that number could represent entities other than quantity. So once you had a machine for manipulating numbers, if those numbers represented other things, letters, musical notes, then the machine could manipulate symbols of which number was one instance, according to rules. It is this fundamental transition from a machine which is a number cruncher to a machine for manipulating symbols according to rules that is the fundamental transition from calculation to computation--to general-purpose computation--and looking back from the present high ground of modern computing, if we are looking and sifting history for that transition, then that transition was made explicitly by Ada in that 1843 paper. CANNOTANSWER
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Lovelace emphasised the difference between the Analytical Engine and previous calculating machines,
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Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (née Byron; 10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852) was an English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. She was the first to recognise that the machine had applications beyond pure calculation, and to have published the first algorithm intended to be carried out by such a machine. As a result, she is often regarded as the first computer programmer.
Ada Byron was the only child of poet Lord Byron and mathematician Lady Byron. All of Byron's other children were born out of wedlock to other women. Byron separated from his wife a month after Ada was born and left England forever. Four months later, he commemorated the parting in a poem that begins, "Is thy face like thy mother's my fair child! ADA! sole daughter of my house and heart?". He died in Greece when Ada was eight years old. Her mother remained bitter and promoted Ada's interest in mathematics and logic in an effort to prevent her from developing her father's perceived insanity. Despite this, Ada remained interested in him, naming her two sons Byron and Gordon. Upon her death, she was buried next to him at her request. Although often ill in her childhood, Ada pursued her studies assiduously. She married William King in 1835. King was made Earl of Lovelace in 1838, Ada thereby becoming Countess of Lovelace.
Her educational and social exploits brought her into contact with scientists such as Andrew Crosse, Charles Babbage, Sir David Brewster, Charles Wheatstone, Michael Faraday and the author Charles Dickens, contacts which she used to further her education. Ada described her approach as "poetical science" and herself as an "Analyst (& Metaphysician)".
When she was a teenager (18), her mathematical talents led her to a long working relationship and friendship with fellow British mathematician Charles Babbage, who is known as "the father of computers". She was in particular interested in Babbage's work on the Analytical Engine. Lovelace first met him in June 1833, through their mutual friend, and her private tutor, Mary Somerville.
Between 1842 and 1843, Ada translated an article by Italian military engineer Luigi Menabrea about the Analytical Engine, supplementing it with an elaborate set of notes, simply called "Notes". Lovelace's notes are important in the early history of computers, containing what many consider to be the first computer program—that is, an algorithm designed to be carried out by a machine. Other historians reject this perspective and point out that Babbage's personal notes from the years 1836/1837 contain the first programs for the engine. She also developed a vision of the capability of computers to go beyond mere calculating or number-crunching, while many others, including Babbage himself, focused only on those capabilities. Her mindset of "poetical science" led her to ask questions about the Analytical Engine (as shown in her notes) examining how individuals and society relate to technology as a collaborative tool.
She died of uterine cancer in 1852 at the age of 36, the same age at which her father died.
Biography
Childhood
Lord Byron expected his child to be a "glorious boy" and was disappointed when Lady Byron gave birth to a girl. The child was named after Byron's half-sister, Augusta Leigh, and was called "Ada" by Byron himself. On 16 January 1816, at Lord Byron's command, Lady Byron left for her parents' home at Kirkby Mallory, taking their five-week-old daughter with her. Although English law at the time granted full custody of children to the father in cases of separation, Lord Byron made no attempt to claim his parental rights, but did request that his sister keep him informed of Ada's welfare.
On 21 April, Lord Byron signed the deed of separation, although very reluctantly, and left England for good a few days later. Aside from an acrimonious separation, Lady Byron continued throughout her life to make allegations about her husband's immoral behaviour. This set of events made Lovelace infamous in Victorian society. Ada did not have a relationship with her father. He died in 1824 when she was eight years old. Her mother was the only significant parental figure in her life. Lovelace was not shown the family portrait of her father until her 20th birthday.
Lovelace did not have a close relationship with her mother. She was often left in the care of her maternal grandmother Judith, Hon. Lady Milbanke, who doted on her. However, because of societal attitudes of the time—which favoured the husband in any separation, with the welfare of any child acting as mitigation—Lady Byron had to present herself as a loving mother to the rest of society. This included writing anxious letters to Lady Milbanke about her daughter's welfare, with a cover note saying to retain the letters in case she had to use them to show maternal concern. In one letter to Lady Milbanke, she referred to her daughter as "it": "I talk to it for your satisfaction, not my own, and shall be very glad when you have it under your own." Lady Byron had her teenage daughter watched by close friends for any sign of moral deviation. Lovelace dubbed these observers the "Furies" and later complained they exaggerated and invented stories about her.
Lovelace was often ill, beginning in early childhood. At the age of eight, she experienced headaches that obscured her vision. In June 1829, she was paralyzed after a bout of measles. She was subjected to continuous bed rest for nearly a year, something which may have extended her period of disability. By 1831, she was able to walk with crutches. Despite the illnesses, she developed her mathematical and technological skills.
Ada Byron had an affair with a tutor in early 1833. She tried to elope with him after she was caught, but the tutor's relatives recognised her and contacted her mother. Lady Byron and her friends covered the incident up to prevent a public scandal. Lovelace never met her younger half-sister, Allegra, the daughter of Lord Byron and Claire Clairmont. Allegra died in 1822 at the age of five. Lovelace did have some contact with Elizabeth Medora Leigh, the daughter of Byron's half-sister Augusta Leigh, who purposely avoided Lovelace as much as possible when introduced at court.
Adult years
Lovelace became close friends with her tutor Mary Somerville, who introduced her to Charles Babbage in 1833. She had a strong respect and affection for Somerville, and they corresponded for many years. Other acquaintances included the scientists Andrew Crosse, Sir David Brewster, Charles Wheatstone, Michael Faraday and the author Charles Dickens. She was presented at Court at the age of seventeen "and became a popular belle of the season" in part because of her "brilliant mind." By 1834 Ada was a regular at Court and started attending various events. She danced often and was able to charm many people, and was described by most people as being dainty, although John Hobhouse, Byron's friend, described her as "a large, coarse-skinned young woman but with something of my friend's features, particularly the mouth". This description followed their meeting on 24 February 1834 in which Ada made it clear to Hobhouse that she did not like him, probably due to her mother's influence, which led her to dislike all of her father's friends. This first impression was not to last, and they later became friends.
On 8 July 1835, she married William, 8th Baron King, becoming Lady King. They had three homes: Ockham Park, Surrey; a Scottish estate on Loch Torridon in Ross-shire; and a house in London. They spent their honeymoon at Worthy Manor in Ashley Combe near Porlock Weir, Somerset. The Manor had been built as a hunting lodge in 1799 and was improved by King in preparation for their honeymoon. It later became their summer retreat and was further improved during this time. From 1845, the family's main house was Horsley Towers, built in the Tudorbethan fashion by the architect of the Houses of Parliament, Charles Barry, and later greatly enlarged to Lovelace's own designs.
They had three children: Byron (born 1836); Anne Isabella (called Annabella, born 1837); and Ralph Gordon (born 1839). Immediately after the birth of Annabella, Lady King experienced "a tedious and suffering illness, which took months to cure." Ada was a descendant of the extinct Barons Lovelace and in 1838, her husband was made Earl of Lovelace and Viscount Ockham, meaning Ada became the Countess of Lovelace. In 1843–44, Ada's mother assigned William Benjamin Carpenter to teach Ada's children and to act as a "moral" instructor for Ada. He quickly fell for her and encouraged her to express any frustrated affections, claiming that his marriage meant he would never act in an "unbecoming" manner. When it became clear that Carpenter was trying to start an affair, Ada cut it off.
In 1841, Lovelace and Medora Leigh (the daughter of Lord Byron's half-sister Augusta Leigh) were told by Ada's mother that Ada's father was also Medora's father. On 27 February 1841, Ada wrote to her mother: "I am not in the least astonished. In fact, you merely confirm what I have for years and years felt scarcely a doubt about, but should have considered it most improper in me to hint to you that I in any way suspected." She did not blame the incestuous relationship on Byron, but instead blamed Augusta Leigh: "I fear she is more inherently wicked than he ever was." In the 1840s, Ada flirted with scandals: firstly, from a relaxed approach to extra-marital relationships with men, leading to rumours of affairs; and secondly, from her love of gambling. She apparently lost more than £3,000 on the horses during the later 1840s. The gambling led to her forming a syndicate with male friends, and an ambitious attempt in 1851 to create a mathematical model for successful large bets. This went disastrously wrong, leaving her thousands of pounds in debt to the syndicate, forcing her to admit it all to her husband. She had a shadowy relationship with Andrew Crosse's son John from 1844 onwards. John Crosse destroyed most of their correspondence after her death as part of a legal agreement. She bequeathed him the only heirlooms her father had personally left to her. During her final illness, she would panic at the idea of the younger Crosse being kept from visiting her.
Education
From 1832, when she was seventeen, her mathematical abilities began to emerge, and her interest in mathematics dominated the majority of her adult life. Her mother's obsession with rooting out any of the insanity of which she accused Byron was one of the reasons that Ada was taught mathematics from an early age. She was privately educated in mathematics and science by William Frend, William King, and Mary Somerville, the noted 19th-century researcher and scientific author. In the 1840s, the mathematician Augustus De Morgan extended her "much help in her mathematical studies" including study of advanced calculus topics including the "numbers of Bernoulli" (that formed her celebrated algorithm for Babbage's Analytical Engine). In a letter to Lady Byron, De Morgan suggested that Ada's skill in mathematics might lead her to become "an original mathematical investigator, perhaps of first-rate eminence."
Lovelace often questioned basic assumptions through integrating poetry and science. Whilst studying differential calculus, she wrote to De Morgan:
I may remark that the curious transformations many formulae can undergo, the unsuspected and to a beginner apparently impossible identity of forms exceedingly dissimilar at first sight, is I think one of the chief difficulties in the early part of mathematical studies. I am often reminded of certain sprites and fairies one reads of, who are at one's elbows in one shape now, and the next minute in a form most dissimilar.
Lovelace believed that intuition and imagination were critical to effectively applying mathematical and scientific concepts. She valued metaphysics as much as mathematics, viewing both as tools for exploring "the unseen worlds around us."
Death
Lovelace died at the age of 36 on 27 November 1852, from uterine cancer. The illness lasted several months, in which time Annabella took command over whom Ada saw, and excluded all of her friends and confidants. Under her mother's influence, Ada had a religious transformation and was coaxed into repenting of her previous conduct and making Annabella her executor. She lost contact with her husband after confessing something to him on 30 August which caused him to abandon her bedside. It is not known what she told him. She was buried, at her request, next to her father at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire. A memorial plaque, written in Latin, to her and her father is in the chapel attached to Horsley Towers.
Work
Throughout her life, Lovelace was strongly interested in scientific developments and fads of the day, including phrenology and mesmerism. After her work with Babbage, Lovelace continued to work on other projects. In 1844, she commented to a friend Woronzow Greig about her desire to create a mathematical model for how the brain gives rise to thoughts and nerves to feelings ("a calculus of the nervous system"). She never achieved this, however. In part, her interest in the brain came from a long-running pre-occupation, inherited from her mother, about her "potential" madness. As part of her research into this project, she visited the electrical engineer Andrew Crosse in 1844 to learn how to carry out electrical experiments. In the same year, she wrote a review of a paper by Baron Karl von Reichenbach, Researches on Magnetism, but this was not published and does not appear to have progressed past the first draft. In 1851, the year before her cancer struck, she wrote to her mother mentioning "certain productions" she was working on regarding the relation of maths and music.
Lovelace first met Charles Babbage in June 1833, through their mutual friend Mary Somerville. Later that month, Babbage invited Lovelace to see the prototype for his difference engine. She became fascinated with the machine and used her relationship with Somerville to visit Babbage as often as she could. Babbage was impressed by Lovelace's intellect and analytic skills. He called her "The Enchantress of Number." In 1843, he wrote to her:
During a nine-month period in 1842–43, Lovelace translated the Italian mathematician Luigi Menabrea's article on Babbage's newest proposed machine, the Analytical Engine. With the article, she appended a set of notes. Explaining the Analytical Engine's function was a difficult task, as many other scientists did not really grasp the concept and the British establishment had shown little interest in it. Lovelace's notes even had to explain how the Analytical Engine differed from the original Difference Engine. Her work was well received at the time; the scientist Michael Faraday described himself as a supporter of her writing.
The notes are around three times longer than the article itself and include (in Note G), in complete detail, a method for calculating a sequence of Bernoulli numbers using the Analytical Engine, which might have run correctly had it ever been built (only Babbage's Difference Engine has been built, completed in London in 2002). Based on this work, Lovelace is now considered by many to be the first computer programmer and her method has been called the world's first computer program. Others dispute this because some of Charles Babbage's earlier writings could be considered computer programs.
Note G also contains Lovelace's dismissal of artificial intelligence. She wrote that "The Analytical Engine has no pretensions whatever to originate anything. It can do whatever we know how to order it to perform. It can follow analysis; but it has no power of anticipating any analytical relations or truths." This objection has been the subject of much debate and rebuttal, for example by Alan Turing in his paper "Computing Machinery and Intelligence".
Lovelace and Babbage had a minor falling out when the papers were published, when he tried to leave his own statement (criticising the government's treatment of his Engine) as an unsigned preface, which could have been mistakenly interpreted as a joint declaration. When Taylor's Scientific Memoirs ruled that the statement should be signed, Babbage wrote to Lovelace asking her to withdraw the paper. This was the first that she knew he was leaving it unsigned, and she wrote back refusing to withdraw the paper. The historian Benjamin Woolley theorised that "His actions suggested he had so enthusiastically sought Ada's involvement, and so happily indulged her ... because of her 'celebrated name'." Their friendship recovered, and they continued to correspond. On 12 August 1851, when she was dying of cancer, Lovelace wrote to him asking him to be her executor, though this letter did not give him the necessary legal authority. Part of the terrace at Worthy Manor was known as Philosopher's Walk, as it was there that Lovelace and Babbage were reputed to have walked while discussing mathematical principles.
First computer program
In 1840, Babbage was invited to give a seminar at the University of Turin about his Analytical Engine. Luigi Menabrea, a young Italian engineer and the future Prime Minister of Italy, transcribed Babbage's lecture into French, and this transcript was subsequently published in the Bibliothèque universelle de Genève in October 1842.
Babbage's friend Charles Wheatstone commissioned Ada Lovelace to translate Menabrea's paper into English. She then augmented the paper with notes, which were added to the translation. Ada Lovelace spent the better part of a year doing this, assisted with input from Babbage. These notes, which are more extensive than Menabrea's paper, were then published in the September 1843 edition of Taylor's Scientific Memoirs under the initialism AAL.
Ada Lovelace's notes were labelled alphabetically from A to G. In note G, she describes an algorithm for the Analytical Engine to compute Bernoulli numbers. It is considered to be the first published algorithm ever specifically tailored for implementation on a computer, and Ada Lovelace has often been cited as the first computer programmer for this reason. The engine was never completed so her program was never tested.
In 1953, more than a century after her death, Ada Lovelace's notes on Babbage's Analytical Engine were republished as an appendix to B. V. Bowden's Faster than Thought: A Symposium on Digital Computing Machines. The engine has now been recognised as an early model for a computer and her notes as a description of a computer and software.
Insight into potential of computing devices
In her notes, Ada Lovelace emphasised the difference between the Analytical Engine and previous calculating machines, particularly its ability to be programmed to solve problems of any complexity. She realised the potential of the device extended far beyond mere number crunching. In her notes, she wrote:
This analysis was an important development from previous ideas about the capabilities of computing devices and anticipated the implications of modern computing one hundred years before they were realised. Walter Isaacson ascribes Ada's insight regarding the application of computing to any process based on logical symbols to an observation about textiles: "When she saw some mechanical looms that used punchcards to direct the weaving of beautiful patterns, it reminded her of how Babbage's engine used punched cards to make calculations." This insight is seen as significant by writers such as Betty Toole and Benjamin Woolley, as well as the programmer John Graham-Cumming, whose project Plan 28 has the aim of constructing the first complete Analytical Engine.
According to the historian of computing and Babbage specialist Doron Swade: Ada saw something that Babbage in some sense failed to see. In Babbage's world his engines were bound by number...What Lovelace saw...was that number could represent entities other than quantity. So once you had a machine for manipulating numbers, if those numbers represented other things, letters, musical notes, then the machine could manipulate symbols of which number was one instance, according to rules. It is this fundamental transition from a machine which is a number cruncher to a machine for manipulating symbols according to rules that is the fundamental transition from calculation to computation—to general-purpose computation—and looking back from the present high ground of modern computing, if we are looking and sifting history for that transition, then that transition was made explicitly by Ada in that 1843 paper.
Controversy over contribution
Though Lovelace is often referred to as the first computer programmer, some biographers, computer scientists and historians of computing claim otherwise.
Allan G. Bromley, in the 1990 article Difference and Analytical Engines:
Bruce Collier, who later wrote a biography of Babbage, wrote in his 1970 Harvard University PhD thesis that Lovelace "made a considerable contribution to publicizing the Analytical Engine, but there is no evidence that she advanced the design or theory of it in any way".
Eugene Eric Kim and Betty Alexandra Toole consider it "incorrect" to regard Lovelace as the first computer programmer, as Babbage wrote the initial programs for his Analytical Engine, although the majority were never published. Bromley notes several dozen sample programs prepared by Babbage between 1837 and 1840, all substantially predating Lovelace's notes. Dorothy K. Stein regards Lovelace's notes as "more a reflection of the mathematical uncertainty of the author, the political purposes of the inventor, and, above all, of the social and cultural context in which it was written, than a blueprint for a scientific development."
Doron Swade, a specialist on history of computing known for his work on Babbage, discussed Lovelace during a lecture on Babbage's analytical engine. He explained that Ada was only a "promising beginner" instead of genius in mathematics, that she began studying basic concepts of mathematics five years after Babbage conceived the analytical engine so she could not have made important contributions to it, and that she only published the first computer program instead of actually writing it. But he agrees that Ada was the only person to see the potential of the analytical engine as a machine capable of expressing entities other than quantities.
In his self-published book, Idea Makers, Stephen Wolfram defends Lovelace's contributions. While acknowledging that Babbage wrote several unpublished algorithms for the Analytical Engine prior to Lovelace's notes, Wolfram argues that "there's nothing as sophisticated—or as clean—as Ada's computation of the Bernoulli numbers. Babbage certainly helped and commented on Ada's work, but she was definitely the driver of it." Wolfram then suggests that Lovelace's main achievement was to distill from Babbage's correspondence "a clear exposition of the abstract operation of the machine—something which Babbage never did."
In popular culture
1810s
Lord Byron wrote the poem "Fare Thee Well" to his wife Lady Byron in 1816, following their separation after the birth of Ada Lovelace. In the poem he writes:
And when thou would'st solace gather—
When our child's first accents flow—
Wilt thou teach her to say "Father!"
Though his care she must forego?
When her little hands shall press thee—
When her lip to thine is pressed—
Think of him whose prayer shall bless thee—
Think of him thy love had blessed!
Should her lineaments resemble
Those thou never more may'st see,
Then thy heart will softly tremble
With a pulse yet true to me.
1970s
Lovelace is portrayed in Romulus Linney's 1977 play Childe Byron.
1990s
In the 1990 steampunk novel The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, Lovelace delivers a lecture on the "punched cards" programme which proves Gödel's incompleteness theorems decades before their actual discovery.
In the 1997 film Conceiving Ada, a computer scientist obsessed with Ada finds a way of communicating with her in the past by means of "undying information waves".
In Tom Stoppard's 1993 play Arcadia, the precocious teenage genius Thomasina Coverly—a character "apparently based" on Ada Lovelace (the play also involves Lord Byron)—comes to understand chaos theory, and theorises the second law of thermodynamics, before either is officially recognised.
2000s
Lovelace features in John Crowley's 2005 novel, Lord Byron's Novel: The Evening Land, as an unseen character whose personality is forcefully depicted in her annotations and anti-heroic efforts to archive her father's lost novel.
2010s
The 2015 play Ada and the Engine by Lauren Gunderson portrays Lovelace and Charles Babbage in unrequited love, and it imagines a post-death meeting between Lovelace and her father.
Lovelace and Babbage are the main characters in Sydney Padua's webcomic and graphic novel The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage. The comic features extensive footnotes on the history of Ada Lovelace, and many lines of dialogue are drawn from actual correspondence.
Lovelace and Mary Shelley as teenagers are the central characters in Jordan Stratford's steampunk series, The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency.
Lovelace, identified as Ada Augusta Byron, is portrayed by Lily Lesser in the second season of The Frankenstein Chronicles. She is employed as an "analyst" to provide the workings of a life-sized humanoid automaton. The brass workings of the machine are reminiscent of Babbage's analytical engine. Her employment is described as keeping her occupied until she returns to her studies in advanced mathematics.
Lovelace and Babbage appear as characters in the second season of the ITV series Victoria (2017). Emerald Fennell portrays Lovelace in the episode, "The Green-Eyed Monster."
The Cardano cryptocurrency platform, which was launched in 2017, uses Ada as the name for their cryptocurrency and Lovelace as the smallest sub-unit of an Ada.
"Lovelace" is the name given to the operating system designed by the character Cameron Howe in Halt and Catch Fire.
Lovelace is a primary character in the 2019 Big Finish Doctor Who audio play The Enchantress of Numbers, starring Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor and Jane Slavin as his current companion, WPC Ann Kelso. Lovelace is played by Finty Williams.
In 2019, Lovelace is a featured character in the play STEM FEMMES by Philadelphia theater company Applied Mechanics.
2020s
Lovelace features as a character in "Spyfall, Part 2", the second episode of Doctor Who, series 12, which first aired on BBC One on 5 January 2020. The character was portrayed by Sylvie Briggs, alongside characterisations of Charles Babbage and Noor Inayat Khan. In 2021, Nvidia named their upcoming GPU architecture (to be released in 2022), "Ada Lovelace", after her.
Commemoration
The computer language Ada, created on behalf of the United States Department of Defense, was named after Lovelace. The reference manual for the language was approved on 10 December 1980 and the Department of Defense Military Standard for the language, MIL-STD-1815, was given the number of the year of her birth.
In 1981, the Association for Women in Computing inaugurated its Ada Lovelace Award. Since 1998, the British Computer Society (BCS) has awarded the Lovelace Medal, and in 2008 initiated an annual competition for women students. BCSWomen sponsors the Lovelace Colloquium, an annual conference for women undergraduates. Ada College is a further-education college in Tottenham Hale, London, focused on digital skills.
Ada Lovelace Day is an annual event celebrated on the second Tuesday of October, which began in 2009. Its goal is to "... raise the profile of women in science, technology, engineering, and maths," and to "create new role models for girls and women" in these fields. Events have included Wikipedia edit-a-thons with the aim of improving the representation of women on Wikipedia in terms of articles and editors to reduce unintended gender bias on Wikipedia. The Ada Initiative was a non-profit organisation dedicated to increasing the involvement of women in the free culture and open source movements.
The Engineering in Computer Science and Telecommunications College building in Zaragoza University is called the Ada Byron Building. The computer centre in the village of Porlock, near where Lovelace lived, is named after her. Ada Lovelace House is a council-owned building in Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, near where Lovelace spent her infancy.
In 2012, a Google Doodle and blog post honoured her on her birthday.
In 2013, Ada Developers Academy was founded and named after her. The mission of Ada Developers Academy is to diversify tech by providing women and gender diverse people the skills, experience, and community support to become professional software developers to change the face of tech.
On 17 September 2013, an episode of Great Lives about Ada Lovelace aired.
As of November 2015, all new British passports have included an illustration of Lovelace and Babbage.
In 2017, a Google Doodle honoured her with other women on International Women's Day.
On 2 February 2018, Satellogic, a high-resolution Earth observation imaging and analytics company, launched a ÑuSat type micro-satellite named in honour of Ada Lovelace.
In March 2018, The New York Times published a belated obituary for Ada Lovelace.
On 27 July 2018, Senator Ron Wyden submitted, in the United States Senate, the designation of 9 October 2018 as National Ada Lovelace Day: "To honor the life and contributions of Ada Lovelace as a leading woman in science and mathematics". The resolution (S.Res.592) was considered, and agreed to without amendment and with a preamble by unanimous consent.
In November 2020 it was announced that Trinity College Dublin whose library had previously held forty busts, all of them of men, was commissioning four new busts of women, one of whom was to be Lovelace.
Bicentenary
The bicentenary of Ada Lovelace's birth was celebrated with a number of events, including:
The Ada Lovelace Bicentenary Lectures on Computability, Israel Institute for Advanced Studies, 20 December 2015 – 31 January 2016.
Ada Lovelace Symposium, University of Oxford, 13–14 October 2015.
Ada.Ada.Ada, a one-woman show about the life and work of Ada Lovelace (using an LED dress), premiered at Edinburgh International Science Festival on 11 April 2015, and continues to touring internationally to promote diversity on STEM at technology conferences, businesses, government and educational organisations.
Special exhibitions were displayed by the Science Museum in London, England and the Weston Library (part of the Bodleian Library) in Oxford, England.
Publications
Lovelace, Ada King. Ada, the Enchantress of Numbers: A Selection from the Letters of Lord Byron's Daughter and her Description of the First Computer. Mill Valley, CA: Strawberry Press, 1992. .
Publication history
Six copies of the 1843 first edition of Sketch of the Analytical Engine with Ada Lovelace's "Notes" have been located. Three are held at Harvard University, one at the University of Oklahoma, and one at the United States Air Force Academy. On 20 July 2018, the sixth copy was sold at auction to an anonymous buyer for £95,000. A digital facsimile of one of the copies in the Harvard University Library is available online.
In December 2016, a letter written by Ada Lovelace was forfeited by Martin Shkreli to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance for unpaid taxes owed by Shkreli.
See also
Ai-Da (robot)
Code: Debugging the Gender Gap
List of pioneers in computer science
Timeline of women in science
Women in computing
Women in STEM fields
Explanatory notes
References
General sources
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With notes upon the memoir by the translator.
Miller, Clair Cain. "Ada Lovelace, 1815–1852," New York Times, 8 March 2018.
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Further reading
Miranda Seymour, In Byron's Wake: The Turbulent Lives of Byron's Wife and Daughter: Annabella Milbanke and Ada Lovelace, Pegasus, 2018, 547 pp.
Christopher Hollings, Ursula Martin, and Adrian Rice, Ada Lovelace: The Making of a Computer Scientist, Bodleian Library, 2018, 114 pp.
Jenny Uglow, "Stepping Out of Byron's Shadow", The New York Review of Books, vol. LXV, no. 18 (22 November 2018), pp. 30–32.
Jennifer Chiaverini, Enchantress of Numbers, Dutton, 2017, 426 pp.
External links
"Ada's Army gets set to rewrite history at Inspirefest 2018" by Luke Maxwell, 4 August 2018
"Untangling the Tale of Ada Lovelace" by Stephen Wolfram, December 2015
1815 births
1852 deaths
19th-century British women scientists
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19th-century English women writers
19th-century British inventors
19th-century English nobility
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British women computer scientists
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Burials in Nottinghamshire
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Deaths from cancer in England
Deaths from uterine cancer
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Burials at the Church of St Mary Magdalene, Hucknall
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"Ada is a computer virus that can affect any of the DOS operating systems. Ada was first discovered in 1991.\n\nHistory\nAda virus was first discovered in Argentina in .\n\nCharacteristics\nAda is a memory resident virus that infects files. The Ada virus mainly targets .COM files, specifically COMMAND.COM and stays in the memory of the computer it infects after the program it infected executes.\n\nInfected programs have 2,600 bytes additional data inserted at the beginning of the file, and the file itself contains the text strings:\n COMMAND.COM\n PCCILLIN.COM\n PCCILLIN.IMG\n HATI-HATI !! ADA VIRUS DISINI !!Delete\n\nAnother version of Ada has these text strings along with the strings BASURA BASURA repeated numerous times.\n\nComputers infected with the Ada virus often have a slow clicking sound emitting from their speakers; this clicking may sometimes change in pitch. Infected computers may show a \"Disk Full\" error even if the disk still has space on it.\n\nWhile infected with the Ada virus, system memory measured by the DOS CHKDSK decreases by 21,296 bytes to 21,312 bytes. The virus resides in the memory after an infected file is run and will infect any other .COM files executed on the computer. It also hijacks interrupts 08, 13 and 21.\n\nInfection route\nThere is only one way to infect a computer with the Ada virus; by executing an infected file. The infected file may come from a variety of sources: floppy disks, files downloaded from the Internet, and infected networks.\n\nReferences\n\nDOS file viruses",
"ADA (an abbreviation of adaptive antenna) is an advanced smart antenna, using multichannel controlled reception pattern antenna (CRPA), designed for various platforms, including UAVs, planes and ships, manufactured by the MLM factory of the Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI).\n\nThe ADA enables vehicles, missiles and other platforms equipped with the smart antenna to navigate even when heavy jamming is conducted in order to block all reception of GPS and other GNSS signals. Using advanced techniques even very faint \"good\" signals are being extracted from the superposition of incoming waves that include noise and strong signals produced by the enemy (or friendly) jammers. These signals are then used (just like a regular GPS receiver) to triangulate the position and determine the GPS tune.\n\nHistory \nThe theory of the ADA started to emerge as a theory of multichannel estimation. Its origins go back into methods developed in the 1920s that were used to determine direction of the arrival of radio signals by a set of two antennas based on the phase difference or amplitudes of their output voltages. Thus, the assessment of the directions of arrival of a single signal was conducted according to pointed type indicator readings or according to the Lissajous curves,\ndrawn by beam on the oscilloscope screen.\n\nThe existence of ADA was publicly unveiled in February 2017, along with a report that the Israeli Defence Forces has already decided to install the ADAs on \"major platforms\" in service. It was also displayed in the Aero India air show that was held from 14th to the 18th that month in Bangalore.\n\nIn July 2017 MLM has signed a contract with American Honeywell to jointly develop a GPS anti-jam navigation system, based on ADA and Honywell's devices.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n IAI ADA, by the IAI, on YouTube \n IAI, Honeywell to jointly develop anti-jam system, by Globes, May 2018\n IAI Unveils ADA-O to Help Land Platforms Deal with GNSS Anti-Jammers, by Israel Defense, Mar 2019\n\nRadio frequency antenna types\nSmart devices\nMLM products\nMilitary equipment"
] |
[
"Ada Lovelace",
"Beyond numbers",
"what is the significance of Beyond Numbers?",
"the difference between the Analytical Engine and previous calculating machines, particularly its ability to be programmed to solve problems of any complexity.",
"did Ada come up with this theory?",
"Lovelace emphasised the difference between the Analytical Engine and previous calculating machines,"
] |
C_47899340436946f4a66e41ddc2156446_0
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Did Ada get money for this theory?
| 3 |
Did Ada Lovelace get money for the theory about the Analytical Engine?
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Ada Lovelace
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In her notes, Lovelace emphasised the difference between the Analytical Engine and previous calculating machines, particularly its ability to be programmed to solve problems of any complexity. She realised the potential of the device extended far beyond mere number crunching. In her notes, she wrote: [The Analytical Engine] might act upon other things besides number, were objects found whose mutual fundamental relations could be expressed by those of the abstract science of operations, and which should be also susceptible of adaptations to the action of the operating notation and mechanism of the engine...Supposing, for instance, that the fundamental relations of pitched sounds in the science of harmony and of musical composition were susceptible of such expression and adaptations, the engine might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent. This analysis was an important development from previous ideas about the capabilities of computing devices and anticipated the implications of modern computing one hundred years before they were realised. Walter Isaacson ascribes Lovelace's insight regarding the application of computing to any process based on logical symbols to an observation about textiles: "When she saw some mechanical looms that used punchcards to direct the weaving of beautiful patterns, it reminded her of how Babbage's engine used punched cards to make calculations." This insight is seen as significant by writers such as Betty Toole and Benjamin Woolley, as well as the programmer John Graham-Cumming, whose project Plan 28 has the aim of constructing the first complete Analytical Engine. According to the historian of computing and Babbage specialist Doron Swade: Ada saw something that Babbage in some sense failed to see. In Babbage's world his engines were bound by number...What Lovelace saw--what Ada Byron saw--was that number could represent entities other than quantity. So once you had a machine for manipulating numbers, if those numbers represented other things, letters, musical notes, then the machine could manipulate symbols of which number was one instance, according to rules. It is this fundamental transition from a machine which is a number cruncher to a machine for manipulating symbols according to rules that is the fundamental transition from calculation to computation--to general-purpose computation--and looking back from the present high ground of modern computing, if we are looking and sifting history for that transition, then that transition was made explicitly by Ada in that 1843 paper. CANNOTANSWER
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CANNOTANSWER
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Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (née Byron; 10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852) was an English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. She was the first to recognise that the machine had applications beyond pure calculation, and to have published the first algorithm intended to be carried out by such a machine. As a result, she is often regarded as the first computer programmer.
Ada Byron was the only child of poet Lord Byron and mathematician Lady Byron. All of Byron's other children were born out of wedlock to other women. Byron separated from his wife a month after Ada was born and left England forever. Four months later, he commemorated the parting in a poem that begins, "Is thy face like thy mother's my fair child! ADA! sole daughter of my house and heart?". He died in Greece when Ada was eight years old. Her mother remained bitter and promoted Ada's interest in mathematics and logic in an effort to prevent her from developing her father's perceived insanity. Despite this, Ada remained interested in him, naming her two sons Byron and Gordon. Upon her death, she was buried next to him at her request. Although often ill in her childhood, Ada pursued her studies assiduously. She married William King in 1835. King was made Earl of Lovelace in 1838, Ada thereby becoming Countess of Lovelace.
Her educational and social exploits brought her into contact with scientists such as Andrew Crosse, Charles Babbage, Sir David Brewster, Charles Wheatstone, Michael Faraday and the author Charles Dickens, contacts which she used to further her education. Ada described her approach as "poetical science" and herself as an "Analyst (& Metaphysician)".
When she was a teenager (18), her mathematical talents led her to a long working relationship and friendship with fellow British mathematician Charles Babbage, who is known as "the father of computers". She was in particular interested in Babbage's work on the Analytical Engine. Lovelace first met him in June 1833, through their mutual friend, and her private tutor, Mary Somerville.
Between 1842 and 1843, Ada translated an article by Italian military engineer Luigi Menabrea about the Analytical Engine, supplementing it with an elaborate set of notes, simply called "Notes". Lovelace's notes are important in the early history of computers, containing what many consider to be the first computer program—that is, an algorithm designed to be carried out by a machine. Other historians reject this perspective and point out that Babbage's personal notes from the years 1836/1837 contain the first programs for the engine. She also developed a vision of the capability of computers to go beyond mere calculating or number-crunching, while many others, including Babbage himself, focused only on those capabilities. Her mindset of "poetical science" led her to ask questions about the Analytical Engine (as shown in her notes) examining how individuals and society relate to technology as a collaborative tool.
She died of uterine cancer in 1852 at the age of 36, the same age at which her father died.
Biography
Childhood
Lord Byron expected his child to be a "glorious boy" and was disappointed when Lady Byron gave birth to a girl. The child was named after Byron's half-sister, Augusta Leigh, and was called "Ada" by Byron himself. On 16 January 1816, at Lord Byron's command, Lady Byron left for her parents' home at Kirkby Mallory, taking their five-week-old daughter with her. Although English law at the time granted full custody of children to the father in cases of separation, Lord Byron made no attempt to claim his parental rights, but did request that his sister keep him informed of Ada's welfare.
On 21 April, Lord Byron signed the deed of separation, although very reluctantly, and left England for good a few days later. Aside from an acrimonious separation, Lady Byron continued throughout her life to make allegations about her husband's immoral behaviour. This set of events made Lovelace infamous in Victorian society. Ada did not have a relationship with her father. He died in 1824 when she was eight years old. Her mother was the only significant parental figure in her life. Lovelace was not shown the family portrait of her father until her 20th birthday.
Lovelace did not have a close relationship with her mother. She was often left in the care of her maternal grandmother Judith, Hon. Lady Milbanke, who doted on her. However, because of societal attitudes of the time—which favoured the husband in any separation, with the welfare of any child acting as mitigation—Lady Byron had to present herself as a loving mother to the rest of society. This included writing anxious letters to Lady Milbanke about her daughter's welfare, with a cover note saying to retain the letters in case she had to use them to show maternal concern. In one letter to Lady Milbanke, she referred to her daughter as "it": "I talk to it for your satisfaction, not my own, and shall be very glad when you have it under your own." Lady Byron had her teenage daughter watched by close friends for any sign of moral deviation. Lovelace dubbed these observers the "Furies" and later complained they exaggerated and invented stories about her.
Lovelace was often ill, beginning in early childhood. At the age of eight, she experienced headaches that obscured her vision. In June 1829, she was paralyzed after a bout of measles. She was subjected to continuous bed rest for nearly a year, something which may have extended her period of disability. By 1831, she was able to walk with crutches. Despite the illnesses, she developed her mathematical and technological skills.
Ada Byron had an affair with a tutor in early 1833. She tried to elope with him after she was caught, but the tutor's relatives recognised her and contacted her mother. Lady Byron and her friends covered the incident up to prevent a public scandal. Lovelace never met her younger half-sister, Allegra, the daughter of Lord Byron and Claire Clairmont. Allegra died in 1822 at the age of five. Lovelace did have some contact with Elizabeth Medora Leigh, the daughter of Byron's half-sister Augusta Leigh, who purposely avoided Lovelace as much as possible when introduced at court.
Adult years
Lovelace became close friends with her tutor Mary Somerville, who introduced her to Charles Babbage in 1833. She had a strong respect and affection for Somerville, and they corresponded for many years. Other acquaintances included the scientists Andrew Crosse, Sir David Brewster, Charles Wheatstone, Michael Faraday and the author Charles Dickens. She was presented at Court at the age of seventeen "and became a popular belle of the season" in part because of her "brilliant mind." By 1834 Ada was a regular at Court and started attending various events. She danced often and was able to charm many people, and was described by most people as being dainty, although John Hobhouse, Byron's friend, described her as "a large, coarse-skinned young woman but with something of my friend's features, particularly the mouth". This description followed their meeting on 24 February 1834 in which Ada made it clear to Hobhouse that she did not like him, probably due to her mother's influence, which led her to dislike all of her father's friends. This first impression was not to last, and they later became friends.
On 8 July 1835, she married William, 8th Baron King, becoming Lady King. They had three homes: Ockham Park, Surrey; a Scottish estate on Loch Torridon in Ross-shire; and a house in London. They spent their honeymoon at Worthy Manor in Ashley Combe near Porlock Weir, Somerset. The Manor had been built as a hunting lodge in 1799 and was improved by King in preparation for their honeymoon. It later became their summer retreat and was further improved during this time. From 1845, the family's main house was Horsley Towers, built in the Tudorbethan fashion by the architect of the Houses of Parliament, Charles Barry, and later greatly enlarged to Lovelace's own designs.
They had three children: Byron (born 1836); Anne Isabella (called Annabella, born 1837); and Ralph Gordon (born 1839). Immediately after the birth of Annabella, Lady King experienced "a tedious and suffering illness, which took months to cure." Ada was a descendant of the extinct Barons Lovelace and in 1838, her husband was made Earl of Lovelace and Viscount Ockham, meaning Ada became the Countess of Lovelace. In 1843–44, Ada's mother assigned William Benjamin Carpenter to teach Ada's children and to act as a "moral" instructor for Ada. He quickly fell for her and encouraged her to express any frustrated affections, claiming that his marriage meant he would never act in an "unbecoming" manner. When it became clear that Carpenter was trying to start an affair, Ada cut it off.
In 1841, Lovelace and Medora Leigh (the daughter of Lord Byron's half-sister Augusta Leigh) were told by Ada's mother that Ada's father was also Medora's father. On 27 February 1841, Ada wrote to her mother: "I am not in the least astonished. In fact, you merely confirm what I have for years and years felt scarcely a doubt about, but should have considered it most improper in me to hint to you that I in any way suspected." She did not blame the incestuous relationship on Byron, but instead blamed Augusta Leigh: "I fear she is more inherently wicked than he ever was." In the 1840s, Ada flirted with scandals: firstly, from a relaxed approach to extra-marital relationships with men, leading to rumours of affairs; and secondly, from her love of gambling. She apparently lost more than £3,000 on the horses during the later 1840s. The gambling led to her forming a syndicate with male friends, and an ambitious attempt in 1851 to create a mathematical model for successful large bets. This went disastrously wrong, leaving her thousands of pounds in debt to the syndicate, forcing her to admit it all to her husband. She had a shadowy relationship with Andrew Crosse's son John from 1844 onwards. John Crosse destroyed most of their correspondence after her death as part of a legal agreement. She bequeathed him the only heirlooms her father had personally left to her. During her final illness, she would panic at the idea of the younger Crosse being kept from visiting her.
Education
From 1832, when she was seventeen, her mathematical abilities began to emerge, and her interest in mathematics dominated the majority of her adult life. Her mother's obsession with rooting out any of the insanity of which she accused Byron was one of the reasons that Ada was taught mathematics from an early age. She was privately educated in mathematics and science by William Frend, William King, and Mary Somerville, the noted 19th-century researcher and scientific author. In the 1840s, the mathematician Augustus De Morgan extended her "much help in her mathematical studies" including study of advanced calculus topics including the "numbers of Bernoulli" (that formed her celebrated algorithm for Babbage's Analytical Engine). In a letter to Lady Byron, De Morgan suggested that Ada's skill in mathematics might lead her to become "an original mathematical investigator, perhaps of first-rate eminence."
Lovelace often questioned basic assumptions through integrating poetry and science. Whilst studying differential calculus, she wrote to De Morgan:
I may remark that the curious transformations many formulae can undergo, the unsuspected and to a beginner apparently impossible identity of forms exceedingly dissimilar at first sight, is I think one of the chief difficulties in the early part of mathematical studies. I am often reminded of certain sprites and fairies one reads of, who are at one's elbows in one shape now, and the next minute in a form most dissimilar.
Lovelace believed that intuition and imagination were critical to effectively applying mathematical and scientific concepts. She valued metaphysics as much as mathematics, viewing both as tools for exploring "the unseen worlds around us."
Death
Lovelace died at the age of 36 on 27 November 1852, from uterine cancer. The illness lasted several months, in which time Annabella took command over whom Ada saw, and excluded all of her friends and confidants. Under her mother's influence, Ada had a religious transformation and was coaxed into repenting of her previous conduct and making Annabella her executor. She lost contact with her husband after confessing something to him on 30 August which caused him to abandon her bedside. It is not known what she told him. She was buried, at her request, next to her father at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire. A memorial plaque, written in Latin, to her and her father is in the chapel attached to Horsley Towers.
Work
Throughout her life, Lovelace was strongly interested in scientific developments and fads of the day, including phrenology and mesmerism. After her work with Babbage, Lovelace continued to work on other projects. In 1844, she commented to a friend Woronzow Greig about her desire to create a mathematical model for how the brain gives rise to thoughts and nerves to feelings ("a calculus of the nervous system"). She never achieved this, however. In part, her interest in the brain came from a long-running pre-occupation, inherited from her mother, about her "potential" madness. As part of her research into this project, she visited the electrical engineer Andrew Crosse in 1844 to learn how to carry out electrical experiments. In the same year, she wrote a review of a paper by Baron Karl von Reichenbach, Researches on Magnetism, but this was not published and does not appear to have progressed past the first draft. In 1851, the year before her cancer struck, she wrote to her mother mentioning "certain productions" she was working on regarding the relation of maths and music.
Lovelace first met Charles Babbage in June 1833, through their mutual friend Mary Somerville. Later that month, Babbage invited Lovelace to see the prototype for his difference engine. She became fascinated with the machine and used her relationship with Somerville to visit Babbage as often as she could. Babbage was impressed by Lovelace's intellect and analytic skills. He called her "The Enchantress of Number." In 1843, he wrote to her:
During a nine-month period in 1842–43, Lovelace translated the Italian mathematician Luigi Menabrea's article on Babbage's newest proposed machine, the Analytical Engine. With the article, she appended a set of notes. Explaining the Analytical Engine's function was a difficult task, as many other scientists did not really grasp the concept and the British establishment had shown little interest in it. Lovelace's notes even had to explain how the Analytical Engine differed from the original Difference Engine. Her work was well received at the time; the scientist Michael Faraday described himself as a supporter of her writing.
The notes are around three times longer than the article itself and include (in Note G), in complete detail, a method for calculating a sequence of Bernoulli numbers using the Analytical Engine, which might have run correctly had it ever been built (only Babbage's Difference Engine has been built, completed in London in 2002). Based on this work, Lovelace is now considered by many to be the first computer programmer and her method has been called the world's first computer program. Others dispute this because some of Charles Babbage's earlier writings could be considered computer programs.
Note G also contains Lovelace's dismissal of artificial intelligence. She wrote that "The Analytical Engine has no pretensions whatever to originate anything. It can do whatever we know how to order it to perform. It can follow analysis; but it has no power of anticipating any analytical relations or truths." This objection has been the subject of much debate and rebuttal, for example by Alan Turing in his paper "Computing Machinery and Intelligence".
Lovelace and Babbage had a minor falling out when the papers were published, when he tried to leave his own statement (criticising the government's treatment of his Engine) as an unsigned preface, which could have been mistakenly interpreted as a joint declaration. When Taylor's Scientific Memoirs ruled that the statement should be signed, Babbage wrote to Lovelace asking her to withdraw the paper. This was the first that she knew he was leaving it unsigned, and she wrote back refusing to withdraw the paper. The historian Benjamin Woolley theorised that "His actions suggested he had so enthusiastically sought Ada's involvement, and so happily indulged her ... because of her 'celebrated name'." Their friendship recovered, and they continued to correspond. On 12 August 1851, when she was dying of cancer, Lovelace wrote to him asking him to be her executor, though this letter did not give him the necessary legal authority. Part of the terrace at Worthy Manor was known as Philosopher's Walk, as it was there that Lovelace and Babbage were reputed to have walked while discussing mathematical principles.
First computer program
In 1840, Babbage was invited to give a seminar at the University of Turin about his Analytical Engine. Luigi Menabrea, a young Italian engineer and the future Prime Minister of Italy, transcribed Babbage's lecture into French, and this transcript was subsequently published in the Bibliothèque universelle de Genève in October 1842.
Babbage's friend Charles Wheatstone commissioned Ada Lovelace to translate Menabrea's paper into English. She then augmented the paper with notes, which were added to the translation. Ada Lovelace spent the better part of a year doing this, assisted with input from Babbage. These notes, which are more extensive than Menabrea's paper, were then published in the September 1843 edition of Taylor's Scientific Memoirs under the initialism AAL.
Ada Lovelace's notes were labelled alphabetically from A to G. In note G, she describes an algorithm for the Analytical Engine to compute Bernoulli numbers. It is considered to be the first published algorithm ever specifically tailored for implementation on a computer, and Ada Lovelace has often been cited as the first computer programmer for this reason. The engine was never completed so her program was never tested.
In 1953, more than a century after her death, Ada Lovelace's notes on Babbage's Analytical Engine were republished as an appendix to B. V. Bowden's Faster than Thought: A Symposium on Digital Computing Machines. The engine has now been recognised as an early model for a computer and her notes as a description of a computer and software.
Insight into potential of computing devices
In her notes, Ada Lovelace emphasised the difference between the Analytical Engine and previous calculating machines, particularly its ability to be programmed to solve problems of any complexity. She realised the potential of the device extended far beyond mere number crunching. In her notes, she wrote:
This analysis was an important development from previous ideas about the capabilities of computing devices and anticipated the implications of modern computing one hundred years before they were realised. Walter Isaacson ascribes Ada's insight regarding the application of computing to any process based on logical symbols to an observation about textiles: "When she saw some mechanical looms that used punchcards to direct the weaving of beautiful patterns, it reminded her of how Babbage's engine used punched cards to make calculations." This insight is seen as significant by writers such as Betty Toole and Benjamin Woolley, as well as the programmer John Graham-Cumming, whose project Plan 28 has the aim of constructing the first complete Analytical Engine.
According to the historian of computing and Babbage specialist Doron Swade: Ada saw something that Babbage in some sense failed to see. In Babbage's world his engines were bound by number...What Lovelace saw...was that number could represent entities other than quantity. So once you had a machine for manipulating numbers, if those numbers represented other things, letters, musical notes, then the machine could manipulate symbols of which number was one instance, according to rules. It is this fundamental transition from a machine which is a number cruncher to a machine for manipulating symbols according to rules that is the fundamental transition from calculation to computation—to general-purpose computation—and looking back from the present high ground of modern computing, if we are looking and sifting history for that transition, then that transition was made explicitly by Ada in that 1843 paper.
Controversy over contribution
Though Lovelace is often referred to as the first computer programmer, some biographers, computer scientists and historians of computing claim otherwise.
Allan G. Bromley, in the 1990 article Difference and Analytical Engines:
Bruce Collier, who later wrote a biography of Babbage, wrote in his 1970 Harvard University PhD thesis that Lovelace "made a considerable contribution to publicizing the Analytical Engine, but there is no evidence that she advanced the design or theory of it in any way".
Eugene Eric Kim and Betty Alexandra Toole consider it "incorrect" to regard Lovelace as the first computer programmer, as Babbage wrote the initial programs for his Analytical Engine, although the majority were never published. Bromley notes several dozen sample programs prepared by Babbage between 1837 and 1840, all substantially predating Lovelace's notes. Dorothy K. Stein regards Lovelace's notes as "more a reflection of the mathematical uncertainty of the author, the political purposes of the inventor, and, above all, of the social and cultural context in which it was written, than a blueprint for a scientific development."
Doron Swade, a specialist on history of computing known for his work on Babbage, discussed Lovelace during a lecture on Babbage's analytical engine. He explained that Ada was only a "promising beginner" instead of genius in mathematics, that she began studying basic concepts of mathematics five years after Babbage conceived the analytical engine so she could not have made important contributions to it, and that she only published the first computer program instead of actually writing it. But he agrees that Ada was the only person to see the potential of the analytical engine as a machine capable of expressing entities other than quantities.
In his self-published book, Idea Makers, Stephen Wolfram defends Lovelace's contributions. While acknowledging that Babbage wrote several unpublished algorithms for the Analytical Engine prior to Lovelace's notes, Wolfram argues that "there's nothing as sophisticated—or as clean—as Ada's computation of the Bernoulli numbers. Babbage certainly helped and commented on Ada's work, but she was definitely the driver of it." Wolfram then suggests that Lovelace's main achievement was to distill from Babbage's correspondence "a clear exposition of the abstract operation of the machine—something which Babbage never did."
In popular culture
1810s
Lord Byron wrote the poem "Fare Thee Well" to his wife Lady Byron in 1816, following their separation after the birth of Ada Lovelace. In the poem he writes:
And when thou would'st solace gather—
When our child's first accents flow—
Wilt thou teach her to say "Father!"
Though his care she must forego?
When her little hands shall press thee—
When her lip to thine is pressed—
Think of him whose prayer shall bless thee—
Think of him thy love had blessed!
Should her lineaments resemble
Those thou never more may'st see,
Then thy heart will softly tremble
With a pulse yet true to me.
1970s
Lovelace is portrayed in Romulus Linney's 1977 play Childe Byron.
1990s
In the 1990 steampunk novel The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, Lovelace delivers a lecture on the "punched cards" programme which proves Gödel's incompleteness theorems decades before their actual discovery.
In the 1997 film Conceiving Ada, a computer scientist obsessed with Ada finds a way of communicating with her in the past by means of "undying information waves".
In Tom Stoppard's 1993 play Arcadia, the precocious teenage genius Thomasina Coverly—a character "apparently based" on Ada Lovelace (the play also involves Lord Byron)—comes to understand chaos theory, and theorises the second law of thermodynamics, before either is officially recognised.
2000s
Lovelace features in John Crowley's 2005 novel, Lord Byron's Novel: The Evening Land, as an unseen character whose personality is forcefully depicted in her annotations and anti-heroic efforts to archive her father's lost novel.
2010s
The 2015 play Ada and the Engine by Lauren Gunderson portrays Lovelace and Charles Babbage in unrequited love, and it imagines a post-death meeting between Lovelace and her father.
Lovelace and Babbage are the main characters in Sydney Padua's webcomic and graphic novel The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage. The comic features extensive footnotes on the history of Ada Lovelace, and many lines of dialogue are drawn from actual correspondence.
Lovelace and Mary Shelley as teenagers are the central characters in Jordan Stratford's steampunk series, The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency.
Lovelace, identified as Ada Augusta Byron, is portrayed by Lily Lesser in the second season of The Frankenstein Chronicles. She is employed as an "analyst" to provide the workings of a life-sized humanoid automaton. The brass workings of the machine are reminiscent of Babbage's analytical engine. Her employment is described as keeping her occupied until she returns to her studies in advanced mathematics.
Lovelace and Babbage appear as characters in the second season of the ITV series Victoria (2017). Emerald Fennell portrays Lovelace in the episode, "The Green-Eyed Monster."
The Cardano cryptocurrency platform, which was launched in 2017, uses Ada as the name for their cryptocurrency and Lovelace as the smallest sub-unit of an Ada.
"Lovelace" is the name given to the operating system designed by the character Cameron Howe in Halt and Catch Fire.
Lovelace is a primary character in the 2019 Big Finish Doctor Who audio play The Enchantress of Numbers, starring Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor and Jane Slavin as his current companion, WPC Ann Kelso. Lovelace is played by Finty Williams.
In 2019, Lovelace is a featured character in the play STEM FEMMES by Philadelphia theater company Applied Mechanics.
2020s
Lovelace features as a character in "Spyfall, Part 2", the second episode of Doctor Who, series 12, which first aired on BBC One on 5 January 2020. The character was portrayed by Sylvie Briggs, alongside characterisations of Charles Babbage and Noor Inayat Khan. In 2021, Nvidia named their upcoming GPU architecture (to be released in 2022), "Ada Lovelace", after her.
Commemoration
The computer language Ada, created on behalf of the United States Department of Defense, was named after Lovelace. The reference manual for the language was approved on 10 December 1980 and the Department of Defense Military Standard for the language, MIL-STD-1815, was given the number of the year of her birth.
In 1981, the Association for Women in Computing inaugurated its Ada Lovelace Award. Since 1998, the British Computer Society (BCS) has awarded the Lovelace Medal, and in 2008 initiated an annual competition for women students. BCSWomen sponsors the Lovelace Colloquium, an annual conference for women undergraduates. Ada College is a further-education college in Tottenham Hale, London, focused on digital skills.
Ada Lovelace Day is an annual event celebrated on the second Tuesday of October, which began in 2009. Its goal is to "... raise the profile of women in science, technology, engineering, and maths," and to "create new role models for girls and women" in these fields. Events have included Wikipedia edit-a-thons with the aim of improving the representation of women on Wikipedia in terms of articles and editors to reduce unintended gender bias on Wikipedia. The Ada Initiative was a non-profit organisation dedicated to increasing the involvement of women in the free culture and open source movements.
The Engineering in Computer Science and Telecommunications College building in Zaragoza University is called the Ada Byron Building. The computer centre in the village of Porlock, near where Lovelace lived, is named after her. Ada Lovelace House is a council-owned building in Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, near where Lovelace spent her infancy.
In 2012, a Google Doodle and blog post honoured her on her birthday.
In 2013, Ada Developers Academy was founded and named after her. The mission of Ada Developers Academy is to diversify tech by providing women and gender diverse people the skills, experience, and community support to become professional software developers to change the face of tech.
On 17 September 2013, an episode of Great Lives about Ada Lovelace aired.
As of November 2015, all new British passports have included an illustration of Lovelace and Babbage.
In 2017, a Google Doodle honoured her with other women on International Women's Day.
On 2 February 2018, Satellogic, a high-resolution Earth observation imaging and analytics company, launched a ÑuSat type micro-satellite named in honour of Ada Lovelace.
In March 2018, The New York Times published a belated obituary for Ada Lovelace.
On 27 July 2018, Senator Ron Wyden submitted, in the United States Senate, the designation of 9 October 2018 as National Ada Lovelace Day: "To honor the life and contributions of Ada Lovelace as a leading woman in science and mathematics". The resolution (S.Res.592) was considered, and agreed to without amendment and with a preamble by unanimous consent.
In November 2020 it was announced that Trinity College Dublin whose library had previously held forty busts, all of them of men, was commissioning four new busts of women, one of whom was to be Lovelace.
Bicentenary
The bicentenary of Ada Lovelace's birth was celebrated with a number of events, including:
The Ada Lovelace Bicentenary Lectures on Computability, Israel Institute for Advanced Studies, 20 December 2015 – 31 January 2016.
Ada Lovelace Symposium, University of Oxford, 13–14 October 2015.
Ada.Ada.Ada, a one-woman show about the life and work of Ada Lovelace (using an LED dress), premiered at Edinburgh International Science Festival on 11 April 2015, and continues to touring internationally to promote diversity on STEM at technology conferences, businesses, government and educational organisations.
Special exhibitions were displayed by the Science Museum in London, England and the Weston Library (part of the Bodleian Library) in Oxford, England.
Publications
Lovelace, Ada King. Ada, the Enchantress of Numbers: A Selection from the Letters of Lord Byron's Daughter and her Description of the First Computer. Mill Valley, CA: Strawberry Press, 1992. .
Publication history
Six copies of the 1843 first edition of Sketch of the Analytical Engine with Ada Lovelace's "Notes" have been located. Three are held at Harvard University, one at the University of Oklahoma, and one at the United States Air Force Academy. On 20 July 2018, the sixth copy was sold at auction to an anonymous buyer for £95,000. A digital facsimile of one of the copies in the Harvard University Library is available online.
In December 2016, a letter written by Ada Lovelace was forfeited by Martin Shkreli to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance for unpaid taxes owed by Shkreli.
See also
Ai-Da (robot)
Code: Debugging the Gender Gap
List of pioneers in computer science
Timeline of women in science
Women in computing
Women in STEM fields
Explanatory notes
References
General sources
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With notes upon the memoir by the translator.
Miller, Clair Cain. "Ada Lovelace, 1815–1852," New York Times, 8 March 2018.
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Further reading
Miranda Seymour, In Byron's Wake: The Turbulent Lives of Byron's Wife and Daughter: Annabella Milbanke and Ada Lovelace, Pegasus, 2018, 547 pp.
Christopher Hollings, Ursula Martin, and Adrian Rice, Ada Lovelace: The Making of a Computer Scientist, Bodleian Library, 2018, 114 pp.
Jenny Uglow, "Stepping Out of Byron's Shadow", The New York Review of Books, vol. LXV, no. 18 (22 November 2018), pp. 30–32.
Jennifer Chiaverini, Enchantress of Numbers, Dutton, 2017, 426 pp.
External links
"Ada's Army gets set to rewrite history at Inspirefest 2018" by Luke Maxwell, 4 August 2018
"Untangling the Tale of Ada Lovelace" by Stephen Wolfram, December 2015
1815 births
1852 deaths
19th-century British women scientists
19th-century British writers
19th-century English mathematicians
19th-century English women writers
19th-century British inventors
19th-century English nobility
Ada (programming language)
British countesses
British women computer scientists
British women mathematicians
Burials in Nottinghamshire
Ada
Women computer scientists
Computer designers
Daughters of barons
Deaths from cancer in England
Deaths from uterine cancer
English computer programmers
English people of Scottish descent
English women poets
Lord Byron
Mathematicians from London
Women of the Victorian era
Burials at the Church of St Mary Magdalene, Hucknall
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[
"The War That Saved My Life, written by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, is a 2015 children’s historical novel published by Dial Books for Young Readers. The War That Saved My Life was a Newbery Honor Book in 2016 and was Bradley’s first Newbery Honor Book.\n\nPlot \nAda Smith is a ten-year-old girl who has never left her apartment in London. Her physically abusive, widowed mother is too embarrassed to let her go outside because of her clubfoot, even though she claims Ada is mentally disabled instead. As a regular punishment, Ada gets put in a damp cabinet under the sink where cockroaches live. She is used as a servant, cooks and takes care of her six-year-old brother Jamie and her mother. She is also quite protective of him. \n\nIn September 1939, the British government begins to evacuate children in urban areas of England during World War II to escape, sending them to the countryside. Ada’s mother refuses to send Ada saying nobody will want to take care of her. Meanwhile, Ada has spent all summer teaching herself how to walk and decides to leave with Jamie without their mother knowing. They are evacuated by train to Kent to finally get away from the arising conditions yet to come because of the war.\n\nSusan Smith, an unrelated woman who lives in a coastal village in Kent, is forced to take Ada and Jamie in, despite her aversion to caring for children. Away from her mother, Ada is allowed to freely move about by Susan despite her clubfoot, and as such befriends Susan and other villagers. She learns to read, write, ride a horse, and is introduced by Susan to many terms and concepts she has never experienced before. Susan overcomes her reluctance to take care of the children, reading to them, making them clothes, obtaining crutches for Ada, and allowing Jamie to keep a cat she intensely dislikes. Ada helps British troops evacuate across the English Channel from Dunkirk, and identifies an enemy spy, who is then detained.\n\nSusan has discovered that it is possible for an operation to be conducted on Ada to correct her clubfoot, but it requires money and permission from Ada's mother. After months of not responding to Susan's letters regarding Ada's operation, Ada's mother comes to the village. She complains about the government's 'forcing' her to spend money on her children, and sharply criticizes Susan and Ada's 'posh' behavior. Ada is able to stay with Susan, but to continue caring for her brother she decides to move back to London with her mother, who believes that the capital will not be bombed anytime soon. The Smiths move into a new - albeit little better - flat, and Ada's crutches are taken away by her mother. She believes her mother never wanted to have children in the first place and only took Ada and Jamie back for the lowered expenses: suspicions confirmed by their mother. One day, she leaves to go to work and Ada and Jamie escape to an air raid shelter just before a bomb damages the flat. Susan comes and finds the Smith children, bringing them back to the village, only to find that a bomb has destroyed her house. Ada's horse and Jamie's cat have survived; Ada decides that by being picked up in London by Susan rather than the latter staying at home and getting killed sufficiently repays her debt to Susan for being rescued from life with her mother.\n\nCharacters\n Ada Smith: A ten-year-old girl whose right foot is affected by clubfoot. She has been emotionally and physically abused by her mother. While living in the countryside with Susan, Ada learns how to walk, ride a horse, read, and write.\n Jamie Smith: Ada's six-year-old brother. He discovers his passion for planes when he and Ada move to the countryside.\n Susan Smith: Ada's designated guardian, learns to love and take care of both Ada and Jamie after some reluctance.\n Mam: Ada and Jamie's mother. An uncaring, stern, aggressive, and abusive mother who continuously blames Ada for her \"ugly foot\".\n Mrs. Thorton: Also known as the Iron-faced Lady. In charge of the evacuations to Kent.\nMargaret (Maggie) Thorton: The Iron-faced Lady's 12-year-old daughter. Ada's friend. Sassy, but nice.\n\nReception \nThe War That Saved My Life received critical acclaim. The Horn Book Magazine claims \"This is a feel-good story, but an earned one\". School Library Journal talks about the emotional connection readers will have \"Readers will ache for her as she misreads cues and pushes Susan away, even though she yearns to be enfolded in a hug. There is much to like here-Ada's engaging voice, the vivid setting, the humor, the heartbreak, but most of all the tenacious will to survive exhibited by Ada and the villagers who grow to love and accept her\". Thom Barthelmess in The Horn Book Magazine stated \"Bradley’s novel is exceptional for the characters’ deep humanity\".\n\nReferences \n\n2015 American novels\n2015 children's books\nNewbery Honor-winning works\nChildren's historical novels\nAmerican historical fiction\nAmerican children's novels\nDial Press books\nNovels set during World War II\n\nEnglish-language novels\nNovels set in London\nNovels set in the 1940s",
"Daniel F. Rice (1896–1975) and his wife Ada L. Rice (1898–1977) were American business people, thoroughbred racehorse owners and breeders, and philanthropists. Dan Rice was educated in the public school system of Chicago, Illinois and spent two years at Depaul University and the University of Notre Dame. In 1919, he founded his own commodity brokerage, Daniel F. Rice and Company. His company became successful over the 35 years that he ran it. The company merged with Hayden, Stone & Co. in 1959. Rice later ran Rice Grain Corporation.\n\nDan Rice and his wife, Ada, contributed to many charities and organizations and created the Rice Foundation which is still running today. The Rice Foundation gives contributions to places that the Rices believed in such as programs to prevent child abuse and for many research areas such as plant development and preservation, medical advancement and animal conservation. Additionally, the Foundation supports the arts such as the Chicago History Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Lyric Opera of Chicago and other museums.\n\nBecause the Rices were widely respected for their extensive philanthropies in the Chicago area, a number of places are named in their honor in the region. The combination of their first names formed Danada and appears in many places in Wheaton, Illinois.\n\nThoroughbred racing\nIn 1929 the Rices bought a farm located south of Wheaton which became named Danada Farm. Their house was located across from the farm and later was named Danada House which now is a museum and a place for social functions. It can house about 150 people for a party. Mrs. Rice was known to throw lavish parties at the house. Danada House is a 19-room estate that contains gardens, a greenhouse, a swimming pool, porch and atrium. Danada Farms had corn, wheat, sheep, hogs, cattle, chickens, turkeys and an apple orchard. Over the years the farm grew to over . The couple loved Thoroughbred horse racing and built a Kentucky-style stable that could hold 26 horses. A half-mile training track, which included a 4-position electronic starting gate, was built across the street from the stables. Later, a tunnel was built under Naperville Road for the horses to safely get to the stables. The track, starting gate, and tunnel still exist today.\n\nIn 1946, they acquired a part of the Idle Hour Stock Farm near Lexington, Kentucky that was also given the Danada name. Mr. and Mrs. Rice bred horses on the farm, and raced them exclusively under her name. In 1965, one of their colts, Lucky Debonair, won the Kentucky Derby with Willie Shoemaker as jockey. Heavily involved in the sport of thoroughbred horse racing, Dan Rice was a member of the Board of Directors of Arlington Park Racetrack.\n\nIn addition to the sport of horse racing, in the latter part of the 1940s Dan Rice was a shareholder in the Los Angeles Dons of the newly formed All-America Football Conference.\n\nPhilanthropy\nIn 1947, Dan Rice set up the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Foundation. In the next forty years, the foundation made $12.4 million in donations through 1,257 grants. As of 1988, the Rice Foundation had accumulated over $60 million. This money was donated to worthy causes such as endangered species, programs for abused children and medical research to support further advancement in areas such as rare illnesses and diseases. Dan and Ada Rice donated $10 million to the Art Institute of Chicago, $3 million to the Shedd Aquarium, $2 million to the Chicago History Museum (formerly known as the Chicago Historical Society), and $100,000 to the Boy Scouts of America for a camping facility for handicapped Scouts. Additionally, the Rice Foundation contributed to the Morton Arboretum to support the growth and research of elm trees and as a result a hybrid of an elm tree is named for them, the Danada Charm. Not only did the Rices donate money but they also donated land. They gave about for the Illinois Institute of Technology campus and to the Wheaton Park District for a water park and community center.\n\nRice Foundation beneficiaries \n\nThe following places in the Chicago metropolitan area have benefited from the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Foundation:\n\n The Chicago Botanic Gardens houses the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Plant Conservation Science Center.\n The Chicago History Museum exterior facade on Clark Street honors the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Pavilion.\n The Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Building is part of the Art Institute of Chicago.\n The Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Child and Family Center in Evanston is part of the Children's Home and Aid Society of Illinois.\n The Brookfield Zoo houses the Daniel F. and Ada L Rice Conservation and Biology Research Center, which contains a molecular genetics laboratory that conducts tests to analyze species and subspecies.\n The Field Museum has the Dan F. and Ada L. Rice Gallery which houses changing themed exhibits.\n The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago contains the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Patient Treatment Center.\n The Shedd Aquarium has the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Pool, Amphitheater and Underwater Viewing Gallery.\n The Adler Planetarium had the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Solarium and cafeteria.\n The Village of Skokie, Illinois partnered with the Rice Foundation to build the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in 1996\n In 1994, the foyer of the Lyric Opera of Chicago containing Austrian crystal chandeliers and elaborate stenciled ceilings was named the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Grand foyer.\n Benedictine University has the Dan and Ada Rice Center used for all indoor athletic events. The Center contains a multi-purpose floor for basketball and volleyball, swimming pool, weight training equipment, racquetball courts, and the Trophy Room. The Trophy Room contains the honors and awards of Dan and Ada Rice including the victory racing plates worn by Lucky Debonair, winner of the 1965 Kentucky Derby.\n\nReferences \n\n Moore, Jean, and Hiawatha Bray. DuPage at 150 and Those Who Shaped Our World. Chicago: West Chicago Printing Company, 1989.\n Danada House website\n Information on Daniel and Ada Rice at the Danada Equestrian Center\n\n1896 births\n1975 deaths\n1899 births\n1977 deaths\nMarried couples\nAmerican sports businesspeople\nAmerican racehorse owners and breeders\nOwners of Kentucky Derby winners\nPhilanthropists from Illinois\nPeople from Wheaton, Illinois\n20th-century American philanthropists"
] |
[
"Ada Lovelace",
"Beyond numbers",
"what is the significance of Beyond Numbers?",
"the difference between the Analytical Engine and previous calculating machines, particularly its ability to be programmed to solve problems of any complexity.",
"did Ada come up with this theory?",
"Lovelace emphasised the difference between the Analytical Engine and previous calculating machines,",
"Did Ada get money for this theory?",
"I don't know."
] |
C_47899340436946f4a66e41ddc2156446_0
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do people use this theory today?
| 4 |
do people use Ada Lovelace's theory today?
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Ada Lovelace
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In her notes, Lovelace emphasised the difference between the Analytical Engine and previous calculating machines, particularly its ability to be programmed to solve problems of any complexity. She realised the potential of the device extended far beyond mere number crunching. In her notes, she wrote: [The Analytical Engine] might act upon other things besides number, were objects found whose mutual fundamental relations could be expressed by those of the abstract science of operations, and which should be also susceptible of adaptations to the action of the operating notation and mechanism of the engine...Supposing, for instance, that the fundamental relations of pitched sounds in the science of harmony and of musical composition were susceptible of such expression and adaptations, the engine might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent. This analysis was an important development from previous ideas about the capabilities of computing devices and anticipated the implications of modern computing one hundred years before they were realised. Walter Isaacson ascribes Lovelace's insight regarding the application of computing to any process based on logical symbols to an observation about textiles: "When she saw some mechanical looms that used punchcards to direct the weaving of beautiful patterns, it reminded her of how Babbage's engine used punched cards to make calculations." This insight is seen as significant by writers such as Betty Toole and Benjamin Woolley, as well as the programmer John Graham-Cumming, whose project Plan 28 has the aim of constructing the first complete Analytical Engine. According to the historian of computing and Babbage specialist Doron Swade: Ada saw something that Babbage in some sense failed to see. In Babbage's world his engines were bound by number...What Lovelace saw--what Ada Byron saw--was that number could represent entities other than quantity. So once you had a machine for manipulating numbers, if those numbers represented other things, letters, musical notes, then the machine could manipulate symbols of which number was one instance, according to rules. It is this fundamental transition from a machine which is a number cruncher to a machine for manipulating symbols according to rules that is the fundamental transition from calculation to computation--to general-purpose computation--and looking back from the present high ground of modern computing, if we are looking and sifting history for that transition, then that transition was made explicitly by Ada in that 1843 paper. CANNOTANSWER
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CANNOTANSWER
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Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (née Byron; 10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852) was an English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. She was the first to recognise that the machine had applications beyond pure calculation, and to have published the first algorithm intended to be carried out by such a machine. As a result, she is often regarded as the first computer programmer.
Ada Byron was the only child of poet Lord Byron and mathematician Lady Byron. All of Byron's other children were born out of wedlock to other women. Byron separated from his wife a month after Ada was born and left England forever. Four months later, he commemorated the parting in a poem that begins, "Is thy face like thy mother's my fair child! ADA! sole daughter of my house and heart?". He died in Greece when Ada was eight years old. Her mother remained bitter and promoted Ada's interest in mathematics and logic in an effort to prevent her from developing her father's perceived insanity. Despite this, Ada remained interested in him, naming her two sons Byron and Gordon. Upon her death, she was buried next to him at her request. Although often ill in her childhood, Ada pursued her studies assiduously. She married William King in 1835. King was made Earl of Lovelace in 1838, Ada thereby becoming Countess of Lovelace.
Her educational and social exploits brought her into contact with scientists such as Andrew Crosse, Charles Babbage, Sir David Brewster, Charles Wheatstone, Michael Faraday and the author Charles Dickens, contacts which she used to further her education. Ada described her approach as "poetical science" and herself as an "Analyst (& Metaphysician)".
When she was a teenager (18), her mathematical talents led her to a long working relationship and friendship with fellow British mathematician Charles Babbage, who is known as "the father of computers". She was in particular interested in Babbage's work on the Analytical Engine. Lovelace first met him in June 1833, through their mutual friend, and her private tutor, Mary Somerville.
Between 1842 and 1843, Ada translated an article by Italian military engineer Luigi Menabrea about the Analytical Engine, supplementing it with an elaborate set of notes, simply called "Notes". Lovelace's notes are important in the early history of computers, containing what many consider to be the first computer program—that is, an algorithm designed to be carried out by a machine. Other historians reject this perspective and point out that Babbage's personal notes from the years 1836/1837 contain the first programs for the engine. She also developed a vision of the capability of computers to go beyond mere calculating or number-crunching, while many others, including Babbage himself, focused only on those capabilities. Her mindset of "poetical science" led her to ask questions about the Analytical Engine (as shown in her notes) examining how individuals and society relate to technology as a collaborative tool.
She died of uterine cancer in 1852 at the age of 36, the same age at which her father died.
Biography
Childhood
Lord Byron expected his child to be a "glorious boy" and was disappointed when Lady Byron gave birth to a girl. The child was named after Byron's half-sister, Augusta Leigh, and was called "Ada" by Byron himself. On 16 January 1816, at Lord Byron's command, Lady Byron left for her parents' home at Kirkby Mallory, taking their five-week-old daughter with her. Although English law at the time granted full custody of children to the father in cases of separation, Lord Byron made no attempt to claim his parental rights, but did request that his sister keep him informed of Ada's welfare.
On 21 April, Lord Byron signed the deed of separation, although very reluctantly, and left England for good a few days later. Aside from an acrimonious separation, Lady Byron continued throughout her life to make allegations about her husband's immoral behaviour. This set of events made Lovelace infamous in Victorian society. Ada did not have a relationship with her father. He died in 1824 when she was eight years old. Her mother was the only significant parental figure in her life. Lovelace was not shown the family portrait of her father until her 20th birthday.
Lovelace did not have a close relationship with her mother. She was often left in the care of her maternal grandmother Judith, Hon. Lady Milbanke, who doted on her. However, because of societal attitudes of the time—which favoured the husband in any separation, with the welfare of any child acting as mitigation—Lady Byron had to present herself as a loving mother to the rest of society. This included writing anxious letters to Lady Milbanke about her daughter's welfare, with a cover note saying to retain the letters in case she had to use them to show maternal concern. In one letter to Lady Milbanke, she referred to her daughter as "it": "I talk to it for your satisfaction, not my own, and shall be very glad when you have it under your own." Lady Byron had her teenage daughter watched by close friends for any sign of moral deviation. Lovelace dubbed these observers the "Furies" and later complained they exaggerated and invented stories about her.
Lovelace was often ill, beginning in early childhood. At the age of eight, she experienced headaches that obscured her vision. In June 1829, she was paralyzed after a bout of measles. She was subjected to continuous bed rest for nearly a year, something which may have extended her period of disability. By 1831, she was able to walk with crutches. Despite the illnesses, she developed her mathematical and technological skills.
Ada Byron had an affair with a tutor in early 1833. She tried to elope with him after she was caught, but the tutor's relatives recognised her and contacted her mother. Lady Byron and her friends covered the incident up to prevent a public scandal. Lovelace never met her younger half-sister, Allegra, the daughter of Lord Byron and Claire Clairmont. Allegra died in 1822 at the age of five. Lovelace did have some contact with Elizabeth Medora Leigh, the daughter of Byron's half-sister Augusta Leigh, who purposely avoided Lovelace as much as possible when introduced at court.
Adult years
Lovelace became close friends with her tutor Mary Somerville, who introduced her to Charles Babbage in 1833. She had a strong respect and affection for Somerville, and they corresponded for many years. Other acquaintances included the scientists Andrew Crosse, Sir David Brewster, Charles Wheatstone, Michael Faraday and the author Charles Dickens. She was presented at Court at the age of seventeen "and became a popular belle of the season" in part because of her "brilliant mind." By 1834 Ada was a regular at Court and started attending various events. She danced often and was able to charm many people, and was described by most people as being dainty, although John Hobhouse, Byron's friend, described her as "a large, coarse-skinned young woman but with something of my friend's features, particularly the mouth". This description followed their meeting on 24 February 1834 in which Ada made it clear to Hobhouse that she did not like him, probably due to her mother's influence, which led her to dislike all of her father's friends. This first impression was not to last, and they later became friends.
On 8 July 1835, she married William, 8th Baron King, becoming Lady King. They had three homes: Ockham Park, Surrey; a Scottish estate on Loch Torridon in Ross-shire; and a house in London. They spent their honeymoon at Worthy Manor in Ashley Combe near Porlock Weir, Somerset. The Manor had been built as a hunting lodge in 1799 and was improved by King in preparation for their honeymoon. It later became their summer retreat and was further improved during this time. From 1845, the family's main house was Horsley Towers, built in the Tudorbethan fashion by the architect of the Houses of Parliament, Charles Barry, and later greatly enlarged to Lovelace's own designs.
They had three children: Byron (born 1836); Anne Isabella (called Annabella, born 1837); and Ralph Gordon (born 1839). Immediately after the birth of Annabella, Lady King experienced "a tedious and suffering illness, which took months to cure." Ada was a descendant of the extinct Barons Lovelace and in 1838, her husband was made Earl of Lovelace and Viscount Ockham, meaning Ada became the Countess of Lovelace. In 1843–44, Ada's mother assigned William Benjamin Carpenter to teach Ada's children and to act as a "moral" instructor for Ada. He quickly fell for her and encouraged her to express any frustrated affections, claiming that his marriage meant he would never act in an "unbecoming" manner. When it became clear that Carpenter was trying to start an affair, Ada cut it off.
In 1841, Lovelace and Medora Leigh (the daughter of Lord Byron's half-sister Augusta Leigh) were told by Ada's mother that Ada's father was also Medora's father. On 27 February 1841, Ada wrote to her mother: "I am not in the least astonished. In fact, you merely confirm what I have for years and years felt scarcely a doubt about, but should have considered it most improper in me to hint to you that I in any way suspected." She did not blame the incestuous relationship on Byron, but instead blamed Augusta Leigh: "I fear she is more inherently wicked than he ever was." In the 1840s, Ada flirted with scandals: firstly, from a relaxed approach to extra-marital relationships with men, leading to rumours of affairs; and secondly, from her love of gambling. She apparently lost more than £3,000 on the horses during the later 1840s. The gambling led to her forming a syndicate with male friends, and an ambitious attempt in 1851 to create a mathematical model for successful large bets. This went disastrously wrong, leaving her thousands of pounds in debt to the syndicate, forcing her to admit it all to her husband. She had a shadowy relationship with Andrew Crosse's son John from 1844 onwards. John Crosse destroyed most of their correspondence after her death as part of a legal agreement. She bequeathed him the only heirlooms her father had personally left to her. During her final illness, she would panic at the idea of the younger Crosse being kept from visiting her.
Education
From 1832, when she was seventeen, her mathematical abilities began to emerge, and her interest in mathematics dominated the majority of her adult life. Her mother's obsession with rooting out any of the insanity of which she accused Byron was one of the reasons that Ada was taught mathematics from an early age. She was privately educated in mathematics and science by William Frend, William King, and Mary Somerville, the noted 19th-century researcher and scientific author. In the 1840s, the mathematician Augustus De Morgan extended her "much help in her mathematical studies" including study of advanced calculus topics including the "numbers of Bernoulli" (that formed her celebrated algorithm for Babbage's Analytical Engine). In a letter to Lady Byron, De Morgan suggested that Ada's skill in mathematics might lead her to become "an original mathematical investigator, perhaps of first-rate eminence."
Lovelace often questioned basic assumptions through integrating poetry and science. Whilst studying differential calculus, she wrote to De Morgan:
I may remark that the curious transformations many formulae can undergo, the unsuspected and to a beginner apparently impossible identity of forms exceedingly dissimilar at first sight, is I think one of the chief difficulties in the early part of mathematical studies. I am often reminded of certain sprites and fairies one reads of, who are at one's elbows in one shape now, and the next minute in a form most dissimilar.
Lovelace believed that intuition and imagination were critical to effectively applying mathematical and scientific concepts. She valued metaphysics as much as mathematics, viewing both as tools for exploring "the unseen worlds around us."
Death
Lovelace died at the age of 36 on 27 November 1852, from uterine cancer. The illness lasted several months, in which time Annabella took command over whom Ada saw, and excluded all of her friends and confidants. Under her mother's influence, Ada had a religious transformation and was coaxed into repenting of her previous conduct and making Annabella her executor. She lost contact with her husband after confessing something to him on 30 August which caused him to abandon her bedside. It is not known what she told him. She was buried, at her request, next to her father at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire. A memorial plaque, written in Latin, to her and her father is in the chapel attached to Horsley Towers.
Work
Throughout her life, Lovelace was strongly interested in scientific developments and fads of the day, including phrenology and mesmerism. After her work with Babbage, Lovelace continued to work on other projects. In 1844, she commented to a friend Woronzow Greig about her desire to create a mathematical model for how the brain gives rise to thoughts and nerves to feelings ("a calculus of the nervous system"). She never achieved this, however. In part, her interest in the brain came from a long-running pre-occupation, inherited from her mother, about her "potential" madness. As part of her research into this project, she visited the electrical engineer Andrew Crosse in 1844 to learn how to carry out electrical experiments. In the same year, she wrote a review of a paper by Baron Karl von Reichenbach, Researches on Magnetism, but this was not published and does not appear to have progressed past the first draft. In 1851, the year before her cancer struck, she wrote to her mother mentioning "certain productions" she was working on regarding the relation of maths and music.
Lovelace first met Charles Babbage in June 1833, through their mutual friend Mary Somerville. Later that month, Babbage invited Lovelace to see the prototype for his difference engine. She became fascinated with the machine and used her relationship with Somerville to visit Babbage as often as she could. Babbage was impressed by Lovelace's intellect and analytic skills. He called her "The Enchantress of Number." In 1843, he wrote to her:
During a nine-month period in 1842–43, Lovelace translated the Italian mathematician Luigi Menabrea's article on Babbage's newest proposed machine, the Analytical Engine. With the article, she appended a set of notes. Explaining the Analytical Engine's function was a difficult task, as many other scientists did not really grasp the concept and the British establishment had shown little interest in it. Lovelace's notes even had to explain how the Analytical Engine differed from the original Difference Engine. Her work was well received at the time; the scientist Michael Faraday described himself as a supporter of her writing.
The notes are around three times longer than the article itself and include (in Note G), in complete detail, a method for calculating a sequence of Bernoulli numbers using the Analytical Engine, which might have run correctly had it ever been built (only Babbage's Difference Engine has been built, completed in London in 2002). Based on this work, Lovelace is now considered by many to be the first computer programmer and her method has been called the world's first computer program. Others dispute this because some of Charles Babbage's earlier writings could be considered computer programs.
Note G also contains Lovelace's dismissal of artificial intelligence. She wrote that "The Analytical Engine has no pretensions whatever to originate anything. It can do whatever we know how to order it to perform. It can follow analysis; but it has no power of anticipating any analytical relations or truths." This objection has been the subject of much debate and rebuttal, for example by Alan Turing in his paper "Computing Machinery and Intelligence".
Lovelace and Babbage had a minor falling out when the papers were published, when he tried to leave his own statement (criticising the government's treatment of his Engine) as an unsigned preface, which could have been mistakenly interpreted as a joint declaration. When Taylor's Scientific Memoirs ruled that the statement should be signed, Babbage wrote to Lovelace asking her to withdraw the paper. This was the first that she knew he was leaving it unsigned, and she wrote back refusing to withdraw the paper. The historian Benjamin Woolley theorised that "His actions suggested he had so enthusiastically sought Ada's involvement, and so happily indulged her ... because of her 'celebrated name'." Their friendship recovered, and they continued to correspond. On 12 August 1851, when she was dying of cancer, Lovelace wrote to him asking him to be her executor, though this letter did not give him the necessary legal authority. Part of the terrace at Worthy Manor was known as Philosopher's Walk, as it was there that Lovelace and Babbage were reputed to have walked while discussing mathematical principles.
First computer program
In 1840, Babbage was invited to give a seminar at the University of Turin about his Analytical Engine. Luigi Menabrea, a young Italian engineer and the future Prime Minister of Italy, transcribed Babbage's lecture into French, and this transcript was subsequently published in the Bibliothèque universelle de Genève in October 1842.
Babbage's friend Charles Wheatstone commissioned Ada Lovelace to translate Menabrea's paper into English. She then augmented the paper with notes, which were added to the translation. Ada Lovelace spent the better part of a year doing this, assisted with input from Babbage. These notes, which are more extensive than Menabrea's paper, were then published in the September 1843 edition of Taylor's Scientific Memoirs under the initialism AAL.
Ada Lovelace's notes were labelled alphabetically from A to G. In note G, she describes an algorithm for the Analytical Engine to compute Bernoulli numbers. It is considered to be the first published algorithm ever specifically tailored for implementation on a computer, and Ada Lovelace has often been cited as the first computer programmer for this reason. The engine was never completed so her program was never tested.
In 1953, more than a century after her death, Ada Lovelace's notes on Babbage's Analytical Engine were republished as an appendix to B. V. Bowden's Faster than Thought: A Symposium on Digital Computing Machines. The engine has now been recognised as an early model for a computer and her notes as a description of a computer and software.
Insight into potential of computing devices
In her notes, Ada Lovelace emphasised the difference between the Analytical Engine and previous calculating machines, particularly its ability to be programmed to solve problems of any complexity. She realised the potential of the device extended far beyond mere number crunching. In her notes, she wrote:
This analysis was an important development from previous ideas about the capabilities of computing devices and anticipated the implications of modern computing one hundred years before they were realised. Walter Isaacson ascribes Ada's insight regarding the application of computing to any process based on logical symbols to an observation about textiles: "When she saw some mechanical looms that used punchcards to direct the weaving of beautiful patterns, it reminded her of how Babbage's engine used punched cards to make calculations." This insight is seen as significant by writers such as Betty Toole and Benjamin Woolley, as well as the programmer John Graham-Cumming, whose project Plan 28 has the aim of constructing the first complete Analytical Engine.
According to the historian of computing and Babbage specialist Doron Swade: Ada saw something that Babbage in some sense failed to see. In Babbage's world his engines were bound by number...What Lovelace saw...was that number could represent entities other than quantity. So once you had a machine for manipulating numbers, if those numbers represented other things, letters, musical notes, then the machine could manipulate symbols of which number was one instance, according to rules. It is this fundamental transition from a machine which is a number cruncher to a machine for manipulating symbols according to rules that is the fundamental transition from calculation to computation—to general-purpose computation—and looking back from the present high ground of modern computing, if we are looking and sifting history for that transition, then that transition was made explicitly by Ada in that 1843 paper.
Controversy over contribution
Though Lovelace is often referred to as the first computer programmer, some biographers, computer scientists and historians of computing claim otherwise.
Allan G. Bromley, in the 1990 article Difference and Analytical Engines:
Bruce Collier, who later wrote a biography of Babbage, wrote in his 1970 Harvard University PhD thesis that Lovelace "made a considerable contribution to publicizing the Analytical Engine, but there is no evidence that she advanced the design or theory of it in any way".
Eugene Eric Kim and Betty Alexandra Toole consider it "incorrect" to regard Lovelace as the first computer programmer, as Babbage wrote the initial programs for his Analytical Engine, although the majority were never published. Bromley notes several dozen sample programs prepared by Babbage between 1837 and 1840, all substantially predating Lovelace's notes. Dorothy K. Stein regards Lovelace's notes as "more a reflection of the mathematical uncertainty of the author, the political purposes of the inventor, and, above all, of the social and cultural context in which it was written, than a blueprint for a scientific development."
Doron Swade, a specialist on history of computing known for his work on Babbage, discussed Lovelace during a lecture on Babbage's analytical engine. He explained that Ada was only a "promising beginner" instead of genius in mathematics, that she began studying basic concepts of mathematics five years after Babbage conceived the analytical engine so she could not have made important contributions to it, and that she only published the first computer program instead of actually writing it. But he agrees that Ada was the only person to see the potential of the analytical engine as a machine capable of expressing entities other than quantities.
In his self-published book, Idea Makers, Stephen Wolfram defends Lovelace's contributions. While acknowledging that Babbage wrote several unpublished algorithms for the Analytical Engine prior to Lovelace's notes, Wolfram argues that "there's nothing as sophisticated—or as clean—as Ada's computation of the Bernoulli numbers. Babbage certainly helped and commented on Ada's work, but she was definitely the driver of it." Wolfram then suggests that Lovelace's main achievement was to distill from Babbage's correspondence "a clear exposition of the abstract operation of the machine—something which Babbage never did."
In popular culture
1810s
Lord Byron wrote the poem "Fare Thee Well" to his wife Lady Byron in 1816, following their separation after the birth of Ada Lovelace. In the poem he writes:
And when thou would'st solace gather—
When our child's first accents flow—
Wilt thou teach her to say "Father!"
Though his care she must forego?
When her little hands shall press thee—
When her lip to thine is pressed—
Think of him whose prayer shall bless thee—
Think of him thy love had blessed!
Should her lineaments resemble
Those thou never more may'st see,
Then thy heart will softly tremble
With a pulse yet true to me.
1970s
Lovelace is portrayed in Romulus Linney's 1977 play Childe Byron.
1990s
In the 1990 steampunk novel The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, Lovelace delivers a lecture on the "punched cards" programme which proves Gödel's incompleteness theorems decades before their actual discovery.
In the 1997 film Conceiving Ada, a computer scientist obsessed with Ada finds a way of communicating with her in the past by means of "undying information waves".
In Tom Stoppard's 1993 play Arcadia, the precocious teenage genius Thomasina Coverly—a character "apparently based" on Ada Lovelace (the play also involves Lord Byron)—comes to understand chaos theory, and theorises the second law of thermodynamics, before either is officially recognised.
2000s
Lovelace features in John Crowley's 2005 novel, Lord Byron's Novel: The Evening Land, as an unseen character whose personality is forcefully depicted in her annotations and anti-heroic efforts to archive her father's lost novel.
2010s
The 2015 play Ada and the Engine by Lauren Gunderson portrays Lovelace and Charles Babbage in unrequited love, and it imagines a post-death meeting between Lovelace and her father.
Lovelace and Babbage are the main characters in Sydney Padua's webcomic and graphic novel The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage. The comic features extensive footnotes on the history of Ada Lovelace, and many lines of dialogue are drawn from actual correspondence.
Lovelace and Mary Shelley as teenagers are the central characters in Jordan Stratford's steampunk series, The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency.
Lovelace, identified as Ada Augusta Byron, is portrayed by Lily Lesser in the second season of The Frankenstein Chronicles. She is employed as an "analyst" to provide the workings of a life-sized humanoid automaton. The brass workings of the machine are reminiscent of Babbage's analytical engine. Her employment is described as keeping her occupied until she returns to her studies in advanced mathematics.
Lovelace and Babbage appear as characters in the second season of the ITV series Victoria (2017). Emerald Fennell portrays Lovelace in the episode, "The Green-Eyed Monster."
The Cardano cryptocurrency platform, which was launched in 2017, uses Ada as the name for their cryptocurrency and Lovelace as the smallest sub-unit of an Ada.
"Lovelace" is the name given to the operating system designed by the character Cameron Howe in Halt and Catch Fire.
Lovelace is a primary character in the 2019 Big Finish Doctor Who audio play The Enchantress of Numbers, starring Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor and Jane Slavin as his current companion, WPC Ann Kelso. Lovelace is played by Finty Williams.
In 2019, Lovelace is a featured character in the play STEM FEMMES by Philadelphia theater company Applied Mechanics.
2020s
Lovelace features as a character in "Spyfall, Part 2", the second episode of Doctor Who, series 12, which first aired on BBC One on 5 January 2020. The character was portrayed by Sylvie Briggs, alongside characterisations of Charles Babbage and Noor Inayat Khan. In 2021, Nvidia named their upcoming GPU architecture (to be released in 2022), "Ada Lovelace", after her.
Commemoration
The computer language Ada, created on behalf of the United States Department of Defense, was named after Lovelace. The reference manual for the language was approved on 10 December 1980 and the Department of Defense Military Standard for the language, MIL-STD-1815, was given the number of the year of her birth.
In 1981, the Association for Women in Computing inaugurated its Ada Lovelace Award. Since 1998, the British Computer Society (BCS) has awarded the Lovelace Medal, and in 2008 initiated an annual competition for women students. BCSWomen sponsors the Lovelace Colloquium, an annual conference for women undergraduates. Ada College is a further-education college in Tottenham Hale, London, focused on digital skills.
Ada Lovelace Day is an annual event celebrated on the second Tuesday of October, which began in 2009. Its goal is to "... raise the profile of women in science, technology, engineering, and maths," and to "create new role models for girls and women" in these fields. Events have included Wikipedia edit-a-thons with the aim of improving the representation of women on Wikipedia in terms of articles and editors to reduce unintended gender bias on Wikipedia. The Ada Initiative was a non-profit organisation dedicated to increasing the involvement of women in the free culture and open source movements.
The Engineering in Computer Science and Telecommunications College building in Zaragoza University is called the Ada Byron Building. The computer centre in the village of Porlock, near where Lovelace lived, is named after her. Ada Lovelace House is a council-owned building in Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, near where Lovelace spent her infancy.
In 2012, a Google Doodle and blog post honoured her on her birthday.
In 2013, Ada Developers Academy was founded and named after her. The mission of Ada Developers Academy is to diversify tech by providing women and gender diverse people the skills, experience, and community support to become professional software developers to change the face of tech.
On 17 September 2013, an episode of Great Lives about Ada Lovelace aired.
As of November 2015, all new British passports have included an illustration of Lovelace and Babbage.
In 2017, a Google Doodle honoured her with other women on International Women's Day.
On 2 February 2018, Satellogic, a high-resolution Earth observation imaging and analytics company, launched a ÑuSat type micro-satellite named in honour of Ada Lovelace.
In March 2018, The New York Times published a belated obituary for Ada Lovelace.
On 27 July 2018, Senator Ron Wyden submitted, in the United States Senate, the designation of 9 October 2018 as National Ada Lovelace Day: "To honor the life and contributions of Ada Lovelace as a leading woman in science and mathematics". The resolution (S.Res.592) was considered, and agreed to without amendment and with a preamble by unanimous consent.
In November 2020 it was announced that Trinity College Dublin whose library had previously held forty busts, all of them of men, was commissioning four new busts of women, one of whom was to be Lovelace.
Bicentenary
The bicentenary of Ada Lovelace's birth was celebrated with a number of events, including:
The Ada Lovelace Bicentenary Lectures on Computability, Israel Institute for Advanced Studies, 20 December 2015 – 31 January 2016.
Ada Lovelace Symposium, University of Oxford, 13–14 October 2015.
Ada.Ada.Ada, a one-woman show about the life and work of Ada Lovelace (using an LED dress), premiered at Edinburgh International Science Festival on 11 April 2015, and continues to touring internationally to promote diversity on STEM at technology conferences, businesses, government and educational organisations.
Special exhibitions were displayed by the Science Museum in London, England and the Weston Library (part of the Bodleian Library) in Oxford, England.
Publications
Lovelace, Ada King. Ada, the Enchantress of Numbers: A Selection from the Letters of Lord Byron's Daughter and her Description of the First Computer. Mill Valley, CA: Strawberry Press, 1992. .
Publication history
Six copies of the 1843 first edition of Sketch of the Analytical Engine with Ada Lovelace's "Notes" have been located. Three are held at Harvard University, one at the University of Oklahoma, and one at the United States Air Force Academy. On 20 July 2018, the sixth copy was sold at auction to an anonymous buyer for £95,000. A digital facsimile of one of the copies in the Harvard University Library is available online.
In December 2016, a letter written by Ada Lovelace was forfeited by Martin Shkreli to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance for unpaid taxes owed by Shkreli.
See also
Ai-Da (robot)
Code: Debugging the Gender Gap
List of pioneers in computer science
Timeline of women in science
Women in computing
Women in STEM fields
Explanatory notes
References
General sources
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With notes upon the memoir by the translator.
Miller, Clair Cain. "Ada Lovelace, 1815–1852," New York Times, 8 March 2018.
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Further reading
Miranda Seymour, In Byron's Wake: The Turbulent Lives of Byron's Wife and Daughter: Annabella Milbanke and Ada Lovelace, Pegasus, 2018, 547 pp.
Christopher Hollings, Ursula Martin, and Adrian Rice, Ada Lovelace: The Making of a Computer Scientist, Bodleian Library, 2018, 114 pp.
Jenny Uglow, "Stepping Out of Byron's Shadow", The New York Review of Books, vol. LXV, no. 18 (22 November 2018), pp. 30–32.
Jennifer Chiaverini, Enchantress of Numbers, Dutton, 2017, 426 pp.
External links
"Ada's Army gets set to rewrite history at Inspirefest 2018" by Luke Maxwell, 4 August 2018
"Untangling the Tale of Ada Lovelace" by Stephen Wolfram, December 2015
1815 births
1852 deaths
19th-century British women scientists
19th-century British writers
19th-century English mathematicians
19th-century English women writers
19th-century British inventors
19th-century English nobility
Ada (programming language)
British countesses
British women computer scientists
British women mathematicians
Burials in Nottinghamshire
Ada
Women computer scientists
Computer designers
Daughters of barons
Deaths from cancer in England
Deaths from uterine cancer
English computer programmers
English people of Scottish descent
English women poets
Lord Byron
Mathematicians from London
Women of the Victorian era
Burials at the Church of St Mary Magdalene, Hucknall
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[
"Middle-range theory can refer to theories in:\n Middle-range theory (archaeology), describes how people use objects and structures, and the human behaviors associated with this use\n Middle-range theory (sociology), a theory with limited scope, that explains a specific set of phenomena",
"Maslowian portfolio theory (MaPT) creates a normative portfolio theory based on human needs as described by Abraham Maslow. It is in general agreement with behavioral portfolio theory, and is explained in Maslowian Portfolio Theory: An alternative formulation of the Behavioural Portfolio Theory, and was first observed in Behavioural Finance and Decision Making in Financial Markets.\n\nMaslowian portfolio theory is quite simple in its approach. It states that financial investments should follow human needs in the first place. All the rest is logic deduction. For each need level in Maslow's hierarchy of needs, some investment goals can be identified, and those are the constituents of the overall portfolio.\n\nComparison with behavioral portfolio theory\nBehavioral portfolio theory (BPT) as introduced by Statman and Sheffrin in 2001, is characterized by a portfolio that is fragmented. Unlike the rational theories, such as Modern Portfolio Theory (Markowitz), where investors put all their assets in one portfolio, here investors have different portfolios for different goals. BPT starts from framing and hence concludes that portfolios are fragmented, and built up as layers. This indeed seems to be how humans construct portfolios. MaPT starts from the human needs as described by Maslow and uses these needs levels to create a portfolio theory.\n\nThe predicted portfolios in both BPT and MaPT are very similar:\n In BPT: safety layer, corresponds to the physiological and safety needs in MaPT\n Specific layer in BPT are the love needs and the esteem needs in MaPT\n Shot at richness in BPT is the self-actualization level in MaPT\n\nOne will notice that the main differences between MaPT and BPT are that:\n MaPT is derived from human needs, so it is to some extent a normative theory. BPT is strictly a descriptive theory.\n MaPT generates from the start more levels and more specific language to interact with the investor; however, theoretically BPT allows for the same portfolios.\n\nPortfolio optimization\nGenerally it seems that Roy's safety-first criterion is a good basis for portfolio selection, of course, including all generalizations developed later.\n\nHowever in later work the author emphasized the importance of using a coherent risk measure \n.\nThe problem with Roy's safety-first criterion is that it is equivalent to a Value at Risk optimization, which can lead to absurd results for returns that do not follow an elliptical distribution. A good alternative could be expected shortfall.\n\nJustification of the Theory\nFor many centuries, investing was the exclusive domain of the very rich (who did not have to worry about subsistence nor about specific projects). With this backdrop, Markowitz formulated in 1952 his “Mean Variance Criterion”, where money is the unique life goal. This is the foundation of “the investor’s risk profile” as today almost all advisors use. This Mean Variance theory concluded that all investments should be put in one optimal portfolio. The problem is that this is both impossible and meaningless (which is my optimal volatility, my unique time horizon, etc.).\n\nHowever after World War II, the investor’s landscape dramatically changed and in a few decades more and more people not only could, but actually had to invest. Those people do have to worry about subsistence and real life-goals! This automatically leads to the notion that investing should start from human needs.\n\nAs Abraham Maslow described, human needs can each get focus at separate times and satisfaction of one need does not automatically lead to the cancellation of another need. This means that Maslow's description of human needs was the first description of the framing effect bias in human behaviour, this means that human needs are actually observed as in separate mental accounts (see mental accounting). Therefore must be addressed one by one and each in a separate mental account.\n\nIn 2001, Meir Statman and Hersh Shefrin, described that people have “Behavioural Portfolios”: not one optimized portfolio, but rather pockets of separate portfolios for separate goals.\n\nIn 2009, Philippe De Brouwer formulates his “Maslowian Portfolio Theory”. The idea is that for the average investor should keep a separate portfolio for each important life-goal. This created a new, normative theory that gave the justification to goal-based investing and on top of that provides a framework to use it in practice (so that no goals are forgotten and all goals are treated in a reasonable order).\n\nReferences\n\nPortfolio theories"
] |
[
"Ada Lovelace",
"Beyond numbers",
"what is the significance of Beyond Numbers?",
"the difference between the Analytical Engine and previous calculating machines, particularly its ability to be programmed to solve problems of any complexity.",
"did Ada come up with this theory?",
"Lovelace emphasised the difference between the Analytical Engine and previous calculating machines,",
"Did Ada get money for this theory?",
"I don't know.",
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"I don't know."
] |
C_47899340436946f4a66e41ddc2156446_0
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was this theory based on intuition or facts?
| 5 |
was Lovelace's theory based on intuition or facts?
|
Ada Lovelace
|
In her notes, Lovelace emphasised the difference between the Analytical Engine and previous calculating machines, particularly its ability to be programmed to solve problems of any complexity. She realised the potential of the device extended far beyond mere number crunching. In her notes, she wrote: [The Analytical Engine] might act upon other things besides number, were objects found whose mutual fundamental relations could be expressed by those of the abstract science of operations, and which should be also susceptible of adaptations to the action of the operating notation and mechanism of the engine...Supposing, for instance, that the fundamental relations of pitched sounds in the science of harmony and of musical composition were susceptible of such expression and adaptations, the engine might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent. This analysis was an important development from previous ideas about the capabilities of computing devices and anticipated the implications of modern computing one hundred years before they were realised. Walter Isaacson ascribes Lovelace's insight regarding the application of computing to any process based on logical symbols to an observation about textiles: "When she saw some mechanical looms that used punchcards to direct the weaving of beautiful patterns, it reminded her of how Babbage's engine used punched cards to make calculations." This insight is seen as significant by writers such as Betty Toole and Benjamin Woolley, as well as the programmer John Graham-Cumming, whose project Plan 28 has the aim of constructing the first complete Analytical Engine. According to the historian of computing and Babbage specialist Doron Swade: Ada saw something that Babbage in some sense failed to see. In Babbage's world his engines were bound by number...What Lovelace saw--what Ada Byron saw--was that number could represent entities other than quantity. So once you had a machine for manipulating numbers, if those numbers represented other things, letters, musical notes, then the machine could manipulate symbols of which number was one instance, according to rules. It is this fundamental transition from a machine which is a number cruncher to a machine for manipulating symbols according to rules that is the fundamental transition from calculation to computation--to general-purpose computation--and looking back from the present high ground of modern computing, if we are looking and sifting history for that transition, then that transition was made explicitly by Ada in that 1843 paper. CANNOTANSWER
|
This analysis was an important development from previous ideas about the capabilities of computing devices
|
Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (née Byron; 10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852) was an English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. She was the first to recognise that the machine had applications beyond pure calculation, and to have published the first algorithm intended to be carried out by such a machine. As a result, she is often regarded as the first computer programmer.
Ada Byron was the only child of poet Lord Byron and mathematician Lady Byron. All of Byron's other children were born out of wedlock to other women. Byron separated from his wife a month after Ada was born and left England forever. Four months later, he commemorated the parting in a poem that begins, "Is thy face like thy mother's my fair child! ADA! sole daughter of my house and heart?". He died in Greece when Ada was eight years old. Her mother remained bitter and promoted Ada's interest in mathematics and logic in an effort to prevent her from developing her father's perceived insanity. Despite this, Ada remained interested in him, naming her two sons Byron and Gordon. Upon her death, she was buried next to him at her request. Although often ill in her childhood, Ada pursued her studies assiduously. She married William King in 1835. King was made Earl of Lovelace in 1838, Ada thereby becoming Countess of Lovelace.
Her educational and social exploits brought her into contact with scientists such as Andrew Crosse, Charles Babbage, Sir David Brewster, Charles Wheatstone, Michael Faraday and the author Charles Dickens, contacts which she used to further her education. Ada described her approach as "poetical science" and herself as an "Analyst (& Metaphysician)".
When she was a teenager (18), her mathematical talents led her to a long working relationship and friendship with fellow British mathematician Charles Babbage, who is known as "the father of computers". She was in particular interested in Babbage's work on the Analytical Engine. Lovelace first met him in June 1833, through their mutual friend, and her private tutor, Mary Somerville.
Between 1842 and 1843, Ada translated an article by Italian military engineer Luigi Menabrea about the Analytical Engine, supplementing it with an elaborate set of notes, simply called "Notes". Lovelace's notes are important in the early history of computers, containing what many consider to be the first computer program—that is, an algorithm designed to be carried out by a machine. Other historians reject this perspective and point out that Babbage's personal notes from the years 1836/1837 contain the first programs for the engine. She also developed a vision of the capability of computers to go beyond mere calculating or number-crunching, while many others, including Babbage himself, focused only on those capabilities. Her mindset of "poetical science" led her to ask questions about the Analytical Engine (as shown in her notes) examining how individuals and society relate to technology as a collaborative tool.
She died of uterine cancer in 1852 at the age of 36, the same age at which her father died.
Biography
Childhood
Lord Byron expected his child to be a "glorious boy" and was disappointed when Lady Byron gave birth to a girl. The child was named after Byron's half-sister, Augusta Leigh, and was called "Ada" by Byron himself. On 16 January 1816, at Lord Byron's command, Lady Byron left for her parents' home at Kirkby Mallory, taking their five-week-old daughter with her. Although English law at the time granted full custody of children to the father in cases of separation, Lord Byron made no attempt to claim his parental rights, but did request that his sister keep him informed of Ada's welfare.
On 21 April, Lord Byron signed the deed of separation, although very reluctantly, and left England for good a few days later. Aside from an acrimonious separation, Lady Byron continued throughout her life to make allegations about her husband's immoral behaviour. This set of events made Lovelace infamous in Victorian society. Ada did not have a relationship with her father. He died in 1824 when she was eight years old. Her mother was the only significant parental figure in her life. Lovelace was not shown the family portrait of her father until her 20th birthday.
Lovelace did not have a close relationship with her mother. She was often left in the care of her maternal grandmother Judith, Hon. Lady Milbanke, who doted on her. However, because of societal attitudes of the time—which favoured the husband in any separation, with the welfare of any child acting as mitigation—Lady Byron had to present herself as a loving mother to the rest of society. This included writing anxious letters to Lady Milbanke about her daughter's welfare, with a cover note saying to retain the letters in case she had to use them to show maternal concern. In one letter to Lady Milbanke, she referred to her daughter as "it": "I talk to it for your satisfaction, not my own, and shall be very glad when you have it under your own." Lady Byron had her teenage daughter watched by close friends for any sign of moral deviation. Lovelace dubbed these observers the "Furies" and later complained they exaggerated and invented stories about her.
Lovelace was often ill, beginning in early childhood. At the age of eight, she experienced headaches that obscured her vision. In June 1829, she was paralyzed after a bout of measles. She was subjected to continuous bed rest for nearly a year, something which may have extended her period of disability. By 1831, she was able to walk with crutches. Despite the illnesses, she developed her mathematical and technological skills.
Ada Byron had an affair with a tutor in early 1833. She tried to elope with him after she was caught, but the tutor's relatives recognised her and contacted her mother. Lady Byron and her friends covered the incident up to prevent a public scandal. Lovelace never met her younger half-sister, Allegra, the daughter of Lord Byron and Claire Clairmont. Allegra died in 1822 at the age of five. Lovelace did have some contact with Elizabeth Medora Leigh, the daughter of Byron's half-sister Augusta Leigh, who purposely avoided Lovelace as much as possible when introduced at court.
Adult years
Lovelace became close friends with her tutor Mary Somerville, who introduced her to Charles Babbage in 1833. She had a strong respect and affection for Somerville, and they corresponded for many years. Other acquaintances included the scientists Andrew Crosse, Sir David Brewster, Charles Wheatstone, Michael Faraday and the author Charles Dickens. She was presented at Court at the age of seventeen "and became a popular belle of the season" in part because of her "brilliant mind." By 1834 Ada was a regular at Court and started attending various events. She danced often and was able to charm many people, and was described by most people as being dainty, although John Hobhouse, Byron's friend, described her as "a large, coarse-skinned young woman but with something of my friend's features, particularly the mouth". This description followed their meeting on 24 February 1834 in which Ada made it clear to Hobhouse that she did not like him, probably due to her mother's influence, which led her to dislike all of her father's friends. This first impression was not to last, and they later became friends.
On 8 July 1835, she married William, 8th Baron King, becoming Lady King. They had three homes: Ockham Park, Surrey; a Scottish estate on Loch Torridon in Ross-shire; and a house in London. They spent their honeymoon at Worthy Manor in Ashley Combe near Porlock Weir, Somerset. The Manor had been built as a hunting lodge in 1799 and was improved by King in preparation for their honeymoon. It later became their summer retreat and was further improved during this time. From 1845, the family's main house was Horsley Towers, built in the Tudorbethan fashion by the architect of the Houses of Parliament, Charles Barry, and later greatly enlarged to Lovelace's own designs.
They had three children: Byron (born 1836); Anne Isabella (called Annabella, born 1837); and Ralph Gordon (born 1839). Immediately after the birth of Annabella, Lady King experienced "a tedious and suffering illness, which took months to cure." Ada was a descendant of the extinct Barons Lovelace and in 1838, her husband was made Earl of Lovelace and Viscount Ockham, meaning Ada became the Countess of Lovelace. In 1843–44, Ada's mother assigned William Benjamin Carpenter to teach Ada's children and to act as a "moral" instructor for Ada. He quickly fell for her and encouraged her to express any frustrated affections, claiming that his marriage meant he would never act in an "unbecoming" manner. When it became clear that Carpenter was trying to start an affair, Ada cut it off.
In 1841, Lovelace and Medora Leigh (the daughter of Lord Byron's half-sister Augusta Leigh) were told by Ada's mother that Ada's father was also Medora's father. On 27 February 1841, Ada wrote to her mother: "I am not in the least astonished. In fact, you merely confirm what I have for years and years felt scarcely a doubt about, but should have considered it most improper in me to hint to you that I in any way suspected." She did not blame the incestuous relationship on Byron, but instead blamed Augusta Leigh: "I fear she is more inherently wicked than he ever was." In the 1840s, Ada flirted with scandals: firstly, from a relaxed approach to extra-marital relationships with men, leading to rumours of affairs; and secondly, from her love of gambling. She apparently lost more than £3,000 on the horses during the later 1840s. The gambling led to her forming a syndicate with male friends, and an ambitious attempt in 1851 to create a mathematical model for successful large bets. This went disastrously wrong, leaving her thousands of pounds in debt to the syndicate, forcing her to admit it all to her husband. She had a shadowy relationship with Andrew Crosse's son John from 1844 onwards. John Crosse destroyed most of their correspondence after her death as part of a legal agreement. She bequeathed him the only heirlooms her father had personally left to her. During her final illness, she would panic at the idea of the younger Crosse being kept from visiting her.
Education
From 1832, when she was seventeen, her mathematical abilities began to emerge, and her interest in mathematics dominated the majority of her adult life. Her mother's obsession with rooting out any of the insanity of which she accused Byron was one of the reasons that Ada was taught mathematics from an early age. She was privately educated in mathematics and science by William Frend, William King, and Mary Somerville, the noted 19th-century researcher and scientific author. In the 1840s, the mathematician Augustus De Morgan extended her "much help in her mathematical studies" including study of advanced calculus topics including the "numbers of Bernoulli" (that formed her celebrated algorithm for Babbage's Analytical Engine). In a letter to Lady Byron, De Morgan suggested that Ada's skill in mathematics might lead her to become "an original mathematical investigator, perhaps of first-rate eminence."
Lovelace often questioned basic assumptions through integrating poetry and science. Whilst studying differential calculus, she wrote to De Morgan:
I may remark that the curious transformations many formulae can undergo, the unsuspected and to a beginner apparently impossible identity of forms exceedingly dissimilar at first sight, is I think one of the chief difficulties in the early part of mathematical studies. I am often reminded of certain sprites and fairies one reads of, who are at one's elbows in one shape now, and the next minute in a form most dissimilar.
Lovelace believed that intuition and imagination were critical to effectively applying mathematical and scientific concepts. She valued metaphysics as much as mathematics, viewing both as tools for exploring "the unseen worlds around us."
Death
Lovelace died at the age of 36 on 27 November 1852, from uterine cancer. The illness lasted several months, in which time Annabella took command over whom Ada saw, and excluded all of her friends and confidants. Under her mother's influence, Ada had a religious transformation and was coaxed into repenting of her previous conduct and making Annabella her executor. She lost contact with her husband after confessing something to him on 30 August which caused him to abandon her bedside. It is not known what she told him. She was buried, at her request, next to her father at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire. A memorial plaque, written in Latin, to her and her father is in the chapel attached to Horsley Towers.
Work
Throughout her life, Lovelace was strongly interested in scientific developments and fads of the day, including phrenology and mesmerism. After her work with Babbage, Lovelace continued to work on other projects. In 1844, she commented to a friend Woronzow Greig about her desire to create a mathematical model for how the brain gives rise to thoughts and nerves to feelings ("a calculus of the nervous system"). She never achieved this, however. In part, her interest in the brain came from a long-running pre-occupation, inherited from her mother, about her "potential" madness. As part of her research into this project, she visited the electrical engineer Andrew Crosse in 1844 to learn how to carry out electrical experiments. In the same year, she wrote a review of a paper by Baron Karl von Reichenbach, Researches on Magnetism, but this was not published and does not appear to have progressed past the first draft. In 1851, the year before her cancer struck, she wrote to her mother mentioning "certain productions" she was working on regarding the relation of maths and music.
Lovelace first met Charles Babbage in June 1833, through their mutual friend Mary Somerville. Later that month, Babbage invited Lovelace to see the prototype for his difference engine. She became fascinated with the machine and used her relationship with Somerville to visit Babbage as often as she could. Babbage was impressed by Lovelace's intellect and analytic skills. He called her "The Enchantress of Number." In 1843, he wrote to her:
During a nine-month period in 1842–43, Lovelace translated the Italian mathematician Luigi Menabrea's article on Babbage's newest proposed machine, the Analytical Engine. With the article, she appended a set of notes. Explaining the Analytical Engine's function was a difficult task, as many other scientists did not really grasp the concept and the British establishment had shown little interest in it. Lovelace's notes even had to explain how the Analytical Engine differed from the original Difference Engine. Her work was well received at the time; the scientist Michael Faraday described himself as a supporter of her writing.
The notes are around three times longer than the article itself and include (in Note G), in complete detail, a method for calculating a sequence of Bernoulli numbers using the Analytical Engine, which might have run correctly had it ever been built (only Babbage's Difference Engine has been built, completed in London in 2002). Based on this work, Lovelace is now considered by many to be the first computer programmer and her method has been called the world's first computer program. Others dispute this because some of Charles Babbage's earlier writings could be considered computer programs.
Note G also contains Lovelace's dismissal of artificial intelligence. She wrote that "The Analytical Engine has no pretensions whatever to originate anything. It can do whatever we know how to order it to perform. It can follow analysis; but it has no power of anticipating any analytical relations or truths." This objection has been the subject of much debate and rebuttal, for example by Alan Turing in his paper "Computing Machinery and Intelligence".
Lovelace and Babbage had a minor falling out when the papers were published, when he tried to leave his own statement (criticising the government's treatment of his Engine) as an unsigned preface, which could have been mistakenly interpreted as a joint declaration. When Taylor's Scientific Memoirs ruled that the statement should be signed, Babbage wrote to Lovelace asking her to withdraw the paper. This was the first that she knew he was leaving it unsigned, and she wrote back refusing to withdraw the paper. The historian Benjamin Woolley theorised that "His actions suggested he had so enthusiastically sought Ada's involvement, and so happily indulged her ... because of her 'celebrated name'." Their friendship recovered, and they continued to correspond. On 12 August 1851, when she was dying of cancer, Lovelace wrote to him asking him to be her executor, though this letter did not give him the necessary legal authority. Part of the terrace at Worthy Manor was known as Philosopher's Walk, as it was there that Lovelace and Babbage were reputed to have walked while discussing mathematical principles.
First computer program
In 1840, Babbage was invited to give a seminar at the University of Turin about his Analytical Engine. Luigi Menabrea, a young Italian engineer and the future Prime Minister of Italy, transcribed Babbage's lecture into French, and this transcript was subsequently published in the Bibliothèque universelle de Genève in October 1842.
Babbage's friend Charles Wheatstone commissioned Ada Lovelace to translate Menabrea's paper into English. She then augmented the paper with notes, which were added to the translation. Ada Lovelace spent the better part of a year doing this, assisted with input from Babbage. These notes, which are more extensive than Menabrea's paper, were then published in the September 1843 edition of Taylor's Scientific Memoirs under the initialism AAL.
Ada Lovelace's notes were labelled alphabetically from A to G. In note G, she describes an algorithm for the Analytical Engine to compute Bernoulli numbers. It is considered to be the first published algorithm ever specifically tailored for implementation on a computer, and Ada Lovelace has often been cited as the first computer programmer for this reason. The engine was never completed so her program was never tested.
In 1953, more than a century after her death, Ada Lovelace's notes on Babbage's Analytical Engine were republished as an appendix to B. V. Bowden's Faster than Thought: A Symposium on Digital Computing Machines. The engine has now been recognised as an early model for a computer and her notes as a description of a computer and software.
Insight into potential of computing devices
In her notes, Ada Lovelace emphasised the difference between the Analytical Engine and previous calculating machines, particularly its ability to be programmed to solve problems of any complexity. She realised the potential of the device extended far beyond mere number crunching. In her notes, she wrote:
This analysis was an important development from previous ideas about the capabilities of computing devices and anticipated the implications of modern computing one hundred years before they were realised. Walter Isaacson ascribes Ada's insight regarding the application of computing to any process based on logical symbols to an observation about textiles: "When she saw some mechanical looms that used punchcards to direct the weaving of beautiful patterns, it reminded her of how Babbage's engine used punched cards to make calculations." This insight is seen as significant by writers such as Betty Toole and Benjamin Woolley, as well as the programmer John Graham-Cumming, whose project Plan 28 has the aim of constructing the first complete Analytical Engine.
According to the historian of computing and Babbage specialist Doron Swade: Ada saw something that Babbage in some sense failed to see. In Babbage's world his engines were bound by number...What Lovelace saw...was that number could represent entities other than quantity. So once you had a machine for manipulating numbers, if those numbers represented other things, letters, musical notes, then the machine could manipulate symbols of which number was one instance, according to rules. It is this fundamental transition from a machine which is a number cruncher to a machine for manipulating symbols according to rules that is the fundamental transition from calculation to computation—to general-purpose computation—and looking back from the present high ground of modern computing, if we are looking and sifting history for that transition, then that transition was made explicitly by Ada in that 1843 paper.
Controversy over contribution
Though Lovelace is often referred to as the first computer programmer, some biographers, computer scientists and historians of computing claim otherwise.
Allan G. Bromley, in the 1990 article Difference and Analytical Engines:
Bruce Collier, who later wrote a biography of Babbage, wrote in his 1970 Harvard University PhD thesis that Lovelace "made a considerable contribution to publicizing the Analytical Engine, but there is no evidence that she advanced the design or theory of it in any way".
Eugene Eric Kim and Betty Alexandra Toole consider it "incorrect" to regard Lovelace as the first computer programmer, as Babbage wrote the initial programs for his Analytical Engine, although the majority were never published. Bromley notes several dozen sample programs prepared by Babbage between 1837 and 1840, all substantially predating Lovelace's notes. Dorothy K. Stein regards Lovelace's notes as "more a reflection of the mathematical uncertainty of the author, the political purposes of the inventor, and, above all, of the social and cultural context in which it was written, than a blueprint for a scientific development."
Doron Swade, a specialist on history of computing known for his work on Babbage, discussed Lovelace during a lecture on Babbage's analytical engine. He explained that Ada was only a "promising beginner" instead of genius in mathematics, that she began studying basic concepts of mathematics five years after Babbage conceived the analytical engine so she could not have made important contributions to it, and that she only published the first computer program instead of actually writing it. But he agrees that Ada was the only person to see the potential of the analytical engine as a machine capable of expressing entities other than quantities.
In his self-published book, Idea Makers, Stephen Wolfram defends Lovelace's contributions. While acknowledging that Babbage wrote several unpublished algorithms for the Analytical Engine prior to Lovelace's notes, Wolfram argues that "there's nothing as sophisticated—or as clean—as Ada's computation of the Bernoulli numbers. Babbage certainly helped and commented on Ada's work, but she was definitely the driver of it." Wolfram then suggests that Lovelace's main achievement was to distill from Babbage's correspondence "a clear exposition of the abstract operation of the machine—something which Babbage never did."
In popular culture
1810s
Lord Byron wrote the poem "Fare Thee Well" to his wife Lady Byron in 1816, following their separation after the birth of Ada Lovelace. In the poem he writes:
And when thou would'st solace gather—
When our child's first accents flow—
Wilt thou teach her to say "Father!"
Though his care she must forego?
When her little hands shall press thee—
When her lip to thine is pressed—
Think of him whose prayer shall bless thee—
Think of him thy love had blessed!
Should her lineaments resemble
Those thou never more may'st see,
Then thy heart will softly tremble
With a pulse yet true to me.
1970s
Lovelace is portrayed in Romulus Linney's 1977 play Childe Byron.
1990s
In the 1990 steampunk novel The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, Lovelace delivers a lecture on the "punched cards" programme which proves Gödel's incompleteness theorems decades before their actual discovery.
In the 1997 film Conceiving Ada, a computer scientist obsessed with Ada finds a way of communicating with her in the past by means of "undying information waves".
In Tom Stoppard's 1993 play Arcadia, the precocious teenage genius Thomasina Coverly—a character "apparently based" on Ada Lovelace (the play also involves Lord Byron)—comes to understand chaos theory, and theorises the second law of thermodynamics, before either is officially recognised.
2000s
Lovelace features in John Crowley's 2005 novel, Lord Byron's Novel: The Evening Land, as an unseen character whose personality is forcefully depicted in her annotations and anti-heroic efforts to archive her father's lost novel.
2010s
The 2015 play Ada and the Engine by Lauren Gunderson portrays Lovelace and Charles Babbage in unrequited love, and it imagines a post-death meeting between Lovelace and her father.
Lovelace and Babbage are the main characters in Sydney Padua's webcomic and graphic novel The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage. The comic features extensive footnotes on the history of Ada Lovelace, and many lines of dialogue are drawn from actual correspondence.
Lovelace and Mary Shelley as teenagers are the central characters in Jordan Stratford's steampunk series, The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency.
Lovelace, identified as Ada Augusta Byron, is portrayed by Lily Lesser in the second season of The Frankenstein Chronicles. She is employed as an "analyst" to provide the workings of a life-sized humanoid automaton. The brass workings of the machine are reminiscent of Babbage's analytical engine. Her employment is described as keeping her occupied until she returns to her studies in advanced mathematics.
Lovelace and Babbage appear as characters in the second season of the ITV series Victoria (2017). Emerald Fennell portrays Lovelace in the episode, "The Green-Eyed Monster."
The Cardano cryptocurrency platform, which was launched in 2017, uses Ada as the name for their cryptocurrency and Lovelace as the smallest sub-unit of an Ada.
"Lovelace" is the name given to the operating system designed by the character Cameron Howe in Halt and Catch Fire.
Lovelace is a primary character in the 2019 Big Finish Doctor Who audio play The Enchantress of Numbers, starring Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor and Jane Slavin as his current companion, WPC Ann Kelso. Lovelace is played by Finty Williams.
In 2019, Lovelace is a featured character in the play STEM FEMMES by Philadelphia theater company Applied Mechanics.
2020s
Lovelace features as a character in "Spyfall, Part 2", the second episode of Doctor Who, series 12, which first aired on BBC One on 5 January 2020. The character was portrayed by Sylvie Briggs, alongside characterisations of Charles Babbage and Noor Inayat Khan. In 2021, Nvidia named their upcoming GPU architecture (to be released in 2022), "Ada Lovelace", after her.
Commemoration
The computer language Ada, created on behalf of the United States Department of Defense, was named after Lovelace. The reference manual for the language was approved on 10 December 1980 and the Department of Defense Military Standard for the language, MIL-STD-1815, was given the number of the year of her birth.
In 1981, the Association for Women in Computing inaugurated its Ada Lovelace Award. Since 1998, the British Computer Society (BCS) has awarded the Lovelace Medal, and in 2008 initiated an annual competition for women students. BCSWomen sponsors the Lovelace Colloquium, an annual conference for women undergraduates. Ada College is a further-education college in Tottenham Hale, London, focused on digital skills.
Ada Lovelace Day is an annual event celebrated on the second Tuesday of October, which began in 2009. Its goal is to "... raise the profile of women in science, technology, engineering, and maths," and to "create new role models for girls and women" in these fields. Events have included Wikipedia edit-a-thons with the aim of improving the representation of women on Wikipedia in terms of articles and editors to reduce unintended gender bias on Wikipedia. The Ada Initiative was a non-profit organisation dedicated to increasing the involvement of women in the free culture and open source movements.
The Engineering in Computer Science and Telecommunications College building in Zaragoza University is called the Ada Byron Building. The computer centre in the village of Porlock, near where Lovelace lived, is named after her. Ada Lovelace House is a council-owned building in Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, near where Lovelace spent her infancy.
In 2012, a Google Doodle and blog post honoured her on her birthday.
In 2013, Ada Developers Academy was founded and named after her. The mission of Ada Developers Academy is to diversify tech by providing women and gender diverse people the skills, experience, and community support to become professional software developers to change the face of tech.
On 17 September 2013, an episode of Great Lives about Ada Lovelace aired.
As of November 2015, all new British passports have included an illustration of Lovelace and Babbage.
In 2017, a Google Doodle honoured her with other women on International Women's Day.
On 2 February 2018, Satellogic, a high-resolution Earth observation imaging and analytics company, launched a ÑuSat type micro-satellite named in honour of Ada Lovelace.
In March 2018, The New York Times published a belated obituary for Ada Lovelace.
On 27 July 2018, Senator Ron Wyden submitted, in the United States Senate, the designation of 9 October 2018 as National Ada Lovelace Day: "To honor the life and contributions of Ada Lovelace as a leading woman in science and mathematics". The resolution (S.Res.592) was considered, and agreed to without amendment and with a preamble by unanimous consent.
In November 2020 it was announced that Trinity College Dublin whose library had previously held forty busts, all of them of men, was commissioning four new busts of women, one of whom was to be Lovelace.
Bicentenary
The bicentenary of Ada Lovelace's birth was celebrated with a number of events, including:
The Ada Lovelace Bicentenary Lectures on Computability, Israel Institute for Advanced Studies, 20 December 2015 – 31 January 2016.
Ada Lovelace Symposium, University of Oxford, 13–14 October 2015.
Ada.Ada.Ada, a one-woman show about the life and work of Ada Lovelace (using an LED dress), premiered at Edinburgh International Science Festival on 11 April 2015, and continues to touring internationally to promote diversity on STEM at technology conferences, businesses, government and educational organisations.
Special exhibitions were displayed by the Science Museum in London, England and the Weston Library (part of the Bodleian Library) in Oxford, England.
Publications
Lovelace, Ada King. Ada, the Enchantress of Numbers: A Selection from the Letters of Lord Byron's Daughter and her Description of the First Computer. Mill Valley, CA: Strawberry Press, 1992. .
Publication history
Six copies of the 1843 first edition of Sketch of the Analytical Engine with Ada Lovelace's "Notes" have been located. Three are held at Harvard University, one at the University of Oklahoma, and one at the United States Air Force Academy. On 20 July 2018, the sixth copy was sold at auction to an anonymous buyer for £95,000. A digital facsimile of one of the copies in the Harvard University Library is available online.
In December 2016, a letter written by Ada Lovelace was forfeited by Martin Shkreli to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance for unpaid taxes owed by Shkreli.
See also
Ai-Da (robot)
Code: Debugging the Gender Gap
List of pioneers in computer science
Timeline of women in science
Women in computing
Women in STEM fields
Explanatory notes
References
General sources
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With notes upon the memoir by the translator.
Miller, Clair Cain. "Ada Lovelace, 1815–1852," New York Times, 8 March 2018.
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Further reading
Miranda Seymour, In Byron's Wake: The Turbulent Lives of Byron's Wife and Daughter: Annabella Milbanke and Ada Lovelace, Pegasus, 2018, 547 pp.
Christopher Hollings, Ursula Martin, and Adrian Rice, Ada Lovelace: The Making of a Computer Scientist, Bodleian Library, 2018, 114 pp.
Jenny Uglow, "Stepping Out of Byron's Shadow", The New York Review of Books, vol. LXV, no. 18 (22 November 2018), pp. 30–32.
Jennifer Chiaverini, Enchantress of Numbers, Dutton, 2017, 426 pp.
External links
"Ada's Army gets set to rewrite history at Inspirefest 2018" by Luke Maxwell, 4 August 2018
"Untangling the Tale of Ada Lovelace" by Stephen Wolfram, December 2015
1815 births
1852 deaths
19th-century British women scientists
19th-century British writers
19th-century English mathematicians
19th-century English women writers
19th-century British inventors
19th-century English nobility
Ada (programming language)
British countesses
British women computer scientists
British women mathematicians
Burials in Nottinghamshire
Ada
Women computer scientists
Computer designers
Daughters of barons
Deaths from cancer in England
Deaths from uterine cancer
English computer programmers
English people of Scottish descent
English women poets
Lord Byron
Mathematicians from London
Women of the Victorian era
Burials at the Church of St Mary Magdalene, Hucknall
| true |
[
"U-shaped development, also known as U-shaped learning, is the typical pattern by which select physical, artistic, and cognitive skills are developed. It is called “U” shape development because of the shape of the letter U in correlation to a graph, skills developed in the “U shaped” fashion begin on a high position on a graph's Y-axis. The skills start out at a high performance level and over time the skills descend to a lower position on the Y-axis. After another period of time the skill once again ascends to a higher position on the y-axis. A \"U\" shaped time line is created of the skills development.\nU-shaped development can be seen in cognitive skills such as learning new words, or doing high-level algorithms in mathematics. The skill can also be artistic such as painting or playing a musical instrument, and physical skills such a walking and weight lifting.\n\nArtistic skill development\nThis U-shaped curve is different from the other types of skill development because this skill has an artistic rating with it, which means there could be differences in opinion, but in studies where children, adult artists, and non-artist adults were all given the same directions to draw a self portrait, the children's and the artists' were the closest of the three to depicting the face when picked by an outside group. In theory, this result is because of an innate “creative skill” in children that is either lost to age with non-artist adults or practiced by adult artists. In artists the Y-axis would be the “creative skill”, and the X-axis would be time, but in non artists the “U” shaped curve would not apply.\n\nPhysical skill development\nThe U-shaped development in physical skill comes from the development and recession of muscular strength, on the graph the Y-axis is muscular strength and the X-axis is time. Muscular strength develops and recedes over time because of necessity; one example of this is a baby learning to walk. The baby will gain the strength in its legs to be able to support itself and walk (which is the left top of the “U”), but it then grows larger, and the strength in its legs becomes less than required to support itself (the bottom of the “U”), but then the baby's leg strength increases again which gives it the ability to support itself again (the right top of the “U”).\n\nCognitive skill development\nThis developmental curve reflects the progression of intuitive thinking processes as a person develops more advanced knowledge structures in a specific area. The shape of the curve reflects the variability of general intuitional availability.This means once intuition levels increase but also s/he can make more higher order intuitive connections/understandings given a corresponding increase in expertise. In this graph the axes would be availability of intuition (being th Y-axis) and level of expertise (being the X-axis), instead of the skill level (being the Y-axis) and time (being the X-axis). The “U” curve represents two different types of intuition: which are referred to as immature intuition(the top left of the \"U\") and mature intuition (the top right of the \"U\").\n\nOther theories\nThere have been other human development theories in the past such as \n “cognitive theory”- Is a learning theory of psychology that explains the behavior of human through thought process. The theory states that humans are logical beings, that make the choices that make the most sense to them.\n “social and situational theory”- Learning and development based on the person's situation and their social standing.\n “humanist theory\"- Is a theory that the behavior changes based on what education was received by the individual.\nThere are branch theories that relate to these theories and the theories have different notions on how environmental stimuli change a person, but none dismiss or disprove the U-shaped development theory.\n\nSee also\n Developmental psychology\n Kuznets curve\n Skill\n Art\n Cognition\n\nReferences \n\nDevelopmental psychology",
"Intuition is the native windowing system and user interface (UI) engine of AmigaOS. It was developed almost entirely by RJ Mical. Intuition should not be confused with Workbench, the AmigaOS spatial file manager, which relies on Intuition for handling windows and input events.\n\nIntuition is the internal widget and graphics system. It is not implemented primarily as an application-managed graphics library (as most systems, following Xerox's design, have done), but rather as a separate task that maintains the state of all the standard UI elements independently from the application. This makes it responsive because UI gadgets are live even when the application is busy. The Intuition task is driven by user events through the mouse, keyboard, and other input devices. It also arbitrates collisions of the mouse pointer and icons and control of \"animated icons\". Like most GUIs of the day, Amiga's Intuition followed Xerox's lead anteceding solutions, but pragmatically, a command line interface was also included and it extended the functionality of the platform. Later releases added more improvements, like support for high-color Workbench screens and 3D aspect. Replacement desktop file managers were also made available, such as Directory Opus Magellan and Scalos interface.\n\nInitial releases used blue, orange, white and black palettes. This was intentional – in a time before cheap high-quality video monitors, Commodore tested output on the worst televisions they could find, with the goal of obtaining the best possible contrast under these worst-case conditions.\n\nIntuition in Release 2 of Amiga operating system\nIntuition was heavily extended upon release of version 2 of the AmigaOS. The Basic Object-Oriented Programming System for Intuition (BOOPSI) was introduced. It allows a programmer to build graphics user interface using object-oriented programming. Some built-in classes are provided (like \"gadgetclass\" or \"imageclass\"), and it's also possible to build own classes on top of existing, or completely new (on top of \"rootclass\").\n\nOther GUI toolkits\nDue to the limitations of Intuition's basic widget set, developers adopted other third-party GUI toolkits, such as Magic User Interface (MUI), and ReAction. These object oriented UI engines driven by \"classes\" of graphic objects and functions with new standard gadgets, animated buttons, true-color icons, etc. offered developers standardized and more attractive interfaces. MUI and similar systems abandoned the separation of the User Interface between the application (which specified gadgets to be displayed) and the Intuition task (which actually managed gadgets for all applications, even when they were busy).\n\nModern day successors to the Workbench environment include Ambient for MorphOS, Scalos, Workbench for AmigaOS 4 and Wanderer for AROS.\nThere is a brief article on Ambient and descriptions of MUI icons, menus and gadgets here (aps.fr) and images of Zune stay at main AROS site.\n\nA new object-oriented toolkit for all Amiga-like platforms (AmigaOS, MorphOS, AROS), Feelin, was introduced in 2005, and makes extensive use of XML guidelines. It uses its own memory management system, and its memory-pools system shares the embedded OS's semaphores. Feelin also features a non-centralized ID allocation system, a crash-free object invocation mechanism, and an advanced logging system. Details and images on Feelin can be found at its website.\n\nReception\nStewart Alsop II said in 1988 that Intuition was among several GUIs that \"have already been knocked out\" of the market by Apple, IBM/Microsoft, and others. Stating that it \"was slapped together in about six months ... and that lack of forethought or vision shows\", he criticized Intuition's drive letters, lack of network support, and \"hundreds of other small features\".\n\nReferences\n\nAmiga APIs\nAmigaOS\nMorphOS\nWindowing systems"
] |
[
"Ada Lovelace",
"Beyond numbers",
"what is the significance of Beyond Numbers?",
"the difference between the Analytical Engine and previous calculating machines, particularly its ability to be programmed to solve problems of any complexity.",
"did Ada come up with this theory?",
"Lovelace emphasised the difference between the Analytical Engine and previous calculating machines,",
"Did Ada get money for this theory?",
"I don't know.",
"do people use this theory today?",
"I don't know.",
"was this theory based on intuition or facts?",
"This analysis was an important development from previous ideas about the capabilities of computing devices"
] |
C_47899340436946f4a66e41ddc2156446_0
|
is there anything else interesting about Beyond numbers?
| 6 |
is there anything else interesting besides the capabilities of computing devices about Beyond numbers?
|
Ada Lovelace
|
In her notes, Lovelace emphasised the difference between the Analytical Engine and previous calculating machines, particularly its ability to be programmed to solve problems of any complexity. She realised the potential of the device extended far beyond mere number crunching. In her notes, she wrote: [The Analytical Engine] might act upon other things besides number, were objects found whose mutual fundamental relations could be expressed by those of the abstract science of operations, and which should be also susceptible of adaptations to the action of the operating notation and mechanism of the engine...Supposing, for instance, that the fundamental relations of pitched sounds in the science of harmony and of musical composition were susceptible of such expression and adaptations, the engine might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent. This analysis was an important development from previous ideas about the capabilities of computing devices and anticipated the implications of modern computing one hundred years before they were realised. Walter Isaacson ascribes Lovelace's insight regarding the application of computing to any process based on logical symbols to an observation about textiles: "When she saw some mechanical looms that used punchcards to direct the weaving of beautiful patterns, it reminded her of how Babbage's engine used punched cards to make calculations." This insight is seen as significant by writers such as Betty Toole and Benjamin Woolley, as well as the programmer John Graham-Cumming, whose project Plan 28 has the aim of constructing the first complete Analytical Engine. According to the historian of computing and Babbage specialist Doron Swade: Ada saw something that Babbage in some sense failed to see. In Babbage's world his engines were bound by number...What Lovelace saw--what Ada Byron saw--was that number could represent entities other than quantity. So once you had a machine for manipulating numbers, if those numbers represented other things, letters, musical notes, then the machine could manipulate symbols of which number was one instance, according to rules. It is this fundamental transition from a machine which is a number cruncher to a machine for manipulating symbols according to rules that is the fundamental transition from calculation to computation--to general-purpose computation--and looking back from the present high ground of modern computing, if we are looking and sifting history for that transition, then that transition was made explicitly by Ada in that 1843 paper. CANNOTANSWER
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Ada saw something that Babbage in some sense failed to see.
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Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (née Byron; 10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852) was an English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. She was the first to recognise that the machine had applications beyond pure calculation, and to have published the first algorithm intended to be carried out by such a machine. As a result, she is often regarded as the first computer programmer.
Ada Byron was the only child of poet Lord Byron and mathematician Lady Byron. All of Byron's other children were born out of wedlock to other women. Byron separated from his wife a month after Ada was born and left England forever. Four months later, he commemorated the parting in a poem that begins, "Is thy face like thy mother's my fair child! ADA! sole daughter of my house and heart?". He died in Greece when Ada was eight years old. Her mother remained bitter and promoted Ada's interest in mathematics and logic in an effort to prevent her from developing her father's perceived insanity. Despite this, Ada remained interested in him, naming her two sons Byron and Gordon. Upon her death, she was buried next to him at her request. Although often ill in her childhood, Ada pursued her studies assiduously. She married William King in 1835. King was made Earl of Lovelace in 1838, Ada thereby becoming Countess of Lovelace.
Her educational and social exploits brought her into contact with scientists such as Andrew Crosse, Charles Babbage, Sir David Brewster, Charles Wheatstone, Michael Faraday and the author Charles Dickens, contacts which she used to further her education. Ada described her approach as "poetical science" and herself as an "Analyst (& Metaphysician)".
When she was a teenager (18), her mathematical talents led her to a long working relationship and friendship with fellow British mathematician Charles Babbage, who is known as "the father of computers". She was in particular interested in Babbage's work on the Analytical Engine. Lovelace first met him in June 1833, through their mutual friend, and her private tutor, Mary Somerville.
Between 1842 and 1843, Ada translated an article by Italian military engineer Luigi Menabrea about the Analytical Engine, supplementing it with an elaborate set of notes, simply called "Notes". Lovelace's notes are important in the early history of computers, containing what many consider to be the first computer program—that is, an algorithm designed to be carried out by a machine. Other historians reject this perspective and point out that Babbage's personal notes from the years 1836/1837 contain the first programs for the engine. She also developed a vision of the capability of computers to go beyond mere calculating or number-crunching, while many others, including Babbage himself, focused only on those capabilities. Her mindset of "poetical science" led her to ask questions about the Analytical Engine (as shown in her notes) examining how individuals and society relate to technology as a collaborative tool.
She died of uterine cancer in 1852 at the age of 36, the same age at which her father died.
Biography
Childhood
Lord Byron expected his child to be a "glorious boy" and was disappointed when Lady Byron gave birth to a girl. The child was named after Byron's half-sister, Augusta Leigh, and was called "Ada" by Byron himself. On 16 January 1816, at Lord Byron's command, Lady Byron left for her parents' home at Kirkby Mallory, taking their five-week-old daughter with her. Although English law at the time granted full custody of children to the father in cases of separation, Lord Byron made no attempt to claim his parental rights, but did request that his sister keep him informed of Ada's welfare.
On 21 April, Lord Byron signed the deed of separation, although very reluctantly, and left England for good a few days later. Aside from an acrimonious separation, Lady Byron continued throughout her life to make allegations about her husband's immoral behaviour. This set of events made Lovelace infamous in Victorian society. Ada did not have a relationship with her father. He died in 1824 when she was eight years old. Her mother was the only significant parental figure in her life. Lovelace was not shown the family portrait of her father until her 20th birthday.
Lovelace did not have a close relationship with her mother. She was often left in the care of her maternal grandmother Judith, Hon. Lady Milbanke, who doted on her. However, because of societal attitudes of the time—which favoured the husband in any separation, with the welfare of any child acting as mitigation—Lady Byron had to present herself as a loving mother to the rest of society. This included writing anxious letters to Lady Milbanke about her daughter's welfare, with a cover note saying to retain the letters in case she had to use them to show maternal concern. In one letter to Lady Milbanke, she referred to her daughter as "it": "I talk to it for your satisfaction, not my own, and shall be very glad when you have it under your own." Lady Byron had her teenage daughter watched by close friends for any sign of moral deviation. Lovelace dubbed these observers the "Furies" and later complained they exaggerated and invented stories about her.
Lovelace was often ill, beginning in early childhood. At the age of eight, she experienced headaches that obscured her vision. In June 1829, she was paralyzed after a bout of measles. She was subjected to continuous bed rest for nearly a year, something which may have extended her period of disability. By 1831, she was able to walk with crutches. Despite the illnesses, she developed her mathematical and technological skills.
Ada Byron had an affair with a tutor in early 1833. She tried to elope with him after she was caught, but the tutor's relatives recognised her and contacted her mother. Lady Byron and her friends covered the incident up to prevent a public scandal. Lovelace never met her younger half-sister, Allegra, the daughter of Lord Byron and Claire Clairmont. Allegra died in 1822 at the age of five. Lovelace did have some contact with Elizabeth Medora Leigh, the daughter of Byron's half-sister Augusta Leigh, who purposely avoided Lovelace as much as possible when introduced at court.
Adult years
Lovelace became close friends with her tutor Mary Somerville, who introduced her to Charles Babbage in 1833. She had a strong respect and affection for Somerville, and they corresponded for many years. Other acquaintances included the scientists Andrew Crosse, Sir David Brewster, Charles Wheatstone, Michael Faraday and the author Charles Dickens. She was presented at Court at the age of seventeen "and became a popular belle of the season" in part because of her "brilliant mind." By 1834 Ada was a regular at Court and started attending various events. She danced often and was able to charm many people, and was described by most people as being dainty, although John Hobhouse, Byron's friend, described her as "a large, coarse-skinned young woman but with something of my friend's features, particularly the mouth". This description followed their meeting on 24 February 1834 in which Ada made it clear to Hobhouse that she did not like him, probably due to her mother's influence, which led her to dislike all of her father's friends. This first impression was not to last, and they later became friends.
On 8 July 1835, she married William, 8th Baron King, becoming Lady King. They had three homes: Ockham Park, Surrey; a Scottish estate on Loch Torridon in Ross-shire; and a house in London. They spent their honeymoon at Worthy Manor in Ashley Combe near Porlock Weir, Somerset. The Manor had been built as a hunting lodge in 1799 and was improved by King in preparation for their honeymoon. It later became their summer retreat and was further improved during this time. From 1845, the family's main house was Horsley Towers, built in the Tudorbethan fashion by the architect of the Houses of Parliament, Charles Barry, and later greatly enlarged to Lovelace's own designs.
They had three children: Byron (born 1836); Anne Isabella (called Annabella, born 1837); and Ralph Gordon (born 1839). Immediately after the birth of Annabella, Lady King experienced "a tedious and suffering illness, which took months to cure." Ada was a descendant of the extinct Barons Lovelace and in 1838, her husband was made Earl of Lovelace and Viscount Ockham, meaning Ada became the Countess of Lovelace. In 1843–44, Ada's mother assigned William Benjamin Carpenter to teach Ada's children and to act as a "moral" instructor for Ada. He quickly fell for her and encouraged her to express any frustrated affections, claiming that his marriage meant he would never act in an "unbecoming" manner. When it became clear that Carpenter was trying to start an affair, Ada cut it off.
In 1841, Lovelace and Medora Leigh (the daughter of Lord Byron's half-sister Augusta Leigh) were told by Ada's mother that Ada's father was also Medora's father. On 27 February 1841, Ada wrote to her mother: "I am not in the least astonished. In fact, you merely confirm what I have for years and years felt scarcely a doubt about, but should have considered it most improper in me to hint to you that I in any way suspected." She did not blame the incestuous relationship on Byron, but instead blamed Augusta Leigh: "I fear she is more inherently wicked than he ever was." In the 1840s, Ada flirted with scandals: firstly, from a relaxed approach to extra-marital relationships with men, leading to rumours of affairs; and secondly, from her love of gambling. She apparently lost more than £3,000 on the horses during the later 1840s. The gambling led to her forming a syndicate with male friends, and an ambitious attempt in 1851 to create a mathematical model for successful large bets. This went disastrously wrong, leaving her thousands of pounds in debt to the syndicate, forcing her to admit it all to her husband. She had a shadowy relationship with Andrew Crosse's son John from 1844 onwards. John Crosse destroyed most of their correspondence after her death as part of a legal agreement. She bequeathed him the only heirlooms her father had personally left to her. During her final illness, she would panic at the idea of the younger Crosse being kept from visiting her.
Education
From 1832, when she was seventeen, her mathematical abilities began to emerge, and her interest in mathematics dominated the majority of her adult life. Her mother's obsession with rooting out any of the insanity of which she accused Byron was one of the reasons that Ada was taught mathematics from an early age. She was privately educated in mathematics and science by William Frend, William King, and Mary Somerville, the noted 19th-century researcher and scientific author. In the 1840s, the mathematician Augustus De Morgan extended her "much help in her mathematical studies" including study of advanced calculus topics including the "numbers of Bernoulli" (that formed her celebrated algorithm for Babbage's Analytical Engine). In a letter to Lady Byron, De Morgan suggested that Ada's skill in mathematics might lead her to become "an original mathematical investigator, perhaps of first-rate eminence."
Lovelace often questioned basic assumptions through integrating poetry and science. Whilst studying differential calculus, she wrote to De Morgan:
I may remark that the curious transformations many formulae can undergo, the unsuspected and to a beginner apparently impossible identity of forms exceedingly dissimilar at first sight, is I think one of the chief difficulties in the early part of mathematical studies. I am often reminded of certain sprites and fairies one reads of, who are at one's elbows in one shape now, and the next minute in a form most dissimilar.
Lovelace believed that intuition and imagination were critical to effectively applying mathematical and scientific concepts. She valued metaphysics as much as mathematics, viewing both as tools for exploring "the unseen worlds around us."
Death
Lovelace died at the age of 36 on 27 November 1852, from uterine cancer. The illness lasted several months, in which time Annabella took command over whom Ada saw, and excluded all of her friends and confidants. Under her mother's influence, Ada had a religious transformation and was coaxed into repenting of her previous conduct and making Annabella her executor. She lost contact with her husband after confessing something to him on 30 August which caused him to abandon her bedside. It is not known what she told him. She was buried, at her request, next to her father at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire. A memorial plaque, written in Latin, to her and her father is in the chapel attached to Horsley Towers.
Work
Throughout her life, Lovelace was strongly interested in scientific developments and fads of the day, including phrenology and mesmerism. After her work with Babbage, Lovelace continued to work on other projects. In 1844, she commented to a friend Woronzow Greig about her desire to create a mathematical model for how the brain gives rise to thoughts and nerves to feelings ("a calculus of the nervous system"). She never achieved this, however. In part, her interest in the brain came from a long-running pre-occupation, inherited from her mother, about her "potential" madness. As part of her research into this project, she visited the electrical engineer Andrew Crosse in 1844 to learn how to carry out electrical experiments. In the same year, she wrote a review of a paper by Baron Karl von Reichenbach, Researches on Magnetism, but this was not published and does not appear to have progressed past the first draft. In 1851, the year before her cancer struck, she wrote to her mother mentioning "certain productions" she was working on regarding the relation of maths and music.
Lovelace first met Charles Babbage in June 1833, through their mutual friend Mary Somerville. Later that month, Babbage invited Lovelace to see the prototype for his difference engine. She became fascinated with the machine and used her relationship with Somerville to visit Babbage as often as she could. Babbage was impressed by Lovelace's intellect and analytic skills. He called her "The Enchantress of Number." In 1843, he wrote to her:
During a nine-month period in 1842–43, Lovelace translated the Italian mathematician Luigi Menabrea's article on Babbage's newest proposed machine, the Analytical Engine. With the article, she appended a set of notes. Explaining the Analytical Engine's function was a difficult task, as many other scientists did not really grasp the concept and the British establishment had shown little interest in it. Lovelace's notes even had to explain how the Analytical Engine differed from the original Difference Engine. Her work was well received at the time; the scientist Michael Faraday described himself as a supporter of her writing.
The notes are around three times longer than the article itself and include (in Note G), in complete detail, a method for calculating a sequence of Bernoulli numbers using the Analytical Engine, which might have run correctly had it ever been built (only Babbage's Difference Engine has been built, completed in London in 2002). Based on this work, Lovelace is now considered by many to be the first computer programmer and her method has been called the world's first computer program. Others dispute this because some of Charles Babbage's earlier writings could be considered computer programs.
Note G also contains Lovelace's dismissal of artificial intelligence. She wrote that "The Analytical Engine has no pretensions whatever to originate anything. It can do whatever we know how to order it to perform. It can follow analysis; but it has no power of anticipating any analytical relations or truths." This objection has been the subject of much debate and rebuttal, for example by Alan Turing in his paper "Computing Machinery and Intelligence".
Lovelace and Babbage had a minor falling out when the papers were published, when he tried to leave his own statement (criticising the government's treatment of his Engine) as an unsigned preface, which could have been mistakenly interpreted as a joint declaration. When Taylor's Scientific Memoirs ruled that the statement should be signed, Babbage wrote to Lovelace asking her to withdraw the paper. This was the first that she knew he was leaving it unsigned, and she wrote back refusing to withdraw the paper. The historian Benjamin Woolley theorised that "His actions suggested he had so enthusiastically sought Ada's involvement, and so happily indulged her ... because of her 'celebrated name'." Their friendship recovered, and they continued to correspond. On 12 August 1851, when she was dying of cancer, Lovelace wrote to him asking him to be her executor, though this letter did not give him the necessary legal authority. Part of the terrace at Worthy Manor was known as Philosopher's Walk, as it was there that Lovelace and Babbage were reputed to have walked while discussing mathematical principles.
First computer program
In 1840, Babbage was invited to give a seminar at the University of Turin about his Analytical Engine. Luigi Menabrea, a young Italian engineer and the future Prime Minister of Italy, transcribed Babbage's lecture into French, and this transcript was subsequently published in the Bibliothèque universelle de Genève in October 1842.
Babbage's friend Charles Wheatstone commissioned Ada Lovelace to translate Menabrea's paper into English. She then augmented the paper with notes, which were added to the translation. Ada Lovelace spent the better part of a year doing this, assisted with input from Babbage. These notes, which are more extensive than Menabrea's paper, were then published in the September 1843 edition of Taylor's Scientific Memoirs under the initialism AAL.
Ada Lovelace's notes were labelled alphabetically from A to G. In note G, she describes an algorithm for the Analytical Engine to compute Bernoulli numbers. It is considered to be the first published algorithm ever specifically tailored for implementation on a computer, and Ada Lovelace has often been cited as the first computer programmer for this reason. The engine was never completed so her program was never tested.
In 1953, more than a century after her death, Ada Lovelace's notes on Babbage's Analytical Engine were republished as an appendix to B. V. Bowden's Faster than Thought: A Symposium on Digital Computing Machines. The engine has now been recognised as an early model for a computer and her notes as a description of a computer and software.
Insight into potential of computing devices
In her notes, Ada Lovelace emphasised the difference between the Analytical Engine and previous calculating machines, particularly its ability to be programmed to solve problems of any complexity. She realised the potential of the device extended far beyond mere number crunching. In her notes, she wrote:
This analysis was an important development from previous ideas about the capabilities of computing devices and anticipated the implications of modern computing one hundred years before they were realised. Walter Isaacson ascribes Ada's insight regarding the application of computing to any process based on logical symbols to an observation about textiles: "When she saw some mechanical looms that used punchcards to direct the weaving of beautiful patterns, it reminded her of how Babbage's engine used punched cards to make calculations." This insight is seen as significant by writers such as Betty Toole and Benjamin Woolley, as well as the programmer John Graham-Cumming, whose project Plan 28 has the aim of constructing the first complete Analytical Engine.
According to the historian of computing and Babbage specialist Doron Swade: Ada saw something that Babbage in some sense failed to see. In Babbage's world his engines were bound by number...What Lovelace saw...was that number could represent entities other than quantity. So once you had a machine for manipulating numbers, if those numbers represented other things, letters, musical notes, then the machine could manipulate symbols of which number was one instance, according to rules. It is this fundamental transition from a machine which is a number cruncher to a machine for manipulating symbols according to rules that is the fundamental transition from calculation to computation—to general-purpose computation—and looking back from the present high ground of modern computing, if we are looking and sifting history for that transition, then that transition was made explicitly by Ada in that 1843 paper.
Controversy over contribution
Though Lovelace is often referred to as the first computer programmer, some biographers, computer scientists and historians of computing claim otherwise.
Allan G. Bromley, in the 1990 article Difference and Analytical Engines:
Bruce Collier, who later wrote a biography of Babbage, wrote in his 1970 Harvard University PhD thesis that Lovelace "made a considerable contribution to publicizing the Analytical Engine, but there is no evidence that she advanced the design or theory of it in any way".
Eugene Eric Kim and Betty Alexandra Toole consider it "incorrect" to regard Lovelace as the first computer programmer, as Babbage wrote the initial programs for his Analytical Engine, although the majority were never published. Bromley notes several dozen sample programs prepared by Babbage between 1837 and 1840, all substantially predating Lovelace's notes. Dorothy K. Stein regards Lovelace's notes as "more a reflection of the mathematical uncertainty of the author, the political purposes of the inventor, and, above all, of the social and cultural context in which it was written, than a blueprint for a scientific development."
Doron Swade, a specialist on history of computing known for his work on Babbage, discussed Lovelace during a lecture on Babbage's analytical engine. He explained that Ada was only a "promising beginner" instead of genius in mathematics, that she began studying basic concepts of mathematics five years after Babbage conceived the analytical engine so she could not have made important contributions to it, and that she only published the first computer program instead of actually writing it. But he agrees that Ada was the only person to see the potential of the analytical engine as a machine capable of expressing entities other than quantities.
In his self-published book, Idea Makers, Stephen Wolfram defends Lovelace's contributions. While acknowledging that Babbage wrote several unpublished algorithms for the Analytical Engine prior to Lovelace's notes, Wolfram argues that "there's nothing as sophisticated—or as clean—as Ada's computation of the Bernoulli numbers. Babbage certainly helped and commented on Ada's work, but she was definitely the driver of it." Wolfram then suggests that Lovelace's main achievement was to distill from Babbage's correspondence "a clear exposition of the abstract operation of the machine—something which Babbage never did."
In popular culture
1810s
Lord Byron wrote the poem "Fare Thee Well" to his wife Lady Byron in 1816, following their separation after the birth of Ada Lovelace. In the poem he writes:
And when thou would'st solace gather—
When our child's first accents flow—
Wilt thou teach her to say "Father!"
Though his care she must forego?
When her little hands shall press thee—
When her lip to thine is pressed—
Think of him whose prayer shall bless thee—
Think of him thy love had blessed!
Should her lineaments resemble
Those thou never more may'st see,
Then thy heart will softly tremble
With a pulse yet true to me.
1970s
Lovelace is portrayed in Romulus Linney's 1977 play Childe Byron.
1990s
In the 1990 steampunk novel The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, Lovelace delivers a lecture on the "punched cards" programme which proves Gödel's incompleteness theorems decades before their actual discovery.
In the 1997 film Conceiving Ada, a computer scientist obsessed with Ada finds a way of communicating with her in the past by means of "undying information waves".
In Tom Stoppard's 1993 play Arcadia, the precocious teenage genius Thomasina Coverly—a character "apparently based" on Ada Lovelace (the play also involves Lord Byron)—comes to understand chaos theory, and theorises the second law of thermodynamics, before either is officially recognised.
2000s
Lovelace features in John Crowley's 2005 novel, Lord Byron's Novel: The Evening Land, as an unseen character whose personality is forcefully depicted in her annotations and anti-heroic efforts to archive her father's lost novel.
2010s
The 2015 play Ada and the Engine by Lauren Gunderson portrays Lovelace and Charles Babbage in unrequited love, and it imagines a post-death meeting between Lovelace and her father.
Lovelace and Babbage are the main characters in Sydney Padua's webcomic and graphic novel The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage. The comic features extensive footnotes on the history of Ada Lovelace, and many lines of dialogue are drawn from actual correspondence.
Lovelace and Mary Shelley as teenagers are the central characters in Jordan Stratford's steampunk series, The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency.
Lovelace, identified as Ada Augusta Byron, is portrayed by Lily Lesser in the second season of The Frankenstein Chronicles. She is employed as an "analyst" to provide the workings of a life-sized humanoid automaton. The brass workings of the machine are reminiscent of Babbage's analytical engine. Her employment is described as keeping her occupied until she returns to her studies in advanced mathematics.
Lovelace and Babbage appear as characters in the second season of the ITV series Victoria (2017). Emerald Fennell portrays Lovelace in the episode, "The Green-Eyed Monster."
The Cardano cryptocurrency platform, which was launched in 2017, uses Ada as the name for their cryptocurrency and Lovelace as the smallest sub-unit of an Ada.
"Lovelace" is the name given to the operating system designed by the character Cameron Howe in Halt and Catch Fire.
Lovelace is a primary character in the 2019 Big Finish Doctor Who audio play The Enchantress of Numbers, starring Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor and Jane Slavin as his current companion, WPC Ann Kelso. Lovelace is played by Finty Williams.
In 2019, Lovelace is a featured character in the play STEM FEMMES by Philadelphia theater company Applied Mechanics.
2020s
Lovelace features as a character in "Spyfall, Part 2", the second episode of Doctor Who, series 12, which first aired on BBC One on 5 January 2020. The character was portrayed by Sylvie Briggs, alongside characterisations of Charles Babbage and Noor Inayat Khan. In 2021, Nvidia named their upcoming GPU architecture (to be released in 2022), "Ada Lovelace", after her.
Commemoration
The computer language Ada, created on behalf of the United States Department of Defense, was named after Lovelace. The reference manual for the language was approved on 10 December 1980 and the Department of Defense Military Standard for the language, MIL-STD-1815, was given the number of the year of her birth.
In 1981, the Association for Women in Computing inaugurated its Ada Lovelace Award. Since 1998, the British Computer Society (BCS) has awarded the Lovelace Medal, and in 2008 initiated an annual competition for women students. BCSWomen sponsors the Lovelace Colloquium, an annual conference for women undergraduates. Ada College is a further-education college in Tottenham Hale, London, focused on digital skills.
Ada Lovelace Day is an annual event celebrated on the second Tuesday of October, which began in 2009. Its goal is to "... raise the profile of women in science, technology, engineering, and maths," and to "create new role models for girls and women" in these fields. Events have included Wikipedia edit-a-thons with the aim of improving the representation of women on Wikipedia in terms of articles and editors to reduce unintended gender bias on Wikipedia. The Ada Initiative was a non-profit organisation dedicated to increasing the involvement of women in the free culture and open source movements.
The Engineering in Computer Science and Telecommunications College building in Zaragoza University is called the Ada Byron Building. The computer centre in the village of Porlock, near where Lovelace lived, is named after her. Ada Lovelace House is a council-owned building in Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, near where Lovelace spent her infancy.
In 2012, a Google Doodle and blog post honoured her on her birthday.
In 2013, Ada Developers Academy was founded and named after her. The mission of Ada Developers Academy is to diversify tech by providing women and gender diverse people the skills, experience, and community support to become professional software developers to change the face of tech.
On 17 September 2013, an episode of Great Lives about Ada Lovelace aired.
As of November 2015, all new British passports have included an illustration of Lovelace and Babbage.
In 2017, a Google Doodle honoured her with other women on International Women's Day.
On 2 February 2018, Satellogic, a high-resolution Earth observation imaging and analytics company, launched a ÑuSat type micro-satellite named in honour of Ada Lovelace.
In March 2018, The New York Times published a belated obituary for Ada Lovelace.
On 27 July 2018, Senator Ron Wyden submitted, in the United States Senate, the designation of 9 October 2018 as National Ada Lovelace Day: "To honor the life and contributions of Ada Lovelace as a leading woman in science and mathematics". The resolution (S.Res.592) was considered, and agreed to without amendment and with a preamble by unanimous consent.
In November 2020 it was announced that Trinity College Dublin whose library had previously held forty busts, all of them of men, was commissioning four new busts of women, one of whom was to be Lovelace.
Bicentenary
The bicentenary of Ada Lovelace's birth was celebrated with a number of events, including:
The Ada Lovelace Bicentenary Lectures on Computability, Israel Institute for Advanced Studies, 20 December 2015 – 31 January 2016.
Ada Lovelace Symposium, University of Oxford, 13–14 October 2015.
Ada.Ada.Ada, a one-woman show about the life and work of Ada Lovelace (using an LED dress), premiered at Edinburgh International Science Festival on 11 April 2015, and continues to touring internationally to promote diversity on STEM at technology conferences, businesses, government and educational organisations.
Special exhibitions were displayed by the Science Museum in London, England and the Weston Library (part of the Bodleian Library) in Oxford, England.
Publications
Lovelace, Ada King. Ada, the Enchantress of Numbers: A Selection from the Letters of Lord Byron's Daughter and her Description of the First Computer. Mill Valley, CA: Strawberry Press, 1992. .
Publication history
Six copies of the 1843 first edition of Sketch of the Analytical Engine with Ada Lovelace's "Notes" have been located. Three are held at Harvard University, one at the University of Oklahoma, and one at the United States Air Force Academy. On 20 July 2018, the sixth copy was sold at auction to an anonymous buyer for £95,000. A digital facsimile of one of the copies in the Harvard University Library is available online.
In December 2016, a letter written by Ada Lovelace was forfeited by Martin Shkreli to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance for unpaid taxes owed by Shkreli.
See also
Ai-Da (robot)
Code: Debugging the Gender Gap
List of pioneers in computer science
Timeline of women in science
Women in computing
Women in STEM fields
Explanatory notes
References
General sources
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With notes upon the memoir by the translator.
Miller, Clair Cain. "Ada Lovelace, 1815–1852," New York Times, 8 March 2018.
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Further reading
Miranda Seymour, In Byron's Wake: The Turbulent Lives of Byron's Wife and Daughter: Annabella Milbanke and Ada Lovelace, Pegasus, 2018, 547 pp.
Christopher Hollings, Ursula Martin, and Adrian Rice, Ada Lovelace: The Making of a Computer Scientist, Bodleian Library, 2018, 114 pp.
Jenny Uglow, "Stepping Out of Byron's Shadow", The New York Review of Books, vol. LXV, no. 18 (22 November 2018), pp. 30–32.
Jennifer Chiaverini, Enchantress of Numbers, Dutton, 2017, 426 pp.
External links
"Ada's Army gets set to rewrite history at Inspirefest 2018" by Luke Maxwell, 4 August 2018
"Untangling the Tale of Ada Lovelace" by Stephen Wolfram, December 2015
1815 births
1852 deaths
19th-century British women scientists
19th-century British writers
19th-century English mathematicians
19th-century English women writers
19th-century British inventors
19th-century English nobility
Ada (programming language)
British countesses
British women computer scientists
British women mathematicians
Burials in Nottinghamshire
Ada
Women computer scientists
Computer designers
Daughters of barons
Deaths from cancer in England
Deaths from uterine cancer
English computer programmers
English people of Scottish descent
English women poets
Lord Byron
Mathematicians from London
Women of the Victorian era
Burials at the Church of St Mary Magdalene, Hucknall
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[
"The interesting number paradox is a humorous paradox which arises from the attempt to classify every natural number as either \"interesting\" or \"uninteresting\". The paradox states that every natural number is interesting. The \"proof\" is by contradiction: if there exists a non-empty set of uninteresting natural numbers, there would be a smallest uninteresting number – but the smallest uninteresting number is itself interesting because it is the smallest uninteresting number, thus producing a contradiction.\n\n\"Interestingness\" concerning numbers is not a formal concept in normal terms, but an innate notion of \"interestingness\" seems to run among some number theorists. Famously, in a discussion between the mathematicians G. H. Hardy and Srinivasa Ramanujan about interesting and uninteresting numbers, Hardy remarked that the number 1729 of the taxicab he had ridden seemed \"rather a dull one\", and Ramanujan immediately answered that it is interesting, being the smallest number that is the sum of two cubes in two different ways.\n\nParadoxical nature\nAttempting to classify all numbers this way leads to a paradox or an antinomy of definition. Any hypothetical partition of natural numbers into interesting and uninteresting sets seems to fail. Since the definition of interesting is usually a subjective, intuitive notion, it should be understood as a semi-humorous application of self-reference in order to obtain a paradox.\n\nThe paradox is alleviated if \"interesting\" is instead defined objectively: for example, the smallest natural number that does not appear in an entry of the On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (OEIS) was originally found to be 11630 on 12 June 2009. The number fitting this definition later became 12407 from November 2009 until at least November 2011, then 13794 as of April 2012, until it appeared in sequence as of 3 November 2012. Since November 2013, that number was 14228, at least until 14 April 2014. In May 2021, the number was 20067. (This definition of uninteresting is possible only because the OEIS lists only a finite number of terms for each entry. For instance, is the sequence of all natural numbers, and if continued indefinitely would contain all positive integers. As it is, the sequence is recorded in its entry only as far as 77.) Depending on the sources used for the list of interesting numbers, a variety of other numbers can be characterized as uninteresting in the same way.\n\nHowever, as there are many significant results in mathematics that make use of self-reference (such as Gödel's incompleteness theorems), the paradox illustrates some of the power of self-reference, and thus touches on serious issues in many fields of study.\n\nThe mathematician and philosopher Alex Bellos suggested in 2014 that a candidate for the lowest uninteresting number would be 247 because it was, at the time, \"the lowest number not to have its own page on Wikipedia\".\n\nSee also\n Berry paradox\n Church–Turing thesis\n Gödel's incompleteness theorems\n Grelling–Nelson paradox\n Kleene–Rosser paradox\n List of paradoxes\n Richard's paradox\n The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Numbers\n Unexpected hanging paradox\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading\n\nExternal links\n April 11, 1954 was most boring day in history, Times of India\n\nMathematical paradoxes\nMathematical humor\nIntegers\nArticles containing proofs",
"\"How Interesting: A Tiny Man\" is a 2010 science fiction/magical realism short story by American writer Harlan Ellison. It was first published in Realms of Fantasy.\n\nPlot summary\nA scientist creates a tiny man. The tiny man is initially very popular, but then draws the hatred of the world, and so the tiny man must flee, together with the scientist (who is now likewise hated, for having created the tiny man).\n\nReception\n\"How Interesting: A Tiny Man\" won the 2010 Nebula Award for Best Short Story, tied with Kij Johnson's \"Ponies\". It was Ellison's final Nebula nomination and win, of his record-setting eight nominations and three wins.\n\nTor.com calls the story \"deceptively simple\", with \"execution (that) is flawless\" and a \"Geppetto-like\" narrator, while Publishers Weekly describes it as \"memorably depict(ing) humanity's smallness of spirit\". The SF Site, however, felt it was \"contrived and less than profound\".\n\nNick Mamatas compared \"How Interesting: A Tiny Man\" negatively to Ellison's other Nebula-winning short stories, and stated that the story's two mutually exclusive endings (in one, the tiny man is killed; in the other, he becomes God) are evocative of the process of writing short stories. Ben Peek considered it to be \"more allegory than (...) anything else\", and interpreted it as being about how the media \"give(s) everyone a voice\", and also about how Ellison was treated by science fiction fandom.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nAudio version of ''How Interesting: A Tiny Man, at StarShipSofa\nHow Interesting: A Tiny Man, at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database\n\nNebula Award for Best Short Story-winning works\nShort stories by Harlan Ellison"
] |
[
"Ada Lovelace",
"Beyond numbers",
"what is the significance of Beyond Numbers?",
"the difference between the Analytical Engine and previous calculating machines, particularly its ability to be programmed to solve problems of any complexity.",
"did Ada come up with this theory?",
"Lovelace emphasised the difference between the Analytical Engine and previous calculating machines,",
"Did Ada get money for this theory?",
"I don't know.",
"do people use this theory today?",
"I don't know.",
"was this theory based on intuition or facts?",
"This analysis was an important development from previous ideas about the capabilities of computing devices",
"is there anything else interesting about Beyond numbers?",
"Ada saw something that Babbage in some sense failed to see."
] |
C_47899340436946f4a66e41ddc2156446_0
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what did Ada see that others didn't see
| 7 |
what did Ada see that others didn't see in computing devices?
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Ada Lovelace
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In her notes, Lovelace emphasised the difference between the Analytical Engine and previous calculating machines, particularly its ability to be programmed to solve problems of any complexity. She realised the potential of the device extended far beyond mere number crunching. In her notes, she wrote: [The Analytical Engine] might act upon other things besides number, were objects found whose mutual fundamental relations could be expressed by those of the abstract science of operations, and which should be also susceptible of adaptations to the action of the operating notation and mechanism of the engine...Supposing, for instance, that the fundamental relations of pitched sounds in the science of harmony and of musical composition were susceptible of such expression and adaptations, the engine might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent. This analysis was an important development from previous ideas about the capabilities of computing devices and anticipated the implications of modern computing one hundred years before they were realised. Walter Isaacson ascribes Lovelace's insight regarding the application of computing to any process based on logical symbols to an observation about textiles: "When she saw some mechanical looms that used punchcards to direct the weaving of beautiful patterns, it reminded her of how Babbage's engine used punched cards to make calculations." This insight is seen as significant by writers such as Betty Toole and Benjamin Woolley, as well as the programmer John Graham-Cumming, whose project Plan 28 has the aim of constructing the first complete Analytical Engine. According to the historian of computing and Babbage specialist Doron Swade: Ada saw something that Babbage in some sense failed to see. In Babbage's world his engines were bound by number...What Lovelace saw--what Ada Byron saw--was that number could represent entities other than quantity. So once you had a machine for manipulating numbers, if those numbers represented other things, letters, musical notes, then the machine could manipulate symbols of which number was one instance, according to rules. It is this fundamental transition from a machine which is a number cruncher to a machine for manipulating symbols according to rules that is the fundamental transition from calculation to computation--to general-purpose computation--and looking back from the present high ground of modern computing, if we are looking and sifting history for that transition, then that transition was made explicitly by Ada in that 1843 paper. CANNOTANSWER
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number could represent entities other than quantity.
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Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (née Byron; 10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852) was an English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. She was the first to recognise that the machine had applications beyond pure calculation, and to have published the first algorithm intended to be carried out by such a machine. As a result, she is often regarded as the first computer programmer.
Ada Byron was the only child of poet Lord Byron and mathematician Lady Byron. All of Byron's other children were born out of wedlock to other women. Byron separated from his wife a month after Ada was born and left England forever. Four months later, he commemorated the parting in a poem that begins, "Is thy face like thy mother's my fair child! ADA! sole daughter of my house and heart?". He died in Greece when Ada was eight years old. Her mother remained bitter and promoted Ada's interest in mathematics and logic in an effort to prevent her from developing her father's perceived insanity. Despite this, Ada remained interested in him, naming her two sons Byron and Gordon. Upon her death, she was buried next to him at her request. Although often ill in her childhood, Ada pursued her studies assiduously. She married William King in 1835. King was made Earl of Lovelace in 1838, Ada thereby becoming Countess of Lovelace.
Her educational and social exploits brought her into contact with scientists such as Andrew Crosse, Charles Babbage, Sir David Brewster, Charles Wheatstone, Michael Faraday and the author Charles Dickens, contacts which she used to further her education. Ada described her approach as "poetical science" and herself as an "Analyst (& Metaphysician)".
When she was a teenager (18), her mathematical talents led her to a long working relationship and friendship with fellow British mathematician Charles Babbage, who is known as "the father of computers". She was in particular interested in Babbage's work on the Analytical Engine. Lovelace first met him in June 1833, through their mutual friend, and her private tutor, Mary Somerville.
Between 1842 and 1843, Ada translated an article by Italian military engineer Luigi Menabrea about the Analytical Engine, supplementing it with an elaborate set of notes, simply called "Notes". Lovelace's notes are important in the early history of computers, containing what many consider to be the first computer program—that is, an algorithm designed to be carried out by a machine. Other historians reject this perspective and point out that Babbage's personal notes from the years 1836/1837 contain the first programs for the engine. She also developed a vision of the capability of computers to go beyond mere calculating or number-crunching, while many others, including Babbage himself, focused only on those capabilities. Her mindset of "poetical science" led her to ask questions about the Analytical Engine (as shown in her notes) examining how individuals and society relate to technology as a collaborative tool.
She died of uterine cancer in 1852 at the age of 36, the same age at which her father died.
Biography
Childhood
Lord Byron expected his child to be a "glorious boy" and was disappointed when Lady Byron gave birth to a girl. The child was named after Byron's half-sister, Augusta Leigh, and was called "Ada" by Byron himself. On 16 January 1816, at Lord Byron's command, Lady Byron left for her parents' home at Kirkby Mallory, taking their five-week-old daughter with her. Although English law at the time granted full custody of children to the father in cases of separation, Lord Byron made no attempt to claim his parental rights, but did request that his sister keep him informed of Ada's welfare.
On 21 April, Lord Byron signed the deed of separation, although very reluctantly, and left England for good a few days later. Aside from an acrimonious separation, Lady Byron continued throughout her life to make allegations about her husband's immoral behaviour. This set of events made Lovelace infamous in Victorian society. Ada did not have a relationship with her father. He died in 1824 when she was eight years old. Her mother was the only significant parental figure in her life. Lovelace was not shown the family portrait of her father until her 20th birthday.
Lovelace did not have a close relationship with her mother. She was often left in the care of her maternal grandmother Judith, Hon. Lady Milbanke, who doted on her. However, because of societal attitudes of the time—which favoured the husband in any separation, with the welfare of any child acting as mitigation—Lady Byron had to present herself as a loving mother to the rest of society. This included writing anxious letters to Lady Milbanke about her daughter's welfare, with a cover note saying to retain the letters in case she had to use them to show maternal concern. In one letter to Lady Milbanke, she referred to her daughter as "it": "I talk to it for your satisfaction, not my own, and shall be very glad when you have it under your own." Lady Byron had her teenage daughter watched by close friends for any sign of moral deviation. Lovelace dubbed these observers the "Furies" and later complained they exaggerated and invented stories about her.
Lovelace was often ill, beginning in early childhood. At the age of eight, she experienced headaches that obscured her vision. In June 1829, she was paralyzed after a bout of measles. She was subjected to continuous bed rest for nearly a year, something which may have extended her period of disability. By 1831, she was able to walk with crutches. Despite the illnesses, she developed her mathematical and technological skills.
Ada Byron had an affair with a tutor in early 1833. She tried to elope with him after she was caught, but the tutor's relatives recognised her and contacted her mother. Lady Byron and her friends covered the incident up to prevent a public scandal. Lovelace never met her younger half-sister, Allegra, the daughter of Lord Byron and Claire Clairmont. Allegra died in 1822 at the age of five. Lovelace did have some contact with Elizabeth Medora Leigh, the daughter of Byron's half-sister Augusta Leigh, who purposely avoided Lovelace as much as possible when introduced at court.
Adult years
Lovelace became close friends with her tutor Mary Somerville, who introduced her to Charles Babbage in 1833. She had a strong respect and affection for Somerville, and they corresponded for many years. Other acquaintances included the scientists Andrew Crosse, Sir David Brewster, Charles Wheatstone, Michael Faraday and the author Charles Dickens. She was presented at Court at the age of seventeen "and became a popular belle of the season" in part because of her "brilliant mind." By 1834 Ada was a regular at Court and started attending various events. She danced often and was able to charm many people, and was described by most people as being dainty, although John Hobhouse, Byron's friend, described her as "a large, coarse-skinned young woman but with something of my friend's features, particularly the mouth". This description followed their meeting on 24 February 1834 in which Ada made it clear to Hobhouse that she did not like him, probably due to her mother's influence, which led her to dislike all of her father's friends. This first impression was not to last, and they later became friends.
On 8 July 1835, she married William, 8th Baron King, becoming Lady King. They had three homes: Ockham Park, Surrey; a Scottish estate on Loch Torridon in Ross-shire; and a house in London. They spent their honeymoon at Worthy Manor in Ashley Combe near Porlock Weir, Somerset. The Manor had been built as a hunting lodge in 1799 and was improved by King in preparation for their honeymoon. It later became their summer retreat and was further improved during this time. From 1845, the family's main house was Horsley Towers, built in the Tudorbethan fashion by the architect of the Houses of Parliament, Charles Barry, and later greatly enlarged to Lovelace's own designs.
They had three children: Byron (born 1836); Anne Isabella (called Annabella, born 1837); and Ralph Gordon (born 1839). Immediately after the birth of Annabella, Lady King experienced "a tedious and suffering illness, which took months to cure." Ada was a descendant of the extinct Barons Lovelace and in 1838, her husband was made Earl of Lovelace and Viscount Ockham, meaning Ada became the Countess of Lovelace. In 1843–44, Ada's mother assigned William Benjamin Carpenter to teach Ada's children and to act as a "moral" instructor for Ada. He quickly fell for her and encouraged her to express any frustrated affections, claiming that his marriage meant he would never act in an "unbecoming" manner. When it became clear that Carpenter was trying to start an affair, Ada cut it off.
In 1841, Lovelace and Medora Leigh (the daughter of Lord Byron's half-sister Augusta Leigh) were told by Ada's mother that Ada's father was also Medora's father. On 27 February 1841, Ada wrote to her mother: "I am not in the least astonished. In fact, you merely confirm what I have for years and years felt scarcely a doubt about, but should have considered it most improper in me to hint to you that I in any way suspected." She did not blame the incestuous relationship on Byron, but instead blamed Augusta Leigh: "I fear she is more inherently wicked than he ever was." In the 1840s, Ada flirted with scandals: firstly, from a relaxed approach to extra-marital relationships with men, leading to rumours of affairs; and secondly, from her love of gambling. She apparently lost more than £3,000 on the horses during the later 1840s. The gambling led to her forming a syndicate with male friends, and an ambitious attempt in 1851 to create a mathematical model for successful large bets. This went disastrously wrong, leaving her thousands of pounds in debt to the syndicate, forcing her to admit it all to her husband. She had a shadowy relationship with Andrew Crosse's son John from 1844 onwards. John Crosse destroyed most of their correspondence after her death as part of a legal agreement. She bequeathed him the only heirlooms her father had personally left to her. During her final illness, she would panic at the idea of the younger Crosse being kept from visiting her.
Education
From 1832, when she was seventeen, her mathematical abilities began to emerge, and her interest in mathematics dominated the majority of her adult life. Her mother's obsession with rooting out any of the insanity of which she accused Byron was one of the reasons that Ada was taught mathematics from an early age. She was privately educated in mathematics and science by William Frend, William King, and Mary Somerville, the noted 19th-century researcher and scientific author. In the 1840s, the mathematician Augustus De Morgan extended her "much help in her mathematical studies" including study of advanced calculus topics including the "numbers of Bernoulli" (that formed her celebrated algorithm for Babbage's Analytical Engine). In a letter to Lady Byron, De Morgan suggested that Ada's skill in mathematics might lead her to become "an original mathematical investigator, perhaps of first-rate eminence."
Lovelace often questioned basic assumptions through integrating poetry and science. Whilst studying differential calculus, she wrote to De Morgan:
I may remark that the curious transformations many formulae can undergo, the unsuspected and to a beginner apparently impossible identity of forms exceedingly dissimilar at first sight, is I think one of the chief difficulties in the early part of mathematical studies. I am often reminded of certain sprites and fairies one reads of, who are at one's elbows in one shape now, and the next minute in a form most dissimilar.
Lovelace believed that intuition and imagination were critical to effectively applying mathematical and scientific concepts. She valued metaphysics as much as mathematics, viewing both as tools for exploring "the unseen worlds around us."
Death
Lovelace died at the age of 36 on 27 November 1852, from uterine cancer. The illness lasted several months, in which time Annabella took command over whom Ada saw, and excluded all of her friends and confidants. Under her mother's influence, Ada had a religious transformation and was coaxed into repenting of her previous conduct and making Annabella her executor. She lost contact with her husband after confessing something to him on 30 August which caused him to abandon her bedside. It is not known what she told him. She was buried, at her request, next to her father at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire. A memorial plaque, written in Latin, to her and her father is in the chapel attached to Horsley Towers.
Work
Throughout her life, Lovelace was strongly interested in scientific developments and fads of the day, including phrenology and mesmerism. After her work with Babbage, Lovelace continued to work on other projects. In 1844, she commented to a friend Woronzow Greig about her desire to create a mathematical model for how the brain gives rise to thoughts and nerves to feelings ("a calculus of the nervous system"). She never achieved this, however. In part, her interest in the brain came from a long-running pre-occupation, inherited from her mother, about her "potential" madness. As part of her research into this project, she visited the electrical engineer Andrew Crosse in 1844 to learn how to carry out electrical experiments. In the same year, she wrote a review of a paper by Baron Karl von Reichenbach, Researches on Magnetism, but this was not published and does not appear to have progressed past the first draft. In 1851, the year before her cancer struck, she wrote to her mother mentioning "certain productions" she was working on regarding the relation of maths and music.
Lovelace first met Charles Babbage in June 1833, through their mutual friend Mary Somerville. Later that month, Babbage invited Lovelace to see the prototype for his difference engine. She became fascinated with the machine and used her relationship with Somerville to visit Babbage as often as she could. Babbage was impressed by Lovelace's intellect and analytic skills. He called her "The Enchantress of Number." In 1843, he wrote to her:
During a nine-month period in 1842–43, Lovelace translated the Italian mathematician Luigi Menabrea's article on Babbage's newest proposed machine, the Analytical Engine. With the article, she appended a set of notes. Explaining the Analytical Engine's function was a difficult task, as many other scientists did not really grasp the concept and the British establishment had shown little interest in it. Lovelace's notes even had to explain how the Analytical Engine differed from the original Difference Engine. Her work was well received at the time; the scientist Michael Faraday described himself as a supporter of her writing.
The notes are around three times longer than the article itself and include (in Note G), in complete detail, a method for calculating a sequence of Bernoulli numbers using the Analytical Engine, which might have run correctly had it ever been built (only Babbage's Difference Engine has been built, completed in London in 2002). Based on this work, Lovelace is now considered by many to be the first computer programmer and her method has been called the world's first computer program. Others dispute this because some of Charles Babbage's earlier writings could be considered computer programs.
Note G also contains Lovelace's dismissal of artificial intelligence. She wrote that "The Analytical Engine has no pretensions whatever to originate anything. It can do whatever we know how to order it to perform. It can follow analysis; but it has no power of anticipating any analytical relations or truths." This objection has been the subject of much debate and rebuttal, for example by Alan Turing in his paper "Computing Machinery and Intelligence".
Lovelace and Babbage had a minor falling out when the papers were published, when he tried to leave his own statement (criticising the government's treatment of his Engine) as an unsigned preface, which could have been mistakenly interpreted as a joint declaration. When Taylor's Scientific Memoirs ruled that the statement should be signed, Babbage wrote to Lovelace asking her to withdraw the paper. This was the first that she knew he was leaving it unsigned, and she wrote back refusing to withdraw the paper. The historian Benjamin Woolley theorised that "His actions suggested he had so enthusiastically sought Ada's involvement, and so happily indulged her ... because of her 'celebrated name'." Their friendship recovered, and they continued to correspond. On 12 August 1851, when she was dying of cancer, Lovelace wrote to him asking him to be her executor, though this letter did not give him the necessary legal authority. Part of the terrace at Worthy Manor was known as Philosopher's Walk, as it was there that Lovelace and Babbage were reputed to have walked while discussing mathematical principles.
First computer program
In 1840, Babbage was invited to give a seminar at the University of Turin about his Analytical Engine. Luigi Menabrea, a young Italian engineer and the future Prime Minister of Italy, transcribed Babbage's lecture into French, and this transcript was subsequently published in the Bibliothèque universelle de Genève in October 1842.
Babbage's friend Charles Wheatstone commissioned Ada Lovelace to translate Menabrea's paper into English. She then augmented the paper with notes, which were added to the translation. Ada Lovelace spent the better part of a year doing this, assisted with input from Babbage. These notes, which are more extensive than Menabrea's paper, were then published in the September 1843 edition of Taylor's Scientific Memoirs under the initialism AAL.
Ada Lovelace's notes were labelled alphabetically from A to G. In note G, she describes an algorithm for the Analytical Engine to compute Bernoulli numbers. It is considered to be the first published algorithm ever specifically tailored for implementation on a computer, and Ada Lovelace has often been cited as the first computer programmer for this reason. The engine was never completed so her program was never tested.
In 1953, more than a century after her death, Ada Lovelace's notes on Babbage's Analytical Engine were republished as an appendix to B. V. Bowden's Faster than Thought: A Symposium on Digital Computing Machines. The engine has now been recognised as an early model for a computer and her notes as a description of a computer and software.
Insight into potential of computing devices
In her notes, Ada Lovelace emphasised the difference between the Analytical Engine and previous calculating machines, particularly its ability to be programmed to solve problems of any complexity. She realised the potential of the device extended far beyond mere number crunching. In her notes, she wrote:
This analysis was an important development from previous ideas about the capabilities of computing devices and anticipated the implications of modern computing one hundred years before they were realised. Walter Isaacson ascribes Ada's insight regarding the application of computing to any process based on logical symbols to an observation about textiles: "When she saw some mechanical looms that used punchcards to direct the weaving of beautiful patterns, it reminded her of how Babbage's engine used punched cards to make calculations." This insight is seen as significant by writers such as Betty Toole and Benjamin Woolley, as well as the programmer John Graham-Cumming, whose project Plan 28 has the aim of constructing the first complete Analytical Engine.
According to the historian of computing and Babbage specialist Doron Swade: Ada saw something that Babbage in some sense failed to see. In Babbage's world his engines were bound by number...What Lovelace saw...was that number could represent entities other than quantity. So once you had a machine for manipulating numbers, if those numbers represented other things, letters, musical notes, then the machine could manipulate symbols of which number was one instance, according to rules. It is this fundamental transition from a machine which is a number cruncher to a machine for manipulating symbols according to rules that is the fundamental transition from calculation to computation—to general-purpose computation—and looking back from the present high ground of modern computing, if we are looking and sifting history for that transition, then that transition was made explicitly by Ada in that 1843 paper.
Controversy over contribution
Though Lovelace is often referred to as the first computer programmer, some biographers, computer scientists and historians of computing claim otherwise.
Allan G. Bromley, in the 1990 article Difference and Analytical Engines:
Bruce Collier, who later wrote a biography of Babbage, wrote in his 1970 Harvard University PhD thesis that Lovelace "made a considerable contribution to publicizing the Analytical Engine, but there is no evidence that she advanced the design or theory of it in any way".
Eugene Eric Kim and Betty Alexandra Toole consider it "incorrect" to regard Lovelace as the first computer programmer, as Babbage wrote the initial programs for his Analytical Engine, although the majority were never published. Bromley notes several dozen sample programs prepared by Babbage between 1837 and 1840, all substantially predating Lovelace's notes. Dorothy K. Stein regards Lovelace's notes as "more a reflection of the mathematical uncertainty of the author, the political purposes of the inventor, and, above all, of the social and cultural context in which it was written, than a blueprint for a scientific development."
Doron Swade, a specialist on history of computing known for his work on Babbage, discussed Lovelace during a lecture on Babbage's analytical engine. He explained that Ada was only a "promising beginner" instead of genius in mathematics, that she began studying basic concepts of mathematics five years after Babbage conceived the analytical engine so she could not have made important contributions to it, and that she only published the first computer program instead of actually writing it. But he agrees that Ada was the only person to see the potential of the analytical engine as a machine capable of expressing entities other than quantities.
In his self-published book, Idea Makers, Stephen Wolfram defends Lovelace's contributions. While acknowledging that Babbage wrote several unpublished algorithms for the Analytical Engine prior to Lovelace's notes, Wolfram argues that "there's nothing as sophisticated—or as clean—as Ada's computation of the Bernoulli numbers. Babbage certainly helped and commented on Ada's work, but she was definitely the driver of it." Wolfram then suggests that Lovelace's main achievement was to distill from Babbage's correspondence "a clear exposition of the abstract operation of the machine—something which Babbage never did."
In popular culture
1810s
Lord Byron wrote the poem "Fare Thee Well" to his wife Lady Byron in 1816, following their separation after the birth of Ada Lovelace. In the poem he writes:
And when thou would'st solace gather—
When our child's first accents flow—
Wilt thou teach her to say "Father!"
Though his care she must forego?
When her little hands shall press thee—
When her lip to thine is pressed—
Think of him whose prayer shall bless thee—
Think of him thy love had blessed!
Should her lineaments resemble
Those thou never more may'st see,
Then thy heart will softly tremble
With a pulse yet true to me.
1970s
Lovelace is portrayed in Romulus Linney's 1977 play Childe Byron.
1990s
In the 1990 steampunk novel The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, Lovelace delivers a lecture on the "punched cards" programme which proves Gödel's incompleteness theorems decades before their actual discovery.
In the 1997 film Conceiving Ada, a computer scientist obsessed with Ada finds a way of communicating with her in the past by means of "undying information waves".
In Tom Stoppard's 1993 play Arcadia, the precocious teenage genius Thomasina Coverly—a character "apparently based" on Ada Lovelace (the play also involves Lord Byron)—comes to understand chaos theory, and theorises the second law of thermodynamics, before either is officially recognised.
2000s
Lovelace features in John Crowley's 2005 novel, Lord Byron's Novel: The Evening Land, as an unseen character whose personality is forcefully depicted in her annotations and anti-heroic efforts to archive her father's lost novel.
2010s
The 2015 play Ada and the Engine by Lauren Gunderson portrays Lovelace and Charles Babbage in unrequited love, and it imagines a post-death meeting between Lovelace and her father.
Lovelace and Babbage are the main characters in Sydney Padua's webcomic and graphic novel The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage. The comic features extensive footnotes on the history of Ada Lovelace, and many lines of dialogue are drawn from actual correspondence.
Lovelace and Mary Shelley as teenagers are the central characters in Jordan Stratford's steampunk series, The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency.
Lovelace, identified as Ada Augusta Byron, is portrayed by Lily Lesser in the second season of The Frankenstein Chronicles. She is employed as an "analyst" to provide the workings of a life-sized humanoid automaton. The brass workings of the machine are reminiscent of Babbage's analytical engine. Her employment is described as keeping her occupied until she returns to her studies in advanced mathematics.
Lovelace and Babbage appear as characters in the second season of the ITV series Victoria (2017). Emerald Fennell portrays Lovelace in the episode, "The Green-Eyed Monster."
The Cardano cryptocurrency platform, which was launched in 2017, uses Ada as the name for their cryptocurrency and Lovelace as the smallest sub-unit of an Ada.
"Lovelace" is the name given to the operating system designed by the character Cameron Howe in Halt and Catch Fire.
Lovelace is a primary character in the 2019 Big Finish Doctor Who audio play The Enchantress of Numbers, starring Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor and Jane Slavin as his current companion, WPC Ann Kelso. Lovelace is played by Finty Williams.
In 2019, Lovelace is a featured character in the play STEM FEMMES by Philadelphia theater company Applied Mechanics.
2020s
Lovelace features as a character in "Spyfall, Part 2", the second episode of Doctor Who, series 12, which first aired on BBC One on 5 January 2020. The character was portrayed by Sylvie Briggs, alongside characterisations of Charles Babbage and Noor Inayat Khan. In 2021, Nvidia named their upcoming GPU architecture (to be released in 2022), "Ada Lovelace", after her.
Commemoration
The computer language Ada, created on behalf of the United States Department of Defense, was named after Lovelace. The reference manual for the language was approved on 10 December 1980 and the Department of Defense Military Standard for the language, MIL-STD-1815, was given the number of the year of her birth.
In 1981, the Association for Women in Computing inaugurated its Ada Lovelace Award. Since 1998, the British Computer Society (BCS) has awarded the Lovelace Medal, and in 2008 initiated an annual competition for women students. BCSWomen sponsors the Lovelace Colloquium, an annual conference for women undergraduates. Ada College is a further-education college in Tottenham Hale, London, focused on digital skills.
Ada Lovelace Day is an annual event celebrated on the second Tuesday of October, which began in 2009. Its goal is to "... raise the profile of women in science, technology, engineering, and maths," and to "create new role models for girls and women" in these fields. Events have included Wikipedia edit-a-thons with the aim of improving the representation of women on Wikipedia in terms of articles and editors to reduce unintended gender bias on Wikipedia. The Ada Initiative was a non-profit organisation dedicated to increasing the involvement of women in the free culture and open source movements.
The Engineering in Computer Science and Telecommunications College building in Zaragoza University is called the Ada Byron Building. The computer centre in the village of Porlock, near where Lovelace lived, is named after her. Ada Lovelace House is a council-owned building in Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, near where Lovelace spent her infancy.
In 2012, a Google Doodle and blog post honoured her on her birthday.
In 2013, Ada Developers Academy was founded and named after her. The mission of Ada Developers Academy is to diversify tech by providing women and gender diverse people the skills, experience, and community support to become professional software developers to change the face of tech.
On 17 September 2013, an episode of Great Lives about Ada Lovelace aired.
As of November 2015, all new British passports have included an illustration of Lovelace and Babbage.
In 2017, a Google Doodle honoured her with other women on International Women's Day.
On 2 February 2018, Satellogic, a high-resolution Earth observation imaging and analytics company, launched a ÑuSat type micro-satellite named in honour of Ada Lovelace.
In March 2018, The New York Times published a belated obituary for Ada Lovelace.
On 27 July 2018, Senator Ron Wyden submitted, in the United States Senate, the designation of 9 October 2018 as National Ada Lovelace Day: "To honor the life and contributions of Ada Lovelace as a leading woman in science and mathematics". The resolution (S.Res.592) was considered, and agreed to without amendment and with a preamble by unanimous consent.
In November 2020 it was announced that Trinity College Dublin whose library had previously held forty busts, all of them of men, was commissioning four new busts of women, one of whom was to be Lovelace.
Bicentenary
The bicentenary of Ada Lovelace's birth was celebrated with a number of events, including:
The Ada Lovelace Bicentenary Lectures on Computability, Israel Institute for Advanced Studies, 20 December 2015 – 31 January 2016.
Ada Lovelace Symposium, University of Oxford, 13–14 October 2015.
Ada.Ada.Ada, a one-woman show about the life and work of Ada Lovelace (using an LED dress), premiered at Edinburgh International Science Festival on 11 April 2015, and continues to touring internationally to promote diversity on STEM at technology conferences, businesses, government and educational organisations.
Special exhibitions were displayed by the Science Museum in London, England and the Weston Library (part of the Bodleian Library) in Oxford, England.
Publications
Lovelace, Ada King. Ada, the Enchantress of Numbers: A Selection from the Letters of Lord Byron's Daughter and her Description of the First Computer. Mill Valley, CA: Strawberry Press, 1992. .
Publication history
Six copies of the 1843 first edition of Sketch of the Analytical Engine with Ada Lovelace's "Notes" have been located. Three are held at Harvard University, one at the University of Oklahoma, and one at the United States Air Force Academy. On 20 July 2018, the sixth copy was sold at auction to an anonymous buyer for £95,000. A digital facsimile of one of the copies in the Harvard University Library is available online.
In December 2016, a letter written by Ada Lovelace was forfeited by Martin Shkreli to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance for unpaid taxes owed by Shkreli.
See also
Ai-Da (robot)
Code: Debugging the Gender Gap
List of pioneers in computer science
Timeline of women in science
Women in computing
Women in STEM fields
Explanatory notes
References
General sources
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With notes upon the memoir by the translator.
Miller, Clair Cain. "Ada Lovelace, 1815–1852," New York Times, 8 March 2018.
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Further reading
Miranda Seymour, In Byron's Wake: The Turbulent Lives of Byron's Wife and Daughter: Annabella Milbanke and Ada Lovelace, Pegasus, 2018, 547 pp.
Christopher Hollings, Ursula Martin, and Adrian Rice, Ada Lovelace: The Making of a Computer Scientist, Bodleian Library, 2018, 114 pp.
Jenny Uglow, "Stepping Out of Byron's Shadow", The New York Review of Books, vol. LXV, no. 18 (22 November 2018), pp. 30–32.
Jennifer Chiaverini, Enchantress of Numbers, Dutton, 2017, 426 pp.
External links
"Ada's Army gets set to rewrite history at Inspirefest 2018" by Luke Maxwell, 4 August 2018
"Untangling the Tale of Ada Lovelace" by Stephen Wolfram, December 2015
1815 births
1852 deaths
19th-century British women scientists
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19th-century English women writers
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19th-century English nobility
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British women computer scientists
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Burials in Nottinghamshire
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"Ada Salter (née Brown; 20 July 1866 – 4 December 1942) was an English social reformer, environmentalist, pacifist and Quaker, President of the Women's Labour League and President of the National Gardens Guild. She was one of the first women councillors in London, the first woman mayor in London and the first Labour woman mayor in the British Isles.\n\nEarly life and marriage\nAda Brown was born on 20 July 1866 into a Methodist family in Raunds, Northamptonshire. She had several sisters - Mary, Beatrice, Alice and Adelaide - and a brother, Richard, who became a minister in Lancaster. Ada Brown was active in the Methodist church and on the radical wing of the Liberal Party before she moved to London. There she joined the West London Mission in Bloomsbury to work as a 'Sister of the People' in the slums of St Pancras. The Sisters were run by Katherine Hughes, wife of the mission's founder Hugh Price Hughes and an inspirational Christian socialist in her own right. In 1897, after the marriage of her sister Mary Baldwin, Ada transferred to the Bermondsey Settlement, in south-east London. There she met Alfred Salter, agnostic and socialist, a resident engaged in medical research into infectious diseases on a farm in Sudbury (now Wembley), Middlesex. Under her influence Alfred converted to Christianity and joined the Liberal Party. They both committed to the Society of Friends (Quakers) and started to attend the Deptford Meeting. They were married in Raunds on 22 August 1900.\n\nBermondsey\nAda had always insisted on living in the slums, among the poor, ever since arriving in London. Now she was equally insistent on staying in Bermondsey, a place she had fallen in love with despite its drab poverty. Alfred, who was such a brilliant doctor he could have made a fortune as a consultant, therefore set up a GP's medical practice in Jamaica Road. He charged poorer patients only a small sum and the poorest nothing at all. Ada continued as a social worker at Bermondsey Settlement, where she already had a high reputation for the clubs she ran, especially those for the \"roughest and toughest\" of the teenage girls. In 1902 she temporarily gave up work when the couple's only child, Ada Joyce, was born.\n\nAda was President of the Women's Liberal Party in Bermondsey and Rotherhithe but in 1906 she left the Liberal Party when it failed to honour its promise of granting the vote to women and soon joined the Independent Labour Party. The ILP was the political party most favourable to the rights of women and wanted to stand women candidates, including Ada, at the next council elections. This put Alfred, a Liberal councillor on the London County Council (LCC), into an awkward position. In 1908 therefore he also left the Liberals, to found an ILP branch in Bermondsey. Once again it was Ada who had blazed the trail for him to follow. In November 1909 Ada was elected to the borough council for the ILP, becoming the first woman councillor in Bermondsey, first Labour councillor in Bermondsey, and one of the first women councillors in London. However, in 1910, personal tragedy struck when the Salters' only child, Joyce, then eight years old, died of scarlet fever in one of the periodic epidemics that swept through the slums, having been infected twice before. Joyce's photo was daily decorated with flowers and ivy leaves in Alfred's study.\n\nAda responded by throwing herself into the work of the Women's Labour League, which she had co-founded in 1906 with Margaret MacDonald, wife of Labour's rising star, James Ramsay MacDonald. She rose to be first its National Treasurer and then in 1914 its National President, the leader of all the Labour Party women in Britain. The WLL was not tied to any particular suffragist movement but Ada supported the non-violent Women's Freedom League, led by her friend Charlotte Despard, rather than endorse the tactics of the Women's Social and Political Union led by Emmeline Pankhurst.\n\nIn the WLL Ada did pioneering research work on social housing, seeking not only to demolish the slums but to put in their place model council houses (often derided by her opponents as utopian) built specifically with the needs of working-class women in mind. To expedite demolition, she and her WLL comrades called for a Green Belt around London, to absorb the excess population from the slums. Ada followed John Ruskin in believing that fresh air and contact with nature improved people not only physically but mentally and morally. She became a proponent of urban gardening, and a pioneer of organised campaigning against air pollution in London.\n\nWhat brought her the greatest renown before 1914 was, however, the Bermondsey Uprising of 1911. She had in 1910 started to recruit women in the local factories to a trade union, the National Federation of Women Workers, led by Mary Macarthur. At first the results were disappointing, but in August 1911, 14,000 women walked out on strike in protest against terrible working conditions. They won. Ada was hailed by the ILP and the WLL as the inspiration of this big step forward for women's rights at work (though she was only one factor) and for this, as well as for the huge organisational effort including what we would now consider as family food banks during the dockers' strike of 1912 (see Ben Tillett), she was honoured by the trade unions which are known today as Unite and the GMB. Ada spoke out for equality among workers, not just in the workplace but in the labour movement:“When the trades union movement fully realises that all the workers, men and women, youth and maidens, were members one of another, then they will hear more than the rumble of revolution in the distance, the revolution will be here.”\n\nThe Great War and pacifist work\nAda had always since her youth opposed war and becoming a Quaker had fortified her commitment to peace. For her, therefore, 1914 was a catastrophe. She was a founding member of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) and from 1916 she also worked with Alfred for the No Conscription Fellowship. Although the British government prevented her from attending the Hague peace conference in 1915, she managed to reach Berne, Switzerland, as the representative of the ILP, to attend Third International Socialist Women's Conference which organised opposition to the First World War. There she came up against Lenin, who was determined to get the conference to vote for armed revolution. Ada and the WLL delegate, Margaret Bondfield, stood their ground and Lenin was defeated. At the end of the war she was amongst the British delegations to the Women's International League congresses in Zürich (1919) and Vienna. Her international position was that of the Vienna International, which tried to mediate between the Second International (Labour) and the Third International (Communist) but failed to reconcile them.\n\nThe great peace\n\nRe-elected to Bermondsey Council in 1919, Ada was appointed Mayor in 1922, making her the first woman mayor in London and first Labour woman mayor in Britain. Ada refused all the trappings of mayoral insignia or robes, and replaced the Union Jack with a red flag with symbols of Bermondsey, St Olave and Rotherhithe on the town hall. She had launched in 1920 her famous Beautification Committee and now she launched her housing campaign, demolishing the slums that could be demolished and beautifying the slums that could not. By the 1930s she had planted 9000 trees, decorated buildings with window-boxes, and filled all open spaces with flowers, some 60,000 plants. Looking not only for beautification of streets but for beautification of every individual's body, mind and soul, she organised all over the borough music concerts, art competitions, games, sports and children's playgrounds. After a fierce political battle she built her beautiful 'utopian' council houses in Wilson Grove, designed by Ewart Culpin, where they still stand today as exemplary housing. Her electoral results were phenomenal, regularly achieving the highest vote of any councillor in London. When her time in office was over she had hardly spent any of the mayoral 'expenses' allowance. At the 1925 London County Council election, she was elected to represent Hackney South. In 1932 she was elected National President of the National Gardens Guild. Finally, after the 1934 London County Council election, when Labour led by Herbert Morrison took control, Ada was able to spread her green socialist ideals to every corner of the capital. The Green Belt was secured by law in 1938.\n\nAda felt the 1939 war as much a catastrophe as the 1914 one. In 1942, Ada and Alfred were bombed out of their home in Storks Road after refusing to leave Bermondsey to its fate, as others did. She died, cared for by her sisters, in Balham Park Road, Battersea, on 4 December 1942 and was accorded a Quaker funeral at Peckham Meeting-House, where she was an elder. There was also a memorial service at her Church of England parish church of St James Bermondsey. Her widower said a month later: \"The loneliness grows deeper and has not lessened in the slightest with the lapse of time. Sometimes it is almost unbearable, but I have to learn to bear it.\"\n\nPersonal beliefs \nAda Salter's personal beliefs evolved from the social liberalism of Hugh and Katherine Hughes to the ethical socialism of the ILP. Like Alfred, she was an admirer of Giuseppe Mazzini and of his clarion call for the unity and equality of all humanity. This chimed in with her Quaker belief that \"there is something of God in everyone.\" In practice what she meant by 'ethical' was human or humanitarian, and what she meant by 'socialism' was a worldwide network of co-operative enterprises. She believed that people would become truly human only by valuing nature and valuing each other. On valuing nature her famous slogan was: \"The cultivation of flowers and trees is a civic duty.\" As for valuing others, she believed this depended not only on individual effort but also entailed the emancipation of women and workers, who ought to be natural allies against oppression. She believed too that ethical socialism secured personal happiness, provided that the ethical socialist followed what was true as well as valuing others: \"Act according to truth and principle.\" she advised, \"If one does that, there will be no need ever to be anxious or distraught.\"\n\nAfter her death in the Friends (Quakers) Quarterly Examiner it was said: 'Socialism in action: that is what she was.\"\n\nMemorials to Alfred and Ada Salter\n\nA beautiful garden, overlooking a lake, designed and supervised by Ada herself, was opened in 1936 within Southwark Park, in the Old Surrey Docks area. It was spontaneously referred to by locals as the 'Ada Salter Garden' and in 1943 the name was formally recognised by the LCC.\n\nThe Alfred Salter Primary School was opened in 1995 to meet the growing demand for school places in Rotherhithe, due to the redevelopment of the old docks. The Alfred Salter Bridge is a footbridge leading off Watermans Lane, between Stave Hill and Redriff Road, near Greenland Dock as part of the Russia Dock Woodland.\n\nA set of statues was commissioned in 1991, depicting Dr Salter sitting on a bench facing the Thames, little Joyce standing by the river, with a cat perched on the wall. In November 2011 these were stolen, presumably for the value of the bronze. The Salter Statues Campaign group raised £60,000, which Southwark Council matched, to pay for replacement statues by Diane Gorvin, and these were unveiled on 30 November 2014. Ada's statue was only the 15th public statue in London to a woman.\n\nA Salter Memorial Lecture is promoted by the Quaker Socialist Society each year as a fringe event at the Britain Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).\n\nIn 2015 a play about Ada Salter, Red Flag over Bermondsey, by Lynn Morris was performed all over the country. In 2016 her first full biography appeared: Ada Salter, Pioneer of Ethical Socialism by Graham Taylor.\n\nSee also\n List of peace activists\n\nReferences \nThe above article is based almost entirely on Ada's ODNB entry by Sybil Oldfield and Graham Taylor's biography, Ada Salter: Pioneer of Ethical Socialism (2016)\n\nBibliography \nBrockway, Fenner: Bermondsey Story: the Life of Alfred Salter (1949), Allen & Unwin.\nHannam, June & Hunt, Karen: Socialist Women: 1880s to 1920s (2002)\nCollette, Christine: The Newer Eve: Women, Feminists and the Labour Party (2009).\nOldfield, Sybil: Salter, Ada (1866-1942) in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.\nHowell, David: Salter, Alfred (1873-1945) in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.\nTaylor, Graham: Ada Salter: Pioneer of Ethical Socialism (2016), Lawrence & Wishart.\n\nExternal links \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n1866 births\n1942 deaths\nConverts to Quakerism\nEnglish Christian socialists\nEnglish environmentalists\nEnglish pacifists\nEnglish Quakers\nQuaker socialists\nMembers of London County Council\nMembers of Bermondsey Metropolitan Borough Council\nMayors of places in Greater London\nPeople from Raunds\nEnglish socialist feminists\nFemale Christian socialists\nQuaker feminists\nWomen councillors in England",
"Ada Apa dengan Cinta? (English: What's Up with Love?) is a 2014 Indonesian short film directed by Mira Lesmana. The short was published by Japanese chatting application LINE, as a promotional media for the \"Find Alumni\" feature. It serves as a continuation of the 2002 Indonesian hit teen romance Ada Apa dengan Cinta?. The short was released on YouTube by LINE's official channel on November 6, 2014. As of February 2016, the short film had gained over 6 million viewers.\n\nWith the release of Ada Apa Dengan Cinta? 2 in 2016, this short film is no longer canonical to the original movie.\n\nPlot\nIt's been 12 years after Rangga (Nicholas Saputra) left Jakarta for New York City. Now a successful reporter, he received a short notice that he has to go to Bangkok and then Jakarta. After seeing an old Indonesian classic literature book he used to read, he remembers his high school lover Cinta (Dian Sastrowardoyo). Using LINE's find alumni feature, he contacts Cinta.\n\nIn Jakarta, Cinta, now works in a magazine company, meets up with her high school gang that consists of Karmen (Adinia Wirasti), Maura (Titi Kamal), Milly (Sissy Priscillia), and Alya (Ladya Cheryl). Cinta tell the ladies that Rangga contacted her, much to everyone's surprise. To their disappointment, Rangga does not use his photo as a profile picture. After being confused on what to say, Cinta ask him what's up with him. He ask her to meet him, which she didn't respond. Maura supports her decision as she think what he's done by showing up after 12 years being gone just isn't right. Alya, however, is the only one who realize that Cinta is torn inside (just as Alya is the only one knew Cinta likes Rangga in the original film).\n\nCinta then decides to delete all of Rangga's messages. Rangga, disappointed, text her an apology. He has to return to the U.S. and are about to board his plane, but what ends in the airport also ends in the airport. Cinta suddenly appears and ask him if a full moon in New York is different from one in Jakarta (Rangga said that he will return in the next full moon in the first film). They approach each other and share a smile.\n\nCast\n Dian Sastrowardoyo as Cinta\n Nicholas Saputra as Rangga\n Ladya Cheryl as Alya\n Titi Kamal as Maura\n Sissy Priscillia as Milly\n Adinia Wirasti as Karmen\n\nRelease\nThe short film was released on November 6, 2014 on LINE Indonesia's official YouTube channel. LINE users can watch Ada Apa dengan Cinta? 2014 via broadcast message from the official LINE Indonesia account (LINE for iOS, LINE for Android, LINE for BlackBerry, or LINE for Windows Phone) by typing \"AADC\" in the message. The users will receive a link that redirect them to YouTube where LINE upload the promotional video. Besides YouTube, the short film premiered on Kompas TV on Sunday, November 9, 2014 at 20.30 WIB, after a telecast of Ada Apa dengan Cinta?.\n\nImpact\n\nThe short's successful release prompt many people to express their excitement for an actual full length sequel. The short became an immediate trending topic on Twitter and gained 2½ million viewers on YouTube in just 2 days. This positive reception of the short proves that the 2002's cult classic teen romance remains popular in Indonesia. Finally, in March 2015, after months of speculations and rumours, Mira Lesmana the short's director and producer of Ada Apa Dengan Cinta? confirmed that a feature sequel is on the works that is slated to be released in April 2016.\n\nReferences\n\n2014 short films\n2014 films\nIndonesian short films"
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"Frederick Law Olmsted",
"Conservationist"
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Was Olmsted a conservationist
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Was Frederick Law Olmsted a conservationist?
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Frederick Law Olmsted
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Olmsted was an important early leader of the conservation movement in the United States. An expert on California, he was likely one of the gentlemen "of fortune, of taste and of refinement" who proposed, through Senator John Conness, that Congress designate Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Big Tree Grove as public reserves. This was the first land set aside by Congress for public use. Olmsted served a one-year appointment on the Board of Commissioner of the state reserve, and his 1865 report to Congress on the board's recommendations laid an ethical framework for the government to reserve public lands, to protect their "value to posterity". He described the "sublime" and "stately" landscape, emphasizing that the value of the landscape was not in any one individual waterfall, cliff, or tree, but in the "miles of scenery where cliffs of awful height and rocks of vast magnitude and of varied and exquisite coloring, are banked and fringed and draped and shadowed by the tender foliage of noble and lovely trees and bushes, reflected from the most placid pools, and associated with the most tranquil meadows, the most playful streams, and every variety of soft and peaceful pastoral beauty." In the 1880s he was active in efforts to conserve the natural wonders of Niagara Falls, threatened with industrialization by the building of electrical power plants. At the same time, he campaigned to preserve the Adirondack region in upstate New York. He was one of the founders of the American Society of Landscape Architects in 1898. Olmsted was also known to oppose park projects on conservationist grounds. In 1891, Olmsted refused to develop a plan for Presque Isle near Marquette, Michigan, saying that it "should not be marred by the intrusion of artificial objects." CANNOTANSWER
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Olmsted was an important early leader of the conservation movement
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Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture. Olmsted was famous for co-designing many well-known urban parks with his partner Calvert Vaux. Olmsted and Vaux's first project was Central Park, which resulted in many other urban park designs, including Prospect Park in what was then the City of Brooklyn (now the Borough of Brooklyn in New York City) and Cadwalader Park in Trenton. He headed the pre-eminent landscape architecture and planning consultancy of late nineteenth-century America, which was carried on and expanded by his sons, Frederick Jr and John C, under the name Olmsted Brothers.
Other projects that Olmsted was involved in include the country's first and oldest coordinated system of public parks and parkways in Buffalo, New York; the country's oldest state park, the Niagara Reservation in Niagara Falls, New York; one of the first planned communities in the United States, Riverside, Illinois; Mount Royal Park in Montreal, Quebec; The Institute of Living in Hartford, Connecticut; Waterbury Hospital in Waterbury, Connecticut; the Emerald Necklace in Boston, Massachusetts; Highland Park in Rochester, New York; the Grand Necklace of Parks in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Cherokee Park and parks and parkway system in Louisville, Kentucky; Walnut Hill Park in New Britain, Connecticut; the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina; the master plans for the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Maine, Stanford University near Palo Alto, California, and The Lawrenceville School; and Montebello Park in St. Catharines, Ontario. In Chicago his projects include: Jackson Park; Washington Park; the main park ground for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition; the south portion of Chicago's "emerald necklace" boulevard ring; and the University of Chicago campus. In Washington, D.C., he worked on the landscape surrounding the United States Capitol building.
The quality of Olmsted's landscape architecture was recognized by his contemporaries, who showered him with prestigious commissions. Daniel Burnham said of him, "He paints with lakes and wooded slopes; with lawns and banks and forest-covered hills; with mountainsides and ocean views ..." His work, especially in Central Park, set a standard of excellence that continues to influence landscape architecture in the United States. He was an early and important activist in the conservation movement, including work at Niagara Falls; the Adirondack region of upstate New York; and the National Park system; and though little known, played a major role in organizing and providing medical services to the Union Army in the Civil War.
Biography
Early life and education
Olmsted was born in Hartford, Connecticut, on April 26, 1822. His father, John Olmsted, was a prosperous merchant who took a lively interest in nature, people, and places; Frederick Law and his younger brother, John Hull, also showed this interest. His mother, Charlotte Law (Hull) Olmsted, died before his fourth birthday. His father remarried in 1827 to Mary Ann Bull, who shared her husband's strong love of nature and had perhaps a more cultivated taste. The Olmsted ancestors arrived in the early 1600s from Essex, England.
When the young Olmsted was almost ready to enter Yale College, sumac poisoning weakened his eyes, so he gave up college plans. After working as an apprentice seaman, merchant, and journalist, Olmsted settled on a 125-acre farm in January 1848 on the south shore of Staten Island, New York, a farm which his father helped him acquire. This farm, originally named the Akerly Homestead, was renamed Tosomock Farm by Olmsted. It was later renamed "The Woods of Arden" by owner Erastus Wiman. (The house in which Olmsted lived still stands at 4515 Hylan Boulevard, near Woods of Arden Road.)
Marriage and family
On June 13, 1859, Olmsted married Mary Cleveland (Perkins) Olmsted, the widow of his brother John (who had died in 1857). Daniel Fawcett Tiemann, the mayor of New York, officiated the wedding. He adopted her three children (his nephews and niece), John Charles Olmsted (born 1852), Charlotte Olmsted (who later married a Bryant), and Owen Olmsted.
Frederick and Mary also had two children together who survived infancy: a daughter, Marion (born October 28, 1861), and a son Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., born in 1870. Their first child, John Theodore Olmsted, was born on June 13, 1860, and died in infancy.
Career
Journalism
Olmsted had a significant career in journalism. In 1850 he traveled to England to visit public gardens, where he was greatly impressed by Joseph Paxton's Birkenhead Park. He subsequently wrote and published Walks and Talks of an American Farmer in England in 1852. This supported his getting additional work. His visit to Birkenhead Park inspired his later contribution to the design of Central Park in New York City.
Interested in the slave economy, he was commissioned by the New York Daily Times (now The New York Times) to embark on an extensive research journey through the American South and Texas from 1852 to 1857. His dispatches to the Times were collected into three volumes (A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States (1856), A Journey Through Texas (1857), A Journey in the Back Country in the Winter of 1853-4 (1860).
These are considered vivid first-person accounts of the antebellum South. A one-volume abridgment, Journeys and Explorations in the Cotton Kingdom (1861), was published in England during the first six months of the American Civil War, at the suggestion of Olmsted's English publisher.
To this he wrote a new introduction (on "The Present Crisis"). He stated his views on the effect of slavery on the economy and social conditions of the southern states:
My own observation of the real condition of the people of our Slave States, gave me ... an impression that the cotton monopoly in some way did them more harm than good; and although the written narration of what I saw was not intended to set this forth, upon reviewing it for the present publication, I find the impression has become a conviction.
Olmsted argued that slavery had made the slave states inefficient (a set amount of work took 4 times as long in Virginia as in the North) and backward both economically and socially. He said that the profits of slavery were enjoyed by no more than 8,000 owners of large plantations; a somewhat larger group had about the standard of living of a New York City policeman, but the proportion of the free white men who were as well-off as a Northern working man was small. Slavery meant that 'the proportion of men improving their condition was much less than in any Northern community; and that the natural resources of the land were strangely unused, or were used with poor economy.'
Olmsted thought that the lack of a Southern white middle class and the general poverty of lower-class whites prevented the development of many civil amenities which were taken for granted in the North.
The citizens of the cotton States, as a whole, are poor. They work little, and that little, badly; they earn little, they sell little; they buy little, and they have little – very little – of the common comforts and consolations of civilized life. Their destitution is not material only; it is intellectual and it is moral ... They were neither generous nor hospitable and their talk was not that of evenly courageous men.
Between his travels in Europe and the South, Olmsted served as an editor for Putnam's Magazine for two years and as an agent with Dix, Edwards and Co., prior to the company's insolvency during the Panic of 1857. Olmsted provided financial support for, and occasionally wrote for, the magazine The Nation, which was founded in 1865.
New York City's Central Park
Andrew Jackson Downing, the charismatic landscape architect from Newburgh, New York, was one of the first to propose developing New York's Central Park in his role as publisher of The Horticulturist magazine. A friend and mentor to Olmsted, Downing introduced him to the English-born architect Calvert Vaux, whom Downing had brought to the U.S. as his architectural collaborator. After Downing died in July 1852 in a widely publicized fire on the Hudson River steamboat Henry Clay, Olmsted and Vaux entered the Central Park design competition together, against Egbert Ludovicus Viele among others. Vaux had invited the less experienced Olmsted to participate in the design competition with him, having been impressed with Olmsted's theories and political contacts. Prior to this, in contrast with the more experienced Vaux, Olmsted had never designed or executed a landscape design.
Their Greensward Plan was announced in 1858 as the winning design. On his return from the South, Olmsted began executing their plan almost immediately. Olmsted and Vaux continued their informal partnership to design Prospect Park in Brooklyn from 1865 to 1873. That was followed by other projects. Vaux remained in the shadow of Olmsted's grand public personality and social connections.
The design of Central Park embodies Olmsted's social consciousness and commitment to egalitarian ideals. Influenced by Downing and his own observations regarding social class in England, China, and the American South, Olmsted believed that the common green space must always be equally accessible to all citizens, and was to be defended against private encroachment. This principle is now fundamental to the idea of a "public park", but was not assumed as necessary then. Olmsted's tenure as Central Park commissioner was a long struggle to preserve that idea.
Leader of Sanitary Commission
In 1861 Olmsted took leave as director of Central Park to work in Washington, DC as Executive Secretary of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, a precursor to the Red Cross. He tended to the wounded during the American Civil War. In 1862 during Union General George B. McClellan's Peninsula Campaign, Olmsted headed the medical effort for the sick and wounded at White House plantation in New Kent County, which had a boat landing on the Pamunkey River.
On the home front, Olmsted was one of the six founding members of the Union League Club of New York.
In addition to the above, Olmsted helped to recruit and outfit three African-American regiments of the United States Colored Troops in New York City. He contributed to organizing a fair which raised one million dollars for the United States Sanitary Commission.
Olmsted worked tirelessly for the Sanitary Commission to the point of exhaustion: "Part of the problem was his need to maintain control over all aspects of the commission's work. He refused to delegate and he had an appetite for authority and power." By January 1863 a friend wrote: "Olmsted is in an unhappy, sick, sore mental state ... He works like a dog all day and sits up nearly all night ... works with steady, feverish intensity till four in the morning, sleeps on a sofa in his clothes, and breakfasts on strong coffee and pickles!!!" His overwork and lack of sleep led to his being in a perpetual state of irritability, which wore on the people with whom he worked: "Exhausted, ill and having lost the support of the men who put him in charge, Olmsted resigned on Sept. 1, 1863." Yet within a month he was on his way to California.
Gold mining project in California
In 1863, Olmsted went west to become the manager of the newly established Rancho Las Mariposas-Mariposa gold mining estate in the Sierra Nevada mountains in California. The estate had been sold by John C. Fremont to New York banker, Morris Ketchum, in January of that same year. The mine, for whatever reason, did not prove to be successful; and "[b]y 1865, the Mariposa Company was bankrupt, Olmsted returned to New York, and the land and mines were sold at a sheriff's sale."
U.S. park designer
In 1865, Vaux and Olmsted formed Olmsted, Vaux & Co. When Olmsted returned to New York, he and Vaux designed Prospect Park; suburban Chicago's Riverside parks; the park system for Buffalo, New York; Milwaukee, Wisconsin's grand necklace of parks; and the Niagara Reservation at Niagara Falls.
Olmsted not only created numerous city parks around the country, he also conceived of entire systems of parks and interconnecting parkways to connect certain cities to green spaces. Some of the best examples of the scale on which Olmsted worked are the park system designed for Buffalo, New York, one of the largest projects; the system he designed for Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the park system designed for Louisville, Kentucky, which was one of only four completed Olmsted-designed park systems in the world.
Olmsted was a frequent collaborator with architect Henry Hobson Richardson, for whom he devised the landscaping schemes for half a dozen projects, including Richardson's commission for the Buffalo State Asylum. In 1871, Olmsted designed the grounds for the Hudson River State Hospital for the Insane in Poughkeepsie.
In 1883, Olmsted established what is considered to be the first full-time landscape architecture firm in Brookline, Massachusetts. He called the home and office compound Fairsted. It is now the restored Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site. From there Olmsted designed Boston's Emerald Necklace, the campuses of Wellesley College, Smith College, Stanford University and the University of Chicago, as well as the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, among many other projects.
Conservationist
Olmsted was an important early leader of the conservation movement in the United States. An expert on California, he was likely one of the gentlemen "of fortune, of taste and of refinement" who proposed, through Senator John Conness, that Congress designate Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Big Tree Grove as public reserves. This was the first land set aside by Congress for public use. Olmsted served a one-year appointment on the Board of Commissioner of the state reserve, and his 1865 report to Congress on the board's recommendations laid an ethical framework for the government to reserve public lands, to protect their "value to posterity". He described the "sublime" and "stately" landscape, emphasizing that the value of the landscape was not in any one individual waterfall, cliff, or tree, but in the "miles of scenery where cliffs of awful height and rocks of vast magnitude and of varied and exquisite coloring, are banked and fringed and draped and shadowed by the tender foliage of noble and lovely trees and bushes, reflected from the most placid pools, and associated with the most tranquil meadows, the most playful streams, and every variety of soft and peaceful pastoral beauty."
In the 1880s he was active in efforts to conserve the natural wonders of Niagara Falls, threatened with industrialization by the building of electrical power plants. At the same time, he campaigned to preserve the Adirondack region in upstate New York. He was one of the founders of the American Society of Landscape Architects in 1898.
Olmsted was also known to oppose park projects on conservationist grounds. In 1891, Olmsted refused to develop a plan for Presque Isle Park in Marquette, Michigan, saying that it "should not be marred by the intrusion of artificial objects."
Later life, death and legacy
In recognition of his services during the Civil War, Olmsted was elected a Third Class member of the Massachusetts Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS) on May 2, 1888, and was assigned insignia number 6345. Olmsted's election to MOLLUS is significant in that he was one of the few civilians elected to membership in an organization composed almost exclusively of military officers and their descendants. In 1891 he joined the Connecticut Society of the Sons of the American Revolution by right of his descent from his grandfather Benjamin Olmsted who served in the 4th Connecticut Regiment in 1775.
In 1895, senility forced Olmsted to retire. By 1898 he moved to Belmont, Massachusetts, and took up residence as a patient at the McLean Hospital, for whose grounds he had submitted a design which was never executed. He remained there until his death in 1903. He was buried in the Old North Cemetery, in Hartford, Connecticut.
After Olmsted's retirement and death, his sons John Charles Olmsted and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., continued the work of their firm, doing business as the Olmsted Brothers. The firm lasted until 1980. Many works by the Olmsted sons are mistakenly credited to Frederick Law Olmsted today. For instance, the Olmsted Brothers firm did a park plan for Portland, Maine, in 1905, creating a series of connecting parkways between existing parks and suggesting improvements to those parks. The oldest of these parks, Deering Oaks, had been designed by City Engineer William Goodwin in 1879 but is today frequently described as a Frederick Law Olmsted designed park.
A residence hall at the University of Hartford was named in his honor. Olmsted Point, located in Yosemite National Park, was named after Olmsted and his son Frederick.
Frederick Olmsted is known as the "father of American Landscape Architecture."
Olmsted's principles of design
Drawing influences from English landscape and gardening, Olmsted emphasized design that encourages the full use of the naturally occurring features of a given space, its "genius"; the subordination of individual details to the whole so that decorative elements do not take precedence, but rather the whole space is enhanced; concealment of design, design that does not call attention to itself; design that works on the unconscious to produce relaxation; and utility or purpose over ornamentation. A bridge, a pathway, a tree, a pasture: any and all elements are brought together to produce a particular effect.
Olmsted designed primarily in the pastoral and picturesque styles, each to achieve a particular effect. The pastoral style featured vast expanses of green with small lakes, trees and groves and produced a soothing, restorative effect on the viewer. The picturesque style covered rocky, broken terrain with teeming shrubs and creepers, to express nature's richness. The picturesque style played with light and shade to lend the landscape a sense of mystery.
Scenery was designed to enhance the sense of space: indistinct boundaries using plants, brush and trees as opposed to sharp ones; interplay of light and shadow close up, and blurred detail further away. A vast expanse of greenery at the end of which lies a grove of yellow poplar; a path that winds through a bit of landscape and intersects with others, dividing the terrain into triangular islands of successive new views.
Subordination strives to use all objects and features in the service of the design and its intended effect. It can be seen in the subtle use of naturally occurring plants throughout the park. Non-native species planted for the sake of their own uniqueness defeat the purpose of design, as that very uniqueness draws attention to itself where the intention is to enable relaxation: utility above all else.
Separation applies to areas designed in different styles and different uses enhancing safety and reducing distraction. A key feature of Central Park is the use of sunken roadways which traverse the park and are specifically dedicated to vehicles as opposed to winding paths designated specifically for pedestrians.
A beautiful example of this mix of principles is seen in the Central Park Mall, a large promenade leading to the Bethesda Terrace and the single formal feature in Olmsted and Vaux's original naturalistic design. The designers wrote that a "'grand promenade' was an 'essential feature of a metropolitan park'"; however, its formal symmetry, its style, though something of an aberration, was designed so as to be subordinate to the natural view surrounding it. Wealthy passengers were let from their carriages at its south end. The carriage would then drive around to the Terrace, which overlooked the Lake and Ramble to pick them up, saving them the trouble of needing to double back on foot. The Promenade was lined with slender elms and offered views of Sheep Meadow. Affluent New Yorkers, who rarely walked through the park, mixed with the less well-to-do, and all enjoyed an escape from the hustle and bustle of the surrounding city.
In popular culture
In Apple TV+'s 2019–2021 series Dickinson, Timothy Simons portrays Olmstead in episode 4 of the second season, "The Daisy Follows the Soft Sun".
See also
List of Olmsted works
Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site
Charles Loring Brace
Landscape designer
History of gardening
References
Notes
Sources and further reading
Ott, Jennifer. Olmsted in Seattle: Creating a Park System for a Modern City ( Seattle: History Link and Documentary Media, 2019) online review
Roper, Laura Wood. FLO, a biography of Frederick Law Olmsted (1973) online edition
Schlesinger, Sr., Arthur M. "Was Olmsted an Unbiased Critic of the South?" Journal of Negro History, (1952), 37#2 pp. 173–187 in JSTOR
Sears, Stephen W., To the Gates of Richmond: the Peninsula Campaign (1992) Ticknor and Fields, New York, NY
Wilson, Edmund, Patriotic gore; studies in the literature of the American Civil War, New York, Oxford University Press, 1962. Cf. Chapter VI on Northerners in the South: Frederick L. Olmsted.
Muccigrosso, Robert ed., Research Guide to American Historical Biography (1988) 5:2666-74
Primary sources
Beveridge, Charles E., ed., Lauren Meier, ed., and Irene Mills, ed., Frederick Law Olmsted: Plans and Views of Public Parks. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015. xvi, 429 pp.
Available online from the Internet Archive.
Available online from the University of North Texas.
Available online from the Internet Archive.
Available online from the Internet Archive.
Olmsted, Frederick Law. "The Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove" (1865) the National Park Service
Robert Twombly, ed. (2010): "Frederick Law Olmsted: Essential Texts", WW Norton & Company, New York.
External links
Frederick Law Olmsted: A bibliography by The Buffalo History Museum
The National Association for Olmsted Parks
The Frederick Law Olmsted Society of Riverside
The Olmsted Plan KCET Departures Olmsted Plan
Olmsted and America's Urban Parks, 2010 documentary; supplemental materials at OlmstedFilm.org
Booknotes interview with Witold Rybczynski on A Clearing in the Distance, October 17, 1999.
Frederick Law Olmsted Explore Capitol Hill
Fine Arts Garden, Cleveland Museum of Art
Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing America (2014 documentary)
1822 births
1903 deaths
American landscape and garden designers
American landscape architects
American urban planners
Burials in Connecticut
Druid Hills, Georgia
McLean Hospital people
The Nation (U.S. magazine) people
People from Belmont, Massachusetts
People from Staten Island
People of the American Civil War
Phillips Academy alumni
Russell Sage Foundation
Social critics
Writers from Hartford, Connecticut
| true |
[
"Olmsted is a surname of Anglo Saxon origin. Its oldest public record dates pre-1066 in Cheshire. People with the name include:\n\n The notable Olmsted family of New York City:\n Frederick Law Olmsted, American landscape architect\n his sons John Charles Olmsted and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., also landscape architects, and their company Olmsted Brothers\nJohn Charles Olmsted (1852–1920), landscape architect, adopted son of Frederick Law Olmsted\nGeorge W. Olmsted (b. 1874), founder of Long Island Lighting Company (LILCo), patron of the Chief Cornplanter Council, Boy Scouts of America\n George H. Olmsted (b. 1901), veteran of World War I and World War II, General in the United States Army, life insurance magnate, and philanthropist\n Aaron Olmsted, investor in the Connecticut Land Company in the United States\n Andrew J. Olmsted, a U.S. soldier during the Iraq occupation\n Charles M. Olmsted (1881-1948), an American aeronautical engineer\n Dan Olmsted, a senior editor for United Press International (UPI) and author of the Age of Autism reports\n David Olmsted (1822–1861), an American politician\n Denison Olmsted, an American astronomer\n Elizabeth Martha Olmsted (1825–1910), American poet\n Frederick E. Olmsted (1911–1990), WPA artist, muralist, and scientist.\n John Olmsted (1938–2011), an American naturalist and conservationist\n John W. Olmsted (1903–1986), an American historian\n Nathan Olmsted (1812-1898), an American politician\n Richard Olmsted (settler) (died 1686/7), early New England (Connecticut) settler\n Thomas Olmsted, an American prelate of the Catholic Church\n\nReferences",
"John D. Olmsted (March 2, 1938 – March 8, 2011) was a California naturalist and conservationist most famous for creating the Independence Trail in Nevada City, California, as well as helping to save numerous other parcels across California, including Jug Handle State Natural Reserve in Casper, California, Goat Mountain in the Berryessa Snow Mountain Wilderness and the Bridgeport Covered Bridge. His efforts and vision of a park at Bridgeport led to the creation of the South Yuba River State Park, a length of Nationally protected Wild and Scenic land along the South Yuba River in Nevada County, California. Olmsted patterned his life after that of fellow environmentalist John Muir, with his trademark beard, formal clothing, and poetic and spiritual leanings towards the benefits of time spent in nature. \n\nHe earned a master's degree in plant ecology at Pomona College and became education director at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California. He worked as a naturalist, docent and educator at the Oakland Museum, UC Berkeley Extension and the Mendocino Art Center.\n\nHe founded the Earth Planet Museum in Grass Valley as a tribute to John Muir and to environmentalism in California, and as a visual history of recorded audio and alternate technologies. During his time in Mendocino, he worked with Hans Jenny in recognizing and preserving the Pygmy Forest, which is located within the boundaries of Jug Handle. His dream of a cross-California hiking trail remains the focus and goal of his devoted followers. He was a resident of Nevada City, California, and is survived by his two sons, Erik Olmsted and Alden Olmsted.\n\nReferences\n\n http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-john-olmsted-20110319,0,7256213.story\n http://features.rr.com/article/07oCfL0cRuajf\n https://web.archive.org/web/20130706131345/http://www.mendotahoe.org/mission_history.html\n http://www.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/people/john_olmsted.aspx\n https://web.archive.org/web/20120712044143/http://www.sbcouncil.org/sierravisionawards\n http://www.theunion.com/article/20101015/NEWS/101019899\n http://earthplanetmuseum.wordpress.com/\n https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c80k299w/\n\n1938 births\n2011 deaths\nAmerican conservationists"
] |
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"Frederick Law Olmsted",
"Conservationist",
"Was Olmsted a conservationist",
"Olmsted was an important early leader of the conservation movement"
] |
C_b8f3d13fed1b4fafaa08c0c20b7ba165_0
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What was the conservation movement
| 2 |
What was the conservation movement that Frederick Law Olmsted was a leader of?
|
Frederick Law Olmsted
|
Olmsted was an important early leader of the conservation movement in the United States. An expert on California, he was likely one of the gentlemen "of fortune, of taste and of refinement" who proposed, through Senator John Conness, that Congress designate Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Big Tree Grove as public reserves. This was the first land set aside by Congress for public use. Olmsted served a one-year appointment on the Board of Commissioner of the state reserve, and his 1865 report to Congress on the board's recommendations laid an ethical framework for the government to reserve public lands, to protect their "value to posterity". He described the "sublime" and "stately" landscape, emphasizing that the value of the landscape was not in any one individual waterfall, cliff, or tree, but in the "miles of scenery where cliffs of awful height and rocks of vast magnitude and of varied and exquisite coloring, are banked and fringed and draped and shadowed by the tender foliage of noble and lovely trees and bushes, reflected from the most placid pools, and associated with the most tranquil meadows, the most playful streams, and every variety of soft and peaceful pastoral beauty." In the 1880s he was active in efforts to conserve the natural wonders of Niagara Falls, threatened with industrialization by the building of electrical power plants. At the same time, he campaigned to preserve the Adirondack region in upstate New York. He was one of the founders of the American Society of Landscape Architects in 1898. Olmsted was also known to oppose park projects on conservationist grounds. In 1891, Olmsted refused to develop a plan for Presque Isle near Marquette, Michigan, saying that it "should not be marred by the intrusion of artificial objects." CANNOTANSWER
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CANNOTANSWER
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Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture. Olmsted was famous for co-designing many well-known urban parks with his partner Calvert Vaux. Olmsted and Vaux's first project was Central Park, which resulted in many other urban park designs, including Prospect Park in what was then the City of Brooklyn (now the Borough of Brooklyn in New York City) and Cadwalader Park in Trenton. He headed the pre-eminent landscape architecture and planning consultancy of late nineteenth-century America, which was carried on and expanded by his sons, Frederick Jr and John C, under the name Olmsted Brothers.
Other projects that Olmsted was involved in include the country's first and oldest coordinated system of public parks and parkways in Buffalo, New York; the country's oldest state park, the Niagara Reservation in Niagara Falls, New York; one of the first planned communities in the United States, Riverside, Illinois; Mount Royal Park in Montreal, Quebec; The Institute of Living in Hartford, Connecticut; Waterbury Hospital in Waterbury, Connecticut; the Emerald Necklace in Boston, Massachusetts; Highland Park in Rochester, New York; the Grand Necklace of Parks in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Cherokee Park and parks and parkway system in Louisville, Kentucky; Walnut Hill Park in New Britain, Connecticut; the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina; the master plans for the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Maine, Stanford University near Palo Alto, California, and The Lawrenceville School; and Montebello Park in St. Catharines, Ontario. In Chicago his projects include: Jackson Park; Washington Park; the main park ground for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition; the south portion of Chicago's "emerald necklace" boulevard ring; and the University of Chicago campus. In Washington, D.C., he worked on the landscape surrounding the United States Capitol building.
The quality of Olmsted's landscape architecture was recognized by his contemporaries, who showered him with prestigious commissions. Daniel Burnham said of him, "He paints with lakes and wooded slopes; with lawns and banks and forest-covered hills; with mountainsides and ocean views ..." His work, especially in Central Park, set a standard of excellence that continues to influence landscape architecture in the United States. He was an early and important activist in the conservation movement, including work at Niagara Falls; the Adirondack region of upstate New York; and the National Park system; and though little known, played a major role in organizing and providing medical services to the Union Army in the Civil War.
Biography
Early life and education
Olmsted was born in Hartford, Connecticut, on April 26, 1822. His father, John Olmsted, was a prosperous merchant who took a lively interest in nature, people, and places; Frederick Law and his younger brother, John Hull, also showed this interest. His mother, Charlotte Law (Hull) Olmsted, died before his fourth birthday. His father remarried in 1827 to Mary Ann Bull, who shared her husband's strong love of nature and had perhaps a more cultivated taste. The Olmsted ancestors arrived in the early 1600s from Essex, England.
When the young Olmsted was almost ready to enter Yale College, sumac poisoning weakened his eyes, so he gave up college plans. After working as an apprentice seaman, merchant, and journalist, Olmsted settled on a 125-acre farm in January 1848 on the south shore of Staten Island, New York, a farm which his father helped him acquire. This farm, originally named the Akerly Homestead, was renamed Tosomock Farm by Olmsted. It was later renamed "The Woods of Arden" by owner Erastus Wiman. (The house in which Olmsted lived still stands at 4515 Hylan Boulevard, near Woods of Arden Road.)
Marriage and family
On June 13, 1859, Olmsted married Mary Cleveland (Perkins) Olmsted, the widow of his brother John (who had died in 1857). Daniel Fawcett Tiemann, the mayor of New York, officiated the wedding. He adopted her three children (his nephews and niece), John Charles Olmsted (born 1852), Charlotte Olmsted (who later married a Bryant), and Owen Olmsted.
Frederick and Mary also had two children together who survived infancy: a daughter, Marion (born October 28, 1861), and a son Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., born in 1870. Their first child, John Theodore Olmsted, was born on June 13, 1860, and died in infancy.
Career
Journalism
Olmsted had a significant career in journalism. In 1850 he traveled to England to visit public gardens, where he was greatly impressed by Joseph Paxton's Birkenhead Park. He subsequently wrote and published Walks and Talks of an American Farmer in England in 1852. This supported his getting additional work. His visit to Birkenhead Park inspired his later contribution to the design of Central Park in New York City.
Interested in the slave economy, he was commissioned by the New York Daily Times (now The New York Times) to embark on an extensive research journey through the American South and Texas from 1852 to 1857. His dispatches to the Times were collected into three volumes (A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States (1856), A Journey Through Texas (1857), A Journey in the Back Country in the Winter of 1853-4 (1860).
These are considered vivid first-person accounts of the antebellum South. A one-volume abridgment, Journeys and Explorations in the Cotton Kingdom (1861), was published in England during the first six months of the American Civil War, at the suggestion of Olmsted's English publisher.
To this he wrote a new introduction (on "The Present Crisis"). He stated his views on the effect of slavery on the economy and social conditions of the southern states:
My own observation of the real condition of the people of our Slave States, gave me ... an impression that the cotton monopoly in some way did them more harm than good; and although the written narration of what I saw was not intended to set this forth, upon reviewing it for the present publication, I find the impression has become a conviction.
Olmsted argued that slavery had made the slave states inefficient (a set amount of work took 4 times as long in Virginia as in the North) and backward both economically and socially. He said that the profits of slavery were enjoyed by no more than 8,000 owners of large plantations; a somewhat larger group had about the standard of living of a New York City policeman, but the proportion of the free white men who were as well-off as a Northern working man was small. Slavery meant that 'the proportion of men improving their condition was much less than in any Northern community; and that the natural resources of the land were strangely unused, or were used with poor economy.'
Olmsted thought that the lack of a Southern white middle class and the general poverty of lower-class whites prevented the development of many civil amenities which were taken for granted in the North.
The citizens of the cotton States, as a whole, are poor. They work little, and that little, badly; they earn little, they sell little; they buy little, and they have little – very little – of the common comforts and consolations of civilized life. Their destitution is not material only; it is intellectual and it is moral ... They were neither generous nor hospitable and their talk was not that of evenly courageous men.
Between his travels in Europe and the South, Olmsted served as an editor for Putnam's Magazine for two years and as an agent with Dix, Edwards and Co., prior to the company's insolvency during the Panic of 1857. Olmsted provided financial support for, and occasionally wrote for, the magazine The Nation, which was founded in 1865.
New York City's Central Park
Andrew Jackson Downing, the charismatic landscape architect from Newburgh, New York, was one of the first to propose developing New York's Central Park in his role as publisher of The Horticulturist magazine. A friend and mentor to Olmsted, Downing introduced him to the English-born architect Calvert Vaux, whom Downing had brought to the U.S. as his architectural collaborator. After Downing died in July 1852 in a widely publicized fire on the Hudson River steamboat Henry Clay, Olmsted and Vaux entered the Central Park design competition together, against Egbert Ludovicus Viele among others. Vaux had invited the less experienced Olmsted to participate in the design competition with him, having been impressed with Olmsted's theories and political contacts. Prior to this, in contrast with the more experienced Vaux, Olmsted had never designed or executed a landscape design.
Their Greensward Plan was announced in 1858 as the winning design. On his return from the South, Olmsted began executing their plan almost immediately. Olmsted and Vaux continued their informal partnership to design Prospect Park in Brooklyn from 1865 to 1873. That was followed by other projects. Vaux remained in the shadow of Olmsted's grand public personality and social connections.
The design of Central Park embodies Olmsted's social consciousness and commitment to egalitarian ideals. Influenced by Downing and his own observations regarding social class in England, China, and the American South, Olmsted believed that the common green space must always be equally accessible to all citizens, and was to be defended against private encroachment. This principle is now fundamental to the idea of a "public park", but was not assumed as necessary then. Olmsted's tenure as Central Park commissioner was a long struggle to preserve that idea.
Leader of Sanitary Commission
In 1861 Olmsted took leave as director of Central Park to work in Washington, DC as Executive Secretary of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, a precursor to the Red Cross. He tended to the wounded during the American Civil War. In 1862 during Union General George B. McClellan's Peninsula Campaign, Olmsted headed the medical effort for the sick and wounded at White House plantation in New Kent County, which had a boat landing on the Pamunkey River.
On the home front, Olmsted was one of the six founding members of the Union League Club of New York.
In addition to the above, Olmsted helped to recruit and outfit three African-American regiments of the United States Colored Troops in New York City. He contributed to organizing a fair which raised one million dollars for the United States Sanitary Commission.
Olmsted worked tirelessly for the Sanitary Commission to the point of exhaustion: "Part of the problem was his need to maintain control over all aspects of the commission's work. He refused to delegate and he had an appetite for authority and power." By January 1863 a friend wrote: "Olmsted is in an unhappy, sick, sore mental state ... He works like a dog all day and sits up nearly all night ... works with steady, feverish intensity till four in the morning, sleeps on a sofa in his clothes, and breakfasts on strong coffee and pickles!!!" His overwork and lack of sleep led to his being in a perpetual state of irritability, which wore on the people with whom he worked: "Exhausted, ill and having lost the support of the men who put him in charge, Olmsted resigned on Sept. 1, 1863." Yet within a month he was on his way to California.
Gold mining project in California
In 1863, Olmsted went west to become the manager of the newly established Rancho Las Mariposas-Mariposa gold mining estate in the Sierra Nevada mountains in California. The estate had been sold by John C. Fremont to New York banker, Morris Ketchum, in January of that same year. The mine, for whatever reason, did not prove to be successful; and "[b]y 1865, the Mariposa Company was bankrupt, Olmsted returned to New York, and the land and mines were sold at a sheriff's sale."
U.S. park designer
In 1865, Vaux and Olmsted formed Olmsted, Vaux & Co. When Olmsted returned to New York, he and Vaux designed Prospect Park; suburban Chicago's Riverside parks; the park system for Buffalo, New York; Milwaukee, Wisconsin's grand necklace of parks; and the Niagara Reservation at Niagara Falls.
Olmsted not only created numerous city parks around the country, he also conceived of entire systems of parks and interconnecting parkways to connect certain cities to green spaces. Some of the best examples of the scale on which Olmsted worked are the park system designed for Buffalo, New York, one of the largest projects; the system he designed for Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the park system designed for Louisville, Kentucky, which was one of only four completed Olmsted-designed park systems in the world.
Olmsted was a frequent collaborator with architect Henry Hobson Richardson, for whom he devised the landscaping schemes for half a dozen projects, including Richardson's commission for the Buffalo State Asylum. In 1871, Olmsted designed the grounds for the Hudson River State Hospital for the Insane in Poughkeepsie.
In 1883, Olmsted established what is considered to be the first full-time landscape architecture firm in Brookline, Massachusetts. He called the home and office compound Fairsted. It is now the restored Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site. From there Olmsted designed Boston's Emerald Necklace, the campuses of Wellesley College, Smith College, Stanford University and the University of Chicago, as well as the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, among many other projects.
Conservationist
Olmsted was an important early leader of the conservation movement in the United States. An expert on California, he was likely one of the gentlemen "of fortune, of taste and of refinement" who proposed, through Senator John Conness, that Congress designate Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Big Tree Grove as public reserves. This was the first land set aside by Congress for public use. Olmsted served a one-year appointment on the Board of Commissioner of the state reserve, and his 1865 report to Congress on the board's recommendations laid an ethical framework for the government to reserve public lands, to protect their "value to posterity". He described the "sublime" and "stately" landscape, emphasizing that the value of the landscape was not in any one individual waterfall, cliff, or tree, but in the "miles of scenery where cliffs of awful height and rocks of vast magnitude and of varied and exquisite coloring, are banked and fringed and draped and shadowed by the tender foliage of noble and lovely trees and bushes, reflected from the most placid pools, and associated with the most tranquil meadows, the most playful streams, and every variety of soft and peaceful pastoral beauty."
In the 1880s he was active in efforts to conserve the natural wonders of Niagara Falls, threatened with industrialization by the building of electrical power plants. At the same time, he campaigned to preserve the Adirondack region in upstate New York. He was one of the founders of the American Society of Landscape Architects in 1898.
Olmsted was also known to oppose park projects on conservationist grounds. In 1891, Olmsted refused to develop a plan for Presque Isle Park in Marquette, Michigan, saying that it "should not be marred by the intrusion of artificial objects."
Later life, death and legacy
In recognition of his services during the Civil War, Olmsted was elected a Third Class member of the Massachusetts Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS) on May 2, 1888, and was assigned insignia number 6345. Olmsted's election to MOLLUS is significant in that he was one of the few civilians elected to membership in an organization composed almost exclusively of military officers and their descendants. In 1891 he joined the Connecticut Society of the Sons of the American Revolution by right of his descent from his grandfather Benjamin Olmsted who served in the 4th Connecticut Regiment in 1775.
In 1895, senility forced Olmsted to retire. By 1898 he moved to Belmont, Massachusetts, and took up residence as a patient at the McLean Hospital, for whose grounds he had submitted a design which was never executed. He remained there until his death in 1903. He was buried in the Old North Cemetery, in Hartford, Connecticut.
After Olmsted's retirement and death, his sons John Charles Olmsted and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., continued the work of their firm, doing business as the Olmsted Brothers. The firm lasted until 1980. Many works by the Olmsted sons are mistakenly credited to Frederick Law Olmsted today. For instance, the Olmsted Brothers firm did a park plan for Portland, Maine, in 1905, creating a series of connecting parkways between existing parks and suggesting improvements to those parks. The oldest of these parks, Deering Oaks, had been designed by City Engineer William Goodwin in 1879 but is today frequently described as a Frederick Law Olmsted designed park.
A residence hall at the University of Hartford was named in his honor. Olmsted Point, located in Yosemite National Park, was named after Olmsted and his son Frederick.
Frederick Olmsted is known as the "father of American Landscape Architecture."
Olmsted's principles of design
Drawing influences from English landscape and gardening, Olmsted emphasized design that encourages the full use of the naturally occurring features of a given space, its "genius"; the subordination of individual details to the whole so that decorative elements do not take precedence, but rather the whole space is enhanced; concealment of design, design that does not call attention to itself; design that works on the unconscious to produce relaxation; and utility or purpose over ornamentation. A bridge, a pathway, a tree, a pasture: any and all elements are brought together to produce a particular effect.
Olmsted designed primarily in the pastoral and picturesque styles, each to achieve a particular effect. The pastoral style featured vast expanses of green with small lakes, trees and groves and produced a soothing, restorative effect on the viewer. The picturesque style covered rocky, broken terrain with teeming shrubs and creepers, to express nature's richness. The picturesque style played with light and shade to lend the landscape a sense of mystery.
Scenery was designed to enhance the sense of space: indistinct boundaries using plants, brush and trees as opposed to sharp ones; interplay of light and shadow close up, and blurred detail further away. A vast expanse of greenery at the end of which lies a grove of yellow poplar; a path that winds through a bit of landscape and intersects with others, dividing the terrain into triangular islands of successive new views.
Subordination strives to use all objects and features in the service of the design and its intended effect. It can be seen in the subtle use of naturally occurring plants throughout the park. Non-native species planted for the sake of their own uniqueness defeat the purpose of design, as that very uniqueness draws attention to itself where the intention is to enable relaxation: utility above all else.
Separation applies to areas designed in different styles and different uses enhancing safety and reducing distraction. A key feature of Central Park is the use of sunken roadways which traverse the park and are specifically dedicated to vehicles as opposed to winding paths designated specifically for pedestrians.
A beautiful example of this mix of principles is seen in the Central Park Mall, a large promenade leading to the Bethesda Terrace and the single formal feature in Olmsted and Vaux's original naturalistic design. The designers wrote that a "'grand promenade' was an 'essential feature of a metropolitan park'"; however, its formal symmetry, its style, though something of an aberration, was designed so as to be subordinate to the natural view surrounding it. Wealthy passengers were let from their carriages at its south end. The carriage would then drive around to the Terrace, which overlooked the Lake and Ramble to pick them up, saving them the trouble of needing to double back on foot. The Promenade was lined with slender elms and offered views of Sheep Meadow. Affluent New Yorkers, who rarely walked through the park, mixed with the less well-to-do, and all enjoyed an escape from the hustle and bustle of the surrounding city.
In popular culture
In Apple TV+'s 2019–2021 series Dickinson, Timothy Simons portrays Olmstead in episode 4 of the second season, "The Daisy Follows the Soft Sun".
See also
List of Olmsted works
Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site
Charles Loring Brace
Landscape designer
History of gardening
References
Notes
Sources and further reading
Ott, Jennifer. Olmsted in Seattle: Creating a Park System for a Modern City ( Seattle: History Link and Documentary Media, 2019) online review
Roper, Laura Wood. FLO, a biography of Frederick Law Olmsted (1973) online edition
Schlesinger, Sr., Arthur M. "Was Olmsted an Unbiased Critic of the South?" Journal of Negro History, (1952), 37#2 pp. 173–187 in JSTOR
Sears, Stephen W., To the Gates of Richmond: the Peninsula Campaign (1992) Ticknor and Fields, New York, NY
Wilson, Edmund, Patriotic gore; studies in the literature of the American Civil War, New York, Oxford University Press, 1962. Cf. Chapter VI on Northerners in the South: Frederick L. Olmsted.
Muccigrosso, Robert ed., Research Guide to American Historical Biography (1988) 5:2666-74
Primary sources
Beveridge, Charles E., ed., Lauren Meier, ed., and Irene Mills, ed., Frederick Law Olmsted: Plans and Views of Public Parks. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015. xvi, 429 pp.
Available online from the Internet Archive.
Available online from the University of North Texas.
Available online from the Internet Archive.
Available online from the Internet Archive.
Olmsted, Frederick Law. "The Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove" (1865) the National Park Service
Robert Twombly, ed. (2010): "Frederick Law Olmsted: Essential Texts", WW Norton & Company, New York.
External links
Frederick Law Olmsted: A bibliography by The Buffalo History Museum
The National Association for Olmsted Parks
The Frederick Law Olmsted Society of Riverside
The Olmsted Plan KCET Departures Olmsted Plan
Olmsted and America's Urban Parks, 2010 documentary; supplemental materials at OlmstedFilm.org
Booknotes interview with Witold Rybczynski on A Clearing in the Distance, October 17, 1999.
Frederick Law Olmsted Explore Capitol Hill
Fine Arts Garden, Cleveland Museum of Art
Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing America (2014 documentary)
1822 births
1903 deaths
American landscape and garden designers
American landscape architects
American urban planners
Burials in Connecticut
Druid Hills, Georgia
McLean Hospital people
The Nation (U.S. magazine) people
People from Belmont, Massachusetts
People from Staten Island
People of the American Civil War
Phillips Academy alumni
Russell Sage Foundation
Social critics
Writers from Hartford, Connecticut
| false |
[
"Arthur Edward Smith CBE was a British conservation pioneer and English teacher from Lincolnshire. He was primarily known for his work in founding the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, and in extending the Wildlife Trust movement across Britain to form what is now the Wildlife Trusts.\n\nEarly life\nTed Smith came from a relatively poor background; his father Arthur was a plumber, and his parents ran a bakery and grocery shop. He attended Leeds University, and studied English, where he was taught by Bruce Dickins. He spent much of his adult life working firstly as a teacher in Leeds and then Norfolk, and then as an adult education tutor in Lincolnshire.\n\nNature Conservation\nThe nature conservation movement started as a very elite movement in the United Kingdom, led by wealthy aristocrats or academics such as Charles Rothschild who initially envisaged a national network of nature reserves. After the Second World War, however, Smith drove the movement towards different goals and methods, most notably in recognising the threat from post-war agricultural methods and forming nature reserves that were accessible to the public and scientists. This was joined with the creation of more local wildlife trusts. Smith directly helped found the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust as its first Honorary Secretary, and helped spark the foundation of other early trusts such as those in Cambridgeshire Wildlife Trust and Leicestershire Wildlife Trust. He particularly championed the creation of the nature reserve at Gibraltar Point, which provided a blueprint for his ideas compared to the less publicly accessible nature reserves founded by earlier conservationists.\n\nLater in life he became chairman and then President of the Lincolnshire Trust, holding the latter position until his death in 2015; he also became the Chairman of the England Committee of the Nature Conservancy Council (now Natural England) and first General Secretary of the Royal Society of Nature Conservation.\n\nHe received multiple awards for his work in nature conservation, including the CBE in 1998, having received the OBE in 1963. He was the first recipient of the Christopher Cadbury medal for nature conservation, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Science by the University of Lincolnshire and Humberside in 1999, and became an Officer of the Order of the Golden Ark in 2000. In 2012 he received a centenary award from the Wildlife Trusts, presented by his friend and colleague Sir David Attenborough. The Gibraltar Point nature reserve was dedicated to him in 2010.\n\nPersonal life\nSmith met Mary Goddard in 1948 on a trip to Skokholm, and married her in 1949. They have two surviving children; Professor Alison Smith, a prominent specialist in plant metabolism, and Dr Helen Smith, an arachnologist and president of the British Arachnological Society. He died on 13 September 2015.\n\nHe was a lifelong member of the Liberal party and its successor, the Liberal Democrats.\n\nReferences\n\n \n\n1920 births\n2015 deaths\nAlumni of the University of Leeds\nCommanders of the Order of the British Empire\nEnglish conservationists\nPeople educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Alford\nPeople from Alford, Lincolnshire",
"The Norbury Estate originated as a London County Council cottage estate constructed between 1901 and 1920 in what is now the north of the London Borough of Croydon. It was declared a conservation area in 2008.\n\nThe site was a former brickfield, and the clay recovered was fired to make bricks for this estate and Totterdown Fields.\n\nThe estate was influenced by Ebenezer Howard's Garden city movement and the Arts and Crafts movement, with high quality external detailing and an open setting with privet hedges, front gardens and wide grass verges.\n\nDesign\n\nLocation\nThe estate is in the London Borough of Croydon, just west of the A23 and south of Norbury Station. It is bounded by Palmers Road, Darcy Road, Northborough Road and Tylecroft Road.\n\nSee also\nOld Oak and Wormholt\n\nReferences\nNotes\n\nBibliography\n\nExternal links\n\nBuildings and structures in the London Borough of Croydon"
] |
[
"Frederick Law Olmsted",
"Conservationist",
"Was Olmsted a conservationist",
"Olmsted was an important early leader of the conservation movement",
"What was the conservation movement",
"I don't know."
] |
C_b8f3d13fed1b4fafaa08c0c20b7ba165_0
|
Why was he a conservationist
| 3 |
Why was Frederick Law Olmsted a conservationist?
|
Frederick Law Olmsted
|
Olmsted was an important early leader of the conservation movement in the United States. An expert on California, he was likely one of the gentlemen "of fortune, of taste and of refinement" who proposed, through Senator John Conness, that Congress designate Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Big Tree Grove as public reserves. This was the first land set aside by Congress for public use. Olmsted served a one-year appointment on the Board of Commissioner of the state reserve, and his 1865 report to Congress on the board's recommendations laid an ethical framework for the government to reserve public lands, to protect their "value to posterity". He described the "sublime" and "stately" landscape, emphasizing that the value of the landscape was not in any one individual waterfall, cliff, or tree, but in the "miles of scenery where cliffs of awful height and rocks of vast magnitude and of varied and exquisite coloring, are banked and fringed and draped and shadowed by the tender foliage of noble and lovely trees and bushes, reflected from the most placid pools, and associated with the most tranquil meadows, the most playful streams, and every variety of soft and peaceful pastoral beauty." In the 1880s he was active in efforts to conserve the natural wonders of Niagara Falls, threatened with industrialization by the building of electrical power plants. At the same time, he campaigned to preserve the Adirondack region in upstate New York. He was one of the founders of the American Society of Landscape Architects in 1898. Olmsted was also known to oppose park projects on conservationist grounds. In 1891, Olmsted refused to develop a plan for Presque Isle near Marquette, Michigan, saying that it "should not be marred by the intrusion of artificial objects." CANNOTANSWER
|
CANNOTANSWER
|
Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture. Olmsted was famous for co-designing many well-known urban parks with his partner Calvert Vaux. Olmsted and Vaux's first project was Central Park, which resulted in many other urban park designs, including Prospect Park in what was then the City of Brooklyn (now the Borough of Brooklyn in New York City) and Cadwalader Park in Trenton. He headed the pre-eminent landscape architecture and planning consultancy of late nineteenth-century America, which was carried on and expanded by his sons, Frederick Jr and John C, under the name Olmsted Brothers.
Other projects that Olmsted was involved in include the country's first and oldest coordinated system of public parks and parkways in Buffalo, New York; the country's oldest state park, the Niagara Reservation in Niagara Falls, New York; one of the first planned communities in the United States, Riverside, Illinois; Mount Royal Park in Montreal, Quebec; The Institute of Living in Hartford, Connecticut; Waterbury Hospital in Waterbury, Connecticut; the Emerald Necklace in Boston, Massachusetts; Highland Park in Rochester, New York; the Grand Necklace of Parks in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Cherokee Park and parks and parkway system in Louisville, Kentucky; Walnut Hill Park in New Britain, Connecticut; the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina; the master plans for the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Maine, Stanford University near Palo Alto, California, and The Lawrenceville School; and Montebello Park in St. Catharines, Ontario. In Chicago his projects include: Jackson Park; Washington Park; the main park ground for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition; the south portion of Chicago's "emerald necklace" boulevard ring; and the University of Chicago campus. In Washington, D.C., he worked on the landscape surrounding the United States Capitol building.
The quality of Olmsted's landscape architecture was recognized by his contemporaries, who showered him with prestigious commissions. Daniel Burnham said of him, "He paints with lakes and wooded slopes; with lawns and banks and forest-covered hills; with mountainsides and ocean views ..." His work, especially in Central Park, set a standard of excellence that continues to influence landscape architecture in the United States. He was an early and important activist in the conservation movement, including work at Niagara Falls; the Adirondack region of upstate New York; and the National Park system; and though little known, played a major role in organizing and providing medical services to the Union Army in the Civil War.
Biography
Early life and education
Olmsted was born in Hartford, Connecticut, on April 26, 1822. His father, John Olmsted, was a prosperous merchant who took a lively interest in nature, people, and places; Frederick Law and his younger brother, John Hull, also showed this interest. His mother, Charlotte Law (Hull) Olmsted, died before his fourth birthday. His father remarried in 1827 to Mary Ann Bull, who shared her husband's strong love of nature and had perhaps a more cultivated taste. The Olmsted ancestors arrived in the early 1600s from Essex, England.
When the young Olmsted was almost ready to enter Yale College, sumac poisoning weakened his eyes, so he gave up college plans. After working as an apprentice seaman, merchant, and journalist, Olmsted settled on a 125-acre farm in January 1848 on the south shore of Staten Island, New York, a farm which his father helped him acquire. This farm, originally named the Akerly Homestead, was renamed Tosomock Farm by Olmsted. It was later renamed "The Woods of Arden" by owner Erastus Wiman. (The house in which Olmsted lived still stands at 4515 Hylan Boulevard, near Woods of Arden Road.)
Marriage and family
On June 13, 1859, Olmsted married Mary Cleveland (Perkins) Olmsted, the widow of his brother John (who had died in 1857). Daniel Fawcett Tiemann, the mayor of New York, officiated the wedding. He adopted her three children (his nephews and niece), John Charles Olmsted (born 1852), Charlotte Olmsted (who later married a Bryant), and Owen Olmsted.
Frederick and Mary also had two children together who survived infancy: a daughter, Marion (born October 28, 1861), and a son Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., born in 1870. Their first child, John Theodore Olmsted, was born on June 13, 1860, and died in infancy.
Career
Journalism
Olmsted had a significant career in journalism. In 1850 he traveled to England to visit public gardens, where he was greatly impressed by Joseph Paxton's Birkenhead Park. He subsequently wrote and published Walks and Talks of an American Farmer in England in 1852. This supported his getting additional work. His visit to Birkenhead Park inspired his later contribution to the design of Central Park in New York City.
Interested in the slave economy, he was commissioned by the New York Daily Times (now The New York Times) to embark on an extensive research journey through the American South and Texas from 1852 to 1857. His dispatches to the Times were collected into three volumes (A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States (1856), A Journey Through Texas (1857), A Journey in the Back Country in the Winter of 1853-4 (1860).
These are considered vivid first-person accounts of the antebellum South. A one-volume abridgment, Journeys and Explorations in the Cotton Kingdom (1861), was published in England during the first six months of the American Civil War, at the suggestion of Olmsted's English publisher.
To this he wrote a new introduction (on "The Present Crisis"). He stated his views on the effect of slavery on the economy and social conditions of the southern states:
My own observation of the real condition of the people of our Slave States, gave me ... an impression that the cotton monopoly in some way did them more harm than good; and although the written narration of what I saw was not intended to set this forth, upon reviewing it for the present publication, I find the impression has become a conviction.
Olmsted argued that slavery had made the slave states inefficient (a set amount of work took 4 times as long in Virginia as in the North) and backward both economically and socially. He said that the profits of slavery were enjoyed by no more than 8,000 owners of large plantations; a somewhat larger group had about the standard of living of a New York City policeman, but the proportion of the free white men who were as well-off as a Northern working man was small. Slavery meant that 'the proportion of men improving their condition was much less than in any Northern community; and that the natural resources of the land were strangely unused, or were used with poor economy.'
Olmsted thought that the lack of a Southern white middle class and the general poverty of lower-class whites prevented the development of many civil amenities which were taken for granted in the North.
The citizens of the cotton States, as a whole, are poor. They work little, and that little, badly; they earn little, they sell little; they buy little, and they have little – very little – of the common comforts and consolations of civilized life. Their destitution is not material only; it is intellectual and it is moral ... They were neither generous nor hospitable and their talk was not that of evenly courageous men.
Between his travels in Europe and the South, Olmsted served as an editor for Putnam's Magazine for two years and as an agent with Dix, Edwards and Co., prior to the company's insolvency during the Panic of 1857. Olmsted provided financial support for, and occasionally wrote for, the magazine The Nation, which was founded in 1865.
New York City's Central Park
Andrew Jackson Downing, the charismatic landscape architect from Newburgh, New York, was one of the first to propose developing New York's Central Park in his role as publisher of The Horticulturist magazine. A friend and mentor to Olmsted, Downing introduced him to the English-born architect Calvert Vaux, whom Downing had brought to the U.S. as his architectural collaborator. After Downing died in July 1852 in a widely publicized fire on the Hudson River steamboat Henry Clay, Olmsted and Vaux entered the Central Park design competition together, against Egbert Ludovicus Viele among others. Vaux had invited the less experienced Olmsted to participate in the design competition with him, having been impressed with Olmsted's theories and political contacts. Prior to this, in contrast with the more experienced Vaux, Olmsted had never designed or executed a landscape design.
Their Greensward Plan was announced in 1858 as the winning design. On his return from the South, Olmsted began executing their plan almost immediately. Olmsted and Vaux continued their informal partnership to design Prospect Park in Brooklyn from 1865 to 1873. That was followed by other projects. Vaux remained in the shadow of Olmsted's grand public personality and social connections.
The design of Central Park embodies Olmsted's social consciousness and commitment to egalitarian ideals. Influenced by Downing and his own observations regarding social class in England, China, and the American South, Olmsted believed that the common green space must always be equally accessible to all citizens, and was to be defended against private encroachment. This principle is now fundamental to the idea of a "public park", but was not assumed as necessary then. Olmsted's tenure as Central Park commissioner was a long struggle to preserve that idea.
Leader of Sanitary Commission
In 1861 Olmsted took leave as director of Central Park to work in Washington, DC as Executive Secretary of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, a precursor to the Red Cross. He tended to the wounded during the American Civil War. In 1862 during Union General George B. McClellan's Peninsula Campaign, Olmsted headed the medical effort for the sick and wounded at White House plantation in New Kent County, which had a boat landing on the Pamunkey River.
On the home front, Olmsted was one of the six founding members of the Union League Club of New York.
In addition to the above, Olmsted helped to recruit and outfit three African-American regiments of the United States Colored Troops in New York City. He contributed to organizing a fair which raised one million dollars for the United States Sanitary Commission.
Olmsted worked tirelessly for the Sanitary Commission to the point of exhaustion: "Part of the problem was his need to maintain control over all aspects of the commission's work. He refused to delegate and he had an appetite for authority and power." By January 1863 a friend wrote: "Olmsted is in an unhappy, sick, sore mental state ... He works like a dog all day and sits up nearly all night ... works with steady, feverish intensity till four in the morning, sleeps on a sofa in his clothes, and breakfasts on strong coffee and pickles!!!" His overwork and lack of sleep led to his being in a perpetual state of irritability, which wore on the people with whom he worked: "Exhausted, ill and having lost the support of the men who put him in charge, Olmsted resigned on Sept. 1, 1863." Yet within a month he was on his way to California.
Gold mining project in California
In 1863, Olmsted went west to become the manager of the newly established Rancho Las Mariposas-Mariposa gold mining estate in the Sierra Nevada mountains in California. The estate had been sold by John C. Fremont to New York banker, Morris Ketchum, in January of that same year. The mine, for whatever reason, did not prove to be successful; and "[b]y 1865, the Mariposa Company was bankrupt, Olmsted returned to New York, and the land and mines were sold at a sheriff's sale."
U.S. park designer
In 1865, Vaux and Olmsted formed Olmsted, Vaux & Co. When Olmsted returned to New York, he and Vaux designed Prospect Park; suburban Chicago's Riverside parks; the park system for Buffalo, New York; Milwaukee, Wisconsin's grand necklace of parks; and the Niagara Reservation at Niagara Falls.
Olmsted not only created numerous city parks around the country, he also conceived of entire systems of parks and interconnecting parkways to connect certain cities to green spaces. Some of the best examples of the scale on which Olmsted worked are the park system designed for Buffalo, New York, one of the largest projects; the system he designed for Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the park system designed for Louisville, Kentucky, which was one of only four completed Olmsted-designed park systems in the world.
Olmsted was a frequent collaborator with architect Henry Hobson Richardson, for whom he devised the landscaping schemes for half a dozen projects, including Richardson's commission for the Buffalo State Asylum. In 1871, Olmsted designed the grounds for the Hudson River State Hospital for the Insane in Poughkeepsie.
In 1883, Olmsted established what is considered to be the first full-time landscape architecture firm in Brookline, Massachusetts. He called the home and office compound Fairsted. It is now the restored Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site. From there Olmsted designed Boston's Emerald Necklace, the campuses of Wellesley College, Smith College, Stanford University and the University of Chicago, as well as the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, among many other projects.
Conservationist
Olmsted was an important early leader of the conservation movement in the United States. An expert on California, he was likely one of the gentlemen "of fortune, of taste and of refinement" who proposed, through Senator John Conness, that Congress designate Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Big Tree Grove as public reserves. This was the first land set aside by Congress for public use. Olmsted served a one-year appointment on the Board of Commissioner of the state reserve, and his 1865 report to Congress on the board's recommendations laid an ethical framework for the government to reserve public lands, to protect their "value to posterity". He described the "sublime" and "stately" landscape, emphasizing that the value of the landscape was not in any one individual waterfall, cliff, or tree, but in the "miles of scenery where cliffs of awful height and rocks of vast magnitude and of varied and exquisite coloring, are banked and fringed and draped and shadowed by the tender foliage of noble and lovely trees and bushes, reflected from the most placid pools, and associated with the most tranquil meadows, the most playful streams, and every variety of soft and peaceful pastoral beauty."
In the 1880s he was active in efforts to conserve the natural wonders of Niagara Falls, threatened with industrialization by the building of electrical power plants. At the same time, he campaigned to preserve the Adirondack region in upstate New York. He was one of the founders of the American Society of Landscape Architects in 1898.
Olmsted was also known to oppose park projects on conservationist grounds. In 1891, Olmsted refused to develop a plan for Presque Isle Park in Marquette, Michigan, saying that it "should not be marred by the intrusion of artificial objects."
Later life, death and legacy
In recognition of his services during the Civil War, Olmsted was elected a Third Class member of the Massachusetts Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS) on May 2, 1888, and was assigned insignia number 6345. Olmsted's election to MOLLUS is significant in that he was one of the few civilians elected to membership in an organization composed almost exclusively of military officers and their descendants. In 1891 he joined the Connecticut Society of the Sons of the American Revolution by right of his descent from his grandfather Benjamin Olmsted who served in the 4th Connecticut Regiment in 1775.
In 1895, senility forced Olmsted to retire. By 1898 he moved to Belmont, Massachusetts, and took up residence as a patient at the McLean Hospital, for whose grounds he had submitted a design which was never executed. He remained there until his death in 1903. He was buried in the Old North Cemetery, in Hartford, Connecticut.
After Olmsted's retirement and death, his sons John Charles Olmsted and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., continued the work of their firm, doing business as the Olmsted Brothers. The firm lasted until 1980. Many works by the Olmsted sons are mistakenly credited to Frederick Law Olmsted today. For instance, the Olmsted Brothers firm did a park plan for Portland, Maine, in 1905, creating a series of connecting parkways between existing parks and suggesting improvements to those parks. The oldest of these parks, Deering Oaks, had been designed by City Engineer William Goodwin in 1879 but is today frequently described as a Frederick Law Olmsted designed park.
A residence hall at the University of Hartford was named in his honor. Olmsted Point, located in Yosemite National Park, was named after Olmsted and his son Frederick.
Frederick Olmsted is known as the "father of American Landscape Architecture."
Olmsted's principles of design
Drawing influences from English landscape and gardening, Olmsted emphasized design that encourages the full use of the naturally occurring features of a given space, its "genius"; the subordination of individual details to the whole so that decorative elements do not take precedence, but rather the whole space is enhanced; concealment of design, design that does not call attention to itself; design that works on the unconscious to produce relaxation; and utility or purpose over ornamentation. A bridge, a pathway, a tree, a pasture: any and all elements are brought together to produce a particular effect.
Olmsted designed primarily in the pastoral and picturesque styles, each to achieve a particular effect. The pastoral style featured vast expanses of green with small lakes, trees and groves and produced a soothing, restorative effect on the viewer. The picturesque style covered rocky, broken terrain with teeming shrubs and creepers, to express nature's richness. The picturesque style played with light and shade to lend the landscape a sense of mystery.
Scenery was designed to enhance the sense of space: indistinct boundaries using plants, brush and trees as opposed to sharp ones; interplay of light and shadow close up, and blurred detail further away. A vast expanse of greenery at the end of which lies a grove of yellow poplar; a path that winds through a bit of landscape and intersects with others, dividing the terrain into triangular islands of successive new views.
Subordination strives to use all objects and features in the service of the design and its intended effect. It can be seen in the subtle use of naturally occurring plants throughout the park. Non-native species planted for the sake of their own uniqueness defeat the purpose of design, as that very uniqueness draws attention to itself where the intention is to enable relaxation: utility above all else.
Separation applies to areas designed in different styles and different uses enhancing safety and reducing distraction. A key feature of Central Park is the use of sunken roadways which traverse the park and are specifically dedicated to vehicles as opposed to winding paths designated specifically for pedestrians.
A beautiful example of this mix of principles is seen in the Central Park Mall, a large promenade leading to the Bethesda Terrace and the single formal feature in Olmsted and Vaux's original naturalistic design. The designers wrote that a "'grand promenade' was an 'essential feature of a metropolitan park'"; however, its formal symmetry, its style, though something of an aberration, was designed so as to be subordinate to the natural view surrounding it. Wealthy passengers were let from their carriages at its south end. The carriage would then drive around to the Terrace, which overlooked the Lake and Ramble to pick them up, saving them the trouble of needing to double back on foot. The Promenade was lined with slender elms and offered views of Sheep Meadow. Affluent New Yorkers, who rarely walked through the park, mixed with the less well-to-do, and all enjoyed an escape from the hustle and bustle of the surrounding city.
In popular culture
In Apple TV+'s 2019–2021 series Dickinson, Timothy Simons portrays Olmstead in episode 4 of the second season, "The Daisy Follows the Soft Sun".
See also
List of Olmsted works
Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site
Charles Loring Brace
Landscape designer
History of gardening
References
Notes
Sources and further reading
Ott, Jennifer. Olmsted in Seattle: Creating a Park System for a Modern City ( Seattle: History Link and Documentary Media, 2019) online review
Roper, Laura Wood. FLO, a biography of Frederick Law Olmsted (1973) online edition
Schlesinger, Sr., Arthur M. "Was Olmsted an Unbiased Critic of the South?" Journal of Negro History, (1952), 37#2 pp. 173–187 in JSTOR
Sears, Stephen W., To the Gates of Richmond: the Peninsula Campaign (1992) Ticknor and Fields, New York, NY
Wilson, Edmund, Patriotic gore; studies in the literature of the American Civil War, New York, Oxford University Press, 1962. Cf. Chapter VI on Northerners in the South: Frederick L. Olmsted.
Muccigrosso, Robert ed., Research Guide to American Historical Biography (1988) 5:2666-74
Primary sources
Beveridge, Charles E., ed., Lauren Meier, ed., and Irene Mills, ed., Frederick Law Olmsted: Plans and Views of Public Parks. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015. xvi, 429 pp.
Available online from the Internet Archive.
Available online from the University of North Texas.
Available online from the Internet Archive.
Available online from the Internet Archive.
Olmsted, Frederick Law. "The Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove" (1865) the National Park Service
Robert Twombly, ed. (2010): "Frederick Law Olmsted: Essential Texts", WW Norton & Company, New York.
External links
Frederick Law Olmsted: A bibliography by The Buffalo History Museum
The National Association for Olmsted Parks
The Frederick Law Olmsted Society of Riverside
The Olmsted Plan KCET Departures Olmsted Plan
Olmsted and America's Urban Parks, 2010 documentary; supplemental materials at OlmstedFilm.org
Booknotes interview with Witold Rybczynski on A Clearing in the Distance, October 17, 1999.
Frederick Law Olmsted Explore Capitol Hill
Fine Arts Garden, Cleveland Museum of Art
Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing America (2014 documentary)
1822 births
1903 deaths
American landscape and garden designers
American landscape architects
American urban planners
Burials in Connecticut
Druid Hills, Georgia
McLean Hospital people
The Nation (U.S. magazine) people
People from Belmont, Massachusetts
People from Staten Island
People of the American Civil War
Phillips Academy alumni
Russell Sage Foundation
Social critics
Writers from Hartford, Connecticut
| false |
[
"Julio Lamilla (died 31 March 2016) was a Chilean biologist, researcher and conservationist. Lamilla was a former student of Liceo Armando Robles Rivera in Valdivia before graduating from the Austral University of Chile in Biology and Chemistry in which he majored in Zoology.\n\nHe became a teacher and researcher at the university in 1979 and held numerous posts through his life as a conservationist and shark expert. He died of a heart attack in March 2016. Dipturus lamillai, a species of skate first described in 2019, was named in Lamilla's honour.\n\nReferences\n\nAustral University of Chile faculty\nChilean marine biologists\nPeople from Valdivia\n2016 deaths\nYear of birth missing",
"Paul Rauber is a Senior Editor at the Sierra Magazine, the publication of the Sierra Club, an United States environmental organization founded by conservationist pioneer John Muir in 1892. \n\nIn 2004 he published a book with Carl Pope, Strategic Ignorance: Why the Bush Administration Is Recklessly Destroying a Century of Environmental Progress, from Sierra Club Books. An excerpt from the book, titled Saving the Environment was published in The Nation magazine.\n\nPaul's older brother, Chris Rauber, is also a journalist.\n\nWritings\n\nReferences\n\nYear of birth missing (living people)\nLiving people\nSierra Club people\nAmerican environmentalists\nAmerican non-fiction environmental writers"
] |
[
"Frederick Law Olmsted",
"Conservationist",
"Was Olmsted a conservationist",
"Olmsted was an important early leader of the conservation movement",
"What was the conservation movement",
"I don't know.",
"Why was he a conservationist",
"I don't know."
] |
C_b8f3d13fed1b4fafaa08c0c20b7ba165_0
|
Who else was in the conservation movement
| 4 |
Besides Frederick Law Olmsted, who else was in the conservation movement?
|
Frederick Law Olmsted
|
Olmsted was an important early leader of the conservation movement in the United States. An expert on California, he was likely one of the gentlemen "of fortune, of taste and of refinement" who proposed, through Senator John Conness, that Congress designate Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Big Tree Grove as public reserves. This was the first land set aside by Congress for public use. Olmsted served a one-year appointment on the Board of Commissioner of the state reserve, and his 1865 report to Congress on the board's recommendations laid an ethical framework for the government to reserve public lands, to protect their "value to posterity". He described the "sublime" and "stately" landscape, emphasizing that the value of the landscape was not in any one individual waterfall, cliff, or tree, but in the "miles of scenery where cliffs of awful height and rocks of vast magnitude and of varied and exquisite coloring, are banked and fringed and draped and shadowed by the tender foliage of noble and lovely trees and bushes, reflected from the most placid pools, and associated with the most tranquil meadows, the most playful streams, and every variety of soft and peaceful pastoral beauty." In the 1880s he was active in efforts to conserve the natural wonders of Niagara Falls, threatened with industrialization by the building of electrical power plants. At the same time, he campaigned to preserve the Adirondack region in upstate New York. He was one of the founders of the American Society of Landscape Architects in 1898. Olmsted was also known to oppose park projects on conservationist grounds. In 1891, Olmsted refused to develop a plan for Presque Isle near Marquette, Michigan, saying that it "should not be marred by the intrusion of artificial objects." CANNOTANSWER
|
CANNOTANSWER
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Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture. Olmsted was famous for co-designing many well-known urban parks with his partner Calvert Vaux. Olmsted and Vaux's first project was Central Park, which resulted in many other urban park designs, including Prospect Park in what was then the City of Brooklyn (now the Borough of Brooklyn in New York City) and Cadwalader Park in Trenton. He headed the pre-eminent landscape architecture and planning consultancy of late nineteenth-century America, which was carried on and expanded by his sons, Frederick Jr and John C, under the name Olmsted Brothers.
Other projects that Olmsted was involved in include the country's first and oldest coordinated system of public parks and parkways in Buffalo, New York; the country's oldest state park, the Niagara Reservation in Niagara Falls, New York; one of the first planned communities in the United States, Riverside, Illinois; Mount Royal Park in Montreal, Quebec; The Institute of Living in Hartford, Connecticut; Waterbury Hospital in Waterbury, Connecticut; the Emerald Necklace in Boston, Massachusetts; Highland Park in Rochester, New York; the Grand Necklace of Parks in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Cherokee Park and parks and parkway system in Louisville, Kentucky; Walnut Hill Park in New Britain, Connecticut; the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina; the master plans for the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Maine, Stanford University near Palo Alto, California, and The Lawrenceville School; and Montebello Park in St. Catharines, Ontario. In Chicago his projects include: Jackson Park; Washington Park; the main park ground for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition; the south portion of Chicago's "emerald necklace" boulevard ring; and the University of Chicago campus. In Washington, D.C., he worked on the landscape surrounding the United States Capitol building.
The quality of Olmsted's landscape architecture was recognized by his contemporaries, who showered him with prestigious commissions. Daniel Burnham said of him, "He paints with lakes and wooded slopes; with lawns and banks and forest-covered hills; with mountainsides and ocean views ..." His work, especially in Central Park, set a standard of excellence that continues to influence landscape architecture in the United States. He was an early and important activist in the conservation movement, including work at Niagara Falls; the Adirondack region of upstate New York; and the National Park system; and though little known, played a major role in organizing and providing medical services to the Union Army in the Civil War.
Biography
Early life and education
Olmsted was born in Hartford, Connecticut, on April 26, 1822. His father, John Olmsted, was a prosperous merchant who took a lively interest in nature, people, and places; Frederick Law and his younger brother, John Hull, also showed this interest. His mother, Charlotte Law (Hull) Olmsted, died before his fourth birthday. His father remarried in 1827 to Mary Ann Bull, who shared her husband's strong love of nature and had perhaps a more cultivated taste. The Olmsted ancestors arrived in the early 1600s from Essex, England.
When the young Olmsted was almost ready to enter Yale College, sumac poisoning weakened his eyes, so he gave up college plans. After working as an apprentice seaman, merchant, and journalist, Olmsted settled on a 125-acre farm in January 1848 on the south shore of Staten Island, New York, a farm which his father helped him acquire. This farm, originally named the Akerly Homestead, was renamed Tosomock Farm by Olmsted. It was later renamed "The Woods of Arden" by owner Erastus Wiman. (The house in which Olmsted lived still stands at 4515 Hylan Boulevard, near Woods of Arden Road.)
Marriage and family
On June 13, 1859, Olmsted married Mary Cleveland (Perkins) Olmsted, the widow of his brother John (who had died in 1857). Daniel Fawcett Tiemann, the mayor of New York, officiated the wedding. He adopted her three children (his nephews and niece), John Charles Olmsted (born 1852), Charlotte Olmsted (who later married a Bryant), and Owen Olmsted.
Frederick and Mary also had two children together who survived infancy: a daughter, Marion (born October 28, 1861), and a son Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., born in 1870. Their first child, John Theodore Olmsted, was born on June 13, 1860, and died in infancy.
Career
Journalism
Olmsted had a significant career in journalism. In 1850 he traveled to England to visit public gardens, where he was greatly impressed by Joseph Paxton's Birkenhead Park. He subsequently wrote and published Walks and Talks of an American Farmer in England in 1852. This supported his getting additional work. His visit to Birkenhead Park inspired his later contribution to the design of Central Park in New York City.
Interested in the slave economy, he was commissioned by the New York Daily Times (now The New York Times) to embark on an extensive research journey through the American South and Texas from 1852 to 1857. His dispatches to the Times were collected into three volumes (A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States (1856), A Journey Through Texas (1857), A Journey in the Back Country in the Winter of 1853-4 (1860).
These are considered vivid first-person accounts of the antebellum South. A one-volume abridgment, Journeys and Explorations in the Cotton Kingdom (1861), was published in England during the first six months of the American Civil War, at the suggestion of Olmsted's English publisher.
To this he wrote a new introduction (on "The Present Crisis"). He stated his views on the effect of slavery on the economy and social conditions of the southern states:
My own observation of the real condition of the people of our Slave States, gave me ... an impression that the cotton monopoly in some way did them more harm than good; and although the written narration of what I saw was not intended to set this forth, upon reviewing it for the present publication, I find the impression has become a conviction.
Olmsted argued that slavery had made the slave states inefficient (a set amount of work took 4 times as long in Virginia as in the North) and backward both economically and socially. He said that the profits of slavery were enjoyed by no more than 8,000 owners of large plantations; a somewhat larger group had about the standard of living of a New York City policeman, but the proportion of the free white men who were as well-off as a Northern working man was small. Slavery meant that 'the proportion of men improving their condition was much less than in any Northern community; and that the natural resources of the land were strangely unused, or were used with poor economy.'
Olmsted thought that the lack of a Southern white middle class and the general poverty of lower-class whites prevented the development of many civil amenities which were taken for granted in the North.
The citizens of the cotton States, as a whole, are poor. They work little, and that little, badly; they earn little, they sell little; they buy little, and they have little – very little – of the common comforts and consolations of civilized life. Their destitution is not material only; it is intellectual and it is moral ... They were neither generous nor hospitable and their talk was not that of evenly courageous men.
Between his travels in Europe and the South, Olmsted served as an editor for Putnam's Magazine for two years and as an agent with Dix, Edwards and Co., prior to the company's insolvency during the Panic of 1857. Olmsted provided financial support for, and occasionally wrote for, the magazine The Nation, which was founded in 1865.
New York City's Central Park
Andrew Jackson Downing, the charismatic landscape architect from Newburgh, New York, was one of the first to propose developing New York's Central Park in his role as publisher of The Horticulturist magazine. A friend and mentor to Olmsted, Downing introduced him to the English-born architect Calvert Vaux, whom Downing had brought to the U.S. as his architectural collaborator. After Downing died in July 1852 in a widely publicized fire on the Hudson River steamboat Henry Clay, Olmsted and Vaux entered the Central Park design competition together, against Egbert Ludovicus Viele among others. Vaux had invited the less experienced Olmsted to participate in the design competition with him, having been impressed with Olmsted's theories and political contacts. Prior to this, in contrast with the more experienced Vaux, Olmsted had never designed or executed a landscape design.
Their Greensward Plan was announced in 1858 as the winning design. On his return from the South, Olmsted began executing their plan almost immediately. Olmsted and Vaux continued their informal partnership to design Prospect Park in Brooklyn from 1865 to 1873. That was followed by other projects. Vaux remained in the shadow of Olmsted's grand public personality and social connections.
The design of Central Park embodies Olmsted's social consciousness and commitment to egalitarian ideals. Influenced by Downing and his own observations regarding social class in England, China, and the American South, Olmsted believed that the common green space must always be equally accessible to all citizens, and was to be defended against private encroachment. This principle is now fundamental to the idea of a "public park", but was not assumed as necessary then. Olmsted's tenure as Central Park commissioner was a long struggle to preserve that idea.
Leader of Sanitary Commission
In 1861 Olmsted took leave as director of Central Park to work in Washington, DC as Executive Secretary of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, a precursor to the Red Cross. He tended to the wounded during the American Civil War. In 1862 during Union General George B. McClellan's Peninsula Campaign, Olmsted headed the medical effort for the sick and wounded at White House plantation in New Kent County, which had a boat landing on the Pamunkey River.
On the home front, Olmsted was one of the six founding members of the Union League Club of New York.
In addition to the above, Olmsted helped to recruit and outfit three African-American regiments of the United States Colored Troops in New York City. He contributed to organizing a fair which raised one million dollars for the United States Sanitary Commission.
Olmsted worked tirelessly for the Sanitary Commission to the point of exhaustion: "Part of the problem was his need to maintain control over all aspects of the commission's work. He refused to delegate and he had an appetite for authority and power." By January 1863 a friend wrote: "Olmsted is in an unhappy, sick, sore mental state ... He works like a dog all day and sits up nearly all night ... works with steady, feverish intensity till four in the morning, sleeps on a sofa in his clothes, and breakfasts on strong coffee and pickles!!!" His overwork and lack of sleep led to his being in a perpetual state of irritability, which wore on the people with whom he worked: "Exhausted, ill and having lost the support of the men who put him in charge, Olmsted resigned on Sept. 1, 1863." Yet within a month he was on his way to California.
Gold mining project in California
In 1863, Olmsted went west to become the manager of the newly established Rancho Las Mariposas-Mariposa gold mining estate in the Sierra Nevada mountains in California. The estate had been sold by John C. Fremont to New York banker, Morris Ketchum, in January of that same year. The mine, for whatever reason, did not prove to be successful; and "[b]y 1865, the Mariposa Company was bankrupt, Olmsted returned to New York, and the land and mines were sold at a sheriff's sale."
U.S. park designer
In 1865, Vaux and Olmsted formed Olmsted, Vaux & Co. When Olmsted returned to New York, he and Vaux designed Prospect Park; suburban Chicago's Riverside parks; the park system for Buffalo, New York; Milwaukee, Wisconsin's grand necklace of parks; and the Niagara Reservation at Niagara Falls.
Olmsted not only created numerous city parks around the country, he also conceived of entire systems of parks and interconnecting parkways to connect certain cities to green spaces. Some of the best examples of the scale on which Olmsted worked are the park system designed for Buffalo, New York, one of the largest projects; the system he designed for Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the park system designed for Louisville, Kentucky, which was one of only four completed Olmsted-designed park systems in the world.
Olmsted was a frequent collaborator with architect Henry Hobson Richardson, for whom he devised the landscaping schemes for half a dozen projects, including Richardson's commission for the Buffalo State Asylum. In 1871, Olmsted designed the grounds for the Hudson River State Hospital for the Insane in Poughkeepsie.
In 1883, Olmsted established what is considered to be the first full-time landscape architecture firm in Brookline, Massachusetts. He called the home and office compound Fairsted. It is now the restored Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site. From there Olmsted designed Boston's Emerald Necklace, the campuses of Wellesley College, Smith College, Stanford University and the University of Chicago, as well as the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, among many other projects.
Conservationist
Olmsted was an important early leader of the conservation movement in the United States. An expert on California, he was likely one of the gentlemen "of fortune, of taste and of refinement" who proposed, through Senator John Conness, that Congress designate Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Big Tree Grove as public reserves. This was the first land set aside by Congress for public use. Olmsted served a one-year appointment on the Board of Commissioner of the state reserve, and his 1865 report to Congress on the board's recommendations laid an ethical framework for the government to reserve public lands, to protect their "value to posterity". He described the "sublime" and "stately" landscape, emphasizing that the value of the landscape was not in any one individual waterfall, cliff, or tree, but in the "miles of scenery where cliffs of awful height and rocks of vast magnitude and of varied and exquisite coloring, are banked and fringed and draped and shadowed by the tender foliage of noble and lovely trees and bushes, reflected from the most placid pools, and associated with the most tranquil meadows, the most playful streams, and every variety of soft and peaceful pastoral beauty."
In the 1880s he was active in efforts to conserve the natural wonders of Niagara Falls, threatened with industrialization by the building of electrical power plants. At the same time, he campaigned to preserve the Adirondack region in upstate New York. He was one of the founders of the American Society of Landscape Architects in 1898.
Olmsted was also known to oppose park projects on conservationist grounds. In 1891, Olmsted refused to develop a plan for Presque Isle Park in Marquette, Michigan, saying that it "should not be marred by the intrusion of artificial objects."
Later life, death and legacy
In recognition of his services during the Civil War, Olmsted was elected a Third Class member of the Massachusetts Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS) on May 2, 1888, and was assigned insignia number 6345. Olmsted's election to MOLLUS is significant in that he was one of the few civilians elected to membership in an organization composed almost exclusively of military officers and their descendants. In 1891 he joined the Connecticut Society of the Sons of the American Revolution by right of his descent from his grandfather Benjamin Olmsted who served in the 4th Connecticut Regiment in 1775.
In 1895, senility forced Olmsted to retire. By 1898 he moved to Belmont, Massachusetts, and took up residence as a patient at the McLean Hospital, for whose grounds he had submitted a design which was never executed. He remained there until his death in 1903. He was buried in the Old North Cemetery, in Hartford, Connecticut.
After Olmsted's retirement and death, his sons John Charles Olmsted and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., continued the work of their firm, doing business as the Olmsted Brothers. The firm lasted until 1980. Many works by the Olmsted sons are mistakenly credited to Frederick Law Olmsted today. For instance, the Olmsted Brothers firm did a park plan for Portland, Maine, in 1905, creating a series of connecting parkways between existing parks and suggesting improvements to those parks. The oldest of these parks, Deering Oaks, had been designed by City Engineer William Goodwin in 1879 but is today frequently described as a Frederick Law Olmsted designed park.
A residence hall at the University of Hartford was named in his honor. Olmsted Point, located in Yosemite National Park, was named after Olmsted and his son Frederick.
Frederick Olmsted is known as the "father of American Landscape Architecture."
Olmsted's principles of design
Drawing influences from English landscape and gardening, Olmsted emphasized design that encourages the full use of the naturally occurring features of a given space, its "genius"; the subordination of individual details to the whole so that decorative elements do not take precedence, but rather the whole space is enhanced; concealment of design, design that does not call attention to itself; design that works on the unconscious to produce relaxation; and utility or purpose over ornamentation. A bridge, a pathway, a tree, a pasture: any and all elements are brought together to produce a particular effect.
Olmsted designed primarily in the pastoral and picturesque styles, each to achieve a particular effect. The pastoral style featured vast expanses of green with small lakes, trees and groves and produced a soothing, restorative effect on the viewer. The picturesque style covered rocky, broken terrain with teeming shrubs and creepers, to express nature's richness. The picturesque style played with light and shade to lend the landscape a sense of mystery.
Scenery was designed to enhance the sense of space: indistinct boundaries using plants, brush and trees as opposed to sharp ones; interplay of light and shadow close up, and blurred detail further away. A vast expanse of greenery at the end of which lies a grove of yellow poplar; a path that winds through a bit of landscape and intersects with others, dividing the terrain into triangular islands of successive new views.
Subordination strives to use all objects and features in the service of the design and its intended effect. It can be seen in the subtle use of naturally occurring plants throughout the park. Non-native species planted for the sake of their own uniqueness defeat the purpose of design, as that very uniqueness draws attention to itself where the intention is to enable relaxation: utility above all else.
Separation applies to areas designed in different styles and different uses enhancing safety and reducing distraction. A key feature of Central Park is the use of sunken roadways which traverse the park and are specifically dedicated to vehicles as opposed to winding paths designated specifically for pedestrians.
A beautiful example of this mix of principles is seen in the Central Park Mall, a large promenade leading to the Bethesda Terrace and the single formal feature in Olmsted and Vaux's original naturalistic design. The designers wrote that a "'grand promenade' was an 'essential feature of a metropolitan park'"; however, its formal symmetry, its style, though something of an aberration, was designed so as to be subordinate to the natural view surrounding it. Wealthy passengers were let from their carriages at its south end. The carriage would then drive around to the Terrace, which overlooked the Lake and Ramble to pick them up, saving them the trouble of needing to double back on foot. The Promenade was lined with slender elms and offered views of Sheep Meadow. Affluent New Yorkers, who rarely walked through the park, mixed with the less well-to-do, and all enjoyed an escape from the hustle and bustle of the surrounding city.
In popular culture
In Apple TV+'s 2019–2021 series Dickinson, Timothy Simons portrays Olmstead in episode 4 of the second season, "The Daisy Follows the Soft Sun".
See also
List of Olmsted works
Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site
Charles Loring Brace
Landscape designer
History of gardening
References
Notes
Sources and further reading
Ott, Jennifer. Olmsted in Seattle: Creating a Park System for a Modern City ( Seattle: History Link and Documentary Media, 2019) online review
Roper, Laura Wood. FLO, a biography of Frederick Law Olmsted (1973) online edition
Schlesinger, Sr., Arthur M. "Was Olmsted an Unbiased Critic of the South?" Journal of Negro History, (1952), 37#2 pp. 173–187 in JSTOR
Sears, Stephen W., To the Gates of Richmond: the Peninsula Campaign (1992) Ticknor and Fields, New York, NY
Wilson, Edmund, Patriotic gore; studies in the literature of the American Civil War, New York, Oxford University Press, 1962. Cf. Chapter VI on Northerners in the South: Frederick L. Olmsted.
Muccigrosso, Robert ed., Research Guide to American Historical Biography (1988) 5:2666-74
Primary sources
Beveridge, Charles E., ed., Lauren Meier, ed., and Irene Mills, ed., Frederick Law Olmsted: Plans and Views of Public Parks. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015. xvi, 429 pp.
Available online from the Internet Archive.
Available online from the University of North Texas.
Available online from the Internet Archive.
Available online from the Internet Archive.
Olmsted, Frederick Law. "The Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove" (1865) the National Park Service
Robert Twombly, ed. (2010): "Frederick Law Olmsted: Essential Texts", WW Norton & Company, New York.
External links
Frederick Law Olmsted: A bibliography by The Buffalo History Museum
The National Association for Olmsted Parks
The Frederick Law Olmsted Society of Riverside
The Olmsted Plan KCET Departures Olmsted Plan
Olmsted and America's Urban Parks, 2010 documentary; supplemental materials at OlmstedFilm.org
Booknotes interview with Witold Rybczynski on A Clearing in the Distance, October 17, 1999.
Frederick Law Olmsted Explore Capitol Hill
Fine Arts Garden, Cleveland Museum of Art
Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing America (2014 documentary)
1822 births
1903 deaths
American landscape and garden designers
American landscape architects
American urban planners
Burials in Connecticut
Druid Hills, Georgia
McLean Hospital people
The Nation (U.S. magazine) people
People from Belmont, Massachusetts
People from Staten Island
People of the American Civil War
Phillips Academy alumni
Russell Sage Foundation
Social critics
Writers from Hartford, Connecticut
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[
"\n\nPeachna Conservation Park (formerly the Peachna Conservation Reserve) is a protected area in the Australian state of South Australia located on Eyre Peninsula in the gazetted locality of Tooligie about north of Port Lincoln and about south of Lock.\n\nThe conservation park occupies land in the cadastral unit of the Hundred of Peachna located to the immediate west of the Tod Highway and which is bounded in part to the south by Nowhere Else Road which runs from the town centre in Tooligie in the east to Sheringa in the west.\n\nIt was dedicated as a conservation reserve on 11 November 1993 under Crown Lands Act 1929 in respect to the following land in the cadastral unit of the Hundred of Peachna – allotment 2 of Deposited Plan No. 30843 and section 36. On 22 March 2007, the protected land was proclaimed as the Peachna Conservation Park under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972. It was dedicated to “conserve remnant vegetation” with access under the Mining Act 1971 being permitted.\n\nIts name is derived from the Hundred of Peachna. The name of the original protected area was proposed to be the Tooligie Conservation Park but this was not approved by Geographical Names Board with the name Peachna Conservation Park being approved on 2 April 1990. However, the conservation park was never proclaimed and the land proposed for protection was ultimately proclaimed as the Peachna Conservation Reserve in 1993.\n\nAs of 2007, the Peachna Conservation Park was reported as being “dominated by mallee” including the following communities – “Eucalyptus diversifolia (Coastal White Mallee) open mallee community and the Eucalyptus porosa (Mallee Box) mallee community.”\n\nAs of 2007, there was no access for visitors into the interior of the conservation park and nor was there plans to create such access.\n\nThe conservation park is classified as an IUCN Category VI protected area.\n\nSee also\nProtected areas of South Australia\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nEntry for Peachna Conservation Park on the Protected Planet website \n\nConservation parks of South Australia\nProtected areas established in 2007\n2007 establishments in Australia\nEyre Peninsula",
"Else Mayer (1891–1962) was a German nun and women's liberation activist during the period of first-wave feminism. She was one of the pioneers of the German Women's Liberation Movement. Together with Alexandra Bischoff she founded the Erlöserbund.\n\nBiography\nElse Mayer was the daughter of the German jeweler Victor Mayer. She spent her childhood and youth in the family business before she became a nun. After she visited several nunneries she decided to found her own, Erlöserbund, in 1916. With the support of her family she bought buildings in Bonn and started to support young female students who received housing from her.\n\nErlöserbund was closed in 2005 and reorganized as a charitable foundation. The Else Mayer Foundation presents an annual award, the Else Mayer Award, to applicants who are deemed to qualify as ideological successors to Else Mayer. The award is for 4000 euros. German Education Minister Annette Schavan was the inaugural recipient of this award in 2006. The German feminist Alice Schwarzer received the award in 2007.\n\nPublications \n\n The Else Mayer Foundation official Website \nThe Donation Else Mayer /\nElse Mayer Award \nBonn Newspaper\n\nReferences \n\nGerman Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns\nGerman activists\nGerman women activists\nGerman women's rights activists\nFirst-wave feminism\nCatholic feminists\n1891 births\n1962 deaths\n20th-century Christian nuns"
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"Meat Beat Manifesto",
"Early years"
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What happened in the early years?
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What happened in the early years to Meat Beat Manifesto?
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Meat Beat Manifesto
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Dangers and Stephens had formed the English pop group Perennial Divide in 1986 with Paul Freeguard and released the first few Meat Beat Manifesto singles as a side project. They left Perennial Divide in 1988 to record a full Meat Beat album. The tapes of what would have been the debut MBM album were claimed to have been destroyed in a studio fire before it could be released (detailed in a publicity statement). The former founder of Sweat Box Records (Rob Deacon) said that the fire never happened. Jack Dangers confirmed the story of the fire in a 2010 interview. The pair then recorded the LP Storm The Studio, which got them pigeonholed as an industrial act because Sweat Box Records sold the rights to the LP to Wax Trax Records for release in the United States. In response, they released 99%, which was more techno-influenced, in May 1990. In August they released Armed Audio Warfare, which was an effort to re-create the lost tracks of the would-be debut album. The band's live show was conceived as an intense audio-visual experience, with dancers, led by choreographer Marcus Adams, in costumes and sets designed by artist Craig Morrison and video clips accompanying live instruments, sequenced electronic instruments, and live DJing. In the United States, they opened for Nine Inch Nails on their debut national tour in 1990. In 1991, they performed at The Limelight in Manhattan. Despite his contributions being nonmusical in nature, Adams was credited as a full band member and appeared in many of the band's record sleeves and promo photos until the release of Satyricon in 1992. Adams also appeared in several of MBM's early videos, such as "Strapdown" and "Psyche-Out". 1992's Satyricon continued to show Meat Beat adopting a more mainstream electronic sound, crediting influences of such newly popular dance bands as Orbital, The Shamen, and The Orb, all of whom had either remixed or been remixed by MBM. The album produced the hits "Mindstream" and "Circles". "Original Control (Version 2)", renamed "I Am Electro" in later compilations, is the best-known track from the album, featuring samples of recordings from the 1939 World's Fair exhibit Elektro The Robot, and was the opening song in MBM's 2005-2006 tour. CANNOTANSWER
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Dangers and Stephens had formed the English pop group Perennial Divide in 1986 with Paul Freeguard
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Meat Beat Manifesto, often shortened as Meat Beat, Manifesto or MBM, is an electronic music group originally consisting of Jack Dangers and Jonny Stephens that was formed in 1987 in Swindon, United Kingdom. The band, fronted by Dangers (the only permanent member), has proven versatile over the years, experimenting with techno, breakbeat, industrial, dub and jazz fusion while touring the world and influencing major acts such as Nine Inch Nails, the Chemical Brothers and the Prodigy. Some of the band's earlier work has been credited with influencing the rise of the trip hop, big beat, and drum and bass genres.
History
Early years
Dangers and Stephens had formed the English pop group Perennial Divide in 1986 with Paul Freeguard and released the first few Meat Beat Manifesto singles as a side project. The first release under the Meat Beat name was 1987's Suck Hard EP on Sweat Box Records. They left Perennial Divide in 1988 to record a full Meat Beat album. The tapes of what would have been the debut MBM album were claimed to have been destroyed in a studio fire before it could be released (detailed in a publicity statement). The former founder of Sweat Box Records (Rob Deacon) said that the fire never happened. Jack Dangers confirmed the story of the fire in a 2010 interview. The pair then recorded the LP Storm The Studio, which got them pigeonholed as an industrial act because Sweat Box Records sold the rights to the LP to Wax Trax Records for release in the United States. In response, they released 99% in May 1990, which was more techno-influenced and characterized by heavy beats and ubiquitous samples. In August they released Armed Audio Warfare, which was an effort to re-create the lost tracks of the would-be début album.
The band's live show was conceived as an intense audio-visual experience, with dancers, led by choreographer Marcus Adams, in costumes and sets designed by artist Craig Morrison and video clips accompanying live instruments, sequenced electronic instruments, and live DJing. In the United States, they opened for Nine Inch Nails on their debut national tour in 1990. In 1991, they performed at The Limelight in Manhattan and tourned North America with Consolidated. Despite his contributions being nonmusical in nature, Adams was credited as a full band member and appeared in many of the band's record sleeves and promo photos until the release of Satyricon in 1992. Adams also appeared in several of MBM's early videos, such as "Strapdown" and "Psyche-Out".
1992's Satyricon continued to show Meat Beat adopting a more mainstream electronic sound, crediting influences of such newly popular dance bands as Orbital, The Shamen, and The Orb, all of whom had either remixed or been remixed by MBM. The album produced the hits "Mindstream" and "Circles". "Original Control (Version 2)", renamed "I Am Electro" in later compilations, is the best-known track from the album, featuring samples of recordings from the 1939 World's Fair exhibit Elektro The Robot, and was the opening song in MBM's 2005–2006 tour.
Nothing Records years, 1994–1998
In 1993 Dangers relocated from England to San Francisco, resulting in Stephens' departure from the band. At this time, Nothing Records was founded as an imprint of Interscope with the purpose of signing industrial and electronic bands to capitalize on the recent success of Nine Inch Nails. Nothing, helmed by Trent Reznor, signed Meat Beat Manifesto and in 1996 the double album Subliminal Sandwich was released. While this album represented MBM's major-label debut, it failed to achieve the critical and commercial successes of previous releases. The album is notable for the last appearance of Jonny Stephens who contributed guitar on the track Asbestos Lead Asbestos. After Subliminal Sandwich, Dangers put together an album called Original Fire that collected various studio rarities, B-sides, and fan favorites from the early years of MBM, in addition to some new remixes of the material. Also in 1996, the group contributed to the AIDS benefit album Offbeat: A Red Hot Soundtrip produced by the Red Hot Organization.
In 1997 Dangers recruited drummer Lynn Farmer and multi-instrumentalist John Wilson (MBM member 1995–1998, former Supreme Love Gods) to record and release Actual Sounds + Voices in 1998, which found the group's earlier flirtations with jazz fusion featured more prominently; the record included appearances by saxophonist Bennie Maupin. The album yielded the single "Prime Audio Soup" which was featured in the film The Matrix. While Jon Wilson left the band prior to the 1998–1999 tour, Farmer remains with the band as of Spring 2007. Wilson was replaced by former Consolidated programmer Mark Pistel, who also remains a contributing member.
During these years, Dangers contributed a pair of remixes to high-profile Nine Inch Nails releases Closer to God and The Perfect Drug. After the release of Actual Sounds + Voices, Meat Beat Manifesto was let go by Nothing Records and once more appeared on independent labels.
RUOK?, 2000–2004
In 2000, Dangers released a 12" MBM EP of four new songs called Eccentric Objects which demonstrated a shift in Dangers' output towards simpler song structure and less sonically-dense layering. This evolution in form was full realized two years later, in 2002, with the release of Meat Beat Manifesto's seventh full-length album, RUOK?. This album prominently featured Dangers' newly acquired EMS Synthi 100, as well as guest contributions from turntablist Z-Trip and The Orb's Alex Paterson. In 2003 MBM released a remix album for Storm The Studio, followed by ...In Dub, a remix album of RUOK?.
At the Center, 2005–2007
At the Center was released on 29 May 2005. A part of independent label Thirsty Ear's 'Blue Series' fusing jazz with electronic genres, the album is a collaboration between Jack Dangers and jazz musicians Peter Gordon (flute), Dave King (drums), and Craig Taborn (keyboards). While Dangers had, in the past, flirted with jazz instrumentation and sampling on a handful of Meat Beat Manifesto tracks, At the Center was a marked variation of the expected MBM sound and was more of a one-off experiment than a whole new direction for the band. The album has been well received by many critics, with one reviewer calling it "one of the best albums of the year in any genre." An EP of outtakes, live tracks and a remix titled Off-Centre was released shortly after.
From 2005 through 2006, MBM launched a worldwide tour, their first since 1999, making use of video sampling technology that allowed the band to trigger video clips in real-time, on two large screens positioned stage front, while the band performed either side-stage or behind the screens, out of the audience's view; instead, live video footage of the band performing was displayed onscreen alongside the pre-assembled clips. Many of the video clips used were the sources of samples previously used in various MBM tracks, such as footage of Elektro the Robot and clips from films such as Head and Dark Star. Dangers and crew performed a wide variety of hits and fan favorites from the entire back catalog, though relatively little of the new jazz fusion material from At the Center was played.
In 2006, Meat Beat Manifesto's "Suicide" was released on the Underworld: Evolution soundtrack and is the only MBM track to date to prominently feature a guitar.
In May 2007 Dangers released a double CD titled Archive Things 1982-88 / Purged. The first disc contained many early Meat Beat Manifesto experimentations, including demos of what would later become seminal MBM tracks such as "I Got the Fear". The second disc was an instrumental version of the Perennial Divide album, Purge.
Autoimmune and Answers Come in Dreams, 2008–2010
MBM's ninth studio album, Autoimmune, was released on 7 April 2008 in Europe via Planet Mu Records and on 8 April 2008 in the US and Canada via Metropolis Records., with each territory's issue featuring a different track listing. The album featured the first vocals by Dangers himself since 1998's Actual Sounds + Voices, as well as collaborations with DJ Z-Trip, MC Azeem, and Kenneth James Gibson. The album has been described as a return to an older, harder MBM sound and as a dubstep album, though Dangers has stated that he prefers not to fall into any specific genre or category with his work. The lead single, "Guns And Lovers" was released as a digital single via iTunes on 18 March 2008, while the track "Lonely Soldier" was released as a single via bleep.com. Meat Beat Manifesto once more toured to support the new album with the same stage setup as the 2005–2006 tour.
Meat Beat Manifesto released Answers Come in Dreams in late 2010, once more via Metropolis Records in the US and via Hydrogen Dukebox in the UK. Answers Come in Dreams continued to reference dubstep as had its predecessor Autoimmune, but overall was a darker, denser album, at times descending into beatless ambient noise passages reminiscent of the experimental second disc of 1996's Subliminal Sandwich.
Impossible Star and Opaque Couché, 2011-present
After the release of Answers Come in Dreams, Meat Beat Manifesto entered a period of limited activity lasting several years. Between 2011 and 2016, a small handful of EPs were released, and MBM only performed live sporadically. They appeared at the Cold Waves V festival in Chicago in 2016, the first live Meat Beat Manifesto show in five years. The following September they performed at Cold Waves LA.
In January 2018 Meat Beat Manifesto released their eleventh studio album Impossible Star on the label Flexidisc. First single "We Are Surrounded" was premiered online by Igloo Magazine on 24 October 2017. The album has been called a "proverbial return to form" after the dalliances with dubstep on Autoimmune and Answers Come in Dreams. MBM also contributed an original track to the Cold Waves VII benefit compilation later that year, and a limited U.S. tour took place in the fall.
Opaque Couché, Meat Beat Manifesto's twelfth album, was released on 10 May 2019 via Flexidisc. The track "Pin Drop" was released as a video single on YouTube on 6 March, with "No Design" following on 1 April. Considered a companion album to Impossible Star, Opaque Couché was named after "the world's ugliest color".
MBM debuted a brand new song and video and contributed a pre-recorded performance set to the Cold Waves 2020 "Lost Weekend"; the entire festival was streamed on Twitch due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in the United States. The new song also appeared on the corresponding Cold Waves 2020 compilation.
Discography
Meat Beat Manifesto have released a number of albums and singles, and participated in remixes and compilation albums.
Studio albums
1989 Storm the Studio
1990 (May) 99%
1990 (August) Armed Audio Warfare
1992 Satyricon
1996 Subliminal Sandwich
1998 Actual Sounds + Voices
2002 RUOK?
2005 At The Center
2008 Autoimmune
2010 Answers Come in Dreams
2018 Impossible Star
2019 Opaque Couché
Remix albums
2003 Storm The Studio RMXS
2004 ...In Dub
Compilation albums
1997 Original Fire
2007 Archive Things 1982-88
Selected remixes
Atomic Babies "Cetch Da' Monkey"
Boom Boom Satellites "4 a Moment of Silence"
Banco De Gaia "How Much Reality Can You Take"
Bush "Insect Kin"
Consolidated "Butyric Acid"
David Bowie "Pallas Athena"
Deepsky "Stargazer"
Depeche Mode "Rush"
D.H.S. "House of God"
Empirion "Narcotic Influence"
Nine Inch Nails "Closer (Deviation)"
Nine Inch Nails "The Perfect Drug"
Scorn "Silver Rain Fell"
Solypsis "Perpetually Out Of Control"
The Shamen "Ebeneezer Goode", "Hyperreal"
The Young Gods "Kissing the Sun"
Tower of Power "What Is Hip"
Twilight Circus Dub Sound System "Highway"
Silver Apples "Lovefingers"
References
External links
Official website
Tapelab - more MBM/Jack Dangers material incl. unreleased and demo downloads
Vintage Synth Explorer Analog Artist Feature - MBM kit list and further info, incl. streaming clips
Brainwashed.com page
Interview 1992 - Industrial strength zine
English electronic music groups
English techno music groups
British industrial music groups
Intelligent dance musicians
Nothing Records artists
Ableton Live users
Musical groups established in 1987
Trip hop groups
Alternative hip hop groups
English hip hop groups
Wax Trax! Records artists
Metropolis Records artists
Musical groups from Wiltshire
Planet Mu artists
| true |
[
"Don Juan Manuel's Tales of Count Lucanor, in Spanish Libro de los ejemplos del conde Lucanor y de Patronio (Book of the Examples of Count Lucanor and of Patronio), also commonly known as El Conde Lucanor, Libro de Patronio, or Libro de los ejemplos (original Old Castilian: Libro de los enxiemplos del Conde Lucanor et de Patronio), is one of the earliest works of prose in Castilian Spanish. It was first written in 1335.\n\nThe book is divided into four parts. The first and most well-known part is a series of 51 short stories (some no more than a page or two) drawn from various sources, such as Aesop and other classical writers, and Arabic folktales.\n\nTales of Count Lucanor was first printed in 1575 when it was published at Seville under the auspices of Argote de Molina. It was again printed at Madrid in 1642, after which it lay forgotten for nearly two centuries.\n\nPurpose and structure\n\nA didactic, moralistic purpose, which would color so much of the Spanish literature to follow (see Novela picaresca), is the mark of this book. Count Lucanor engages in conversation with his advisor Patronio, putting to him a problem (\"Some man has made me a proposition...\" or \"I fear that such and such person intends to...\") and asking for advice. Patronio responds always with the greatest humility, claiming not to wish to offer advice to so illustrious a person as the Count, but offering to tell him a story of which the Count's problem reminds him. (Thus, the stories are \"examples\" [ejemplos] of wise action.) At the end he advises the Count to do as the protagonist of his story did.\n\nEach chapter ends in more or less the same way, with slight variations on: \"And this pleased the Count greatly and he did just so, and found it well. And Don Johán (Juan) saw that this example was very good, and had it written in this book, and composed the following verses.\" A rhymed couplet closes, giving the moral of the story.\n\nOrigin of stories and influence on later literature\nMany of the stories written in the book are the first examples written in a modern European language of various stories, which many other writers would use in the proceeding centuries. Many of the stories he included were themselves derived from other stories, coming from western and Arab sources.\n\nShakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew has the basic elements of Tale 35, \"What Happened to a Young Man Who Married a Strong and Ill-tempered Woman\".\n\nTale 32, \"What Happened to the King and the Tricksters Who Made Cloth\" tells the story that Hans Christian Andersen made popular as The Emperor's New Clothes.\n\nStory 7, \"What Happened to a Woman Named Truhana\", a version of Aesop's The Milkmaid and Her Pail, was claimed by Max Müller to originate in the Hindu cycle Panchatantra.\n\nTale 2, \"What happened to a good Man and his Son, leading a beast to market,\" is the familiar fable The miller, his son and the donkey.\n\nIn 2016, Baroque Decay released a game under the name \"The Count Lucanor\". As well as some protagonists' names, certain events from the books inspired past events in the game.\n\nThe stories\n\nThe book opens with a prologue which introduces the characters of the Count and Patronio. The titles in the following list are those given in Keller and Keating's 1977 translation into English. James York's 1868 translation into English gives a significantly different ordering of the stories and omits the fifty-first.\n\n What Happened to a King and His Favorite \n What Happened to a Good Man and His Son \n How King Richard of England Leapt into the Sea against the Moors\n What a Genoese Said to His Soul When He Was about to Die \n What Happened to a Fox and a Crow Who Had a Piece of Cheese in His Beak\n How the Swallow Warned the Other Birds When She Saw Flax Being Sown \n What Happened to a Woman Named Truhana \n What Happened to a Man Whose Liver Had to Be Washed \n What Happened to Two Horses Which Were Thrown to the Lion \n What Happened to a Man Who on Account of Poverty and Lack of Other Food Was Eating Bitter Lentils \n What Happened to a Dean of Santiago de Compostela and Don Yllán, the Grand Master of Toledo\n What Happened to the Fox and the Rooster \n What Happened to a Man Who Was Hunting Partridges \n The Miracle of Saint Dominick When He Preached against the Usurer \n What Happened to Lorenzo Suárez at the Siege of Seville \n The Reply that count Fernán González Gave to His Relative Núño Laynes \n What Happened to a Very Hungry Man Who Was Half-heartedly Invited to Dinner \n What Happened to Pero Meléndez de Valdés When He Broke His Leg \n What Happened to the Crows and the Owls \n What Happened to a King for Whom a Man Promised to Perform Alchemy \n What Happened to a Young King and a Philosopher to Whom his Father Commended Him \n What Happened to the Lion and the Bull \n How the Ants Provide for Themselves \n What Happened to the King Who Wanted to Test His Three Sons \n What Happened to the Count of Provence and How He Was Freed from Prison by the Advice of Saladin\n What Happened to the Tree of Lies \n What Happened to an Emperor and to Don Alvarfáñez Minaya and Their Wives \n What Happened in Granada to Don Lorenzo Suárez Gallinato When He Beheaded the Renegade Chaplain \n What Happened to a Fox Who Lay down in the Street to Play Dead \n What Happened to King Abenabet of Seville and Ramayquía His Wife \n How a Cardinal Judged between the Canons of Paris and the Friars Minor \n What Happened to the King and the Tricksters Who Made Cloth \n What Happened to Don Juan Manuel's Saker Falcon and an Eagle and a Heron \n What Happened to a Blind Man Who Was Leading Another \n What Happened to a Young Man Who Married a Strong and Ill-tempered Woman\n What Happened to a Merchant When He Found His Son and His Wife Sleeping Together \n What Happened to Count Fernán González with His Men after He Had Won the Battle of Hacinas \n What Happened to a Man Who Was Loaded down with Precious Stones and Drowned in the River \n What Happened to a Man and a Swallow and a Sparrow \n Why the Seneschal of Carcassonne Lost His Soul \n What Happened to a King of Córdova Named Al-Haquem \n What Happened to a Woman of Sham Piety \n What Happened to Good and Evil and the Wise Man and the Madman \n What Happened to Don Pero Núñez the Loyal, to Don Ruy González de Zavallos, and to Don Gutier Roiz de Blaguiello with Don Rodrigo the Generous \n What Happened to a Man Who Became the Devil's Friend and Vassal \n What Happened to a Philosopher who by Accident Went down a Street Where Prostitutes Lived \n What Befell a Moor and His Sister Who Pretended That She Was Timid \n What Happened to a Man Who Tested His Friends \n What Happened to the Man Whom They Cast out Naked on an Island When They Took away from Him the Kingdom He Ruled \n What Happened to Saladin and a Lady, the Wife of a Knight Who Was His Vassal \n What Happened to a Christian King Who Was Very Powerful and Haughty\n\nReferences\n\nNotes\n\nBibliography\n\n Sturm, Harlan\n\n Wacks, David\n\nExternal links\n\nThe Internet Archive provides free access to the 1868 translation by James York.\nJSTOR has the to the 1977 translation by Keller and Keating.\nSelections in English and Spanish (pedagogical edition) with introduction, notes, and bibliography in Open Iberia/América (open access teaching anthology)\n\n14th-century books\nSpanish literature\n1335 books",
"Ramsey Denison is a director, producer, editor and documentary filmmaker who is best known for his critically acclaimed documentary What Happened in Vegas, which went to #1 on iTunes documentary charts in June 2018.\n\nEarly life and education \nDenison was born in Bellingham, Washington, to parents Tom Denison, a shop teacher, and Carolyn Denison, an educator. He grew up in Satellite Beach, Florida, and graduated with the class of 1997 from Satellite High School. He received a journalism degree from Eastern Washington University.\n\nCareer \nAt 18, Denison went to work for WBCC-TV in Cocoa, Florida. By 2004, he moved to Los Angeles, and the following year was hired as an assistant editor on TV documentaries and reality shows, including Catfish: The TV Show, The Hills Have Eyes, High School Musical 2, Sky High and The Family Stone.\n\nA short film Somewhere in the City, written, directed and produced by Denison, screened at over 30 film festivals and won awards at Vail Film Festival, San Fernando Valley International Film Festival, and Berkeley Film and Video Festival.\n\nIn 2013, Denison and a friend, Rhett Nielson, a former SWAT team videographer in Las Vegas, traveled to Nevada on vacation. While there, Denison witnessed what he told the media was two officers being rough with a suspect. He placed a call to 911 asking that a supervisor respond to the scene. Instead, Denison was himself arrested and spent three days in the Clark County Detention Center.\n\nThe arrest led to Denison developing the story into a documentary about police brutality. It resulted in his directorial debut of the full-length documentary, What Happened in Vegas, with its first screening at the 2017 Cinequest Film Festival.\n\nLos Angeles Times reviewer Michael Rechtshaffen wrote that What Happened in Vegas \"blows the whistle on a disturbing pattern of excessive force and corruption within its ranks.\" The Village Voice opined that issues Denison uncovers within the police department \"serve as a warning to all Americans.\" Daphne Howland in LA Weekly''' noted that \"What Happened in Vegas is more than a revenge project. He unveils a pattern of police malfeasance, including coverups and lies, through disturbing stories of unjustified deaths. It’s a damning takedown of the city’s powers that be.\"\n\nThe film also screened at the FreedomFest conference at the Paris Las Vegas hotel-casino in July 2017 where it won the Grand Jury Prize and went to #1 on iTunes documentary chart in June 2018.\n\nDenison and another filmmaker, Charlie Minn, each accused the Eclipse Theater in Las Vegas of failing to screen their movies because their films are critical of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.What Happened in Vegas prompted Denison's probe into the 2017 mass shooting at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas, where 59 people were killed, for a second documentary. It is titled Money Machine, with screenings at American Documentary and Animation Film Festival in March 2020 and Cleveland International Film Festival.\n\n Awards \nIn 2017, Denison received the best documentary award at the 2017 Las Vegas Black Film Festival for What Happened in Vegas'' and the Grand Jury Prize at Freedom Fest in 2017.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Filmmaker's official website\n \n \n\nLiving people\nAmerican documentary film directors\nAmerican film editors\nFilmmakers from Florida\nFilmmakers from California\nFilmmakers from Washington (state)\nEastern Washington University alumni\nYear of birth missing (living people)"
] |
[
"Meat Beat Manifesto",
"Early years",
"What happened in the early years?",
"Dangers and Stephens had formed the English pop group Perennial Divide in 1986 with Paul Freeguard"
] |
C_8bf9b1dd2bc14108b5d6321eeb35f4f9_1
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Did they release any albums?
| 2 |
Did Meat Beat Manifesto release any albums?
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Meat Beat Manifesto
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Dangers and Stephens had formed the English pop group Perennial Divide in 1986 with Paul Freeguard and released the first few Meat Beat Manifesto singles as a side project. They left Perennial Divide in 1988 to record a full Meat Beat album. The tapes of what would have been the debut MBM album were claimed to have been destroyed in a studio fire before it could be released (detailed in a publicity statement). The former founder of Sweat Box Records (Rob Deacon) said that the fire never happened. Jack Dangers confirmed the story of the fire in a 2010 interview. The pair then recorded the LP Storm The Studio, which got them pigeonholed as an industrial act because Sweat Box Records sold the rights to the LP to Wax Trax Records for release in the United States. In response, they released 99%, which was more techno-influenced, in May 1990. In August they released Armed Audio Warfare, which was an effort to re-create the lost tracks of the would-be debut album. The band's live show was conceived as an intense audio-visual experience, with dancers, led by choreographer Marcus Adams, in costumes and sets designed by artist Craig Morrison and video clips accompanying live instruments, sequenced electronic instruments, and live DJing. In the United States, they opened for Nine Inch Nails on their debut national tour in 1990. In 1991, they performed at The Limelight in Manhattan. Despite his contributions being nonmusical in nature, Adams was credited as a full band member and appeared in many of the band's record sleeves and promo photos until the release of Satyricon in 1992. Adams also appeared in several of MBM's early videos, such as "Strapdown" and "Psyche-Out". 1992's Satyricon continued to show Meat Beat adopting a more mainstream electronic sound, crediting influences of such newly popular dance bands as Orbital, The Shamen, and The Orb, all of whom had either remixed or been remixed by MBM. The album produced the hits "Mindstream" and "Circles". "Original Control (Version 2)", renamed "I Am Electro" in later compilations, is the best-known track from the album, featuring samples of recordings from the 1939 World's Fair exhibit Elektro The Robot, and was the opening song in MBM's 2005-2006 tour. CANNOTANSWER
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They left Perennial Divide in 1988 to record a full Meat Beat album.
|
Meat Beat Manifesto, often shortened as Meat Beat, Manifesto or MBM, is an electronic music group originally consisting of Jack Dangers and Jonny Stephens that was formed in 1987 in Swindon, United Kingdom. The band, fronted by Dangers (the only permanent member), has proven versatile over the years, experimenting with techno, breakbeat, industrial, dub and jazz fusion while touring the world and influencing major acts such as Nine Inch Nails, the Chemical Brothers and the Prodigy. Some of the band's earlier work has been credited with influencing the rise of the trip hop, big beat, and drum and bass genres.
History
Early years
Dangers and Stephens had formed the English pop group Perennial Divide in 1986 with Paul Freeguard and released the first few Meat Beat Manifesto singles as a side project. The first release under the Meat Beat name was 1987's Suck Hard EP on Sweat Box Records. They left Perennial Divide in 1988 to record a full Meat Beat album. The tapes of what would have been the debut MBM album were claimed to have been destroyed in a studio fire before it could be released (detailed in a publicity statement). The former founder of Sweat Box Records (Rob Deacon) said that the fire never happened. Jack Dangers confirmed the story of the fire in a 2010 interview. The pair then recorded the LP Storm The Studio, which got them pigeonholed as an industrial act because Sweat Box Records sold the rights to the LP to Wax Trax Records for release in the United States. In response, they released 99% in May 1990, which was more techno-influenced and characterized by heavy beats and ubiquitous samples. In August they released Armed Audio Warfare, which was an effort to re-create the lost tracks of the would-be début album.
The band's live show was conceived as an intense audio-visual experience, with dancers, led by choreographer Marcus Adams, in costumes and sets designed by artist Craig Morrison and video clips accompanying live instruments, sequenced electronic instruments, and live DJing. In the United States, they opened for Nine Inch Nails on their debut national tour in 1990. In 1991, they performed at The Limelight in Manhattan and tourned North America with Consolidated. Despite his contributions being nonmusical in nature, Adams was credited as a full band member and appeared in many of the band's record sleeves and promo photos until the release of Satyricon in 1992. Adams also appeared in several of MBM's early videos, such as "Strapdown" and "Psyche-Out".
1992's Satyricon continued to show Meat Beat adopting a more mainstream electronic sound, crediting influences of such newly popular dance bands as Orbital, The Shamen, and The Orb, all of whom had either remixed or been remixed by MBM. The album produced the hits "Mindstream" and "Circles". "Original Control (Version 2)", renamed "I Am Electro" in later compilations, is the best-known track from the album, featuring samples of recordings from the 1939 World's Fair exhibit Elektro The Robot, and was the opening song in MBM's 2005–2006 tour.
Nothing Records years, 1994–1998
In 1993 Dangers relocated from England to San Francisco, resulting in Stephens' departure from the band. At this time, Nothing Records was founded as an imprint of Interscope with the purpose of signing industrial and electronic bands to capitalize on the recent success of Nine Inch Nails. Nothing, helmed by Trent Reznor, signed Meat Beat Manifesto and in 1996 the double album Subliminal Sandwich was released. While this album represented MBM's major-label debut, it failed to achieve the critical and commercial successes of previous releases. The album is notable for the last appearance of Jonny Stephens who contributed guitar on the track Asbestos Lead Asbestos. After Subliminal Sandwich, Dangers put together an album called Original Fire that collected various studio rarities, B-sides, and fan favorites from the early years of MBM, in addition to some new remixes of the material. Also in 1996, the group contributed to the AIDS benefit album Offbeat: A Red Hot Soundtrip produced by the Red Hot Organization.
In 1997 Dangers recruited drummer Lynn Farmer and multi-instrumentalist John Wilson (MBM member 1995–1998, former Supreme Love Gods) to record and release Actual Sounds + Voices in 1998, which found the group's earlier flirtations with jazz fusion featured more prominently; the record included appearances by saxophonist Bennie Maupin. The album yielded the single "Prime Audio Soup" which was featured in the film The Matrix. While Jon Wilson left the band prior to the 1998–1999 tour, Farmer remains with the band as of Spring 2007. Wilson was replaced by former Consolidated programmer Mark Pistel, who also remains a contributing member.
During these years, Dangers contributed a pair of remixes to high-profile Nine Inch Nails releases Closer to God and The Perfect Drug. After the release of Actual Sounds + Voices, Meat Beat Manifesto was let go by Nothing Records and once more appeared on independent labels.
RUOK?, 2000–2004
In 2000, Dangers released a 12" MBM EP of four new songs called Eccentric Objects which demonstrated a shift in Dangers' output towards simpler song structure and less sonically-dense layering. This evolution in form was full realized two years later, in 2002, with the release of Meat Beat Manifesto's seventh full-length album, RUOK?. This album prominently featured Dangers' newly acquired EMS Synthi 100, as well as guest contributions from turntablist Z-Trip and The Orb's Alex Paterson. In 2003 MBM released a remix album for Storm The Studio, followed by ...In Dub, a remix album of RUOK?.
At the Center, 2005–2007
At the Center was released on 29 May 2005. A part of independent label Thirsty Ear's 'Blue Series' fusing jazz with electronic genres, the album is a collaboration between Jack Dangers and jazz musicians Peter Gordon (flute), Dave King (drums), and Craig Taborn (keyboards). While Dangers had, in the past, flirted with jazz instrumentation and sampling on a handful of Meat Beat Manifesto tracks, At the Center was a marked variation of the expected MBM sound and was more of a one-off experiment than a whole new direction for the band. The album has been well received by many critics, with one reviewer calling it "one of the best albums of the year in any genre." An EP of outtakes, live tracks and a remix titled Off-Centre was released shortly after.
From 2005 through 2006, MBM launched a worldwide tour, their first since 1999, making use of video sampling technology that allowed the band to trigger video clips in real-time, on two large screens positioned stage front, while the band performed either side-stage or behind the screens, out of the audience's view; instead, live video footage of the band performing was displayed onscreen alongside the pre-assembled clips. Many of the video clips used were the sources of samples previously used in various MBM tracks, such as footage of Elektro the Robot and clips from films such as Head and Dark Star. Dangers and crew performed a wide variety of hits and fan favorites from the entire back catalog, though relatively little of the new jazz fusion material from At the Center was played.
In 2006, Meat Beat Manifesto's "Suicide" was released on the Underworld: Evolution soundtrack and is the only MBM track to date to prominently feature a guitar.
In May 2007 Dangers released a double CD titled Archive Things 1982-88 / Purged. The first disc contained many early Meat Beat Manifesto experimentations, including demos of what would later become seminal MBM tracks such as "I Got the Fear". The second disc was an instrumental version of the Perennial Divide album, Purge.
Autoimmune and Answers Come in Dreams, 2008–2010
MBM's ninth studio album, Autoimmune, was released on 7 April 2008 in Europe via Planet Mu Records and on 8 April 2008 in the US and Canada via Metropolis Records., with each territory's issue featuring a different track listing. The album featured the first vocals by Dangers himself since 1998's Actual Sounds + Voices, as well as collaborations with DJ Z-Trip, MC Azeem, and Kenneth James Gibson. The album has been described as a return to an older, harder MBM sound and as a dubstep album, though Dangers has stated that he prefers not to fall into any specific genre or category with his work. The lead single, "Guns And Lovers" was released as a digital single via iTunes on 18 March 2008, while the track "Lonely Soldier" was released as a single via bleep.com. Meat Beat Manifesto once more toured to support the new album with the same stage setup as the 2005–2006 tour.
Meat Beat Manifesto released Answers Come in Dreams in late 2010, once more via Metropolis Records in the US and via Hydrogen Dukebox in the UK. Answers Come in Dreams continued to reference dubstep as had its predecessor Autoimmune, but overall was a darker, denser album, at times descending into beatless ambient noise passages reminiscent of the experimental second disc of 1996's Subliminal Sandwich.
Impossible Star and Opaque Couché, 2011-present
After the release of Answers Come in Dreams, Meat Beat Manifesto entered a period of limited activity lasting several years. Between 2011 and 2016, a small handful of EPs were released, and MBM only performed live sporadically. They appeared at the Cold Waves V festival in Chicago in 2016, the first live Meat Beat Manifesto show in five years. The following September they performed at Cold Waves LA.
In January 2018 Meat Beat Manifesto released their eleventh studio album Impossible Star on the label Flexidisc. First single "We Are Surrounded" was premiered online by Igloo Magazine on 24 October 2017. The album has been called a "proverbial return to form" after the dalliances with dubstep on Autoimmune and Answers Come in Dreams. MBM also contributed an original track to the Cold Waves VII benefit compilation later that year, and a limited U.S. tour took place in the fall.
Opaque Couché, Meat Beat Manifesto's twelfth album, was released on 10 May 2019 via Flexidisc. The track "Pin Drop" was released as a video single on YouTube on 6 March, with "No Design" following on 1 April. Considered a companion album to Impossible Star, Opaque Couché was named after "the world's ugliest color".
MBM debuted a brand new song and video and contributed a pre-recorded performance set to the Cold Waves 2020 "Lost Weekend"; the entire festival was streamed on Twitch due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in the United States. The new song also appeared on the corresponding Cold Waves 2020 compilation.
Discography
Meat Beat Manifesto have released a number of albums and singles, and participated in remixes and compilation albums.
Studio albums
1989 Storm the Studio
1990 (May) 99%
1990 (August) Armed Audio Warfare
1992 Satyricon
1996 Subliminal Sandwich
1998 Actual Sounds + Voices
2002 RUOK?
2005 At The Center
2008 Autoimmune
2010 Answers Come in Dreams
2018 Impossible Star
2019 Opaque Couché
Remix albums
2003 Storm The Studio RMXS
2004 ...In Dub
Compilation albums
1997 Original Fire
2007 Archive Things 1982-88
Selected remixes
Atomic Babies "Cetch Da' Monkey"
Boom Boom Satellites "4 a Moment of Silence"
Banco De Gaia "How Much Reality Can You Take"
Bush "Insect Kin"
Consolidated "Butyric Acid"
David Bowie "Pallas Athena"
Deepsky "Stargazer"
Depeche Mode "Rush"
D.H.S. "House of God"
Empirion "Narcotic Influence"
Nine Inch Nails "Closer (Deviation)"
Nine Inch Nails "The Perfect Drug"
Scorn "Silver Rain Fell"
Solypsis "Perpetually Out Of Control"
The Shamen "Ebeneezer Goode", "Hyperreal"
The Young Gods "Kissing the Sun"
Tower of Power "What Is Hip"
Twilight Circus Dub Sound System "Highway"
Silver Apples "Lovefingers"
References
External links
Official website
Tapelab - more MBM/Jack Dangers material incl. unreleased and demo downloads
Vintage Synth Explorer Analog Artist Feature - MBM kit list and further info, incl. streaming clips
Brainwashed.com page
Interview 1992 - Industrial strength zine
English electronic music groups
English techno music groups
British industrial music groups
Intelligent dance musicians
Nothing Records artists
Ableton Live users
Musical groups established in 1987
Trip hop groups
Alternative hip hop groups
English hip hop groups
Wax Trax! Records artists
Metropolis Records artists
Musical groups from Wiltshire
Planet Mu artists
| true |
[
"World Famous Classics: 1993–1998 is the first of three greatest hits albums by hip hop group The Beatnuts. It was released by Sony BMG in 1999 two weeks after the release of The Beatnuts' most commercially successful album, A Musical Massacre. It contains songs from The Beatnuts' first three albums, as well as its two EPs. The album does not feature any exclusive songs. World Famous Classics did not chart upon release, and is currently out of print.\n\nTrack listing\n\nReferences\n\nThe Beatnuts albums\n1999 greatest hits albums",
"Bryan & Katie Torwalt are an American Christian music husband and wife duo from Sacramento, California who started their music recording careers in 2006. The first album, Here On Earth, was released in 2011 by Jesus Culture Music alongside Kingsway Music. It became their Billboard magazine breakthrough release. Their second album, Kingdom Come, was released by the aforementioned labels in 2013, and performed even better on the Billboard magazine charts. They released a self-titled album in 2015, Bryan & Katie Torwalt, again with the two labels mentioned earlier, although this album did not place on any Billboard magazine charts.\n\nBackground\nThe duo met for the first-time at a Bethel Ministry event in Redding, California in 2006, and they started dating, eventually getting married in 2009.\n\nMusic history\nThe husband and wife duo commenced their recording careers in 2011 with the album Here On Earth, released on September 13, 2011 by Jesus Culture Music in association with Kingsway Music. This album was their breakthrough release on the Billboard magazine charts, where it placed at No. 24 on the Christian Albums chart and No. 24 on the Heatseekers Albums chart. Their second release, Kingdom Come, was released by Jesus Culture Music alongside Kingsway Music on October 15, 2013. The album placed even better on the Billboard magazine charts, reaching No. 43 on The Billboard 200 as well as No. 3 on the Christian Albums chart and No. 5 on the Independent Albums chart. They released Bryan & Katie Torwalt with Jesus Culture Music and Kingsway Music on April 7, 2015, although this album did not place on any Billboard magazine charts.\n\nMembers\n Bryan James Torwalt (born June 14, 1985 in Canada)\n Katelin Michelle \"Katie\" Torwalt (née Horn) (born August 14, 1988 in Sonoma County, California)\n Daniel Owen Wible (born August 3, 1988 in Waco, Texas)\n Chason Tyler Ford (born June 30, 1993 in Honolulu, HI)\n\nDiscography\n\nAlbums\n\nEPs\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Cross Rhythms artist profile\n\nAmerican musical duos\nMusical groups established in 2006\nMusical groups from Sacramento, California\n2006 establishments in California"
] |
[
"Meat Beat Manifesto",
"Early years",
"What happened in the early years?",
"Dangers and Stephens had formed the English pop group Perennial Divide in 1986 with Paul Freeguard",
"Did they release any albums?",
"They left Perennial Divide in 1988 to record a full Meat Beat album."
] |
C_8bf9b1dd2bc14108b5d6321eeb35f4f9_1
|
Was Meat Beat successful?
| 3 |
Was Meat Beat Manifesto successful?
|
Meat Beat Manifesto
|
Dangers and Stephens had formed the English pop group Perennial Divide in 1986 with Paul Freeguard and released the first few Meat Beat Manifesto singles as a side project. They left Perennial Divide in 1988 to record a full Meat Beat album. The tapes of what would have been the debut MBM album were claimed to have been destroyed in a studio fire before it could be released (detailed in a publicity statement). The former founder of Sweat Box Records (Rob Deacon) said that the fire never happened. Jack Dangers confirmed the story of the fire in a 2010 interview. The pair then recorded the LP Storm The Studio, which got them pigeonholed as an industrial act because Sweat Box Records sold the rights to the LP to Wax Trax Records for release in the United States. In response, they released 99%, which was more techno-influenced, in May 1990. In August they released Armed Audio Warfare, which was an effort to re-create the lost tracks of the would-be debut album. The band's live show was conceived as an intense audio-visual experience, with dancers, led by choreographer Marcus Adams, in costumes and sets designed by artist Craig Morrison and video clips accompanying live instruments, sequenced electronic instruments, and live DJing. In the United States, they opened for Nine Inch Nails on their debut national tour in 1990. In 1991, they performed at The Limelight in Manhattan. Despite his contributions being nonmusical in nature, Adams was credited as a full band member and appeared in many of the band's record sleeves and promo photos until the release of Satyricon in 1992. Adams also appeared in several of MBM's early videos, such as "Strapdown" and "Psyche-Out". 1992's Satyricon continued to show Meat Beat adopting a more mainstream electronic sound, crediting influences of such newly popular dance bands as Orbital, The Shamen, and The Orb, all of whom had either remixed or been remixed by MBM. The album produced the hits "Mindstream" and "Circles". "Original Control (Version 2)", renamed "I Am Electro" in later compilations, is the best-known track from the album, featuring samples of recordings from the 1939 World's Fair exhibit Elektro The Robot, and was the opening song in MBM's 2005-2006 tour. CANNOTANSWER
|
The tapes of what would have been the debut MBM album were claimed to have been destroyed in a studio fire before it could be released
|
Meat Beat Manifesto, often shortened as Meat Beat, Manifesto or MBM, is an electronic music group originally consisting of Jack Dangers and Jonny Stephens that was formed in 1987 in Swindon, United Kingdom. The band, fronted by Dangers (the only permanent member), has proven versatile over the years, experimenting with techno, breakbeat, industrial, dub and jazz fusion while touring the world and influencing major acts such as Nine Inch Nails, the Chemical Brothers and the Prodigy. Some of the band's earlier work has been credited with influencing the rise of the trip hop, big beat, and drum and bass genres.
History
Early years
Dangers and Stephens had formed the English pop group Perennial Divide in 1986 with Paul Freeguard and released the first few Meat Beat Manifesto singles as a side project. The first release under the Meat Beat name was 1987's Suck Hard EP on Sweat Box Records. They left Perennial Divide in 1988 to record a full Meat Beat album. The tapes of what would have been the debut MBM album were claimed to have been destroyed in a studio fire before it could be released (detailed in a publicity statement). The former founder of Sweat Box Records (Rob Deacon) said that the fire never happened. Jack Dangers confirmed the story of the fire in a 2010 interview. The pair then recorded the LP Storm The Studio, which got them pigeonholed as an industrial act because Sweat Box Records sold the rights to the LP to Wax Trax Records for release in the United States. In response, they released 99% in May 1990, which was more techno-influenced and characterized by heavy beats and ubiquitous samples. In August they released Armed Audio Warfare, which was an effort to re-create the lost tracks of the would-be début album.
The band's live show was conceived as an intense audio-visual experience, with dancers, led by choreographer Marcus Adams, in costumes and sets designed by artist Craig Morrison and video clips accompanying live instruments, sequenced electronic instruments, and live DJing. In the United States, they opened for Nine Inch Nails on their debut national tour in 1990. In 1991, they performed at The Limelight in Manhattan and tourned North America with Consolidated. Despite his contributions being nonmusical in nature, Adams was credited as a full band member and appeared in many of the band's record sleeves and promo photos until the release of Satyricon in 1992. Adams also appeared in several of MBM's early videos, such as "Strapdown" and "Psyche-Out".
1992's Satyricon continued to show Meat Beat adopting a more mainstream electronic sound, crediting influences of such newly popular dance bands as Orbital, The Shamen, and The Orb, all of whom had either remixed or been remixed by MBM. The album produced the hits "Mindstream" and "Circles". "Original Control (Version 2)", renamed "I Am Electro" in later compilations, is the best-known track from the album, featuring samples of recordings from the 1939 World's Fair exhibit Elektro The Robot, and was the opening song in MBM's 2005–2006 tour.
Nothing Records years, 1994–1998
In 1993 Dangers relocated from England to San Francisco, resulting in Stephens' departure from the band. At this time, Nothing Records was founded as an imprint of Interscope with the purpose of signing industrial and electronic bands to capitalize on the recent success of Nine Inch Nails. Nothing, helmed by Trent Reznor, signed Meat Beat Manifesto and in 1996 the double album Subliminal Sandwich was released. While this album represented MBM's major-label debut, it failed to achieve the critical and commercial successes of previous releases. The album is notable for the last appearance of Jonny Stephens who contributed guitar on the track Asbestos Lead Asbestos. After Subliminal Sandwich, Dangers put together an album called Original Fire that collected various studio rarities, B-sides, and fan favorites from the early years of MBM, in addition to some new remixes of the material. Also in 1996, the group contributed to the AIDS benefit album Offbeat: A Red Hot Soundtrip produced by the Red Hot Organization.
In 1997 Dangers recruited drummer Lynn Farmer and multi-instrumentalist John Wilson (MBM member 1995–1998, former Supreme Love Gods) to record and release Actual Sounds + Voices in 1998, which found the group's earlier flirtations with jazz fusion featured more prominently; the record included appearances by saxophonist Bennie Maupin. The album yielded the single "Prime Audio Soup" which was featured in the film The Matrix. While Jon Wilson left the band prior to the 1998–1999 tour, Farmer remains with the band as of Spring 2007. Wilson was replaced by former Consolidated programmer Mark Pistel, who also remains a contributing member.
During these years, Dangers contributed a pair of remixes to high-profile Nine Inch Nails releases Closer to God and The Perfect Drug. After the release of Actual Sounds + Voices, Meat Beat Manifesto was let go by Nothing Records and once more appeared on independent labels.
RUOK?, 2000–2004
In 2000, Dangers released a 12" MBM EP of four new songs called Eccentric Objects which demonstrated a shift in Dangers' output towards simpler song structure and less sonically-dense layering. This evolution in form was full realized two years later, in 2002, with the release of Meat Beat Manifesto's seventh full-length album, RUOK?. This album prominently featured Dangers' newly acquired EMS Synthi 100, as well as guest contributions from turntablist Z-Trip and The Orb's Alex Paterson. In 2003 MBM released a remix album for Storm The Studio, followed by ...In Dub, a remix album of RUOK?.
At the Center, 2005–2007
At the Center was released on 29 May 2005. A part of independent label Thirsty Ear's 'Blue Series' fusing jazz with electronic genres, the album is a collaboration between Jack Dangers and jazz musicians Peter Gordon (flute), Dave King (drums), and Craig Taborn (keyboards). While Dangers had, in the past, flirted with jazz instrumentation and sampling on a handful of Meat Beat Manifesto tracks, At the Center was a marked variation of the expected MBM sound and was more of a one-off experiment than a whole new direction for the band. The album has been well received by many critics, with one reviewer calling it "one of the best albums of the year in any genre." An EP of outtakes, live tracks and a remix titled Off-Centre was released shortly after.
From 2005 through 2006, MBM launched a worldwide tour, their first since 1999, making use of video sampling technology that allowed the band to trigger video clips in real-time, on two large screens positioned stage front, while the band performed either side-stage or behind the screens, out of the audience's view; instead, live video footage of the band performing was displayed onscreen alongside the pre-assembled clips. Many of the video clips used were the sources of samples previously used in various MBM tracks, such as footage of Elektro the Robot and clips from films such as Head and Dark Star. Dangers and crew performed a wide variety of hits and fan favorites from the entire back catalog, though relatively little of the new jazz fusion material from At the Center was played.
In 2006, Meat Beat Manifesto's "Suicide" was released on the Underworld: Evolution soundtrack and is the only MBM track to date to prominently feature a guitar.
In May 2007 Dangers released a double CD titled Archive Things 1982-88 / Purged. The first disc contained many early Meat Beat Manifesto experimentations, including demos of what would later become seminal MBM tracks such as "I Got the Fear". The second disc was an instrumental version of the Perennial Divide album, Purge.
Autoimmune and Answers Come in Dreams, 2008–2010
MBM's ninth studio album, Autoimmune, was released on 7 April 2008 in Europe via Planet Mu Records and on 8 April 2008 in the US and Canada via Metropolis Records., with each territory's issue featuring a different track listing. The album featured the first vocals by Dangers himself since 1998's Actual Sounds + Voices, as well as collaborations with DJ Z-Trip, MC Azeem, and Kenneth James Gibson. The album has been described as a return to an older, harder MBM sound and as a dubstep album, though Dangers has stated that he prefers not to fall into any specific genre or category with his work. The lead single, "Guns And Lovers" was released as a digital single via iTunes on 18 March 2008, while the track "Lonely Soldier" was released as a single via bleep.com. Meat Beat Manifesto once more toured to support the new album with the same stage setup as the 2005–2006 tour.
Meat Beat Manifesto released Answers Come in Dreams in late 2010, once more via Metropolis Records in the US and via Hydrogen Dukebox in the UK. Answers Come in Dreams continued to reference dubstep as had its predecessor Autoimmune, but overall was a darker, denser album, at times descending into beatless ambient noise passages reminiscent of the experimental second disc of 1996's Subliminal Sandwich.
Impossible Star and Opaque Couché, 2011-present
After the release of Answers Come in Dreams, Meat Beat Manifesto entered a period of limited activity lasting several years. Between 2011 and 2016, a small handful of EPs were released, and MBM only performed live sporadically. They appeared at the Cold Waves V festival in Chicago in 2016, the first live Meat Beat Manifesto show in five years. The following September they performed at Cold Waves LA.
In January 2018 Meat Beat Manifesto released their eleventh studio album Impossible Star on the label Flexidisc. First single "We Are Surrounded" was premiered online by Igloo Magazine on 24 October 2017. The album has been called a "proverbial return to form" after the dalliances with dubstep on Autoimmune and Answers Come in Dreams. MBM also contributed an original track to the Cold Waves VII benefit compilation later that year, and a limited U.S. tour took place in the fall.
Opaque Couché, Meat Beat Manifesto's twelfth album, was released on 10 May 2019 via Flexidisc. The track "Pin Drop" was released as a video single on YouTube on 6 March, with "No Design" following on 1 April. Considered a companion album to Impossible Star, Opaque Couché was named after "the world's ugliest color".
MBM debuted a brand new song and video and contributed a pre-recorded performance set to the Cold Waves 2020 "Lost Weekend"; the entire festival was streamed on Twitch due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in the United States. The new song also appeared on the corresponding Cold Waves 2020 compilation.
Discography
Meat Beat Manifesto have released a number of albums and singles, and participated in remixes and compilation albums.
Studio albums
1989 Storm the Studio
1990 (May) 99%
1990 (August) Armed Audio Warfare
1992 Satyricon
1996 Subliminal Sandwich
1998 Actual Sounds + Voices
2002 RUOK?
2005 At The Center
2008 Autoimmune
2010 Answers Come in Dreams
2018 Impossible Star
2019 Opaque Couché
Remix albums
2003 Storm The Studio RMXS
2004 ...In Dub
Compilation albums
1997 Original Fire
2007 Archive Things 1982-88
Selected remixes
Atomic Babies "Cetch Da' Monkey"
Boom Boom Satellites "4 a Moment of Silence"
Banco De Gaia "How Much Reality Can You Take"
Bush "Insect Kin"
Consolidated "Butyric Acid"
David Bowie "Pallas Athena"
Deepsky "Stargazer"
Depeche Mode "Rush"
D.H.S. "House of God"
Empirion "Narcotic Influence"
Nine Inch Nails "Closer (Deviation)"
Nine Inch Nails "The Perfect Drug"
Scorn "Silver Rain Fell"
Solypsis "Perpetually Out Of Control"
The Shamen "Ebeneezer Goode", "Hyperreal"
The Young Gods "Kissing the Sun"
Tower of Power "What Is Hip"
Twilight Circus Dub Sound System "Highway"
Silver Apples "Lovefingers"
References
External links
Official website
Tapelab - more MBM/Jack Dangers material incl. unreleased and demo downloads
Vintage Synth Explorer Analog Artist Feature - MBM kit list and further info, incl. streaming clips
Brainwashed.com page
Interview 1992 - Industrial strength zine
English electronic music groups
English techno music groups
British industrial music groups
Intelligent dance musicians
Nothing Records artists
Ableton Live users
Musical groups established in 1987
Trip hop groups
Alternative hip hop groups
English hip hop groups
Wax Trax! Records artists
Metropolis Records artists
Musical groups from Wiltshire
Planet Mu artists
| true |
[
"Battersea Shield is a 2004 EP by The Orb and Meat Beat Manifesto. It was sold in an embossed tin based on the design of the Battersea Shield, instead of a standard jewel case.\n\nA different version of \"Matron\" was previously released as \"Horn of Jericho\" on the Meat Beat Manifesto album RUOK?. \"Insane\" was recorded and mixed at Concrete Hull in 2004. \"1855 BC\" reuses samples which were used in previous Meat Beat Manifesto tracks.\n\nTrack listing\n\"Matron\" - 7:12\n\"1855 BC\" - 18:55\nThe Orb: \"Insane\" - 6:14\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nThe Orb albums\n2004 EPs\nMeat Beat Manifesto albums",
"Archive Things 1982–88 is a compilation of Jack Dangers early work, much of which was issued in very limited editions.\n\nTrack listing\nCD 1\nMeat Beat Manifesto: \"Guitarworks\" - 4:43\nMeat Beat Manifesto: \"1234\" - 2:02\nMeat Beat Manifesto: \"West Window\" - 1:13\nMeat Beat Manifesto: \"Falling\" - 1:56\nMeat Beat Manifesto: \"B.R.E.L.\" - 7:12\nMeat Beat Manifesto: \"International Disease\" - 5:28\nMeat Beat Manifesto: \"Dirty Ray\" - 4:21\nMeat Beat Manifesto: \"I Got The Fear\" - 5:03\nMeat Beat Manifesto: \"Design For Living\" - 6:10\nMeat Beat Manifesto: \"Kneel And Buzz\" - 4:18\nMeat Beat Manifesto: \"Untitled 5\" - 4:58\nMeat Beat Manifesto: \"Snareworks\" - 1:40\nMeat Beat Manifesto: \"Synthesizer Test\" - 4:30\nProducer - Andy Partridge\nMeat Beat Manifesto: \"Lid Locks\" - 6:13\nSpace Children: \"Let's Go Disco 7\"\" - 3:58\nCD 2\nAll songs by Perennial Divide\n\"Blow\" - 4:33\n\"Parricide\" - 2:21\n\"Word Of The Lord\" - 4:19\n\"Captain Swing\" - 4:33\n\"Rescue\" - 5:00\n\"The Fall\" - 5:32\n\"Trip\" - 4:56\n\"Tuna Hell\" - 1:13\n\"Burning Dogs\" - 5:49\n\"End Of The Line\" - 5:20\n\"Burn Down 7\"\" - 4:23\n\"Permanent Way 7\" (4:04\n\"Beehead 7\"\" - 4:11\n\"Leathernecks 7\"\" - 4:22\nEngineer - Colin James , Jack Dangers\nRemix - MBM\n\"E.C.T 7\"\" - 4:32\nEngineer - Colin James, Jack Dangers\nMBM\n\nReferences\nDiscogs entry: \nBrainwashed.com: \n\nJack Dangers albums"
] |
[
"Meat Beat Manifesto",
"Early years",
"What happened in the early years?",
"Dangers and Stephens had formed the English pop group Perennial Divide in 1986 with Paul Freeguard",
"Did they release any albums?",
"They left Perennial Divide in 1988 to record a full Meat Beat album.",
"Was Meat Beat successful?",
"The tapes of what would have been the debut MBM album were claimed to have been destroyed in a studio fire before it could be released"
] |
C_8bf9b1dd2bc14108b5d6321eeb35f4f9_1
|
How did they recover from the fire?
| 4 |
How did Meat Beat Manifesto recover from the fire?
|
Meat Beat Manifesto
|
Dangers and Stephens had formed the English pop group Perennial Divide in 1986 with Paul Freeguard and released the first few Meat Beat Manifesto singles as a side project. They left Perennial Divide in 1988 to record a full Meat Beat album. The tapes of what would have been the debut MBM album were claimed to have been destroyed in a studio fire before it could be released (detailed in a publicity statement). The former founder of Sweat Box Records (Rob Deacon) said that the fire never happened. Jack Dangers confirmed the story of the fire in a 2010 interview. The pair then recorded the LP Storm The Studio, which got them pigeonholed as an industrial act because Sweat Box Records sold the rights to the LP to Wax Trax Records for release in the United States. In response, they released 99%, which was more techno-influenced, in May 1990. In August they released Armed Audio Warfare, which was an effort to re-create the lost tracks of the would-be debut album. The band's live show was conceived as an intense audio-visual experience, with dancers, led by choreographer Marcus Adams, in costumes and sets designed by artist Craig Morrison and video clips accompanying live instruments, sequenced electronic instruments, and live DJing. In the United States, they opened for Nine Inch Nails on their debut national tour in 1990. In 1991, they performed at The Limelight in Manhattan. Despite his contributions being nonmusical in nature, Adams was credited as a full band member and appeared in many of the band's record sleeves and promo photos until the release of Satyricon in 1992. Adams also appeared in several of MBM's early videos, such as "Strapdown" and "Psyche-Out". 1992's Satyricon continued to show Meat Beat adopting a more mainstream electronic sound, crediting influences of such newly popular dance bands as Orbital, The Shamen, and The Orb, all of whom had either remixed or been remixed by MBM. The album produced the hits "Mindstream" and "Circles". "Original Control (Version 2)", renamed "I Am Electro" in later compilations, is the best-known track from the album, featuring samples of recordings from the 1939 World's Fair exhibit Elektro The Robot, and was the opening song in MBM's 2005-2006 tour. CANNOTANSWER
|
Jack Dangers confirmed the story of the fire in a 2010 interview. The pair then recorded the LP Storm The Studio,
|
Meat Beat Manifesto, often shortened as Meat Beat, Manifesto or MBM, is an electronic music group originally consisting of Jack Dangers and Jonny Stephens that was formed in 1987 in Swindon, United Kingdom. The band, fronted by Dangers (the only permanent member), has proven versatile over the years, experimenting with techno, breakbeat, industrial, dub and jazz fusion while touring the world and influencing major acts such as Nine Inch Nails, the Chemical Brothers and the Prodigy. Some of the band's earlier work has been credited with influencing the rise of the trip hop, big beat, and drum and bass genres.
History
Early years
Dangers and Stephens had formed the English pop group Perennial Divide in 1986 with Paul Freeguard and released the first few Meat Beat Manifesto singles as a side project. The first release under the Meat Beat name was 1987's Suck Hard EP on Sweat Box Records. They left Perennial Divide in 1988 to record a full Meat Beat album. The tapes of what would have been the debut MBM album were claimed to have been destroyed in a studio fire before it could be released (detailed in a publicity statement). The former founder of Sweat Box Records (Rob Deacon) said that the fire never happened. Jack Dangers confirmed the story of the fire in a 2010 interview. The pair then recorded the LP Storm The Studio, which got them pigeonholed as an industrial act because Sweat Box Records sold the rights to the LP to Wax Trax Records for release in the United States. In response, they released 99% in May 1990, which was more techno-influenced and characterized by heavy beats and ubiquitous samples. In August they released Armed Audio Warfare, which was an effort to re-create the lost tracks of the would-be début album.
The band's live show was conceived as an intense audio-visual experience, with dancers, led by choreographer Marcus Adams, in costumes and sets designed by artist Craig Morrison and video clips accompanying live instruments, sequenced electronic instruments, and live DJing. In the United States, they opened for Nine Inch Nails on their debut national tour in 1990. In 1991, they performed at The Limelight in Manhattan and tourned North America with Consolidated. Despite his contributions being nonmusical in nature, Adams was credited as a full band member and appeared in many of the band's record sleeves and promo photos until the release of Satyricon in 1992. Adams also appeared in several of MBM's early videos, such as "Strapdown" and "Psyche-Out".
1992's Satyricon continued to show Meat Beat adopting a more mainstream electronic sound, crediting influences of such newly popular dance bands as Orbital, The Shamen, and The Orb, all of whom had either remixed or been remixed by MBM. The album produced the hits "Mindstream" and "Circles". "Original Control (Version 2)", renamed "I Am Electro" in later compilations, is the best-known track from the album, featuring samples of recordings from the 1939 World's Fair exhibit Elektro The Robot, and was the opening song in MBM's 2005–2006 tour.
Nothing Records years, 1994–1998
In 1993 Dangers relocated from England to San Francisco, resulting in Stephens' departure from the band. At this time, Nothing Records was founded as an imprint of Interscope with the purpose of signing industrial and electronic bands to capitalize on the recent success of Nine Inch Nails. Nothing, helmed by Trent Reznor, signed Meat Beat Manifesto and in 1996 the double album Subliminal Sandwich was released. While this album represented MBM's major-label debut, it failed to achieve the critical and commercial successes of previous releases. The album is notable for the last appearance of Jonny Stephens who contributed guitar on the track Asbestos Lead Asbestos. After Subliminal Sandwich, Dangers put together an album called Original Fire that collected various studio rarities, B-sides, and fan favorites from the early years of MBM, in addition to some new remixes of the material. Also in 1996, the group contributed to the AIDS benefit album Offbeat: A Red Hot Soundtrip produced by the Red Hot Organization.
In 1997 Dangers recruited drummer Lynn Farmer and multi-instrumentalist John Wilson (MBM member 1995–1998, former Supreme Love Gods) to record and release Actual Sounds + Voices in 1998, which found the group's earlier flirtations with jazz fusion featured more prominently; the record included appearances by saxophonist Bennie Maupin. The album yielded the single "Prime Audio Soup" which was featured in the film The Matrix. While Jon Wilson left the band prior to the 1998–1999 tour, Farmer remains with the band as of Spring 2007. Wilson was replaced by former Consolidated programmer Mark Pistel, who also remains a contributing member.
During these years, Dangers contributed a pair of remixes to high-profile Nine Inch Nails releases Closer to God and The Perfect Drug. After the release of Actual Sounds + Voices, Meat Beat Manifesto was let go by Nothing Records and once more appeared on independent labels.
RUOK?, 2000–2004
In 2000, Dangers released a 12" MBM EP of four new songs called Eccentric Objects which demonstrated a shift in Dangers' output towards simpler song structure and less sonically-dense layering. This evolution in form was full realized two years later, in 2002, with the release of Meat Beat Manifesto's seventh full-length album, RUOK?. This album prominently featured Dangers' newly acquired EMS Synthi 100, as well as guest contributions from turntablist Z-Trip and The Orb's Alex Paterson. In 2003 MBM released a remix album for Storm The Studio, followed by ...In Dub, a remix album of RUOK?.
At the Center, 2005–2007
At the Center was released on 29 May 2005. A part of independent label Thirsty Ear's 'Blue Series' fusing jazz with electronic genres, the album is a collaboration between Jack Dangers and jazz musicians Peter Gordon (flute), Dave King (drums), and Craig Taborn (keyboards). While Dangers had, in the past, flirted with jazz instrumentation and sampling on a handful of Meat Beat Manifesto tracks, At the Center was a marked variation of the expected MBM sound and was more of a one-off experiment than a whole new direction for the band. The album has been well received by many critics, with one reviewer calling it "one of the best albums of the year in any genre." An EP of outtakes, live tracks and a remix titled Off-Centre was released shortly after.
From 2005 through 2006, MBM launched a worldwide tour, their first since 1999, making use of video sampling technology that allowed the band to trigger video clips in real-time, on two large screens positioned stage front, while the band performed either side-stage or behind the screens, out of the audience's view; instead, live video footage of the band performing was displayed onscreen alongside the pre-assembled clips. Many of the video clips used were the sources of samples previously used in various MBM tracks, such as footage of Elektro the Robot and clips from films such as Head and Dark Star. Dangers and crew performed a wide variety of hits and fan favorites from the entire back catalog, though relatively little of the new jazz fusion material from At the Center was played.
In 2006, Meat Beat Manifesto's "Suicide" was released on the Underworld: Evolution soundtrack and is the only MBM track to date to prominently feature a guitar.
In May 2007 Dangers released a double CD titled Archive Things 1982-88 / Purged. The first disc contained many early Meat Beat Manifesto experimentations, including demos of what would later become seminal MBM tracks such as "I Got the Fear". The second disc was an instrumental version of the Perennial Divide album, Purge.
Autoimmune and Answers Come in Dreams, 2008–2010
MBM's ninth studio album, Autoimmune, was released on 7 April 2008 in Europe via Planet Mu Records and on 8 April 2008 in the US and Canada via Metropolis Records., with each territory's issue featuring a different track listing. The album featured the first vocals by Dangers himself since 1998's Actual Sounds + Voices, as well as collaborations with DJ Z-Trip, MC Azeem, and Kenneth James Gibson. The album has been described as a return to an older, harder MBM sound and as a dubstep album, though Dangers has stated that he prefers not to fall into any specific genre or category with his work. The lead single, "Guns And Lovers" was released as a digital single via iTunes on 18 March 2008, while the track "Lonely Soldier" was released as a single via bleep.com. Meat Beat Manifesto once more toured to support the new album with the same stage setup as the 2005–2006 tour.
Meat Beat Manifesto released Answers Come in Dreams in late 2010, once more via Metropolis Records in the US and via Hydrogen Dukebox in the UK. Answers Come in Dreams continued to reference dubstep as had its predecessor Autoimmune, but overall was a darker, denser album, at times descending into beatless ambient noise passages reminiscent of the experimental second disc of 1996's Subliminal Sandwich.
Impossible Star and Opaque Couché, 2011-present
After the release of Answers Come in Dreams, Meat Beat Manifesto entered a period of limited activity lasting several years. Between 2011 and 2016, a small handful of EPs were released, and MBM only performed live sporadically. They appeared at the Cold Waves V festival in Chicago in 2016, the first live Meat Beat Manifesto show in five years. The following September they performed at Cold Waves LA.
In January 2018 Meat Beat Manifesto released their eleventh studio album Impossible Star on the label Flexidisc. First single "We Are Surrounded" was premiered online by Igloo Magazine on 24 October 2017. The album has been called a "proverbial return to form" after the dalliances with dubstep on Autoimmune and Answers Come in Dreams. MBM also contributed an original track to the Cold Waves VII benefit compilation later that year, and a limited U.S. tour took place in the fall.
Opaque Couché, Meat Beat Manifesto's twelfth album, was released on 10 May 2019 via Flexidisc. The track "Pin Drop" was released as a video single on YouTube on 6 March, with "No Design" following on 1 April. Considered a companion album to Impossible Star, Opaque Couché was named after "the world's ugliest color".
MBM debuted a brand new song and video and contributed a pre-recorded performance set to the Cold Waves 2020 "Lost Weekend"; the entire festival was streamed on Twitch due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in the United States. The new song also appeared on the corresponding Cold Waves 2020 compilation.
Discography
Meat Beat Manifesto have released a number of albums and singles, and participated in remixes and compilation albums.
Studio albums
1989 Storm the Studio
1990 (May) 99%
1990 (August) Armed Audio Warfare
1992 Satyricon
1996 Subliminal Sandwich
1998 Actual Sounds + Voices
2002 RUOK?
2005 At The Center
2008 Autoimmune
2010 Answers Come in Dreams
2018 Impossible Star
2019 Opaque Couché
Remix albums
2003 Storm The Studio RMXS
2004 ...In Dub
Compilation albums
1997 Original Fire
2007 Archive Things 1982-88
Selected remixes
Atomic Babies "Cetch Da' Monkey"
Boom Boom Satellites "4 a Moment of Silence"
Banco De Gaia "How Much Reality Can You Take"
Bush "Insect Kin"
Consolidated "Butyric Acid"
David Bowie "Pallas Athena"
Deepsky "Stargazer"
Depeche Mode "Rush"
D.H.S. "House of God"
Empirion "Narcotic Influence"
Nine Inch Nails "Closer (Deviation)"
Nine Inch Nails "The Perfect Drug"
Scorn "Silver Rain Fell"
Solypsis "Perpetually Out Of Control"
The Shamen "Ebeneezer Goode", "Hyperreal"
The Young Gods "Kissing the Sun"
Tower of Power "What Is Hip"
Twilight Circus Dub Sound System "Highway"
Silver Apples "Lovefingers"
References
External links
Official website
Tapelab - more MBM/Jack Dangers material incl. unreleased and demo downloads
Vintage Synth Explorer Analog Artist Feature - MBM kit list and further info, incl. streaming clips
Brainwashed.com page
Interview 1992 - Industrial strength zine
English electronic music groups
English techno music groups
British industrial music groups
Intelligent dance musicians
Nothing Records artists
Ableton Live users
Musical groups established in 1987
Trip hop groups
Alternative hip hop groups
English hip hop groups
Wax Trax! Records artists
Metropolis Records artists
Musical groups from Wiltshire
Planet Mu artists
| true |
[
"On March 26, 2014, at 2:42 p.m., a nine-alarm fire broke out in a four-story brick row house at 298 Beacon Street in the Back Bay of Boston. Two Boston Fire Department firefighters died fighting the blaze: Lieutenant Edward J. Walsh, 43, of West Roxbury, and Firefighter Michael Kennedy, 33, of Hyde Park. Lieutenant Walsh was from BFD Engine Company 33 and FF. Kennedy was from BFD Ladder Company 15. The fire also injured eighteen others, including thirteen firefighters. The fire was believed to have been started by welders working on a nearby iron railing. On June 9, 2014, a report was released concluding that Walsh and Kennedy's deaths were both accidental.\n\nFire\n\nFirefighters responded at 2:42 p.m., where a fire was spreading upward from the basement fanned by winds traveling at 40 miles per hour. Deputy Fire Chief Joe Finn, the incident commander, reported that the bodies of two firefighters were found in the basement of the building. The fire companies that both men were assigned to were the first to arrive at the scene. Firefighters then rushed into the building to rescue residents from the upper floors while Walsh and Kennedy ran with a hose down to the basement, where the fire was believed to have originated. The District Fire Chief in charge ordered a second alarm immediately.\n\nA basement window had broken open and allowed high winds to further fuel the fire, which scorched at both men. Two to three minutes into the incident, the men placed a \"Mayday\" call over their radios signaling they were trapped. Despite rescue efforts, it took about half an hour to recover Kennedy, who was then transported to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Another 13 firefighters were injured during the search, though their injuries were not life-threatening. A small explosion knocked a number of firefighters down a staircase inside the row house, causing burns and musculoskeletal injuries. It took firefighters until the evening to recover Walsh, who was pronounced dead at the scene.\n\nSome of the apartments' residents were rescued from the top floor of the brownstone building, but none were hurt. The fire marks the first time a Boston firefighter has been killed on the job since 2009. Among those who witnessed the fire was Tom Brady, who decided to evacuate with his wife after watching it unfold from their neighboring home.\n\nVictims \nThe firefighters died after the fire, aided by strong winds, trapped them in the basement of the brownstone and prevented their colleagues from rescuing them. It has also been suggested that the 45-mile-per-hour winds which helped fuel the fire also triggered an explosion, which also trapped them in the basement. The precise reason the firefighters died after getting trapped remains unknown, but one proposed scenario involves the fire burning through their hose line, cutting off their ability to fight the fire around them.\n\nInvestigation \nOn April 4, a number of fire officials, including Boston Fire Commissioner John Hasson, blamed the fire on sparks originating from welding being done on a nearby iron railing. The welders, according to these officials, were operating without a permit and apparently tried to warn others after the fire started. However, the welders did not call 9-1-1, which prompted Ken Donnelly and other Massachusetts politicians to call for criminal charges to be brought against the welding company.\n\nOn April 22, the Boston Herald reported that Franklin Knotts, the property manager of the building where the fire killed the two firefighters (located at 298 Beacon Street), had filed an affidavit against D&J Iron Works, the Malden-based welding company whose employees had been blamed for starting the fire. In his affidavit, Knotts accused the employees working on the railing on an adjacent building (located on 296 Beacon Street) of driving away from the fire in their truck. The lawsuit itself was filed by Herbert Lerman, who is the executor of the estate of the building's owner, Michael J. Callahan. The supposed president of D&J Iron Works, Giuseppe Falcone, responded that this company does not exist and that he was therefore not responsible for the fire in any way.\n\nA criminal investigation formally concluded in April 2015. No criminal charges were pressed against D&J Ironworks for the nine-alarm fire, and according to a statement from Suffolk District Attorney Dan Conley, the yearlong in-depth investigation revealed that while carelessness caused a pair of welders to accidentally start the fire at 298 Beacon St. on March 26, 2014, their actions did not constitute reckless or knowing endangerment of human life - hence, no involuntary manslaughter charges. “We cannot in good faith seek criminal charges for an accident, even one with consequences so tragically devastating,” said Conley. “Some 60 years of Massachusetts jurisprudence have made clear that negligence, even gross negligence, is in the hands of our civil courts.” \n\nIn March 2016, a report released by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health concluded that the Boston Fire Department was partly to blame for the deaths of Walsh and Kennedy.\n\nMemorials \nThe funeral for Walsh was held on April 2, 2014, at St. Patrick's Church in Watertown, Massachusetts. Thousands of firefighters attended the service, as did Archbishop Sean O'Malley. Walsh was buried next to his father, also a former firefighter. Marty Walsh, the mayor of Boston, appeared at the funeral, and said, \"We stand in awe of what he did last week.\" Edward Walsh's widow, Kristen, asked the Boston Fire Department to find her husband's wedding ring, which they were able to do, after which they gave it to her. Another funeral was held for Kennedy the following day, at Holy Name Church. Kennedy's cousin, Davin Patrick Kennedy, was among those who spoke at the service.\n\nTimeline\nBelow is a timeline of events that took place prior to and during the fire.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Boston Fire Department Board of Inquiry Report on Incident 14-16454 (298 Beacon St. Fire), March 2016\n\n2014 disasters in the United States\n2014 fires\n2014 in Boston\nBack Bay, Boston\nBuilding fires in the United States\nFires in Boston\nMarch 2014 events in the United States\nResidential building fires",
"Fire adaptations are life history traits of plants and animals that help them survive wildfire or to use resources created by wildfire. These traits can help plants and animals increase their survival rates during a fire and/or reproduce offspring after a fire. Both plants and animals have multiple strategies for surviving and reproducing after fire.\n\nPlant adaptations to fire \nUnlike animals, plants are not able to move physically during a fire. However, plants have their own ways to survive a fire event or recover after a fire. The strategies can be classified into three types: resist (above-ground parts survive fire), recover (evade mortality by sprouting), and recruit (seed germination after fire). Fire plays a role as a filter which can select for different fire response traits.\n\nResist\n\nThick bark \n\nFire impacts plants most directly via heat damage. However, new studies indicate that hydraulic failure kills trees during a fire in addition to fire scorching. High temperature cuts the water supply to the canopy and causes death of the tree. Fortunately, thick bark can protect plants because they keep stems away from high temperature. Under the protection of bark, living tissue won't have direct contact with fire and the survival rate of plants will be increased. Heat resistance is a function of bark thermal diffusivity (a property of the species) and bark thickness (increasing exponentially with bark thickness). Thick bark is common in species adapted to surface or low-severity fire regimes. On the other hand, plants in crown or high-severity fire regimes usually have thinner barks because it is meaningless to invest on thick bark without it conferring an advantage in survivorship.\n\nSelf-pruning branches \nSelf-pruning is another trait of plants to resist fires. Self-pruning branches can reduce the chance for surface fire to reach the canopy because ladder fuels are removed. Self-pruning branches are common in surface or low-severity fire regimes.\n\nRecover\n\nEpicormic buds \n\nEpicormic buds are dormant buds under the bark or even deeper. Buds can turn active and grow due to environmental stress such as fire or drought. This trait can help plants to recover their canopies rapidly after a fire. For example, eucalypts are known for this trait. The bark may be removed or burnt by severe fires, but buds are still able to germinate and recover. This trait is common in surface or low-severity fire regimes.\n\nLignotubers \n\nNot all the plants have thick bark and epicormic buds. But for some shrubs and trees, their buds are located below ground, which are able to re-sprout even when the stems are killed by a fire. Lignotubers, woody structures around the roots of plants that contains many dormant buds and nutrients such as starch, are very helpful for plants to recover after a fire. In case the stem was damaged by a fire, buds will sprout forming basal shoots. Species with lignotubers are often seen in crown or high-severity fire regimes (e.g., chamise in chaparral).\n\nClonal spread \nClonal spread is usually triggered by fires and other forms of removal of above ground stems. The buds from the mother plant can develop into basal shoots or suckers from roots some distance from the plant. Aspen and Californian redwoods are two examples of clonal spread. In clonal communities, all the individuals developed vegetatively from one single ancestor rather than reproduced sexually. For example, the Pando is a large clonal aspen colony in Utah which developed from a single quaking aspen tree. There are currently more than 40,000 trunks in this colony, and the root system is about 80,000 years old.\n\nRecruit\n\nSerotiny \n\nSerotiny is a seed dispersal strategy in which the dissemination of seeds is stimulated by external triggers (such as fires) rather than by natural maturation. For serotinous plants, seeds are protected by woody structures during fires and will germinate after the fire. This trait can be found in conifer genera in both northern and southern hemisphere as well as in flowering plants families (e.g., Banksia). Serotiny is a typical trait in crown or high-severity fire regimes.\n\nFire stimulated germination \nMany species persist in a long-lived soil seed bank, and are stimulated to germinate via thermal scarification or smoke exposure.\n\nFire-stimulated flowering \nA less common strategy is fire-stimulated flowering.\n\nDispersal \nSpecies with very high wind dispersal capacity and seed production often are the first arrivals after a fire or other soil disturbance. For example, fireweed is common in burned areas in the western United States.\n\nPlants and fire regimes \nThe fire regime exerts a strong filter on which plant species may occur in a given locality. For example, trees in high-severity regimes usually have thin bark while trees in low-severity regimes typically have thick bark. Another example will be that trees in surface fire regimes tend to have epicormic buds rather than basal buds. On the other hand, plants can also alter fire regimes. Oaks, for example, produce a litter layer which slows down the fire spread while pines create a flammable duff layer which increases fire spread. More profoundly, the composition of species can influence fire regimes even when the climate remains unchanged. For example, the mixed forests consists of conifers and chaparral can be found in Cascade Mountains. Conifers burn with low-severity surface fires while chaparral burns with high-severity crown fires. Ironically, some trees can \"use\" fires to help them to survive during competitions with other trees. Pine trees, for example, can produce flammable litter layers, which help them to take advantage during the completion with other, less fire adapted, species.\n\nEvolution of fire survival traits \nPhylogenetic studies indicated that fire adaptive traits have evolved for a long time (tens of millions of years) and these traits are associated with the environment. In habitats with regular surface fires, similar species developed traits such as thick bark and self-pruning branches. In crown fire regimes, pines have evolved traits such as retaining dead branches in order to attract fires. These traits are inherited from the fire-sensitive ancestors of modern pines. Other traits such as serotiny and fire-stimulating flowering also have evolved for millions of years. Some species are capable of using flammability to establish their habitats. For example, trees evolved with fire-embracing traits can \"sacrifice\" themselves during fires. But they also cause fires to spread and kill their less flammable neighbors. With the help of other fire adaptive traits such as serotiny, flammable trees will occupy the gap created by fires and colonize the habitat.\n\nAnimals' adaptations to fires\n\nDirect effects of fires on animals \nMost animals have sufficient mobility to successfully evade fires. Vertebrates such as large mammals and adult birds are usually capable of escaping from fires. However, young animals which lack mobility may suffer from fires and have high mortality. Ground-dwelling invertebrates are less impacted by fires (due to low thermal diffusivity of soil) while tree-living invertebrates may be killed by crown fires but survive during surface fires. Seldom, animals are directly killed by fires. Asphyxiation is believed the reason to kill animals the Yellowstone fires of 1988.\n\nLong term effects of fires on animals \nMore importantly, fires have long-term effects on the post-burn environment. Fires in seldom-burned rainforests can cause disasters. For example, El Niño-induced surface fires in central Brazilian Amazonia have seriously affected the habitats of birds and primates. Fires also expose animals to dangers such as humans or predators. Generally in a habitat previously with more understory species and less open site species, a fire may replace the fauna structure with more open species and much less understory species. However, the habitat normally will recover to the original structure.\n\nAnimals and fire regimes \n\nJust like plants may alter fire regimes, animals also have impacts on fire regimes. For example, grazing animals consume fuel for fires and reduce the possibilities of future fires. Many animals play roles as designers of fire regimes. Prairie dogs, for example, are rodents which are common in North America. They are able to control fires by grazing grasses too short to burn.\n\nAnimal use of fire \n\nFires are not always detrimental. Burnt areas usually have better quality and accessibility of foods for animals, which attract animals to forage from nearby habitats. For example, fires can kill trees, and dead trees can attract insects. Birds are attracted by the abundance of food, and they can spread the seeds of herbaceous plants. Eventually large herbivores will also flourish. Also, large mammals prefer newly burnt areas because they need less vigilance for predators. An example of animals' uses on fires is the black kite, a carnivorous bird which can be found globally. Although it is still not confirmed, black kites were witnessed to carry smoldering sticks to deliberately start fires. These birds can then capture the escaping insects and rodents.\n\nSummary \nBoth plants and animals have multiple strategies to adapt with fires. Moreover, both plants and animals are capable of altering fire regimes. Humans know how to use fires, and plants and animals \"know\" it as well.\n\nSee also \n Fire Effects Information System\n Fire ecology\n Disturbance (ecology)\n\nReferences \n\nWildfire ecology"
] |
[
"Meat Beat Manifesto",
"Early years",
"What happened in the early years?",
"Dangers and Stephens had formed the English pop group Perennial Divide in 1986 with Paul Freeguard",
"Did they release any albums?",
"They left Perennial Divide in 1988 to record a full Meat Beat album.",
"Was Meat Beat successful?",
"The tapes of what would have been the debut MBM album were claimed to have been destroyed in a studio fire before it could be released",
"How did they recover from the fire?",
"Jack Dangers confirmed the story of the fire in a 2010 interview. The pair then recorded the LP Storm The Studio,"
] |
C_8bf9b1dd2bc14108b5d6321eeb35f4f9_1
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What else did the band do in the early years?
| 5 |
Besides recording a full album What else did Meat Beat Manifesto do in the early years?
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Meat Beat Manifesto
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Dangers and Stephens had formed the English pop group Perennial Divide in 1986 with Paul Freeguard and released the first few Meat Beat Manifesto singles as a side project. They left Perennial Divide in 1988 to record a full Meat Beat album. The tapes of what would have been the debut MBM album were claimed to have been destroyed in a studio fire before it could be released (detailed in a publicity statement). The former founder of Sweat Box Records (Rob Deacon) said that the fire never happened. Jack Dangers confirmed the story of the fire in a 2010 interview. The pair then recorded the LP Storm The Studio, which got them pigeonholed as an industrial act because Sweat Box Records sold the rights to the LP to Wax Trax Records for release in the United States. In response, they released 99%, which was more techno-influenced, in May 1990. In August they released Armed Audio Warfare, which was an effort to re-create the lost tracks of the would-be debut album. The band's live show was conceived as an intense audio-visual experience, with dancers, led by choreographer Marcus Adams, in costumes and sets designed by artist Craig Morrison and video clips accompanying live instruments, sequenced electronic instruments, and live DJing. In the United States, they opened for Nine Inch Nails on their debut national tour in 1990. In 1991, they performed at The Limelight in Manhattan. Despite his contributions being nonmusical in nature, Adams was credited as a full band member and appeared in many of the band's record sleeves and promo photos until the release of Satyricon in 1992. Adams also appeared in several of MBM's early videos, such as "Strapdown" and "Psyche-Out". 1992's Satyricon continued to show Meat Beat adopting a more mainstream electronic sound, crediting influences of such newly popular dance bands as Orbital, The Shamen, and The Orb, all of whom had either remixed or been remixed by MBM. The album produced the hits "Mindstream" and "Circles". "Original Control (Version 2)", renamed "I Am Electro" in later compilations, is the best-known track from the album, featuring samples of recordings from the 1939 World's Fair exhibit Elektro The Robot, and was the opening song in MBM's 2005-2006 tour. CANNOTANSWER
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In 1991, they performed at The Limelight in Manhattan.
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Meat Beat Manifesto, often shortened as Meat Beat, Manifesto or MBM, is an electronic music group originally consisting of Jack Dangers and Jonny Stephens that was formed in 1987 in Swindon, United Kingdom. The band, fronted by Dangers (the only permanent member), has proven versatile over the years, experimenting with techno, breakbeat, industrial, dub and jazz fusion while touring the world and influencing major acts such as Nine Inch Nails, the Chemical Brothers and the Prodigy. Some of the band's earlier work has been credited with influencing the rise of the trip hop, big beat, and drum and bass genres.
History
Early years
Dangers and Stephens had formed the English pop group Perennial Divide in 1986 with Paul Freeguard and released the first few Meat Beat Manifesto singles as a side project. The first release under the Meat Beat name was 1987's Suck Hard EP on Sweat Box Records. They left Perennial Divide in 1988 to record a full Meat Beat album. The tapes of what would have been the debut MBM album were claimed to have been destroyed in a studio fire before it could be released (detailed in a publicity statement). The former founder of Sweat Box Records (Rob Deacon) said that the fire never happened. Jack Dangers confirmed the story of the fire in a 2010 interview. The pair then recorded the LP Storm The Studio, which got them pigeonholed as an industrial act because Sweat Box Records sold the rights to the LP to Wax Trax Records for release in the United States. In response, they released 99% in May 1990, which was more techno-influenced and characterized by heavy beats and ubiquitous samples. In August they released Armed Audio Warfare, which was an effort to re-create the lost tracks of the would-be début album.
The band's live show was conceived as an intense audio-visual experience, with dancers, led by choreographer Marcus Adams, in costumes and sets designed by artist Craig Morrison and video clips accompanying live instruments, sequenced electronic instruments, and live DJing. In the United States, they opened for Nine Inch Nails on their debut national tour in 1990. In 1991, they performed at The Limelight in Manhattan and tourned North America with Consolidated. Despite his contributions being nonmusical in nature, Adams was credited as a full band member and appeared in many of the band's record sleeves and promo photos until the release of Satyricon in 1992. Adams also appeared in several of MBM's early videos, such as "Strapdown" and "Psyche-Out".
1992's Satyricon continued to show Meat Beat adopting a more mainstream electronic sound, crediting influences of such newly popular dance bands as Orbital, The Shamen, and The Orb, all of whom had either remixed or been remixed by MBM. The album produced the hits "Mindstream" and "Circles". "Original Control (Version 2)", renamed "I Am Electro" in later compilations, is the best-known track from the album, featuring samples of recordings from the 1939 World's Fair exhibit Elektro The Robot, and was the opening song in MBM's 2005–2006 tour.
Nothing Records years, 1994–1998
In 1993 Dangers relocated from England to San Francisco, resulting in Stephens' departure from the band. At this time, Nothing Records was founded as an imprint of Interscope with the purpose of signing industrial and electronic bands to capitalize on the recent success of Nine Inch Nails. Nothing, helmed by Trent Reznor, signed Meat Beat Manifesto and in 1996 the double album Subliminal Sandwich was released. While this album represented MBM's major-label debut, it failed to achieve the critical and commercial successes of previous releases. The album is notable for the last appearance of Jonny Stephens who contributed guitar on the track Asbestos Lead Asbestos. After Subliminal Sandwich, Dangers put together an album called Original Fire that collected various studio rarities, B-sides, and fan favorites from the early years of MBM, in addition to some new remixes of the material. Also in 1996, the group contributed to the AIDS benefit album Offbeat: A Red Hot Soundtrip produced by the Red Hot Organization.
In 1997 Dangers recruited drummer Lynn Farmer and multi-instrumentalist John Wilson (MBM member 1995–1998, former Supreme Love Gods) to record and release Actual Sounds + Voices in 1998, which found the group's earlier flirtations with jazz fusion featured more prominently; the record included appearances by saxophonist Bennie Maupin. The album yielded the single "Prime Audio Soup" which was featured in the film The Matrix. While Jon Wilson left the band prior to the 1998–1999 tour, Farmer remains with the band as of Spring 2007. Wilson was replaced by former Consolidated programmer Mark Pistel, who also remains a contributing member.
During these years, Dangers contributed a pair of remixes to high-profile Nine Inch Nails releases Closer to God and The Perfect Drug. After the release of Actual Sounds + Voices, Meat Beat Manifesto was let go by Nothing Records and once more appeared on independent labels.
RUOK?, 2000–2004
In 2000, Dangers released a 12" MBM EP of four new songs called Eccentric Objects which demonstrated a shift in Dangers' output towards simpler song structure and less sonically-dense layering. This evolution in form was full realized two years later, in 2002, with the release of Meat Beat Manifesto's seventh full-length album, RUOK?. This album prominently featured Dangers' newly acquired EMS Synthi 100, as well as guest contributions from turntablist Z-Trip and The Orb's Alex Paterson. In 2003 MBM released a remix album for Storm The Studio, followed by ...In Dub, a remix album of RUOK?.
At the Center, 2005–2007
At the Center was released on 29 May 2005. A part of independent label Thirsty Ear's 'Blue Series' fusing jazz with electronic genres, the album is a collaboration between Jack Dangers and jazz musicians Peter Gordon (flute), Dave King (drums), and Craig Taborn (keyboards). While Dangers had, in the past, flirted with jazz instrumentation and sampling on a handful of Meat Beat Manifesto tracks, At the Center was a marked variation of the expected MBM sound and was more of a one-off experiment than a whole new direction for the band. The album has been well received by many critics, with one reviewer calling it "one of the best albums of the year in any genre." An EP of outtakes, live tracks and a remix titled Off-Centre was released shortly after.
From 2005 through 2006, MBM launched a worldwide tour, their first since 1999, making use of video sampling technology that allowed the band to trigger video clips in real-time, on two large screens positioned stage front, while the band performed either side-stage or behind the screens, out of the audience's view; instead, live video footage of the band performing was displayed onscreen alongside the pre-assembled clips. Many of the video clips used were the sources of samples previously used in various MBM tracks, such as footage of Elektro the Robot and clips from films such as Head and Dark Star. Dangers and crew performed a wide variety of hits and fan favorites from the entire back catalog, though relatively little of the new jazz fusion material from At the Center was played.
In 2006, Meat Beat Manifesto's "Suicide" was released on the Underworld: Evolution soundtrack and is the only MBM track to date to prominently feature a guitar.
In May 2007 Dangers released a double CD titled Archive Things 1982-88 / Purged. The first disc contained many early Meat Beat Manifesto experimentations, including demos of what would later become seminal MBM tracks such as "I Got the Fear". The second disc was an instrumental version of the Perennial Divide album, Purge.
Autoimmune and Answers Come in Dreams, 2008–2010
MBM's ninth studio album, Autoimmune, was released on 7 April 2008 in Europe via Planet Mu Records and on 8 April 2008 in the US and Canada via Metropolis Records., with each territory's issue featuring a different track listing. The album featured the first vocals by Dangers himself since 1998's Actual Sounds + Voices, as well as collaborations with DJ Z-Trip, MC Azeem, and Kenneth James Gibson. The album has been described as a return to an older, harder MBM sound and as a dubstep album, though Dangers has stated that he prefers not to fall into any specific genre or category with his work. The lead single, "Guns And Lovers" was released as a digital single via iTunes on 18 March 2008, while the track "Lonely Soldier" was released as a single via bleep.com. Meat Beat Manifesto once more toured to support the new album with the same stage setup as the 2005–2006 tour.
Meat Beat Manifesto released Answers Come in Dreams in late 2010, once more via Metropolis Records in the US and via Hydrogen Dukebox in the UK. Answers Come in Dreams continued to reference dubstep as had its predecessor Autoimmune, but overall was a darker, denser album, at times descending into beatless ambient noise passages reminiscent of the experimental second disc of 1996's Subliminal Sandwich.
Impossible Star and Opaque Couché, 2011-present
After the release of Answers Come in Dreams, Meat Beat Manifesto entered a period of limited activity lasting several years. Between 2011 and 2016, a small handful of EPs were released, and MBM only performed live sporadically. They appeared at the Cold Waves V festival in Chicago in 2016, the first live Meat Beat Manifesto show in five years. The following September they performed at Cold Waves LA.
In January 2018 Meat Beat Manifesto released their eleventh studio album Impossible Star on the label Flexidisc. First single "We Are Surrounded" was premiered online by Igloo Magazine on 24 October 2017. The album has been called a "proverbial return to form" after the dalliances with dubstep on Autoimmune and Answers Come in Dreams. MBM also contributed an original track to the Cold Waves VII benefit compilation later that year, and a limited U.S. tour took place in the fall.
Opaque Couché, Meat Beat Manifesto's twelfth album, was released on 10 May 2019 via Flexidisc. The track "Pin Drop" was released as a video single on YouTube on 6 March, with "No Design" following on 1 April. Considered a companion album to Impossible Star, Opaque Couché was named after "the world's ugliest color".
MBM debuted a brand new song and video and contributed a pre-recorded performance set to the Cold Waves 2020 "Lost Weekend"; the entire festival was streamed on Twitch due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in the United States. The new song also appeared on the corresponding Cold Waves 2020 compilation.
Discography
Meat Beat Manifesto have released a number of albums and singles, and participated in remixes and compilation albums.
Studio albums
1989 Storm the Studio
1990 (May) 99%
1990 (August) Armed Audio Warfare
1992 Satyricon
1996 Subliminal Sandwich
1998 Actual Sounds + Voices
2002 RUOK?
2005 At The Center
2008 Autoimmune
2010 Answers Come in Dreams
2018 Impossible Star
2019 Opaque Couché
Remix albums
2003 Storm The Studio RMXS
2004 ...In Dub
Compilation albums
1997 Original Fire
2007 Archive Things 1982-88
Selected remixes
Atomic Babies "Cetch Da' Monkey"
Boom Boom Satellites "4 a Moment of Silence"
Banco De Gaia "How Much Reality Can You Take"
Bush "Insect Kin"
Consolidated "Butyric Acid"
David Bowie "Pallas Athena"
Deepsky "Stargazer"
Depeche Mode "Rush"
D.H.S. "House of God"
Empirion "Narcotic Influence"
Nine Inch Nails "Closer (Deviation)"
Nine Inch Nails "The Perfect Drug"
Scorn "Silver Rain Fell"
Solypsis "Perpetually Out Of Control"
The Shamen "Ebeneezer Goode", "Hyperreal"
The Young Gods "Kissing the Sun"
Tower of Power "What Is Hip"
Twilight Circus Dub Sound System "Highway"
Silver Apples "Lovefingers"
References
External links
Official website
Tapelab - more MBM/Jack Dangers material incl. unreleased and demo downloads
Vintage Synth Explorer Analog Artist Feature - MBM kit list and further info, incl. streaming clips
Brainwashed.com page
Interview 1992 - Industrial strength zine
English electronic music groups
English techno music groups
British industrial music groups
Intelligent dance musicians
Nothing Records artists
Ableton Live users
Musical groups established in 1987
Trip hop groups
Alternative hip hop groups
English hip hop groups
Wax Trax! Records artists
Metropolis Records artists
Musical groups from Wiltshire
Planet Mu artists
| false |
[
"The Pressure was an American band formed in September 1996.\n\nHistory\nThe band played their first show in San Diego. During their existence, the trio lived crammed together in a tiny studio apartment in Costa Mesa, California, with their cat. The band played live several times on college radio, as well as television, where they not only hosted the alternative rock program Are-Oh-Vee twice, but would appear on The Gong Show. The energy of their live shows guaranteed almost continual coverage in the Orange County Weekly, which voted them one of the top unsigned bands in October 1997. In April 1998, a cover story asked, \"Are The Pressure OC's favorite band?\".\n\nTheir single, \"I Wanna Call Someone\" sold out of Orange County record stores the day it was released, and would wind up selling out completely in October 1998 after a deluge of European orders. Early in 1999, the band began working on their debut album with Alex Newport in San Francisco, a place where they had all originally lived. An appearance on the Vans Warped Tour 1999 that July, with Eminem, The Black Eyed Peas, NOFX and Pennywise in San Bernardino wound up being their last. The day their debut album Things Move Fast was released, drummer Jason Thornberry was found beaten nearly to death on the streets of Long Beach, and remained in hospital for several months. The band did not break up so much as break apart. Members Ronnie Washburn and Dana James went on to found Your Enemies Friends.\n\nMembers\nDana James – vocals, bass guitar\nJason Thornberry – drums, vocals\nRonnie Washburn – vocals, guitar\n\nDiscography\nMy Heart Was Lost, cassette, Self Service Recs, 1997.\nThe Pressure, cassette, Corporate Corp Recs, 1997.\n\"I Wanna Call Someone\", 7\" single, What Else? Recs, 1998.\nv/a Al's Bar Compilation, Vol. 2, Al's Bar Recs, 1998.\nv/a Styzine Compilation 1998.\nv/a Buddy List Compilation, 1999.\nv/a Brother Can You Spare Some Ska Vol. 4, Vegas Recs, 1998.\nThings Move Fast, Elastic Recs, 1999.\nv/a Orange County Weekly compilation’’ 1999.\nv/a Sampler WE 20.0'', What Else? Recs, (year?).\n\nExternal links\n Myspace\n What Else? Records website\n Elastic Records\n\nAmerican post-punk music groups\nAmerican post-hardcore musical groups\nIndie rock musical groups from California\nMod revival groups",
"Sack is a five-piece Irish band, based in Dublin. To date the band has released three albums: You Are What You Eat, Butterfly Effect and Adventura Majestica. The band formed after the demise of Lord John White.\n\nTheir first single \"What Did The Christians Ever Do For Us?\" was single of the week in both the NME and Melody Maker. They have supported Morrissey on several world tours taking in mainland Europe, North America, and the UK. Sack have also supported the likes of The Fall, Boo Radleys among others. They have gigged sporadically in recent years and are planning to record new material.\n\nThe band appeared on the Morrissey-endorsed NME CD Songs to Save Your Life, while \"Laughter Lines\" appeared on the soundtrack to the movie Carrie 2: The Rage.\n\nCurrent members\nMartin McCann: lead vocals\nJohn Brereton: guitars\nTony Brereton: drums, backing vocals\nKen Haughton: guitars\nDerek Lee: bass\n\nDiscography\nAlbums \n\n You Are What You Eat (1994) Lemon Records\n Butterfly Effect (1997) Dirt Records\n Adventura Majestica (2001) Jetset Junta Records\n\nSingles \n\n Dilettanti (1993)\n Indian Rope Trick. (1993)\n What Did The Christians Ever Do For Us (1994)\n Latitude (1997)\n Laughter Lines (1998)\n What a Way to Live (2021)\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nOfficial site\n\nIrish rock music groups\nMusical groups from Dublin (city)\nMusical groups established in 1994"
] |
[
"Meat Beat Manifesto",
"Early years",
"What happened in the early years?",
"Dangers and Stephens had formed the English pop group Perennial Divide in 1986 with Paul Freeguard",
"Did they release any albums?",
"They left Perennial Divide in 1988 to record a full Meat Beat album.",
"Was Meat Beat successful?",
"The tapes of what would have been the debut MBM album were claimed to have been destroyed in a studio fire before it could be released",
"How did they recover from the fire?",
"Jack Dangers confirmed the story of the fire in a 2010 interview. The pair then recorded the LP Storm The Studio,",
"What else did the band do in the early years?",
"In 1991, they performed at The Limelight in Manhattan."
] |
C_8bf9b1dd2bc14108b5d6321eeb35f4f9_1
|
Did they have any other live performances?
| 6 |
Besides the Limelight in Manhattan Did Meat Beat Manifesto have any other live performances?
|
Meat Beat Manifesto
|
Dangers and Stephens had formed the English pop group Perennial Divide in 1986 with Paul Freeguard and released the first few Meat Beat Manifesto singles as a side project. They left Perennial Divide in 1988 to record a full Meat Beat album. The tapes of what would have been the debut MBM album were claimed to have been destroyed in a studio fire before it could be released (detailed in a publicity statement). The former founder of Sweat Box Records (Rob Deacon) said that the fire never happened. Jack Dangers confirmed the story of the fire in a 2010 interview. The pair then recorded the LP Storm The Studio, which got them pigeonholed as an industrial act because Sweat Box Records sold the rights to the LP to Wax Trax Records for release in the United States. In response, they released 99%, which was more techno-influenced, in May 1990. In August they released Armed Audio Warfare, which was an effort to re-create the lost tracks of the would-be debut album. The band's live show was conceived as an intense audio-visual experience, with dancers, led by choreographer Marcus Adams, in costumes and sets designed by artist Craig Morrison and video clips accompanying live instruments, sequenced electronic instruments, and live DJing. In the United States, they opened for Nine Inch Nails on their debut national tour in 1990. In 1991, they performed at The Limelight in Manhattan. Despite his contributions being nonmusical in nature, Adams was credited as a full band member and appeared in many of the band's record sleeves and promo photos until the release of Satyricon in 1992. Adams also appeared in several of MBM's early videos, such as "Strapdown" and "Psyche-Out". 1992's Satyricon continued to show Meat Beat adopting a more mainstream electronic sound, crediting influences of such newly popular dance bands as Orbital, The Shamen, and The Orb, all of whom had either remixed or been remixed by MBM. The album produced the hits "Mindstream" and "Circles". "Original Control (Version 2)", renamed "I Am Electro" in later compilations, is the best-known track from the album, featuring samples of recordings from the 1939 World's Fair exhibit Elektro The Robot, and was the opening song in MBM's 2005-2006 tour. CANNOTANSWER
|
MBM's 2005-2006 tour.
|
Meat Beat Manifesto, often shortened as Meat Beat, Manifesto or MBM, is an electronic music group originally consisting of Jack Dangers and Jonny Stephens that was formed in 1987 in Swindon, United Kingdom. The band, fronted by Dangers (the only permanent member), has proven versatile over the years, experimenting with techno, breakbeat, industrial, dub and jazz fusion while touring the world and influencing major acts such as Nine Inch Nails, the Chemical Brothers and the Prodigy. Some of the band's earlier work has been credited with influencing the rise of the trip hop, big beat, and drum and bass genres.
History
Early years
Dangers and Stephens had formed the English pop group Perennial Divide in 1986 with Paul Freeguard and released the first few Meat Beat Manifesto singles as a side project. The first release under the Meat Beat name was 1987's Suck Hard EP on Sweat Box Records. They left Perennial Divide in 1988 to record a full Meat Beat album. The tapes of what would have been the debut MBM album were claimed to have been destroyed in a studio fire before it could be released (detailed in a publicity statement). The former founder of Sweat Box Records (Rob Deacon) said that the fire never happened. Jack Dangers confirmed the story of the fire in a 2010 interview. The pair then recorded the LP Storm The Studio, which got them pigeonholed as an industrial act because Sweat Box Records sold the rights to the LP to Wax Trax Records for release in the United States. In response, they released 99% in May 1990, which was more techno-influenced and characterized by heavy beats and ubiquitous samples. In August they released Armed Audio Warfare, which was an effort to re-create the lost tracks of the would-be début album.
The band's live show was conceived as an intense audio-visual experience, with dancers, led by choreographer Marcus Adams, in costumes and sets designed by artist Craig Morrison and video clips accompanying live instruments, sequenced electronic instruments, and live DJing. In the United States, they opened for Nine Inch Nails on their debut national tour in 1990. In 1991, they performed at The Limelight in Manhattan and tourned North America with Consolidated. Despite his contributions being nonmusical in nature, Adams was credited as a full band member and appeared in many of the band's record sleeves and promo photos until the release of Satyricon in 1992. Adams also appeared in several of MBM's early videos, such as "Strapdown" and "Psyche-Out".
1992's Satyricon continued to show Meat Beat adopting a more mainstream electronic sound, crediting influences of such newly popular dance bands as Orbital, The Shamen, and The Orb, all of whom had either remixed or been remixed by MBM. The album produced the hits "Mindstream" and "Circles". "Original Control (Version 2)", renamed "I Am Electro" in later compilations, is the best-known track from the album, featuring samples of recordings from the 1939 World's Fair exhibit Elektro The Robot, and was the opening song in MBM's 2005–2006 tour.
Nothing Records years, 1994–1998
In 1993 Dangers relocated from England to San Francisco, resulting in Stephens' departure from the band. At this time, Nothing Records was founded as an imprint of Interscope with the purpose of signing industrial and electronic bands to capitalize on the recent success of Nine Inch Nails. Nothing, helmed by Trent Reznor, signed Meat Beat Manifesto and in 1996 the double album Subliminal Sandwich was released. While this album represented MBM's major-label debut, it failed to achieve the critical and commercial successes of previous releases. The album is notable for the last appearance of Jonny Stephens who contributed guitar on the track Asbestos Lead Asbestos. After Subliminal Sandwich, Dangers put together an album called Original Fire that collected various studio rarities, B-sides, and fan favorites from the early years of MBM, in addition to some new remixes of the material. Also in 1996, the group contributed to the AIDS benefit album Offbeat: A Red Hot Soundtrip produced by the Red Hot Organization.
In 1997 Dangers recruited drummer Lynn Farmer and multi-instrumentalist John Wilson (MBM member 1995–1998, former Supreme Love Gods) to record and release Actual Sounds + Voices in 1998, which found the group's earlier flirtations with jazz fusion featured more prominently; the record included appearances by saxophonist Bennie Maupin. The album yielded the single "Prime Audio Soup" which was featured in the film The Matrix. While Jon Wilson left the band prior to the 1998–1999 tour, Farmer remains with the band as of Spring 2007. Wilson was replaced by former Consolidated programmer Mark Pistel, who also remains a contributing member.
During these years, Dangers contributed a pair of remixes to high-profile Nine Inch Nails releases Closer to God and The Perfect Drug. After the release of Actual Sounds + Voices, Meat Beat Manifesto was let go by Nothing Records and once more appeared on independent labels.
RUOK?, 2000–2004
In 2000, Dangers released a 12" MBM EP of four new songs called Eccentric Objects which demonstrated a shift in Dangers' output towards simpler song structure and less sonically-dense layering. This evolution in form was full realized two years later, in 2002, with the release of Meat Beat Manifesto's seventh full-length album, RUOK?. This album prominently featured Dangers' newly acquired EMS Synthi 100, as well as guest contributions from turntablist Z-Trip and The Orb's Alex Paterson. In 2003 MBM released a remix album for Storm The Studio, followed by ...In Dub, a remix album of RUOK?.
At the Center, 2005–2007
At the Center was released on 29 May 2005. A part of independent label Thirsty Ear's 'Blue Series' fusing jazz with electronic genres, the album is a collaboration between Jack Dangers and jazz musicians Peter Gordon (flute), Dave King (drums), and Craig Taborn (keyboards). While Dangers had, in the past, flirted with jazz instrumentation and sampling on a handful of Meat Beat Manifesto tracks, At the Center was a marked variation of the expected MBM sound and was more of a one-off experiment than a whole new direction for the band. The album has been well received by many critics, with one reviewer calling it "one of the best albums of the year in any genre." An EP of outtakes, live tracks and a remix titled Off-Centre was released shortly after.
From 2005 through 2006, MBM launched a worldwide tour, their first since 1999, making use of video sampling technology that allowed the band to trigger video clips in real-time, on two large screens positioned stage front, while the band performed either side-stage or behind the screens, out of the audience's view; instead, live video footage of the band performing was displayed onscreen alongside the pre-assembled clips. Many of the video clips used were the sources of samples previously used in various MBM tracks, such as footage of Elektro the Robot and clips from films such as Head and Dark Star. Dangers and crew performed a wide variety of hits and fan favorites from the entire back catalog, though relatively little of the new jazz fusion material from At the Center was played.
In 2006, Meat Beat Manifesto's "Suicide" was released on the Underworld: Evolution soundtrack and is the only MBM track to date to prominently feature a guitar.
In May 2007 Dangers released a double CD titled Archive Things 1982-88 / Purged. The first disc contained many early Meat Beat Manifesto experimentations, including demos of what would later become seminal MBM tracks such as "I Got the Fear". The second disc was an instrumental version of the Perennial Divide album, Purge.
Autoimmune and Answers Come in Dreams, 2008–2010
MBM's ninth studio album, Autoimmune, was released on 7 April 2008 in Europe via Planet Mu Records and on 8 April 2008 in the US and Canada via Metropolis Records., with each territory's issue featuring a different track listing. The album featured the first vocals by Dangers himself since 1998's Actual Sounds + Voices, as well as collaborations with DJ Z-Trip, MC Azeem, and Kenneth James Gibson. The album has been described as a return to an older, harder MBM sound and as a dubstep album, though Dangers has stated that he prefers not to fall into any specific genre or category with his work. The lead single, "Guns And Lovers" was released as a digital single via iTunes on 18 March 2008, while the track "Lonely Soldier" was released as a single via bleep.com. Meat Beat Manifesto once more toured to support the new album with the same stage setup as the 2005–2006 tour.
Meat Beat Manifesto released Answers Come in Dreams in late 2010, once more via Metropolis Records in the US and via Hydrogen Dukebox in the UK. Answers Come in Dreams continued to reference dubstep as had its predecessor Autoimmune, but overall was a darker, denser album, at times descending into beatless ambient noise passages reminiscent of the experimental second disc of 1996's Subliminal Sandwich.
Impossible Star and Opaque Couché, 2011-present
After the release of Answers Come in Dreams, Meat Beat Manifesto entered a period of limited activity lasting several years. Between 2011 and 2016, a small handful of EPs were released, and MBM only performed live sporadically. They appeared at the Cold Waves V festival in Chicago in 2016, the first live Meat Beat Manifesto show in five years. The following September they performed at Cold Waves LA.
In January 2018 Meat Beat Manifesto released their eleventh studio album Impossible Star on the label Flexidisc. First single "We Are Surrounded" was premiered online by Igloo Magazine on 24 October 2017. The album has been called a "proverbial return to form" after the dalliances with dubstep on Autoimmune and Answers Come in Dreams. MBM also contributed an original track to the Cold Waves VII benefit compilation later that year, and a limited U.S. tour took place in the fall.
Opaque Couché, Meat Beat Manifesto's twelfth album, was released on 10 May 2019 via Flexidisc. The track "Pin Drop" was released as a video single on YouTube on 6 March, with "No Design" following on 1 April. Considered a companion album to Impossible Star, Opaque Couché was named after "the world's ugliest color".
MBM debuted a brand new song and video and contributed a pre-recorded performance set to the Cold Waves 2020 "Lost Weekend"; the entire festival was streamed on Twitch due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in the United States. The new song also appeared on the corresponding Cold Waves 2020 compilation.
Discography
Meat Beat Manifesto have released a number of albums and singles, and participated in remixes and compilation albums.
Studio albums
1989 Storm the Studio
1990 (May) 99%
1990 (August) Armed Audio Warfare
1992 Satyricon
1996 Subliminal Sandwich
1998 Actual Sounds + Voices
2002 RUOK?
2005 At The Center
2008 Autoimmune
2010 Answers Come in Dreams
2018 Impossible Star
2019 Opaque Couché
Remix albums
2003 Storm The Studio RMXS
2004 ...In Dub
Compilation albums
1997 Original Fire
2007 Archive Things 1982-88
Selected remixes
Atomic Babies "Cetch Da' Monkey"
Boom Boom Satellites "4 a Moment of Silence"
Banco De Gaia "How Much Reality Can You Take"
Bush "Insect Kin"
Consolidated "Butyric Acid"
David Bowie "Pallas Athena"
Deepsky "Stargazer"
Depeche Mode "Rush"
D.H.S. "House of God"
Empirion "Narcotic Influence"
Nine Inch Nails "Closer (Deviation)"
Nine Inch Nails "The Perfect Drug"
Scorn "Silver Rain Fell"
Solypsis "Perpetually Out Of Control"
The Shamen "Ebeneezer Goode", "Hyperreal"
The Young Gods "Kissing the Sun"
Tower of Power "What Is Hip"
Twilight Circus Dub Sound System "Highway"
Silver Apples "Lovefingers"
References
External links
Official website
Tapelab - more MBM/Jack Dangers material incl. unreleased and demo downloads
Vintage Synth Explorer Analog Artist Feature - MBM kit list and further info, incl. streaming clips
Brainwashed.com page
Interview 1992 - Industrial strength zine
English electronic music groups
English techno music groups
British industrial music groups
Intelligent dance musicians
Nothing Records artists
Ableton Live users
Musical groups established in 1987
Trip hop groups
Alternative hip hop groups
English hip hop groups
Wax Trax! Records artists
Metropolis Records artists
Musical groups from Wiltshire
Planet Mu artists
| false |
[
"Hlas Česko Slovenska (Czech and Slovak for The Czech / Slovak Voice, literally The Voice of Czecho Slovakia) is a reality singing competition and version of The Voice of Holland for Czech Republic and Slovakia. It is part of the international syndication The Voice based on the reality singing competition launched in the Netherlands, created by Dutch television producer John de Mol. It kicked off on February 12, 2012, and ended on June 3, 2012.\nOne of the important premises of the show is the quality of the singing talent. Four coaches, themselves popular performing artists, train the talents in their group and occasionally perform with them. Talents are selected in blind auditions, where the coaches cannot see, but only hear the auditioner.\n\nOverview\n\nCoaches and Finalists\n – Winning Coach/Contestant. Winners are in bold, eliminated contestants in small font.\n – Runner-Up Coach/Contestant. Final contestant first listed.\n – 2nd Runner-Up Coach/Contestant. Final contestant first listed.\n\nFormat \nThe series consists of three phases: a blind audition, a battle phase, and live performance shows. Four judges/coaches, all noteworthy recording artists, choose teams of contestants through a blind audition process. Each judge has the length of the auditioner's performance (about one minute) to decide if he or she wants that singer on his or her team; if two or more judges want the same singer (as happens frequently), the singer has the final choice of coach.\nEach team of singers is mentored and developed by its respective coach. In the second stage, called the battle phase, coaches have two of their team members battle against each other directly by singing the same song together, with the coach choosing which team member to advance from each of four individual \"battles\" into the first live round. Within that first live round, the surviving acts from each team again compete head-to-head, with a combination of public and jury vote deciding who advances onto the next round.\nIn the final phase, the remaining contestants (top 8) compete against each other in live broadcasts. The television audience and the coaches have equal say 50/50 in deciding who moves on to the final 4 phase. With one team member remaining for each coach, the (final 4) contestants compete against each other in the finale with the outcome decided solely by public vote.\n\nThe first season started on February 12, 2012, and is aired simultaneously in both countries. The judges are Josef Vojtek, leadsinger of Czech rock band Kabát, 1980s cult figure Michal David, pop singer Dara Rolins and her spouse, popular hip hop/R'n'B artist and sex symbol Rytmus.\n\nThe Blind Auditions\n\nEpisode 1: February 12, 2012\n\nEpisode 2: February 19, 2012 \n\nThis was a guest appearance by the famous singer who was playing a trick on the coaches finding out if they would recognise him. While every coach pushed the button immediately, he did not chose any of them as he was not really auditioning for the show.\n\nEpisode 3: February 26, 2012\n\nEpisode 4: March 4, 2012\n\nEpisode 5: March 11, 2012\n\nThe Battles\n\nCoaches begin narrowing down the playing field by training the contestants with the help of \"trusted advisors\". Each episode featured eight to ten battles consisting two of pairings from within each team, and each battle concluding with the respective coach eliminating one of the two contestants. After that the seven winners had to go through one sing-off before six of them advanced to the live shows.\n\n – Battle Winner\n\nEpisode 6: 18 March 2012\n\nEpisode 7: 25 March 2012\n\nEpisode 8: 1 April 2012\n\nThe Sing-off\nEach coach nominates 5 acts from their group to advance to the live shows. The 2 remaining acts per group will do a sing-off for the remaining live show spot.\n\nThe Live Shows\n\nEpisodes 9 & 10: April 8 and April 9, 2012\n\nTeam Josef and Team Rytmus performed. \nPublic voted and selected their top 2 in each team. These 2 contestants are safe and advancing to the next round. Then the coaches saved another 2 contestants and the remaining ones had to sing again for their place in the competition. They sang the same songs as they did the night before. One of them was saved by the coach and the other had to leave the competition.\n Team: Team Josef, Team Rytmus\n\nCompetition Performances\n\nEpisodes 11 & 12: April 15 and April 16, 2012\n\nTeam Dara and Team Michal performed. \nPublic voted and selected their top 2 in each team. These 2 contestants are safe and advancing to the next round. Then the coaches saved another 2 contestants and the remaining ones had to sing again for their place in the competition. They sang the same songs as they did the night before. One of them was saved by the coach and the other had to leave the competition.\n Team: Team Dara, Team Michal\n\nCompetition Performances\n\nEpisodes 13 & 14: April 22 and April 23, 2012\n\nTeam Josef and Team Rytmus performed. \nPublic voted and selected their top 2 in each team. These 2 contestants are safe and advancing to the next round. Then the coaches saved another 1 contestant and the remaining ones had to sing again for their place in the competition. They sang the other songs as they did the night before. One of them was saved by the coach and the other had to leave the competition.\n Team: Team Josef, Team Rytmus\n\nCompetition Performances\n\nSing-Off Performances\n\nEpisodes 15 & 16: April 29 and April 30, 2012\n\nTeam Dara and Team Michal performed. \nPublic voted and selected their top 2 in each team. These 2 contestants are safe and advancing to the next round. Then the coaches saved another contestant and the remaining ones had to sing again for their place in the competition. They sang the other songs as they did the night before. One of them was saved by the coach and the other had to leave the competition.\n Team: Team Dara, Team Michal\n\nCompetition Performances\n\nSing-Off Performance\n\nEpisodes 17 & 18: May 6 and May 7, 2012\n\nTeam Josef and Team Rytmus performed. \nPublic voted and selected their top 2 in each team. These 2 contestants are safe and advancing to the next round. The remaining ones had to sing again for their place in the competition. They sang the other songs as they did the night before. One of them was saved by the coach and the other had to leave the competition.\n Team: Team Josef, Team Rytmus\n\nCompetition Performances\n\nSing-Off Performances\n\nEpisodes 19 & 20: May 13 and May 14, 2012\n\nTeam Dara and Team Michal performed. \nPublic voted and selected their top 2 in each team. These 2 contestants are safe and advancing to the next round. The remaining ones had to sing again for their place in the competition. They sang another songs as they did the night before. One of them was saved by the coach and the other had to leave the competition.\n Team: Team Dara, Team Michal\n\nCompetition Performances\n\nSing-Off Performances\n\nEpisode 21: May 21, 2012\n\nEvery Team performed. \nPublic voted and selected their top 1 in each team. These 1 contestant is safe and advancing to the semi-final round. The remaining ones had to sing again for their place in the competition. They sang the other songs as they did the night before. One of them was saved by the coach and the other had to leave the competition.\n Team: Team Josef, Team Rytmus, Team Dara, Team Michal\nCompetition Performances\n\nSing-Off Performances\n\nEpisode 22 and 23: May 27 and May 28, 2012\n\nEvery Team performed. \nPublic and coaches voted and selected their top 1 in each team. These 1 contestant is safe and advancing to the final round. Other had to leave the competition.\n Team: Team Josef, Team Rytmus, Team Dara, Team Michal\nCompetition Performances\n\nEpisode 24: June 9, 2012\n\nEvery Team performed. \nPublic voted and selected their winner.\n Team: Team Josef, Team Rytmus, Team Dara, Team Michal\nCompetition Performances\n\nResults summary of live shows\n\nOverall\nColor key:\nArtist's info\n\nSee also\nThe Voice (TV series)\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nHlas Česko Slovenska Official Czech website\nHlas Česko Slovenska Official Slovak website\n\nCzech Slovak\n2012 Czech television seasons\n2012 Slovak television seasons\nSlovak reality television series\nCzech reality television series\n2012 Czech television series endings\n2012 Slovak television series endings",
"Japanese boy band Kanjani Eight have gone on a total of nine concert tours, all domestic, and several shows. In 2006, they went on their first tour F.T.O.N: Funky Tokyo Osaka Nagoya, at the three major cities the concert tour was named after. Upon the success of the initial tour, it was expanded into a national tour in the fall of that same year, performing at a total of 11 cities and 26 performances. Winter of that same year, Kanjani Eight performed a national promo tour for the release of their single \"Kan Fu Fighting\". performing at a total of six cities and performing twenty six times.\n\nIn 2007, Kanjani Eight begun their biggest national tour to date, the \"Eh?! Honma?! Bikkuri!! Tour\". The concert tour began in the spring of 2007 and ended in the fall of that same year, totaling at 113 performances in all 47 prefectures of Japan. The concert tour also marked the first time in which a signed Johnny's talent performed in every prefecture of Japan in a single tour. After the success of that tour in 2008, Kanjani Eight performed two national tours between May and August performing at a total fourteen cities and over fifty performances.\n\nKanjani Eight released Puzzle in 2009 and the national tour Puzzle in the summer of that year. Following up that tour in the winter of 2009, they returned to the Kyocera Dome and performed their first Countdown Live concert series. In the winter of 2010, Kanjani Eight performed their 8 Uppers concert tour, which also contained their second Countdown Live. In 2011, Kanjani Eight performed their winter tour which consisted five cities for a total of ten performances. This tour also contained their third countdown live. In 2012, Kanjani Eight performed their 8EST concert tour, which was a total of 40 performances. This tour is noted for the fact that they performed at their first stadium and for that it did not include a countdown live.\n\nConcert Tours\n\nOther performances\n\nReferences\n\nConcerts\nKanjani Eight"
] |
[
"Tōru Takemitsu",
"Youth"
] |
C_d715fc0882a64c7d8f302d6e780bebba_1
|
Where did he grow up?
| 1 |
Where did Toru Takemitsu grow up?
|
Tōru Takemitsu
|
Takemitsu was born in Tokyo on October 8, 1930; a month later his family moved to Dalian in the Chinese province of Liaoning. In 1938 he returned to Japan to attend elementary school, but his education was cut short by military conscription in 1944. Takemitsu described his experience of military service at such a young age, under the Japanese Nationalist government, as "... extremely bitter". Takemitsu first became really conscious of Western classical music during his term of military service, in the form of a popular French Song ("Parlez-moi d'amour") which he listened to with colleagues in secret, played on a gramophone with a makeshift needle fashioned from bamboo. During the post-war U.S. occupation of Japan, Takemitsu worked for the U.S. Armed Forces, but was ill for a long period. Hospitalised and bed-ridden, he took the opportunity to listen to as much Western music as he could on the U.S. Armed Forces network. While deeply affected by these experiences of Western music, he simultaneously felt a need to distance himself from the traditional music of his native Japan. He explained much later, in a lecture at the New York International Festival of the Arts, that for him Japanese traditional music "always recalled the bitter memories of war". Despite his almost complete lack of musical training, and taking inspiration from what little Western music he had heard, Takemitsu began to compose in earnest at the age of 16: "... I began [writing] music attracted to music itself as one human being. Being in music I found my raison d'etre as a man. After the war, music was the only thing. Choosing to be in music clarified my identity." Though he studied briefly with Yasuji Kiyose beginning in 1948, Takemitsu remained largely self-taught throughout his musical career. CANNOTANSWER
|
Takemitsu was born in Tokyo on October 8, 1930; a month later his family moved to Dalian in the Chinese province of Liaoning.
|
was a Japanese composer and writer on aesthetics and music theory. Largely self-taught, Takemitsu was admired for the subtle manipulation of instrumental and orchestral timbre. He is known for combining elements of oriental and occidental philosophy and for fusing sound with silence and tradition with innovation.
He composed several hundred independent works of music, scored more than ninety films and published twenty books. He was also a founding member of the Jikken Kōbō (Experimental Workshop) in Japan, a group of avant-garde artists who distanced themselves from academia and whose collaborative work is often regarded among the most influential of the 20th century.
His 1957 Requiem for string orchestra attracted international attention, led to several commissions from across the world and established his reputation as the leading 20th-century Japanese composer. He was the recipient of numerous awards and honours and the Toru Takemitsu Composition Award is named after him.
Biography
Youth
Takemitsu was born in Tokyo on October 8, 1930; a month later his family moved to Dalian in the Chinese province of Liaoning. In 1938 he returned to Japan to attend elementary school, but his education was cut short by military conscription in 1944. Takemitsu described his experience of military service at such a young age, under the Japanese Nationalist government, as "... extremely bitter". Takemitsu first became conscious of Western classical music during his term of military service, in the form of a popular French Song ("Parlez-moi d'amour") which he listened to with colleagues in secret, played on a gramophone with a makeshift needle fashioned from bamboo.
During the post-war U.S. occupation of Japan, Takemitsu worked for the U.S. Armed Forces, but was ill for a long period. Hospitalised and bed-ridden, he took the opportunity to listen to as much Western music as he could on the U.S. Armed Forces network. While deeply affected by these experiences of Western music, he simultaneously felt a need to distance himself from the traditional music of his native Japan. He explained much later, in a lecture at the New York International Festival of the Arts, that for him Japanese traditional music "always recalled the bitter memories of war".
Despite his lack of musical training, and taking inspiration from what little Western music he had heard, Takemitsu began to compose in earnest at the age of 16: "... I began [writing] music attracted to music itself as one human being. Being in music I found my raison d'être as a man. After the war, music was the only thing. Choosing to be in music clarified my identity." Though he studied briefly with Yasuji Kiyose beginning in 1948, Takemitsu remained largely self-taught throughout his musical career.
Early development and Jikken Kōbō
In 1948, Takemitsu conceived the idea of electronic music technology, or in his own words, to "bring noise into tempered musical tones inside a busy small tube." During the 1950s, Takemitsu had learned that in 1948 "a French [engineer] Pierre Schaeffer invented the method(s) of musique concrète based on the same idea as mine. I was pleased with this coincidence."
In 1951, Takemitsu was a founding member of the anti-academic : an artistic group established for multidisciplinary collaboration on mixed-media projects, who sought to avoid Japanese artistic tradition. The performances and works undertaken by the group introduced several contemporary Western composers to Japanese audiences. During this period he wrote Saegirarenai Kyūsoku I ("Uninterrupted Rest I", 1952: a piano work, without a regular rhythmic pulse or barlines); and by 1955 Takemitsu had begun to use electronic tape-recording techniques in such works as Relief Statique (1955) and Vocalism A·I (1956). Takemitsu also studied in the early 1950s with the composer Fumio Hayasaka, perhaps best known for the scores he wrote for films by Kenji Mizoguchi and Akira Kurosawa, the latter of whom Takemitsu would collaborate with decades later.
In the late 1950s chance brought Takemitsu international attention: his Requiem for string orchestra (1957), written as an homage to Hayasaka, was heard by Igor Stravinsky in 1958 during his visit to Japan. (The NHK had organised opportunities for Stravinsky to listen to some of the latest Japanese music; when Takemitsu's work was put on by mistake, Stravinsky insisted on hearing it to the end.) At a press conference later, Stravinsky expressed his admiration for the work, praising its "sincerity" and "passionate" writing. Stravinsky subsequently invited Takemitsu to lunch; and for Takemitsu this was an "unforgettable" experience. After Stravinsky returned to the U.S., Takemitsu soon received a commission for a new work from the Koussevitsky Foundation which, he assumed, had come as a suggestion from Stravinsky to Aaron Copland. For this he composed Dorian Horizon, (1966), which was premièred by the San Francisco Symphony, conducted by Copland.
Influence of Cage; interest in traditional Japanese music
During his time with Jikken Kōbō, Takemitsu came into contact with the experimental work of John Cage; but when the composer Toshi Ichiyanagi returned from his studies in America in 1961, he gave the first Japanese performance of Cage's Concert for Piano and Orchestra. This left a "deep impression" on Takemitsu: he recalled the impact of hearing the work when writing an obituary for Cage, 31 years later. This encouraged Takemitsu in his use of indeterminate procedures and graphic-score notation, for example in the graphic scores of Ring (1961), Corona for pianist(s) and Corona II for string(s) (both 1962). In these works each performer is presented with cards printed with coloured circular patterns which are freely arranged by the performer to create "the score".
Although the immediate influence of Cage's procedures did not last in Takemitsu's music—Coral Island, for example for soprano and orchestra (1962) shows significant departures from indeterminate procedures partly as a result of Takemitsu's renewed interest in the music of Anton Webern—certain similarities between Cage's philosophies and Takemitsu's thought remained. For example, Cage's emphasis on timbres within individual sound-events, and his notion of silence "as plenum rather than vacuum", can be aligned with Takemitsu's interest in ma. Furthermore, Cage's interest in Zen practice (through his contact with Zen scholar Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki) seems to have resulted in a renewed interest in the East in general, and ultimately alerted Takemitsu to the potential for incorporating elements drawn from Japanese traditional music into his composition:
I must express my deep and sincere gratitude to John Cage. The reason for this is that in my own life, in my own development, for a long period I struggled to avoid being "Japanese", to avoid "Japanese" qualities. It was largely through my contact with John Cage that I came to recognize the value of my own tradition.
For Takemitsu, as he explained later in a lecture in 1988, one performance of Japanese traditional music stood out:
One day I chanced to see a performance of the Bunraku puppet theater and was very surprised by it. It was in the tone quality, the timbre, of the futazao shamisen, the wide-necked shamisen used in Bunraku, that I first recognized the splendor of traditional Japanese music. I was very moved by it and I wondered why my attention had never been captured before by this Japanese music.
Thereafter, he resolved to study all types of traditional Japanese music, paying special attention to the differences between the two very different musical traditions, in a diligent attempt to "bring forth the sensibilities of Japanese music that had always been within [him]". This was no easy task, since in the years following the war traditional music was largely overlooked and ignored: only one or two "masters" continued to keep their art alive, often meeting with public indifference. In conservatoria across the country, even students of traditional instruments were always required to learn the piano.
From the early 1960s, Takemitsu began to make use of traditional Japanese instruments in his music, and even took up playing the biwa—an instrument he used in his score for the film Seppuku (1962). In 1967, Takemitsu received a commission from the New York Philharmonic, to commemorate the orchestra's 125th anniversary, for which he wrote November Steps for biwa, shakuhachi, and orchestra. Initially, Takemitsu had great difficulty in uniting these instruments from such different musical cultures in one work. Eclipse for biwa and shakuhachi (1966) illustrates Takemitsu's attempts to find a viable notational system for these instruments, which in normal circumstances neither sound together nor are used in works notated in any system of Western staff notation.
The first performance of November Steps was given in 1967, under Seiji Ozawa. Despite the trials of writing such an ambitious work, Takemitsu maintained "that making the attempt was very worthwhile because what resulted somehow liberated music from a certain stagnation and brought to music something distinctly new and different". The work was distributed widely in the West when it was coupled as the fourth side of an LP release of Messiaen's Turangalîla Symphony.
In 1972, Takemitsu, accompanied by Iannis Xenakis, Betsy Jolas, and others, heard Balinese gamelan music in Bali. The experience influenced the composer on a largely philosophical and theological level. For those accompanying Takemitsu on the expedition (most of whom were French musicians), who "... could not keep their composure as I did before this music: it was too foreign for them to be able to assess the resulting discrepancies with their logic", the experience was without precedent. For Takemitsu, however, by now quite familiar with his own native musical tradition, there was a relationship between "the sounds of the gamelan, the tone of the kapachi, the unique scales and rhythms by which they are formed, and Japanese traditional music which had shaped such a large part of my sensitivity". In his solo piano work For Away (written for Roger Woodward in 1973), a single, complex line is distributed between the pianist's hands, which reflects the interlocking patterns between the metallophones of a gamelan orchestra.
A year later, Takemitsu returned to the instrumental combination of shakuhachi, biwa, and orchestra, in the less well known work Autumn (1973). The significance of this work is revealed in its far greater integration of the traditional Japanese instruments into the orchestral discourse; whereas in November Steps, the two contrasting instrumental ensembles perform largely in alternation, with only a few moments of contact. Takemitsu expressed this change in attitude:
But now my attitude is getting to be a little different, I think. Now my concern is mostly to find out what there is in common ... Autumn was written after November Steps. I really wanted to do something which I hadn't done in November Steps, not to blend the instruments, but to integrate them.
International status and the gradual shift in style
By 1970, Takemitsu's reputation as a leading member of avant-garde community was well established, and during his involvement with Expo '70 in Osaka, he was at last able to meet more of his Western colleagues, including Karlheinz Stockhausen. Also, during a contemporary music festival in April 1970, produced by the Japanese composer himself ("Iron and Steel Pavilion"), Takemitsu met among the participants Lukas Foss, Peter Sculthorpe, and Vinko Globokar. Later that year, as part of a commission from Paul Sacher and the Zurich Collegium Musicum, Takemitsu incorporated into his Eucalypts I parts for international performers: flautist Aurèle Nicolet, oboist Heinz Holliger, and harpist Ursula Holliger.
Critical examination of the complex instrumental works written during this period for the new generation of "contemporary soloists" reveals the level of his high-profile engagement with the Western avant-garde, in works such as Voice for solo flute (1971), Waves for clarinet, horn, two trombones and bass drum (1976), Quatrain for clarinet, violin, cello, piano and orchestra (1977). Experiments and works that incorporated traditional Japanese musical ideas and language continued to appear in his output, and an increased interest in the traditional Japanese garden began to reflect itself in works such as for gagaku orchestra (1973), and A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden for orchestra (1977).
Throughout this apogee of avant-garde work, Takemitsu's musical style seems to have undergone a series of stylistic changes. Comparison of Green (for orchestra, 1967) and A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden (1977) quickly reveals the seeds of this change. The latter was composed according to a pre-compositional scheme, in which pentatonic modes were superimposed over one central pentatonic scale (the so-called "black-key pentatonic") around a central sustained central pitch (F-sharp), and an approach that is highly indicative of the sort of "pantonal" and modal pitch material seen gradually emerging in his works throughout the 1970s. The former, Green (or November Steps II) written 10 years earlier, is heavily influenced by Debussy, and is, in spite of its very dissonant language (including momentary quarter-tone clusters), largely constructed through a complex web of modal forms. These modal forms are largely audible, particularly in the momentary repose toward the end of the work. Thus in these works, it is possible to see both a continuity of approach, and the emergence of a simpler harmonic language that was to characterise the work of his later period.
His friend and colleague Jō Kondō said, "If his later works sound different from earlier pieces, it is due to his gradual refining of his basic style rather than any real alteration of it."
Later works: the sea of tonality
In a Tokyo lecture given in 1984, Takemitsu identified a melodic motive in his Far Calls. Coming Far! (for violin and orchestra, 1980) that would recur throughout his later works:
I wanted to plan a tonal "sea". Here the "sea" is E-flat [Es in German nomenclature]-E-A, a three-note ascending motive consisting of a half step and perfect fourth. [... In Far Calls] this is extended upward from A with two major thirds and one minor third ... Using these patterns I set the "sea of tonality" from which many pantonal chords flow.
Takemitsu's words here highlight his changing stylistic trends from the late 1970s into the 1980s, which have been described as "an increased use of diatonic material [... with] references to tertian harmony and jazz voicing", which do not, however, project a sense of "large-scale tonality". Many of the works from this period have titles that include a reference to water: Toward the Sea (1981), Rain Tree and Rain Coming (1982), riverrun and I Hear the Water Dreaming (1987). Takemitsu wrote in his notes for the score of Rain Coming that "... the complete collection [is] entitled "Waterscape" ... it was the composer's intention to create a series of works, which like their subject, pass through various metamorphoses, culminating in a sea of tonality." Throughout these works, the S-E-A motive (discussed further below) features prominently, and points to an increased emphasis on the melodic element in Takemitsu's music that began during this later period.
His 1981 work for orchestra named Dreamtime was inspired by a visit to Groote Eylandt, off the coast of the Northern Territory of Australia, to witness a large gathering of Australian indigenous dancers, singers and story tellers. He was there at the invitation of the choreographer Jiří Kylián.
Pedal notes played an increasingly prominent role in Takemitsu's music during this period, as in A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden. In Dream/Window, (orchestra, 1985) a pedal D serves as anchor point, holding together statements of a striking four-note motivic gesture which recurs in various instrumental and rhythmic guises throughout. Very occasionally, fully fledged references to diatonic tonality can be found, often in harmonic allusions to early- and pre-20th-century composers—for example, Folios for guitar (1974), which quotes from J. S. Bach's St Matthew Passion, and Family Tree for narrator and orchestra (1984), which invokes the musical language of Maurice Ravel and American popular song. (He revered the St Matthew Passion, and would play through it on the piano before commencing a new work, as a form of "purificatory ritual".)
By this time, Takemitsu's incorporation of traditional Japanese (and other Eastern) musical traditions with his Western style had become much more integrated. Takemitsu commented, "There is no doubt ... the various countries and cultures of the world have begun a journey toward the geographic and historic unity of all peoples ... The old and new exist within me with equal weight."
Toward the end of his life, Takemitsu had planned to complete an opera, a collaboration with the novelist Barry Gifford and the director Daniel Schmid, commissioned by the Opéra National de Lyon in France. He was in the process of publishing a plan of its musical and dramatic structure with Kenzaburō Ōe, but he was prevented from completing it by his death at 65. He died of pneumonia on February 20, 1996, while undergoing treatment for bladder cancer.
Personal life
He was married to Asaka Takemitsu (formerly Wakayama) for 42 years. She first met Toru in 1951, cared for him when he was suffering from tuberculosis in his early twenties, then married him in 1954. They had one child, a daughter named Maki. Asaka attended most premieres of his music and published a memoir of their life together in 2010.
Music
Composers whom Takemitsu cited as influential in his early work include Claude Debussy, Anton Webern, Edgard Varèse, Arnold Schoenberg, and Olivier Messiaen. Messiaen in particular was introduced to him by fellow composer Toshi Ichiyanagi, and remained a lifelong influence. Although Takemitsu's wartime experiences of nationalism initially discouraged him from cultivating an interest in traditional Japanese music, he showed an early interest in "... the Japanese Garden in color spacing and form ...". The formal garden of the kaiyu-shiki interested him in particular.
He expressed his unusual stance toward compositional theory early on, his lack of respect for the "trite rules of music, rules that are ... stifled by formulas and calculations"; for Takemitsu it was of far greater importance that "sounds have the freedom to breathe. ... Just as one cannot plan his life, neither can he plan music".
Takemitsu's sensitivity to instrumental and orchestral timbre can be heard throughout his work, and is often made apparent by the unusual instrumental combinations he specified. This is evident in works such as November Steps, that combine traditional Japanese instruments, shakuhachi and biwa, with a conventional Western orchestra. It may also be discerned in his works for ensembles that make no use of traditional instruments, for example Quotation of Dream (1991), Archipelago S., for 21 players (1993), and Arc I & II (1963–66/1976). In these works, the more conventional orchestral forces are divided into unconventional "groups". Even where these instrumental combinations were determined by the particular ensemble commissioning the work, "Takemitsu's genius for instrumentation (and genius it was, in my view) ...", in the words of Oliver Knussen, "... creates the illusion that the instrumental restrictions are self-imposed".
Influence of traditional Japanese music
Takemitsu summarized his initial aversion to Japanese (and all non-Western) traditional musical forms in his own words: "There may be folk music with strength and beauty, but I cannot be completely honest in this kind of music. I want a more active relationship to the present. (Folk music in a 'contemporary style' is nothing but a deception)." His dislike for the musical traditions of Japan in particular were intensified by his experiences of the war, during which Japanese music became associated with militaristic and nationalistic cultural ideals.
Nevertheless, Takemitsu incorporated some idiomatic elements of Japanese music in his very earliest works, perhaps unconsciously. One unpublished set of pieces, Kakehi ("Conduit"), written at the age of seventeen, incorporates the ryō, ritsu and insen scales throughout. When Takemitsu discovered that these "nationalist" elements had somehow found their way into his music, he was so alarmed that he later destroyed the works. Further examples can be seen for example in the quarter-tone glissandi of Masques I (for two flutes, 1959), which mirror the characteristic pitch bends of the shakuhachi, and for which he devised his own unique notation: a held note is tied to an enharmonic spelling of the same pitch class, with a portamento direction across the tie.
Other Japanese characteristics, including the further use of traditional pentatonic scales, continued to crop up elsewhere in his early works. In the opening bars of Litany, for Michael Vyner, a reconstruction from memory by Takemitsu of Lento in Due Movimenti (1950; the original score was lost), pentatonicism is clearly visible in the upper voice, which opens the work on an unaccompanied anacrusis. The pitches of the opening melody combine to form the constituent notes of the ascending form of the Japanese in scale.
When, from the early 1960s, Takemitsu began to "consciously apprehend" the sounds of traditional Japanese music, he found that his creative process, "the logic of my compositional thought[,] was torn apart", and nevertheless, "hogaku [traditional Japanese music ...] seized my heart and refuses to release it". In particular, Takemitsu perceived that, for example, the sound of a single stroke of the biwa or single pitch breathed through the shakuhachi, could "so transport our reason because they are of extreme complexity ... already complete in themselves". This fascination with the sounds produced in traditional Japanese music brought Takemitsu to his idea of ma (usually translated as the space between two objects), which ultimately informed his understanding of the intense quality of traditional Japanese music as a whole:
Just one sound can be complete in itself, for its complexity lies in the formulation of ma, an unquantifiable metaphysical space (duration) of dynamically tensed absence of sound. For example, in the performance of nō, the ma of sound and silence does not have an organic relation for the purpose of artistic expression. Rather, these two elements contrast sharply with one another in an immaterial balance.
In 1970, Takemitsu received a commission from the National Theatre of Japan to write a work for the gagaku ensemble of the Imperial Household; this was fulfilled in 1973, when he completed Shuteiga ("In an Autumn Garden", although he later incorporated the work, as the fourth movement, into his 50-minute-long "In an Autumn Garden—Complete Version"). As well as being "... the furthest removed from the West of any work he had written", While it introduces certain Western musical ideas to the Japanese court ensemble, the work represents the deepest of Takemitsu's investigations into Japanese musical tradition, the lasting effects of which are clearly reflected in his works for conventional Western ensemble formats that followed.
In Garden Rain (1974, for brass ensemble), the limited and pitch-specific harmonic vocabulary of the Japanese mouth organ, the shō (see ex. 3), and its specific timbres, are clearly emulated in Takemitsu's writing for brass instruments; even similarities of performance practice can be seen, (the players are often required to hold notes to the limit of their breath capacity). In A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden, the characteristic timbres of the shō and its chords (several of which are simultaneous soundings of traditional Japanese pentatonic scales) are emulated in the opening held chords of the wind instruments (the first chord is in fact an exact transposition of the shō's chord, Jū (i); see ex. 3); meanwhile a solo oboe is assigned a melodic line that is similarly reminiscent of the lines played by the hichiriki in gagaku ensembles.
Influence of Messiaen
The influence of Olivier Messiaen on Takemitsu was already apparent in some of Takemitsu's earliest published works. By the time he composed Lento in Due Movimenti, (1950), Takemitsu had already come into possession of a copy of Messiaen's 8 Préludes (through Toshi Ichiyanagi), and the influence of Messiaen is clearly visible in the work, in the use of modes, the suspension of regular metre, and sensitivity to timbre. Throughout his career, Takemitsu often made use of modes from which he derived his musical material, both melodic and harmonic among which Messiaen's modes of limited transposition to appear with some frequency. In particular, the use of the octatonic, (mode II, or the 8–28 collection), and mode VI (8–25) is particularly common. However, Takemitsu pointed out that he had used the octatonic collection in his music before ever coming across it in Messiaen's music.
In 1975, Takemitsu met Messiaen in New York, and during "what was to be a one-hour 'lesson' [but which] lasted three hours ... Messiaen played his Quartet for the End of Time for Takemitsu at the piano", which, Takemitsu recalled, was like listening to an orchestral performance. Takemitsu responded to this with his homage to the French composer, Quatrain, for which he asked Messiaen's permission to use the same instrumental combination for the main quartet, cello, violin, clarinet and piano (which is accompanied by orchestra). As well as the obvious similarity of instrumentation, Takemitsu employs several melodic figures that appear to "mimic" certain musical examples given by Messiaen in his Technique de mon langage musical, (see ex. 4). In 1977, Takemitsu reworked Quatrain for quartet alone, without orchestra, and titled the new work Quatrain II.
On hearing of Messiaen's death in 1992, Takemitsu was interviewed by telephone, and still in shock, "blurted out, 'His death leaves a crisis in contemporary music!'" Then later, in an obituary written for the French composer in the same year, Takemitsu further expressed his sense of loss at Messiaen's death: "Truly, he was my spiritual mentor ... Among the many things I learned from his music, the concept and experience of color and the form of time will be unforgettable." The composition Rain Tree Sketch II, which was to be Takemitsu's final piano piece, was also written that year and subtitled "In Memoriam Olivier Messiaen".
Influence of Debussy
Takemitsu frequently expressed his indebtedness to Claude Debussy, referring to the French composer as his "great mentor". As Arnold Whittall puts it:
Given the enthusiasm for the exotic and the Orient in these [Debussy and Messiaen] and other French composers, it is understandable that Takemitsu should have been attracted to the expressive and formal qualities of music in which flexibility of rhythm and richness of harmony count for so much.
For Takemitsu, Debussy's "greatest contribution was his unique orchestration which emphasizes colour, light and shadow ... the orchestration of Debussy has many musical focuses." He was fully aware of Debussy's own interest in Japanese art, (the cover of the first edition of La mer, for example, was famously adorned by Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa). For Takemitsu, this interest in Japanese culture, combined with his unique personality, and perhaps most importantly, his lineage as a composer of the French musical tradition running from Rameau and Lully through Berlioz in which colour is given special attention, gave Debussy his unique style and sense of orchestration.
During the composition of Green (November Steps II, for orchestra, 1967: "steeped in the sound-color world of the orchestral music of Claude Debussy") Takemitsu said he had taken the scores of Debussy's Prélude à l'Après-midi d'un Faune and Jeux to the mountain villa where both this work and November Steps I were composed. For Oliver Knussen, "the final appearance of the main theme irresistibly prompts the thought that Takemitsu may, quite unconsciously, have been attempting a latter-day Japanese Après-midi d'un Faune". Details of orchestration in Green, such as the prominent use of antique cymbals, and tremolandi harmonies in the strings, clearly point to the influence of Takemitsu's compositional mentor, and of these works in particular.
In Quotation of Dream (1991), direct quotations from Debussy's La Mer and Takemitsu's earlier works relating to the sea are incorporated into the musical flow ("stylistic jolts were not intended"), depicting the landscape outside the Japanese garden of his own music.
Motives
Several recurring musical motives can be heard in Takemitsu's works. In particular the pitch motive E♭–E–A can be heard in many of his later works, whose titles refer to water in some form (Toward the Sea, 1981; Rain Tree Sketch, 1982; I Hear the Water Dreaming, 1987).
When spelt in German (Es–E–A), the motive can be seen as a musical "transliteration" of the word "sea". Takemitsu used this motive (usually transposed) to indicate the presence of water in his "musical landscapes", even in works whose titles do not directly refer to water, such as A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden (1977; see ex. 5).
Musique concrète
During Takemitsu's years as a member of the Jikken Kōbō, he experimented with compositions of musique concrète (and a very limited amount of electronic music, the most notable example being Stanza II for harp and tape written later in 1972). In Water Music (1960), Takemitsu's source material consisted entirely of sounds produced by droplets of water. His manipulation of these sounds, through the use of highly percussive envelopes, often results in a resemblance to traditional Japanese instruments, such as the tsuzumi and nō ensembles.
Aleatory techniques
One aspect of John Cage's compositional procedure that Takemitsu continued to use throughout his career, was the use of indeterminacy, in which performers are given a degree of choice in what to perform. As mentioned previously, this was particularly used in works such as November Steps, in which musicians playing traditional Japanese instruments were able to play in an orchestral setting with a certain degree of improvisational freedom.
However, he also employed a technique that is sometimes called "aleatory counterpoint" in his well-known orchestral work A Flock Descends Into the Pentagonal Garden (1977, at [J] in the score), and in the score of Arc II: i Textures (1964) for piano and orchestra, in which sections of the orchestra are divided into groups, and required to repeat short passages of music at will. In these passages the overall sequence of events is, however, controlled by the conductor, who is instructed about the approximate durations for each section, and who indicates to the orchestra when to move from one section to next. The technique is commonly found in the work of Witold Lutosławski, who pioneered it in his Jeux vénitiens.
Film music
Takemitsu's contribution to film music was considerable; in under 40 years he composed music for over 100 films, some of which were written for purely financial reasons (such as those written for Noboru Nakamura). However, as the composer attained financial independence, he grew more selective, often reading whole scripts before agreeing to compose the music, and later surveying the action on set, "breathing the atmosphere" whilst conceiving his musical ideas.
One notable consideration in Takemitsu's composition for film was his careful use of silence (also important in many of his concert works), which often immediately intensifies the events on screen, and prevents any monotony through a continuous musical accompaniment. For the first battle scene of Akira Kurosawa's Ran, Takemitsu provided an extended passage of intense elegiac quality that halts at the sound of a single gunshot, leaving the audience with the pure "sounds of battle: cries screams and neighing horses".
Takemitsu attached the greatest importance to the director's conception of the film; in an interview with Max Tessier, he explained that, "everything depends on the film itself ... I try to concentrate as much as possible on the subject, so that I can express what the director feels himself. I try to extend his feelings with my music."
Legacy
In a memorial issue of Contemporary Music Review, Jō Kondō wrote, "Needless to say, Takemitsu is among the most important composers in Japanese music history. He was also the first Japanese composer fully recognized in the west, and remained the guiding light for the younger generations of Japanese composers."
Composer Peter Lieberson shared the following in his program note to The Ocean that has no East and West, written in memory of Takemitsu: "I spent the most time with Toru in Tokyo when I was invited to be a guest composer at his Music Today Festival in 1987. Peter Serkin and composer Oliver Knussen were also there, as was cellist Fred Sherry. Though he was the senior of our group by many years, Toru stayed up with us every night and literally drank us under the table. I was confirmed in my impression of Toru as a person who lived his life like a traditional Zen poet."
In the foreword to a selection of Takemitsu's writings in English, conductor Seiji Ozawa writes: "I am very proud of my friend Toru Takemitsu. He is the first Japanese composer to write for a world audience and achieve international recognition."
Awards and honours
Takemitsu won awards for composition, both in Japan and abroad, including the Prix Italia for his orchestral work Tableau noir in 1958, the Otaka Prize in 1976 and 1981, the Los Angeles Film Critics Award in 1987 (for the film score Ran) and the University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition in 1994 (for Fantasma/Cantos). In Japan, he received the Film Awards of the Japanese Academy for outstanding achievement in music, for soundtracks to the following films:
1979
1985 Fire Festival (film)
1986
1990
1996
He was also invited to attend numerous international festivals throughout his career, and presented lectures and talks at academic institutions across the world. He was made an honorary member of the Akademie der Künste of the DDR in 1979, and the American Institute of Arts and Letters in 1985. He was admitted to the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1985, and the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1986. He was the recipient of the 22nd Suntory Music Award (1990). Posthumously, Takemitsu received an Honorary Doctorate from Columbia University early in 1996 and was awarded the fourth Glenn Gould Prize in fall 1996.
The Toru Takemitsu Composition Award, intended to "encourage a younger generation of composers who will shape the coming age through their new musical works", is named after him.
Literary works
Takemitsu, Tōru, with Cronin, Tania and Tann, Hilary, "Afterword", Perspectives of New Music, vol. 27, no. 2 (Summer, 1989), 205–214, (subscription access)
Takemitsu, Tōru, (trans. Adachi, Sumi with Reynolds, Roger), "Mirrors", Perspectives of New Music, vol. 30, no. 1 (Winter, 1992), 36–80, (subscription access)
Takemitsu, Tōru, (trans. Hugh de Ferranti) "One Sound", Contemporary Music Review, vol. 8, part 2, (Harwood, 1994), 3–4, (subscription access)
Takemitsu, Tōru, "Contemporary Music in Japan", Perspectives of New Music, vol. 27, no. 2 (Summer, 1989), 198–204 (subscription access)
Notes and references
Sources
General references
Further reading
External links
Toru Takemitsu: Complete Works
Slate article focusing on his film music
Interview with Toru Takemitsu
Interview with Tōru Takemitsu, March 6, 1990
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"Grow Up may refer to:\nAdvance in age\nProgress toward psychological maturity\nGrow Up (book), a 2007 book by Keith Allen\nGrow Up (video game), 2016 video game\n\nMusic\nGrow Up (Desperate Journalist album), 2017\nGrow Up (The Queers album), 1990\nGrow Up (Svoy album), 2011\nGrow Up, a 2015 EP by HALO\n\"Grow Up\" (Olly Murs song)\n\"Grow Up\" (Paramore song)\n\"Grow Up\" (Simple Plan song)\n\"Grow Up\", a song by Rockwell\n\"Grow Up\", a song from the Bratz album Rock Angelz\n\"Grow Up\", a song by Cher Lloyd from Sticks and Stones\n\nSee also\nGrowing Up (disambiguation)\nGrow Up, Tony Phillips, a 2013 film by Emily Hagins",
"\"When I Grow Up\" is the second single from Swedish recording artist Fever Ray's self-titled debut album, Fever Ray (2009).\n\nCritical reception\nPitchfork Media placed \"When I Grow Up\" at number 36 on the website's list of The Top 100 Tracks of 2009.\n\nMusic video\nThe music video for \"When I Grow Up\" was directed by Martin de Thurah. He said of the video's visual statement:\n\n\"That initial idea was something about something coming out of water—something which was about to take form – a state turning into something new. And a double headed creature not deciding which to turn. But the idea had to take a simpler form, to let the song grow by itself. I remembered a photo I took in Croatia two years ago, a swimming pool with its shining blue color in a grey foggy autumn landscape.\"\n\nThe video premiered on Fever Ray's YouTube channel on 19 February 2009. It has received over 12 million views as of March 2016.\n\n\"When I Grow Up\" was placed at number three on Spins list of The 20 Best Videos of 2009.\n\nTrack listings\niTunes single\n\"When I Grow Up\" – 4:31\n\"When I Grow Up\" (Håkan Lidbo's Encephalitis Remix) – 5:59\n\"When I Grow Up\" (D. Lissvik) – 4:28\n\"Memories from When I Grew Up (Remembered by The Subliminal Kid)\" – 16:41\n\"When I Grow Up\" (Van Rivers Dark Sails on the Horizon Mix) – 9:16\n\"When I Grow Up\" (We Grow Apart Vocal Version by Pär Grindvik) – 6:02\n\"When I Grow Up\" (We Grow Apart Inspiration - Take 2 - By Pär Grindvik) – 7:59\n\"When I Grow Up\" (Scuba's High Up Mix) – 6:17\n\"When I Grow Up\" (Scuba's Straight Down Mix) – 5:54\n\"When I Grow Up\" (Video) – 4:04\n\nSwedish 12\" single \nA1. \"When I Grow Up\" (Van Rivers Dark Sails on the Horizon Mix) – 9:10\nA2. \"When I Grow Up\" (D. Lissvik) – 4:28\nB1. \"Memories from When I Grew Up (Remembered by The Subliminal Kid)\" – 16:41\n\nUK promo CD single \n\"When I Grow Up\" (Edit) – 3:42\n\"When I Grow Up\" (D. Lissvik Radio Edit) – 3:19\n\nNominations\n\nAppearances in other media\nThe song was used as part of the soundtrack for the video game Pro Evolution Soccer 2011.\n\nReferences\n\n2009 singles\n2009 songs\nFever Ray songs\nSongs written by Karin Dreijer"
] |
[
"Tōru Takemitsu",
"Youth",
"Where did he grow up?",
"Takemitsu was born in Tokyo on October 8, 1930; a month later his family moved to Dalian in the Chinese province of Liaoning."
] |
C_d715fc0882a64c7d8f302d6e780bebba_1
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Did he have any siblings?
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Did Toru Tokemitsu have any siblings?
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Tōru Takemitsu
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Takemitsu was born in Tokyo on October 8, 1930; a month later his family moved to Dalian in the Chinese province of Liaoning. In 1938 he returned to Japan to attend elementary school, but his education was cut short by military conscription in 1944. Takemitsu described his experience of military service at such a young age, under the Japanese Nationalist government, as "... extremely bitter". Takemitsu first became really conscious of Western classical music during his term of military service, in the form of a popular French Song ("Parlez-moi d'amour") which he listened to with colleagues in secret, played on a gramophone with a makeshift needle fashioned from bamboo. During the post-war U.S. occupation of Japan, Takemitsu worked for the U.S. Armed Forces, but was ill for a long period. Hospitalised and bed-ridden, he took the opportunity to listen to as much Western music as he could on the U.S. Armed Forces network. While deeply affected by these experiences of Western music, he simultaneously felt a need to distance himself from the traditional music of his native Japan. He explained much later, in a lecture at the New York International Festival of the Arts, that for him Japanese traditional music "always recalled the bitter memories of war". Despite his almost complete lack of musical training, and taking inspiration from what little Western music he had heard, Takemitsu began to compose in earnest at the age of 16: "... I began [writing] music attracted to music itself as one human being. Being in music I found my raison d'etre as a man. After the war, music was the only thing. Choosing to be in music clarified my identity." Though he studied briefly with Yasuji Kiyose beginning in 1948, Takemitsu remained largely self-taught throughout his musical career. CANNOTANSWER
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CANNOTANSWER
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was a Japanese composer and writer on aesthetics and music theory. Largely self-taught, Takemitsu was admired for the subtle manipulation of instrumental and orchestral timbre. He is known for combining elements of oriental and occidental philosophy and for fusing sound with silence and tradition with innovation.
He composed several hundred independent works of music, scored more than ninety films and published twenty books. He was also a founding member of the Jikken Kōbō (Experimental Workshop) in Japan, a group of avant-garde artists who distanced themselves from academia and whose collaborative work is often regarded among the most influential of the 20th century.
His 1957 Requiem for string orchestra attracted international attention, led to several commissions from across the world and established his reputation as the leading 20th-century Japanese composer. He was the recipient of numerous awards and honours and the Toru Takemitsu Composition Award is named after him.
Biography
Youth
Takemitsu was born in Tokyo on October 8, 1930; a month later his family moved to Dalian in the Chinese province of Liaoning. In 1938 he returned to Japan to attend elementary school, but his education was cut short by military conscription in 1944. Takemitsu described his experience of military service at such a young age, under the Japanese Nationalist government, as "... extremely bitter". Takemitsu first became conscious of Western classical music during his term of military service, in the form of a popular French Song ("Parlez-moi d'amour") which he listened to with colleagues in secret, played on a gramophone with a makeshift needle fashioned from bamboo.
During the post-war U.S. occupation of Japan, Takemitsu worked for the U.S. Armed Forces, but was ill for a long period. Hospitalised and bed-ridden, he took the opportunity to listen to as much Western music as he could on the U.S. Armed Forces network. While deeply affected by these experiences of Western music, he simultaneously felt a need to distance himself from the traditional music of his native Japan. He explained much later, in a lecture at the New York International Festival of the Arts, that for him Japanese traditional music "always recalled the bitter memories of war".
Despite his lack of musical training, and taking inspiration from what little Western music he had heard, Takemitsu began to compose in earnest at the age of 16: "... I began [writing] music attracted to music itself as one human being. Being in music I found my raison d'être as a man. After the war, music was the only thing. Choosing to be in music clarified my identity." Though he studied briefly with Yasuji Kiyose beginning in 1948, Takemitsu remained largely self-taught throughout his musical career.
Early development and Jikken Kōbō
In 1948, Takemitsu conceived the idea of electronic music technology, or in his own words, to "bring noise into tempered musical tones inside a busy small tube." During the 1950s, Takemitsu had learned that in 1948 "a French [engineer] Pierre Schaeffer invented the method(s) of musique concrète based on the same idea as mine. I was pleased with this coincidence."
In 1951, Takemitsu was a founding member of the anti-academic : an artistic group established for multidisciplinary collaboration on mixed-media projects, who sought to avoid Japanese artistic tradition. The performances and works undertaken by the group introduced several contemporary Western composers to Japanese audiences. During this period he wrote Saegirarenai Kyūsoku I ("Uninterrupted Rest I", 1952: a piano work, without a regular rhythmic pulse or barlines); and by 1955 Takemitsu had begun to use electronic tape-recording techniques in such works as Relief Statique (1955) and Vocalism A·I (1956). Takemitsu also studied in the early 1950s with the composer Fumio Hayasaka, perhaps best known for the scores he wrote for films by Kenji Mizoguchi and Akira Kurosawa, the latter of whom Takemitsu would collaborate with decades later.
In the late 1950s chance brought Takemitsu international attention: his Requiem for string orchestra (1957), written as an homage to Hayasaka, was heard by Igor Stravinsky in 1958 during his visit to Japan. (The NHK had organised opportunities for Stravinsky to listen to some of the latest Japanese music; when Takemitsu's work was put on by mistake, Stravinsky insisted on hearing it to the end.) At a press conference later, Stravinsky expressed his admiration for the work, praising its "sincerity" and "passionate" writing. Stravinsky subsequently invited Takemitsu to lunch; and for Takemitsu this was an "unforgettable" experience. After Stravinsky returned to the U.S., Takemitsu soon received a commission for a new work from the Koussevitsky Foundation which, he assumed, had come as a suggestion from Stravinsky to Aaron Copland. For this he composed Dorian Horizon, (1966), which was premièred by the San Francisco Symphony, conducted by Copland.
Influence of Cage; interest in traditional Japanese music
During his time with Jikken Kōbō, Takemitsu came into contact with the experimental work of John Cage; but when the composer Toshi Ichiyanagi returned from his studies in America in 1961, he gave the first Japanese performance of Cage's Concert for Piano and Orchestra. This left a "deep impression" on Takemitsu: he recalled the impact of hearing the work when writing an obituary for Cage, 31 years later. This encouraged Takemitsu in his use of indeterminate procedures and graphic-score notation, for example in the graphic scores of Ring (1961), Corona for pianist(s) and Corona II for string(s) (both 1962). In these works each performer is presented with cards printed with coloured circular patterns which are freely arranged by the performer to create "the score".
Although the immediate influence of Cage's procedures did not last in Takemitsu's music—Coral Island, for example for soprano and orchestra (1962) shows significant departures from indeterminate procedures partly as a result of Takemitsu's renewed interest in the music of Anton Webern—certain similarities between Cage's philosophies and Takemitsu's thought remained. For example, Cage's emphasis on timbres within individual sound-events, and his notion of silence "as plenum rather than vacuum", can be aligned with Takemitsu's interest in ma. Furthermore, Cage's interest in Zen practice (through his contact with Zen scholar Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki) seems to have resulted in a renewed interest in the East in general, and ultimately alerted Takemitsu to the potential for incorporating elements drawn from Japanese traditional music into his composition:
I must express my deep and sincere gratitude to John Cage. The reason for this is that in my own life, in my own development, for a long period I struggled to avoid being "Japanese", to avoid "Japanese" qualities. It was largely through my contact with John Cage that I came to recognize the value of my own tradition.
For Takemitsu, as he explained later in a lecture in 1988, one performance of Japanese traditional music stood out:
One day I chanced to see a performance of the Bunraku puppet theater and was very surprised by it. It was in the tone quality, the timbre, of the futazao shamisen, the wide-necked shamisen used in Bunraku, that I first recognized the splendor of traditional Japanese music. I was very moved by it and I wondered why my attention had never been captured before by this Japanese music.
Thereafter, he resolved to study all types of traditional Japanese music, paying special attention to the differences between the two very different musical traditions, in a diligent attempt to "bring forth the sensibilities of Japanese music that had always been within [him]". This was no easy task, since in the years following the war traditional music was largely overlooked and ignored: only one or two "masters" continued to keep their art alive, often meeting with public indifference. In conservatoria across the country, even students of traditional instruments were always required to learn the piano.
From the early 1960s, Takemitsu began to make use of traditional Japanese instruments in his music, and even took up playing the biwa—an instrument he used in his score for the film Seppuku (1962). In 1967, Takemitsu received a commission from the New York Philharmonic, to commemorate the orchestra's 125th anniversary, for which he wrote November Steps for biwa, shakuhachi, and orchestra. Initially, Takemitsu had great difficulty in uniting these instruments from such different musical cultures in one work. Eclipse for biwa and shakuhachi (1966) illustrates Takemitsu's attempts to find a viable notational system for these instruments, which in normal circumstances neither sound together nor are used in works notated in any system of Western staff notation.
The first performance of November Steps was given in 1967, under Seiji Ozawa. Despite the trials of writing such an ambitious work, Takemitsu maintained "that making the attempt was very worthwhile because what resulted somehow liberated music from a certain stagnation and brought to music something distinctly new and different". The work was distributed widely in the West when it was coupled as the fourth side of an LP release of Messiaen's Turangalîla Symphony.
In 1972, Takemitsu, accompanied by Iannis Xenakis, Betsy Jolas, and others, heard Balinese gamelan music in Bali. The experience influenced the composer on a largely philosophical and theological level. For those accompanying Takemitsu on the expedition (most of whom were French musicians), who "... could not keep their composure as I did before this music: it was too foreign for them to be able to assess the resulting discrepancies with their logic", the experience was without precedent. For Takemitsu, however, by now quite familiar with his own native musical tradition, there was a relationship between "the sounds of the gamelan, the tone of the kapachi, the unique scales and rhythms by which they are formed, and Japanese traditional music which had shaped such a large part of my sensitivity". In his solo piano work For Away (written for Roger Woodward in 1973), a single, complex line is distributed between the pianist's hands, which reflects the interlocking patterns between the metallophones of a gamelan orchestra.
A year later, Takemitsu returned to the instrumental combination of shakuhachi, biwa, and orchestra, in the less well known work Autumn (1973). The significance of this work is revealed in its far greater integration of the traditional Japanese instruments into the orchestral discourse; whereas in November Steps, the two contrasting instrumental ensembles perform largely in alternation, with only a few moments of contact. Takemitsu expressed this change in attitude:
But now my attitude is getting to be a little different, I think. Now my concern is mostly to find out what there is in common ... Autumn was written after November Steps. I really wanted to do something which I hadn't done in November Steps, not to blend the instruments, but to integrate them.
International status and the gradual shift in style
By 1970, Takemitsu's reputation as a leading member of avant-garde community was well established, and during his involvement with Expo '70 in Osaka, he was at last able to meet more of his Western colleagues, including Karlheinz Stockhausen. Also, during a contemporary music festival in April 1970, produced by the Japanese composer himself ("Iron and Steel Pavilion"), Takemitsu met among the participants Lukas Foss, Peter Sculthorpe, and Vinko Globokar. Later that year, as part of a commission from Paul Sacher and the Zurich Collegium Musicum, Takemitsu incorporated into his Eucalypts I parts for international performers: flautist Aurèle Nicolet, oboist Heinz Holliger, and harpist Ursula Holliger.
Critical examination of the complex instrumental works written during this period for the new generation of "contemporary soloists" reveals the level of his high-profile engagement with the Western avant-garde, in works such as Voice for solo flute (1971), Waves for clarinet, horn, two trombones and bass drum (1976), Quatrain for clarinet, violin, cello, piano and orchestra (1977). Experiments and works that incorporated traditional Japanese musical ideas and language continued to appear in his output, and an increased interest in the traditional Japanese garden began to reflect itself in works such as for gagaku orchestra (1973), and A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden for orchestra (1977).
Throughout this apogee of avant-garde work, Takemitsu's musical style seems to have undergone a series of stylistic changes. Comparison of Green (for orchestra, 1967) and A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden (1977) quickly reveals the seeds of this change. The latter was composed according to a pre-compositional scheme, in which pentatonic modes were superimposed over one central pentatonic scale (the so-called "black-key pentatonic") around a central sustained central pitch (F-sharp), and an approach that is highly indicative of the sort of "pantonal" and modal pitch material seen gradually emerging in his works throughout the 1970s. The former, Green (or November Steps II) written 10 years earlier, is heavily influenced by Debussy, and is, in spite of its very dissonant language (including momentary quarter-tone clusters), largely constructed through a complex web of modal forms. These modal forms are largely audible, particularly in the momentary repose toward the end of the work. Thus in these works, it is possible to see both a continuity of approach, and the emergence of a simpler harmonic language that was to characterise the work of his later period.
His friend and colleague Jō Kondō said, "If his later works sound different from earlier pieces, it is due to his gradual refining of his basic style rather than any real alteration of it."
Later works: the sea of tonality
In a Tokyo lecture given in 1984, Takemitsu identified a melodic motive in his Far Calls. Coming Far! (for violin and orchestra, 1980) that would recur throughout his later works:
I wanted to plan a tonal "sea". Here the "sea" is E-flat [Es in German nomenclature]-E-A, a three-note ascending motive consisting of a half step and perfect fourth. [... In Far Calls] this is extended upward from A with two major thirds and one minor third ... Using these patterns I set the "sea of tonality" from which many pantonal chords flow.
Takemitsu's words here highlight his changing stylistic trends from the late 1970s into the 1980s, which have been described as "an increased use of diatonic material [... with] references to tertian harmony and jazz voicing", which do not, however, project a sense of "large-scale tonality". Many of the works from this period have titles that include a reference to water: Toward the Sea (1981), Rain Tree and Rain Coming (1982), riverrun and I Hear the Water Dreaming (1987). Takemitsu wrote in his notes for the score of Rain Coming that "... the complete collection [is] entitled "Waterscape" ... it was the composer's intention to create a series of works, which like their subject, pass through various metamorphoses, culminating in a sea of tonality." Throughout these works, the S-E-A motive (discussed further below) features prominently, and points to an increased emphasis on the melodic element in Takemitsu's music that began during this later period.
His 1981 work for orchestra named Dreamtime was inspired by a visit to Groote Eylandt, off the coast of the Northern Territory of Australia, to witness a large gathering of Australian indigenous dancers, singers and story tellers. He was there at the invitation of the choreographer Jiří Kylián.
Pedal notes played an increasingly prominent role in Takemitsu's music during this period, as in A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden. In Dream/Window, (orchestra, 1985) a pedal D serves as anchor point, holding together statements of a striking four-note motivic gesture which recurs in various instrumental and rhythmic guises throughout. Very occasionally, fully fledged references to diatonic tonality can be found, often in harmonic allusions to early- and pre-20th-century composers—for example, Folios for guitar (1974), which quotes from J. S. Bach's St Matthew Passion, and Family Tree for narrator and orchestra (1984), which invokes the musical language of Maurice Ravel and American popular song. (He revered the St Matthew Passion, and would play through it on the piano before commencing a new work, as a form of "purificatory ritual".)
By this time, Takemitsu's incorporation of traditional Japanese (and other Eastern) musical traditions with his Western style had become much more integrated. Takemitsu commented, "There is no doubt ... the various countries and cultures of the world have begun a journey toward the geographic and historic unity of all peoples ... The old and new exist within me with equal weight."
Toward the end of his life, Takemitsu had planned to complete an opera, a collaboration with the novelist Barry Gifford and the director Daniel Schmid, commissioned by the Opéra National de Lyon in France. He was in the process of publishing a plan of its musical and dramatic structure with Kenzaburō Ōe, but he was prevented from completing it by his death at 65. He died of pneumonia on February 20, 1996, while undergoing treatment for bladder cancer.
Personal life
He was married to Asaka Takemitsu (formerly Wakayama) for 42 years. She first met Toru in 1951, cared for him when he was suffering from tuberculosis in his early twenties, then married him in 1954. They had one child, a daughter named Maki. Asaka attended most premieres of his music and published a memoir of their life together in 2010.
Music
Composers whom Takemitsu cited as influential in his early work include Claude Debussy, Anton Webern, Edgard Varèse, Arnold Schoenberg, and Olivier Messiaen. Messiaen in particular was introduced to him by fellow composer Toshi Ichiyanagi, and remained a lifelong influence. Although Takemitsu's wartime experiences of nationalism initially discouraged him from cultivating an interest in traditional Japanese music, he showed an early interest in "... the Japanese Garden in color spacing and form ...". The formal garden of the kaiyu-shiki interested him in particular.
He expressed his unusual stance toward compositional theory early on, his lack of respect for the "trite rules of music, rules that are ... stifled by formulas and calculations"; for Takemitsu it was of far greater importance that "sounds have the freedom to breathe. ... Just as one cannot plan his life, neither can he plan music".
Takemitsu's sensitivity to instrumental and orchestral timbre can be heard throughout his work, and is often made apparent by the unusual instrumental combinations he specified. This is evident in works such as November Steps, that combine traditional Japanese instruments, shakuhachi and biwa, with a conventional Western orchestra. It may also be discerned in his works for ensembles that make no use of traditional instruments, for example Quotation of Dream (1991), Archipelago S., for 21 players (1993), and Arc I & II (1963–66/1976). In these works, the more conventional orchestral forces are divided into unconventional "groups". Even where these instrumental combinations were determined by the particular ensemble commissioning the work, "Takemitsu's genius for instrumentation (and genius it was, in my view) ...", in the words of Oliver Knussen, "... creates the illusion that the instrumental restrictions are self-imposed".
Influence of traditional Japanese music
Takemitsu summarized his initial aversion to Japanese (and all non-Western) traditional musical forms in his own words: "There may be folk music with strength and beauty, but I cannot be completely honest in this kind of music. I want a more active relationship to the present. (Folk music in a 'contemporary style' is nothing but a deception)." His dislike for the musical traditions of Japan in particular were intensified by his experiences of the war, during which Japanese music became associated with militaristic and nationalistic cultural ideals.
Nevertheless, Takemitsu incorporated some idiomatic elements of Japanese music in his very earliest works, perhaps unconsciously. One unpublished set of pieces, Kakehi ("Conduit"), written at the age of seventeen, incorporates the ryō, ritsu and insen scales throughout. When Takemitsu discovered that these "nationalist" elements had somehow found their way into his music, he was so alarmed that he later destroyed the works. Further examples can be seen for example in the quarter-tone glissandi of Masques I (for two flutes, 1959), which mirror the characteristic pitch bends of the shakuhachi, and for which he devised his own unique notation: a held note is tied to an enharmonic spelling of the same pitch class, with a portamento direction across the tie.
Other Japanese characteristics, including the further use of traditional pentatonic scales, continued to crop up elsewhere in his early works. In the opening bars of Litany, for Michael Vyner, a reconstruction from memory by Takemitsu of Lento in Due Movimenti (1950; the original score was lost), pentatonicism is clearly visible in the upper voice, which opens the work on an unaccompanied anacrusis. The pitches of the opening melody combine to form the constituent notes of the ascending form of the Japanese in scale.
When, from the early 1960s, Takemitsu began to "consciously apprehend" the sounds of traditional Japanese music, he found that his creative process, "the logic of my compositional thought[,] was torn apart", and nevertheless, "hogaku [traditional Japanese music ...] seized my heart and refuses to release it". In particular, Takemitsu perceived that, for example, the sound of a single stroke of the biwa or single pitch breathed through the shakuhachi, could "so transport our reason because they are of extreme complexity ... already complete in themselves". This fascination with the sounds produced in traditional Japanese music brought Takemitsu to his idea of ma (usually translated as the space between two objects), which ultimately informed his understanding of the intense quality of traditional Japanese music as a whole:
Just one sound can be complete in itself, for its complexity lies in the formulation of ma, an unquantifiable metaphysical space (duration) of dynamically tensed absence of sound. For example, in the performance of nō, the ma of sound and silence does not have an organic relation for the purpose of artistic expression. Rather, these two elements contrast sharply with one another in an immaterial balance.
In 1970, Takemitsu received a commission from the National Theatre of Japan to write a work for the gagaku ensemble of the Imperial Household; this was fulfilled in 1973, when he completed Shuteiga ("In an Autumn Garden", although he later incorporated the work, as the fourth movement, into his 50-minute-long "In an Autumn Garden—Complete Version"). As well as being "... the furthest removed from the West of any work he had written", While it introduces certain Western musical ideas to the Japanese court ensemble, the work represents the deepest of Takemitsu's investigations into Japanese musical tradition, the lasting effects of which are clearly reflected in his works for conventional Western ensemble formats that followed.
In Garden Rain (1974, for brass ensemble), the limited and pitch-specific harmonic vocabulary of the Japanese mouth organ, the shō (see ex. 3), and its specific timbres, are clearly emulated in Takemitsu's writing for brass instruments; even similarities of performance practice can be seen, (the players are often required to hold notes to the limit of their breath capacity). In A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden, the characteristic timbres of the shō and its chords (several of which are simultaneous soundings of traditional Japanese pentatonic scales) are emulated in the opening held chords of the wind instruments (the first chord is in fact an exact transposition of the shō's chord, Jū (i); see ex. 3); meanwhile a solo oboe is assigned a melodic line that is similarly reminiscent of the lines played by the hichiriki in gagaku ensembles.
Influence of Messiaen
The influence of Olivier Messiaen on Takemitsu was already apparent in some of Takemitsu's earliest published works. By the time he composed Lento in Due Movimenti, (1950), Takemitsu had already come into possession of a copy of Messiaen's 8 Préludes (through Toshi Ichiyanagi), and the influence of Messiaen is clearly visible in the work, in the use of modes, the suspension of regular metre, and sensitivity to timbre. Throughout his career, Takemitsu often made use of modes from which he derived his musical material, both melodic and harmonic among which Messiaen's modes of limited transposition to appear with some frequency. In particular, the use of the octatonic, (mode II, or the 8–28 collection), and mode VI (8–25) is particularly common. However, Takemitsu pointed out that he had used the octatonic collection in his music before ever coming across it in Messiaen's music.
In 1975, Takemitsu met Messiaen in New York, and during "what was to be a one-hour 'lesson' [but which] lasted three hours ... Messiaen played his Quartet for the End of Time for Takemitsu at the piano", which, Takemitsu recalled, was like listening to an orchestral performance. Takemitsu responded to this with his homage to the French composer, Quatrain, for which he asked Messiaen's permission to use the same instrumental combination for the main quartet, cello, violin, clarinet and piano (which is accompanied by orchestra). As well as the obvious similarity of instrumentation, Takemitsu employs several melodic figures that appear to "mimic" certain musical examples given by Messiaen in his Technique de mon langage musical, (see ex. 4). In 1977, Takemitsu reworked Quatrain for quartet alone, without orchestra, and titled the new work Quatrain II.
On hearing of Messiaen's death in 1992, Takemitsu was interviewed by telephone, and still in shock, "blurted out, 'His death leaves a crisis in contemporary music!'" Then later, in an obituary written for the French composer in the same year, Takemitsu further expressed his sense of loss at Messiaen's death: "Truly, he was my spiritual mentor ... Among the many things I learned from his music, the concept and experience of color and the form of time will be unforgettable." The composition Rain Tree Sketch II, which was to be Takemitsu's final piano piece, was also written that year and subtitled "In Memoriam Olivier Messiaen".
Influence of Debussy
Takemitsu frequently expressed his indebtedness to Claude Debussy, referring to the French composer as his "great mentor". As Arnold Whittall puts it:
Given the enthusiasm for the exotic and the Orient in these [Debussy and Messiaen] and other French composers, it is understandable that Takemitsu should have been attracted to the expressive and formal qualities of music in which flexibility of rhythm and richness of harmony count for so much.
For Takemitsu, Debussy's "greatest contribution was his unique orchestration which emphasizes colour, light and shadow ... the orchestration of Debussy has many musical focuses." He was fully aware of Debussy's own interest in Japanese art, (the cover of the first edition of La mer, for example, was famously adorned by Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa). For Takemitsu, this interest in Japanese culture, combined with his unique personality, and perhaps most importantly, his lineage as a composer of the French musical tradition running from Rameau and Lully through Berlioz in which colour is given special attention, gave Debussy his unique style and sense of orchestration.
During the composition of Green (November Steps II, for orchestra, 1967: "steeped in the sound-color world of the orchestral music of Claude Debussy") Takemitsu said he had taken the scores of Debussy's Prélude à l'Après-midi d'un Faune and Jeux to the mountain villa where both this work and November Steps I were composed. For Oliver Knussen, "the final appearance of the main theme irresistibly prompts the thought that Takemitsu may, quite unconsciously, have been attempting a latter-day Japanese Après-midi d'un Faune". Details of orchestration in Green, such as the prominent use of antique cymbals, and tremolandi harmonies in the strings, clearly point to the influence of Takemitsu's compositional mentor, and of these works in particular.
In Quotation of Dream (1991), direct quotations from Debussy's La Mer and Takemitsu's earlier works relating to the sea are incorporated into the musical flow ("stylistic jolts were not intended"), depicting the landscape outside the Japanese garden of his own music.
Motives
Several recurring musical motives can be heard in Takemitsu's works. In particular the pitch motive E♭–E–A can be heard in many of his later works, whose titles refer to water in some form (Toward the Sea, 1981; Rain Tree Sketch, 1982; I Hear the Water Dreaming, 1987).
When spelt in German (Es–E–A), the motive can be seen as a musical "transliteration" of the word "sea". Takemitsu used this motive (usually transposed) to indicate the presence of water in his "musical landscapes", even in works whose titles do not directly refer to water, such as A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden (1977; see ex. 5).
Musique concrète
During Takemitsu's years as a member of the Jikken Kōbō, he experimented with compositions of musique concrète (and a very limited amount of electronic music, the most notable example being Stanza II for harp and tape written later in 1972). In Water Music (1960), Takemitsu's source material consisted entirely of sounds produced by droplets of water. His manipulation of these sounds, through the use of highly percussive envelopes, often results in a resemblance to traditional Japanese instruments, such as the tsuzumi and nō ensembles.
Aleatory techniques
One aspect of John Cage's compositional procedure that Takemitsu continued to use throughout his career, was the use of indeterminacy, in which performers are given a degree of choice in what to perform. As mentioned previously, this was particularly used in works such as November Steps, in which musicians playing traditional Japanese instruments were able to play in an orchestral setting with a certain degree of improvisational freedom.
However, he also employed a technique that is sometimes called "aleatory counterpoint" in his well-known orchestral work A Flock Descends Into the Pentagonal Garden (1977, at [J] in the score), and in the score of Arc II: i Textures (1964) for piano and orchestra, in which sections of the orchestra are divided into groups, and required to repeat short passages of music at will. In these passages the overall sequence of events is, however, controlled by the conductor, who is instructed about the approximate durations for each section, and who indicates to the orchestra when to move from one section to next. The technique is commonly found in the work of Witold Lutosławski, who pioneered it in his Jeux vénitiens.
Film music
Takemitsu's contribution to film music was considerable; in under 40 years he composed music for over 100 films, some of which were written for purely financial reasons (such as those written for Noboru Nakamura). However, as the composer attained financial independence, he grew more selective, often reading whole scripts before agreeing to compose the music, and later surveying the action on set, "breathing the atmosphere" whilst conceiving his musical ideas.
One notable consideration in Takemitsu's composition for film was his careful use of silence (also important in many of his concert works), which often immediately intensifies the events on screen, and prevents any monotony through a continuous musical accompaniment. For the first battle scene of Akira Kurosawa's Ran, Takemitsu provided an extended passage of intense elegiac quality that halts at the sound of a single gunshot, leaving the audience with the pure "sounds of battle: cries screams and neighing horses".
Takemitsu attached the greatest importance to the director's conception of the film; in an interview with Max Tessier, he explained that, "everything depends on the film itself ... I try to concentrate as much as possible on the subject, so that I can express what the director feels himself. I try to extend his feelings with my music."
Legacy
In a memorial issue of Contemporary Music Review, Jō Kondō wrote, "Needless to say, Takemitsu is among the most important composers in Japanese music history. He was also the first Japanese composer fully recognized in the west, and remained the guiding light for the younger generations of Japanese composers."
Composer Peter Lieberson shared the following in his program note to The Ocean that has no East and West, written in memory of Takemitsu: "I spent the most time with Toru in Tokyo when I was invited to be a guest composer at his Music Today Festival in 1987. Peter Serkin and composer Oliver Knussen were also there, as was cellist Fred Sherry. Though he was the senior of our group by many years, Toru stayed up with us every night and literally drank us under the table. I was confirmed in my impression of Toru as a person who lived his life like a traditional Zen poet."
In the foreword to a selection of Takemitsu's writings in English, conductor Seiji Ozawa writes: "I am very proud of my friend Toru Takemitsu. He is the first Japanese composer to write for a world audience and achieve international recognition."
Awards and honours
Takemitsu won awards for composition, both in Japan and abroad, including the Prix Italia for his orchestral work Tableau noir in 1958, the Otaka Prize in 1976 and 1981, the Los Angeles Film Critics Award in 1987 (for the film score Ran) and the University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition in 1994 (for Fantasma/Cantos). In Japan, he received the Film Awards of the Japanese Academy for outstanding achievement in music, for soundtracks to the following films:
1979
1985 Fire Festival (film)
1986
1990
1996
He was also invited to attend numerous international festivals throughout his career, and presented lectures and talks at academic institutions across the world. He was made an honorary member of the Akademie der Künste of the DDR in 1979, and the American Institute of Arts and Letters in 1985. He was admitted to the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1985, and the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1986. He was the recipient of the 22nd Suntory Music Award (1990). Posthumously, Takemitsu received an Honorary Doctorate from Columbia University early in 1996 and was awarded the fourth Glenn Gould Prize in fall 1996.
The Toru Takemitsu Composition Award, intended to "encourage a younger generation of composers who will shape the coming age through their new musical works", is named after him.
Literary works
Takemitsu, Tōru, with Cronin, Tania and Tann, Hilary, "Afterword", Perspectives of New Music, vol. 27, no. 2 (Summer, 1989), 205–214, (subscription access)
Takemitsu, Tōru, (trans. Adachi, Sumi with Reynolds, Roger), "Mirrors", Perspectives of New Music, vol. 30, no. 1 (Winter, 1992), 36–80, (subscription access)
Takemitsu, Tōru, (trans. Hugh de Ferranti) "One Sound", Contemporary Music Review, vol. 8, part 2, (Harwood, 1994), 3–4, (subscription access)
Takemitsu, Tōru, "Contemporary Music in Japan", Perspectives of New Music, vol. 27, no. 2 (Summer, 1989), 198–204 (subscription access)
Notes and references
Sources
General references
Further reading
External links
Toru Takemitsu: Complete Works
Slate article focusing on his film music
Interview with Toru Takemitsu
Interview with Tōru Takemitsu, March 6, 1990
1930 births
1996 deaths
20th-century classical composers
20th-century classical pianists
20th-century guitarists
20th-century Japanese composers
20th-century Japanese male musicians
20th-century musicologists
Deaths from cancer in Japan
Deutsche Grammophon artists
Composers for the classical guitar
Composers for piano
Deaths from bladder cancer
Deaths from pneumonia in Japan
Electronic musicians
Georges Delerue Award winners
Glenn Gould Prize winners
International Rostrum of Composers prize-winners
Japanese classical composers
Japanese classical guitarists
Japanese classical pianists
Japanese electronic musicians
Japanese film score composers
Japanese male classical composers
Japanese male classical pianists
Japanese male film score composers
Music theorists
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"John August Kusche (1869 – 1934) was a renowned botanist and entomologist, and he discovered many new species of moths and butterflies. The plant of the aster family, Erigeron kuschei is named in his honor.\n\nNotable discoveries \n\nIn 1928, Kusche donated to the Bishop Museum 164 species of Lepidoptera he collected on Kauai between 1919 and 1920. Of those, 55 species had not previously been recorded on Kauai and 6 were new to science, namely Agrotis stenospila, Euxoa charmocrita, Plusia violacea, Nesamiptis senicula, Nesamiptis proterortha and Scotorythra crocorrhoa.\n\nThe Essig Museum of Entomology lists 26 species collected by Kusche from California, Baja California, Arizona, Alaska and on the Solomon Islands.\n\nEarly life \nHis father's name was Johann Karl Wilhelm Kusche, he remarried in 1883 to Johanna Susanna Niesar. He had three siblings from his father (Herman, Ernst and Pauline) and four half siblings from her second marriage (Bertha, Wilhelm, Heinrich and Reinhold. There were two other children from this marriage, which died young and whom were not recorded). His family were farmers, while he lived with them, in Kreuzburg, Germany.\n\nHis siblings quickly accustomed themselves to their new mother, however August, the eldest, did not get on easily with her. He attended a gardening school there in Kreuzburg. He left at a relatively young age after unintentionally setting a forest fire. \"One day on a walk through Kreuzburg forest, he unintentionally caused a huge forest fire. Fearing jail, he fled from home and somehow made it to America.\"\n\nHe wrote letters back to his family, urging them to come to America. His father eventually did, sometime shortly after February 1893. His father started a homestead in Brownsville, Texas. Yellow fever broke out and his father caught it. He managed to survive, while many did not, leaving him a sick old man in his mid-fifties. He wrote to August, who was then living it Prescott, Arizona, asking for money. August wrote back, saying \"Dear father, if you are out of money, see to it that you go back to Germany as soon as possible. Without any money here, you are lost,\" \n\nAugust didn't have any money either, and had been hoping to borrow money from his father. If he had wanted to visit him, then he would have had to make the trip on foot.\n\nWhen August arrived in America, he got a job as a gardener on a Pennsylvania farm. He had an affair with a Swiss woman, which resulted in a child. August denied being the child's father, but married her anyway. He went west, on horseback, and had his horse stolen by Native Americans. He ended up in San Francisco. His family joined him there. By this time he had three sons and a daughter.\n\nAfter his children grew up, he began traveling and collecting moths and butterflies.\n\nLater life \nHe traveled to the South Seas where he collected moths and butterflies. There he caught a terrible fever that very nearly killed him. He was picked up by a government ship in New Guinea, and was unconscious until he awoke in a San Francisco hospital. After that time he had hearing loss and lost all of his teeth. His doctor told him not to take any more trips to Alaska, and this apparently helped his condition.\n\nIn 1924 he lived in San Diego. He had taken a trip to Alaska just before this date. He worked as a gardener in California for nine years (1915–1924) where he died of stomach cancer.\n\nReferences \n\n19th-century German botanists\n1869 births\n1934 deaths\n20th-century American botanists\nGerman emigrants to the United States"
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Tōru Takemitsu
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Takemitsu was born in Tokyo on October 8, 1930; a month later his family moved to Dalian in the Chinese province of Liaoning. In 1938 he returned to Japan to attend elementary school, but his education was cut short by military conscription in 1944. Takemitsu described his experience of military service at such a young age, under the Japanese Nationalist government, as "... extremely bitter". Takemitsu first became really conscious of Western classical music during his term of military service, in the form of a popular French Song ("Parlez-moi d'amour") which he listened to with colleagues in secret, played on a gramophone with a makeshift needle fashioned from bamboo. During the post-war U.S. occupation of Japan, Takemitsu worked for the U.S. Armed Forces, but was ill for a long period. Hospitalised and bed-ridden, he took the opportunity to listen to as much Western music as he could on the U.S. Armed Forces network. While deeply affected by these experiences of Western music, he simultaneously felt a need to distance himself from the traditional music of his native Japan. He explained much later, in a lecture at the New York International Festival of the Arts, that for him Japanese traditional music "always recalled the bitter memories of war". Despite his almost complete lack of musical training, and taking inspiration from what little Western music he had heard, Takemitsu began to compose in earnest at the age of 16: "... I began [writing] music attracted to music itself as one human being. Being in music I found my raison d'etre as a man. After the war, music was the only thing. Choosing to be in music clarified my identity." Though he studied briefly with Yasuji Kiyose beginning in 1948, Takemitsu remained largely self-taught throughout his musical career. CANNOTANSWER
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family moved to Dalian in the Chinese province of Liaoning.
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was a Japanese composer and writer on aesthetics and music theory. Largely self-taught, Takemitsu was admired for the subtle manipulation of instrumental and orchestral timbre. He is known for combining elements of oriental and occidental philosophy and for fusing sound with silence and tradition with innovation.
He composed several hundred independent works of music, scored more than ninety films and published twenty books. He was also a founding member of the Jikken Kōbō (Experimental Workshop) in Japan, a group of avant-garde artists who distanced themselves from academia and whose collaborative work is often regarded among the most influential of the 20th century.
His 1957 Requiem for string orchestra attracted international attention, led to several commissions from across the world and established his reputation as the leading 20th-century Japanese composer. He was the recipient of numerous awards and honours and the Toru Takemitsu Composition Award is named after him.
Biography
Youth
Takemitsu was born in Tokyo on October 8, 1930; a month later his family moved to Dalian in the Chinese province of Liaoning. In 1938 he returned to Japan to attend elementary school, but his education was cut short by military conscription in 1944. Takemitsu described his experience of military service at such a young age, under the Japanese Nationalist government, as "... extremely bitter". Takemitsu first became conscious of Western classical music during his term of military service, in the form of a popular French Song ("Parlez-moi d'amour") which he listened to with colleagues in secret, played on a gramophone with a makeshift needle fashioned from bamboo.
During the post-war U.S. occupation of Japan, Takemitsu worked for the U.S. Armed Forces, but was ill for a long period. Hospitalised and bed-ridden, he took the opportunity to listen to as much Western music as he could on the U.S. Armed Forces network. While deeply affected by these experiences of Western music, he simultaneously felt a need to distance himself from the traditional music of his native Japan. He explained much later, in a lecture at the New York International Festival of the Arts, that for him Japanese traditional music "always recalled the bitter memories of war".
Despite his lack of musical training, and taking inspiration from what little Western music he had heard, Takemitsu began to compose in earnest at the age of 16: "... I began [writing] music attracted to music itself as one human being. Being in music I found my raison d'être as a man. After the war, music was the only thing. Choosing to be in music clarified my identity." Though he studied briefly with Yasuji Kiyose beginning in 1948, Takemitsu remained largely self-taught throughout his musical career.
Early development and Jikken Kōbō
In 1948, Takemitsu conceived the idea of electronic music technology, or in his own words, to "bring noise into tempered musical tones inside a busy small tube." During the 1950s, Takemitsu had learned that in 1948 "a French [engineer] Pierre Schaeffer invented the method(s) of musique concrète based on the same idea as mine. I was pleased with this coincidence."
In 1951, Takemitsu was a founding member of the anti-academic : an artistic group established for multidisciplinary collaboration on mixed-media projects, who sought to avoid Japanese artistic tradition. The performances and works undertaken by the group introduced several contemporary Western composers to Japanese audiences. During this period he wrote Saegirarenai Kyūsoku I ("Uninterrupted Rest I", 1952: a piano work, without a regular rhythmic pulse or barlines); and by 1955 Takemitsu had begun to use electronic tape-recording techniques in such works as Relief Statique (1955) and Vocalism A·I (1956). Takemitsu also studied in the early 1950s with the composer Fumio Hayasaka, perhaps best known for the scores he wrote for films by Kenji Mizoguchi and Akira Kurosawa, the latter of whom Takemitsu would collaborate with decades later.
In the late 1950s chance brought Takemitsu international attention: his Requiem for string orchestra (1957), written as an homage to Hayasaka, was heard by Igor Stravinsky in 1958 during his visit to Japan. (The NHK had organised opportunities for Stravinsky to listen to some of the latest Japanese music; when Takemitsu's work was put on by mistake, Stravinsky insisted on hearing it to the end.) At a press conference later, Stravinsky expressed his admiration for the work, praising its "sincerity" and "passionate" writing. Stravinsky subsequently invited Takemitsu to lunch; and for Takemitsu this was an "unforgettable" experience. After Stravinsky returned to the U.S., Takemitsu soon received a commission for a new work from the Koussevitsky Foundation which, he assumed, had come as a suggestion from Stravinsky to Aaron Copland. For this he composed Dorian Horizon, (1966), which was premièred by the San Francisco Symphony, conducted by Copland.
Influence of Cage; interest in traditional Japanese music
During his time with Jikken Kōbō, Takemitsu came into contact with the experimental work of John Cage; but when the composer Toshi Ichiyanagi returned from his studies in America in 1961, he gave the first Japanese performance of Cage's Concert for Piano and Orchestra. This left a "deep impression" on Takemitsu: he recalled the impact of hearing the work when writing an obituary for Cage, 31 years later. This encouraged Takemitsu in his use of indeterminate procedures and graphic-score notation, for example in the graphic scores of Ring (1961), Corona for pianist(s) and Corona II for string(s) (both 1962). In these works each performer is presented with cards printed with coloured circular patterns which are freely arranged by the performer to create "the score".
Although the immediate influence of Cage's procedures did not last in Takemitsu's music—Coral Island, for example for soprano and orchestra (1962) shows significant departures from indeterminate procedures partly as a result of Takemitsu's renewed interest in the music of Anton Webern—certain similarities between Cage's philosophies and Takemitsu's thought remained. For example, Cage's emphasis on timbres within individual sound-events, and his notion of silence "as plenum rather than vacuum", can be aligned with Takemitsu's interest in ma. Furthermore, Cage's interest in Zen practice (through his contact with Zen scholar Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki) seems to have resulted in a renewed interest in the East in general, and ultimately alerted Takemitsu to the potential for incorporating elements drawn from Japanese traditional music into his composition:
I must express my deep and sincere gratitude to John Cage. The reason for this is that in my own life, in my own development, for a long period I struggled to avoid being "Japanese", to avoid "Japanese" qualities. It was largely through my contact with John Cage that I came to recognize the value of my own tradition.
For Takemitsu, as he explained later in a lecture in 1988, one performance of Japanese traditional music stood out:
One day I chanced to see a performance of the Bunraku puppet theater and was very surprised by it. It was in the tone quality, the timbre, of the futazao shamisen, the wide-necked shamisen used in Bunraku, that I first recognized the splendor of traditional Japanese music. I was very moved by it and I wondered why my attention had never been captured before by this Japanese music.
Thereafter, he resolved to study all types of traditional Japanese music, paying special attention to the differences between the two very different musical traditions, in a diligent attempt to "bring forth the sensibilities of Japanese music that had always been within [him]". This was no easy task, since in the years following the war traditional music was largely overlooked and ignored: only one or two "masters" continued to keep their art alive, often meeting with public indifference. In conservatoria across the country, even students of traditional instruments were always required to learn the piano.
From the early 1960s, Takemitsu began to make use of traditional Japanese instruments in his music, and even took up playing the biwa—an instrument he used in his score for the film Seppuku (1962). In 1967, Takemitsu received a commission from the New York Philharmonic, to commemorate the orchestra's 125th anniversary, for which he wrote November Steps for biwa, shakuhachi, and orchestra. Initially, Takemitsu had great difficulty in uniting these instruments from such different musical cultures in one work. Eclipse for biwa and shakuhachi (1966) illustrates Takemitsu's attempts to find a viable notational system for these instruments, which in normal circumstances neither sound together nor are used in works notated in any system of Western staff notation.
The first performance of November Steps was given in 1967, under Seiji Ozawa. Despite the trials of writing such an ambitious work, Takemitsu maintained "that making the attempt was very worthwhile because what resulted somehow liberated music from a certain stagnation and brought to music something distinctly new and different". The work was distributed widely in the West when it was coupled as the fourth side of an LP release of Messiaen's Turangalîla Symphony.
In 1972, Takemitsu, accompanied by Iannis Xenakis, Betsy Jolas, and others, heard Balinese gamelan music in Bali. The experience influenced the composer on a largely philosophical and theological level. For those accompanying Takemitsu on the expedition (most of whom were French musicians), who "... could not keep their composure as I did before this music: it was too foreign for them to be able to assess the resulting discrepancies with their logic", the experience was without precedent. For Takemitsu, however, by now quite familiar with his own native musical tradition, there was a relationship between "the sounds of the gamelan, the tone of the kapachi, the unique scales and rhythms by which they are formed, and Japanese traditional music which had shaped such a large part of my sensitivity". In his solo piano work For Away (written for Roger Woodward in 1973), a single, complex line is distributed between the pianist's hands, which reflects the interlocking patterns between the metallophones of a gamelan orchestra.
A year later, Takemitsu returned to the instrumental combination of shakuhachi, biwa, and orchestra, in the less well known work Autumn (1973). The significance of this work is revealed in its far greater integration of the traditional Japanese instruments into the orchestral discourse; whereas in November Steps, the two contrasting instrumental ensembles perform largely in alternation, with only a few moments of contact. Takemitsu expressed this change in attitude:
But now my attitude is getting to be a little different, I think. Now my concern is mostly to find out what there is in common ... Autumn was written after November Steps. I really wanted to do something which I hadn't done in November Steps, not to blend the instruments, but to integrate them.
International status and the gradual shift in style
By 1970, Takemitsu's reputation as a leading member of avant-garde community was well established, and during his involvement with Expo '70 in Osaka, he was at last able to meet more of his Western colleagues, including Karlheinz Stockhausen. Also, during a contemporary music festival in April 1970, produced by the Japanese composer himself ("Iron and Steel Pavilion"), Takemitsu met among the participants Lukas Foss, Peter Sculthorpe, and Vinko Globokar. Later that year, as part of a commission from Paul Sacher and the Zurich Collegium Musicum, Takemitsu incorporated into his Eucalypts I parts for international performers: flautist Aurèle Nicolet, oboist Heinz Holliger, and harpist Ursula Holliger.
Critical examination of the complex instrumental works written during this period for the new generation of "contemporary soloists" reveals the level of his high-profile engagement with the Western avant-garde, in works such as Voice for solo flute (1971), Waves for clarinet, horn, two trombones and bass drum (1976), Quatrain for clarinet, violin, cello, piano and orchestra (1977). Experiments and works that incorporated traditional Japanese musical ideas and language continued to appear in his output, and an increased interest in the traditional Japanese garden began to reflect itself in works such as for gagaku orchestra (1973), and A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden for orchestra (1977).
Throughout this apogee of avant-garde work, Takemitsu's musical style seems to have undergone a series of stylistic changes. Comparison of Green (for orchestra, 1967) and A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden (1977) quickly reveals the seeds of this change. The latter was composed according to a pre-compositional scheme, in which pentatonic modes were superimposed over one central pentatonic scale (the so-called "black-key pentatonic") around a central sustained central pitch (F-sharp), and an approach that is highly indicative of the sort of "pantonal" and modal pitch material seen gradually emerging in his works throughout the 1970s. The former, Green (or November Steps II) written 10 years earlier, is heavily influenced by Debussy, and is, in spite of its very dissonant language (including momentary quarter-tone clusters), largely constructed through a complex web of modal forms. These modal forms are largely audible, particularly in the momentary repose toward the end of the work. Thus in these works, it is possible to see both a continuity of approach, and the emergence of a simpler harmonic language that was to characterise the work of his later period.
His friend and colleague Jō Kondō said, "If his later works sound different from earlier pieces, it is due to his gradual refining of his basic style rather than any real alteration of it."
Later works: the sea of tonality
In a Tokyo lecture given in 1984, Takemitsu identified a melodic motive in his Far Calls. Coming Far! (for violin and orchestra, 1980) that would recur throughout his later works:
I wanted to plan a tonal "sea". Here the "sea" is E-flat [Es in German nomenclature]-E-A, a three-note ascending motive consisting of a half step and perfect fourth. [... In Far Calls] this is extended upward from A with two major thirds and one minor third ... Using these patterns I set the "sea of tonality" from which many pantonal chords flow.
Takemitsu's words here highlight his changing stylistic trends from the late 1970s into the 1980s, which have been described as "an increased use of diatonic material [... with] references to tertian harmony and jazz voicing", which do not, however, project a sense of "large-scale tonality". Many of the works from this period have titles that include a reference to water: Toward the Sea (1981), Rain Tree and Rain Coming (1982), riverrun and I Hear the Water Dreaming (1987). Takemitsu wrote in his notes for the score of Rain Coming that "... the complete collection [is] entitled "Waterscape" ... it was the composer's intention to create a series of works, which like their subject, pass through various metamorphoses, culminating in a sea of tonality." Throughout these works, the S-E-A motive (discussed further below) features prominently, and points to an increased emphasis on the melodic element in Takemitsu's music that began during this later period.
His 1981 work for orchestra named Dreamtime was inspired by a visit to Groote Eylandt, off the coast of the Northern Territory of Australia, to witness a large gathering of Australian indigenous dancers, singers and story tellers. He was there at the invitation of the choreographer Jiří Kylián.
Pedal notes played an increasingly prominent role in Takemitsu's music during this period, as in A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden. In Dream/Window, (orchestra, 1985) a pedal D serves as anchor point, holding together statements of a striking four-note motivic gesture which recurs in various instrumental and rhythmic guises throughout. Very occasionally, fully fledged references to diatonic tonality can be found, often in harmonic allusions to early- and pre-20th-century composers—for example, Folios for guitar (1974), which quotes from J. S. Bach's St Matthew Passion, and Family Tree for narrator and orchestra (1984), which invokes the musical language of Maurice Ravel and American popular song. (He revered the St Matthew Passion, and would play through it on the piano before commencing a new work, as a form of "purificatory ritual".)
By this time, Takemitsu's incorporation of traditional Japanese (and other Eastern) musical traditions with his Western style had become much more integrated. Takemitsu commented, "There is no doubt ... the various countries and cultures of the world have begun a journey toward the geographic and historic unity of all peoples ... The old and new exist within me with equal weight."
Toward the end of his life, Takemitsu had planned to complete an opera, a collaboration with the novelist Barry Gifford and the director Daniel Schmid, commissioned by the Opéra National de Lyon in France. He was in the process of publishing a plan of its musical and dramatic structure with Kenzaburō Ōe, but he was prevented from completing it by his death at 65. He died of pneumonia on February 20, 1996, while undergoing treatment for bladder cancer.
Personal life
He was married to Asaka Takemitsu (formerly Wakayama) for 42 years. She first met Toru in 1951, cared for him when he was suffering from tuberculosis in his early twenties, then married him in 1954. They had one child, a daughter named Maki. Asaka attended most premieres of his music and published a memoir of their life together in 2010.
Music
Composers whom Takemitsu cited as influential in his early work include Claude Debussy, Anton Webern, Edgard Varèse, Arnold Schoenberg, and Olivier Messiaen. Messiaen in particular was introduced to him by fellow composer Toshi Ichiyanagi, and remained a lifelong influence. Although Takemitsu's wartime experiences of nationalism initially discouraged him from cultivating an interest in traditional Japanese music, he showed an early interest in "... the Japanese Garden in color spacing and form ...". The formal garden of the kaiyu-shiki interested him in particular.
He expressed his unusual stance toward compositional theory early on, his lack of respect for the "trite rules of music, rules that are ... stifled by formulas and calculations"; for Takemitsu it was of far greater importance that "sounds have the freedom to breathe. ... Just as one cannot plan his life, neither can he plan music".
Takemitsu's sensitivity to instrumental and orchestral timbre can be heard throughout his work, and is often made apparent by the unusual instrumental combinations he specified. This is evident in works such as November Steps, that combine traditional Japanese instruments, shakuhachi and biwa, with a conventional Western orchestra. It may also be discerned in his works for ensembles that make no use of traditional instruments, for example Quotation of Dream (1991), Archipelago S., for 21 players (1993), and Arc I & II (1963–66/1976). In these works, the more conventional orchestral forces are divided into unconventional "groups". Even where these instrumental combinations were determined by the particular ensemble commissioning the work, "Takemitsu's genius for instrumentation (and genius it was, in my view) ...", in the words of Oliver Knussen, "... creates the illusion that the instrumental restrictions are self-imposed".
Influence of traditional Japanese music
Takemitsu summarized his initial aversion to Japanese (and all non-Western) traditional musical forms in his own words: "There may be folk music with strength and beauty, but I cannot be completely honest in this kind of music. I want a more active relationship to the present. (Folk music in a 'contemporary style' is nothing but a deception)." His dislike for the musical traditions of Japan in particular were intensified by his experiences of the war, during which Japanese music became associated with militaristic and nationalistic cultural ideals.
Nevertheless, Takemitsu incorporated some idiomatic elements of Japanese music in his very earliest works, perhaps unconsciously. One unpublished set of pieces, Kakehi ("Conduit"), written at the age of seventeen, incorporates the ryō, ritsu and insen scales throughout. When Takemitsu discovered that these "nationalist" elements had somehow found their way into his music, he was so alarmed that he later destroyed the works. Further examples can be seen for example in the quarter-tone glissandi of Masques I (for two flutes, 1959), which mirror the characteristic pitch bends of the shakuhachi, and for which he devised his own unique notation: a held note is tied to an enharmonic spelling of the same pitch class, with a portamento direction across the tie.
Other Japanese characteristics, including the further use of traditional pentatonic scales, continued to crop up elsewhere in his early works. In the opening bars of Litany, for Michael Vyner, a reconstruction from memory by Takemitsu of Lento in Due Movimenti (1950; the original score was lost), pentatonicism is clearly visible in the upper voice, which opens the work on an unaccompanied anacrusis. The pitches of the opening melody combine to form the constituent notes of the ascending form of the Japanese in scale.
When, from the early 1960s, Takemitsu began to "consciously apprehend" the sounds of traditional Japanese music, he found that his creative process, "the logic of my compositional thought[,] was torn apart", and nevertheless, "hogaku [traditional Japanese music ...] seized my heart and refuses to release it". In particular, Takemitsu perceived that, for example, the sound of a single stroke of the biwa or single pitch breathed through the shakuhachi, could "so transport our reason because they are of extreme complexity ... already complete in themselves". This fascination with the sounds produced in traditional Japanese music brought Takemitsu to his idea of ma (usually translated as the space between two objects), which ultimately informed his understanding of the intense quality of traditional Japanese music as a whole:
Just one sound can be complete in itself, for its complexity lies in the formulation of ma, an unquantifiable metaphysical space (duration) of dynamically tensed absence of sound. For example, in the performance of nō, the ma of sound and silence does not have an organic relation for the purpose of artistic expression. Rather, these two elements contrast sharply with one another in an immaterial balance.
In 1970, Takemitsu received a commission from the National Theatre of Japan to write a work for the gagaku ensemble of the Imperial Household; this was fulfilled in 1973, when he completed Shuteiga ("In an Autumn Garden", although he later incorporated the work, as the fourth movement, into his 50-minute-long "In an Autumn Garden—Complete Version"). As well as being "... the furthest removed from the West of any work he had written", While it introduces certain Western musical ideas to the Japanese court ensemble, the work represents the deepest of Takemitsu's investigations into Japanese musical tradition, the lasting effects of which are clearly reflected in his works for conventional Western ensemble formats that followed.
In Garden Rain (1974, for brass ensemble), the limited and pitch-specific harmonic vocabulary of the Japanese mouth organ, the shō (see ex. 3), and its specific timbres, are clearly emulated in Takemitsu's writing for brass instruments; even similarities of performance practice can be seen, (the players are often required to hold notes to the limit of their breath capacity). In A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden, the characteristic timbres of the shō and its chords (several of which are simultaneous soundings of traditional Japanese pentatonic scales) are emulated in the opening held chords of the wind instruments (the first chord is in fact an exact transposition of the shō's chord, Jū (i); see ex. 3); meanwhile a solo oboe is assigned a melodic line that is similarly reminiscent of the lines played by the hichiriki in gagaku ensembles.
Influence of Messiaen
The influence of Olivier Messiaen on Takemitsu was already apparent in some of Takemitsu's earliest published works. By the time he composed Lento in Due Movimenti, (1950), Takemitsu had already come into possession of a copy of Messiaen's 8 Préludes (through Toshi Ichiyanagi), and the influence of Messiaen is clearly visible in the work, in the use of modes, the suspension of regular metre, and sensitivity to timbre. Throughout his career, Takemitsu often made use of modes from which he derived his musical material, both melodic and harmonic among which Messiaen's modes of limited transposition to appear with some frequency. In particular, the use of the octatonic, (mode II, or the 8–28 collection), and mode VI (8–25) is particularly common. However, Takemitsu pointed out that he had used the octatonic collection in his music before ever coming across it in Messiaen's music.
In 1975, Takemitsu met Messiaen in New York, and during "what was to be a one-hour 'lesson' [but which] lasted three hours ... Messiaen played his Quartet for the End of Time for Takemitsu at the piano", which, Takemitsu recalled, was like listening to an orchestral performance. Takemitsu responded to this with his homage to the French composer, Quatrain, for which he asked Messiaen's permission to use the same instrumental combination for the main quartet, cello, violin, clarinet and piano (which is accompanied by orchestra). As well as the obvious similarity of instrumentation, Takemitsu employs several melodic figures that appear to "mimic" certain musical examples given by Messiaen in his Technique de mon langage musical, (see ex. 4). In 1977, Takemitsu reworked Quatrain for quartet alone, without orchestra, and titled the new work Quatrain II.
On hearing of Messiaen's death in 1992, Takemitsu was interviewed by telephone, and still in shock, "blurted out, 'His death leaves a crisis in contemporary music!'" Then later, in an obituary written for the French composer in the same year, Takemitsu further expressed his sense of loss at Messiaen's death: "Truly, he was my spiritual mentor ... Among the many things I learned from his music, the concept and experience of color and the form of time will be unforgettable." The composition Rain Tree Sketch II, which was to be Takemitsu's final piano piece, was also written that year and subtitled "In Memoriam Olivier Messiaen".
Influence of Debussy
Takemitsu frequently expressed his indebtedness to Claude Debussy, referring to the French composer as his "great mentor". As Arnold Whittall puts it:
Given the enthusiasm for the exotic and the Orient in these [Debussy and Messiaen] and other French composers, it is understandable that Takemitsu should have been attracted to the expressive and formal qualities of music in which flexibility of rhythm and richness of harmony count for so much.
For Takemitsu, Debussy's "greatest contribution was his unique orchestration which emphasizes colour, light and shadow ... the orchestration of Debussy has many musical focuses." He was fully aware of Debussy's own interest in Japanese art, (the cover of the first edition of La mer, for example, was famously adorned by Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa). For Takemitsu, this interest in Japanese culture, combined with his unique personality, and perhaps most importantly, his lineage as a composer of the French musical tradition running from Rameau and Lully through Berlioz in which colour is given special attention, gave Debussy his unique style and sense of orchestration.
During the composition of Green (November Steps II, for orchestra, 1967: "steeped in the sound-color world of the orchestral music of Claude Debussy") Takemitsu said he had taken the scores of Debussy's Prélude à l'Après-midi d'un Faune and Jeux to the mountain villa where both this work and November Steps I were composed. For Oliver Knussen, "the final appearance of the main theme irresistibly prompts the thought that Takemitsu may, quite unconsciously, have been attempting a latter-day Japanese Après-midi d'un Faune". Details of orchestration in Green, such as the prominent use of antique cymbals, and tremolandi harmonies in the strings, clearly point to the influence of Takemitsu's compositional mentor, and of these works in particular.
In Quotation of Dream (1991), direct quotations from Debussy's La Mer and Takemitsu's earlier works relating to the sea are incorporated into the musical flow ("stylistic jolts were not intended"), depicting the landscape outside the Japanese garden of his own music.
Motives
Several recurring musical motives can be heard in Takemitsu's works. In particular the pitch motive E♭–E–A can be heard in many of his later works, whose titles refer to water in some form (Toward the Sea, 1981; Rain Tree Sketch, 1982; I Hear the Water Dreaming, 1987).
When spelt in German (Es–E–A), the motive can be seen as a musical "transliteration" of the word "sea". Takemitsu used this motive (usually transposed) to indicate the presence of water in his "musical landscapes", even in works whose titles do not directly refer to water, such as A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden (1977; see ex. 5).
Musique concrète
During Takemitsu's years as a member of the Jikken Kōbō, he experimented with compositions of musique concrète (and a very limited amount of electronic music, the most notable example being Stanza II for harp and tape written later in 1972). In Water Music (1960), Takemitsu's source material consisted entirely of sounds produced by droplets of water. His manipulation of these sounds, through the use of highly percussive envelopes, often results in a resemblance to traditional Japanese instruments, such as the tsuzumi and nō ensembles.
Aleatory techniques
One aspect of John Cage's compositional procedure that Takemitsu continued to use throughout his career, was the use of indeterminacy, in which performers are given a degree of choice in what to perform. As mentioned previously, this was particularly used in works such as November Steps, in which musicians playing traditional Japanese instruments were able to play in an orchestral setting with a certain degree of improvisational freedom.
However, he also employed a technique that is sometimes called "aleatory counterpoint" in his well-known orchestral work A Flock Descends Into the Pentagonal Garden (1977, at [J] in the score), and in the score of Arc II: i Textures (1964) for piano and orchestra, in which sections of the orchestra are divided into groups, and required to repeat short passages of music at will. In these passages the overall sequence of events is, however, controlled by the conductor, who is instructed about the approximate durations for each section, and who indicates to the orchestra when to move from one section to next. The technique is commonly found in the work of Witold Lutosławski, who pioneered it in his Jeux vénitiens.
Film music
Takemitsu's contribution to film music was considerable; in under 40 years he composed music for over 100 films, some of which were written for purely financial reasons (such as those written for Noboru Nakamura). However, as the composer attained financial independence, he grew more selective, often reading whole scripts before agreeing to compose the music, and later surveying the action on set, "breathing the atmosphere" whilst conceiving his musical ideas.
One notable consideration in Takemitsu's composition for film was his careful use of silence (also important in many of his concert works), which often immediately intensifies the events on screen, and prevents any monotony through a continuous musical accompaniment. For the first battle scene of Akira Kurosawa's Ran, Takemitsu provided an extended passage of intense elegiac quality that halts at the sound of a single gunshot, leaving the audience with the pure "sounds of battle: cries screams and neighing horses".
Takemitsu attached the greatest importance to the director's conception of the film; in an interview with Max Tessier, he explained that, "everything depends on the film itself ... I try to concentrate as much as possible on the subject, so that I can express what the director feels himself. I try to extend his feelings with my music."
Legacy
In a memorial issue of Contemporary Music Review, Jō Kondō wrote, "Needless to say, Takemitsu is among the most important composers in Japanese music history. He was also the first Japanese composer fully recognized in the west, and remained the guiding light for the younger generations of Japanese composers."
Composer Peter Lieberson shared the following in his program note to The Ocean that has no East and West, written in memory of Takemitsu: "I spent the most time with Toru in Tokyo when I was invited to be a guest composer at his Music Today Festival in 1987. Peter Serkin and composer Oliver Knussen were also there, as was cellist Fred Sherry. Though he was the senior of our group by many years, Toru stayed up with us every night and literally drank us under the table. I was confirmed in my impression of Toru as a person who lived his life like a traditional Zen poet."
In the foreword to a selection of Takemitsu's writings in English, conductor Seiji Ozawa writes: "I am very proud of my friend Toru Takemitsu. He is the first Japanese composer to write for a world audience and achieve international recognition."
Awards and honours
Takemitsu won awards for composition, both in Japan and abroad, including the Prix Italia for his orchestral work Tableau noir in 1958, the Otaka Prize in 1976 and 1981, the Los Angeles Film Critics Award in 1987 (for the film score Ran) and the University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition in 1994 (for Fantasma/Cantos). In Japan, he received the Film Awards of the Japanese Academy for outstanding achievement in music, for soundtracks to the following films:
1979
1985 Fire Festival (film)
1986
1990
1996
He was also invited to attend numerous international festivals throughout his career, and presented lectures and talks at academic institutions across the world. He was made an honorary member of the Akademie der Künste of the DDR in 1979, and the American Institute of Arts and Letters in 1985. He was admitted to the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1985, and the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1986. He was the recipient of the 22nd Suntory Music Award (1990). Posthumously, Takemitsu received an Honorary Doctorate from Columbia University early in 1996 and was awarded the fourth Glenn Gould Prize in fall 1996.
The Toru Takemitsu Composition Award, intended to "encourage a younger generation of composers who will shape the coming age through their new musical works", is named after him.
Literary works
Takemitsu, Tōru, with Cronin, Tania and Tann, Hilary, "Afterword", Perspectives of New Music, vol. 27, no. 2 (Summer, 1989), 205–214, (subscription access)
Takemitsu, Tōru, (trans. Adachi, Sumi with Reynolds, Roger), "Mirrors", Perspectives of New Music, vol. 30, no. 1 (Winter, 1992), 36–80, (subscription access)
Takemitsu, Tōru, (trans. Hugh de Ferranti) "One Sound", Contemporary Music Review, vol. 8, part 2, (Harwood, 1994), 3–4, (subscription access)
Takemitsu, Tōru, "Contemporary Music in Japan", Perspectives of New Music, vol. 27, no. 2 (Summer, 1989), 198–204 (subscription access)
Notes and references
Sources
General references
Further reading
External links
Toru Takemitsu: Complete Works
Slate article focusing on his film music
Interview with Toru Takemitsu
Interview with Tōru Takemitsu, March 6, 1990
1930 births
1996 deaths
20th-century classical composers
20th-century classical pianists
20th-century guitarists
20th-century Japanese composers
20th-century Japanese male musicians
20th-century musicologists
Deaths from cancer in Japan
Deutsche Grammophon artists
Composers for the classical guitar
Composers for piano
Deaths from bladder cancer
Deaths from pneumonia in Japan
Electronic musicians
Georges Delerue Award winners
Glenn Gould Prize winners
International Rostrum of Composers prize-winners
Japanese classical composers
Japanese classical guitarists
Japanese classical pianists
Japanese electronic musicians
Japanese film score composers
Japanese male classical composers
Japanese male classical pianists
Japanese male film score composers
Music theorists
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"\"O What a Savior\" is a Southern gospel song penned by the Free Will Baptist musician Marvin P. Dalton in 1948.\n\nLyrics\nOnce I was straying in sin's dark valley,\nNo hope within could I see,\nHe searched through Heaven, and found a Savior\nTo save a poor lost soul like me.\n\nO what a Savior, O hallelujah!\nHis heart was broken on Calvary,\nHis hands were nail scarred,\nHis side was riven,\nHe gave His life-blood for even me.\n\nHe left the Father with all His riches,\nWith calmness sweet and serene,\nCame down from Heaven and gave His life-blood,\nTo make the vilest sinner clean.\n\nO what a Savior, O hallelujah!\nHis heart was broken on Calvary,\nHis hands were nail scarred,\nHis side was riven,\nHe gave His life-blood for even me.\n\nDeath's chilly waters I'll soon be crossing,\nHis hand will lead me safe o're,\nI'll join the chorus in that bright city,\nAnd sing up there forever more.\n\nO what a Savior, O hallelujah!\nHis heart was broken on Calvary,\nHis hands were nail scarred,\nHis side was riven,\nHe gave His life-blood for even me.\n\nReferences\n O What a Savior as sung by the Cathedrals\n O What a Savior as sung by Ernie Haase & Signature Sound\n\nSouthern gospel songs",
"Si-cology 1 is an autobiography by American television personality Silas Robertson, co-written by Mark Schlabach. It was first published on September 3, 2013 and has already become a bestseller. In this book Si talks about his life. He talks about what life was like for him as a young boy living in Louisiana, how he went overseas to Vietnam as a soldier during the war, to what his life is like being Uncle Si on A&E show Duck Dynasty.\n\nReferences\n\nRobertson, Si\n2013 non-fiction books"
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[
"Tōru Takemitsu",
"Youth",
"Where did he grow up?",
"Takemitsu was born in Tokyo on October 8, 1930; a month later his family moved to Dalian in the Chinese province of Liaoning.",
"Did he have any siblings?",
"I don't know.",
"What was his family life like?",
"family moved to Dalian in the Chinese province of Liaoning."
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What were his hobbies in youth?
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What were Toru Tokemitsu's hobbies in youth?
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Tōru Takemitsu
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Takemitsu was born in Tokyo on October 8, 1930; a month later his family moved to Dalian in the Chinese province of Liaoning. In 1938 he returned to Japan to attend elementary school, but his education was cut short by military conscription in 1944. Takemitsu described his experience of military service at such a young age, under the Japanese Nationalist government, as "... extremely bitter". Takemitsu first became really conscious of Western classical music during his term of military service, in the form of a popular French Song ("Parlez-moi d'amour") which he listened to with colleagues in secret, played on a gramophone with a makeshift needle fashioned from bamboo. During the post-war U.S. occupation of Japan, Takemitsu worked for the U.S. Armed Forces, but was ill for a long period. Hospitalised and bed-ridden, he took the opportunity to listen to as much Western music as he could on the U.S. Armed Forces network. While deeply affected by these experiences of Western music, he simultaneously felt a need to distance himself from the traditional music of his native Japan. He explained much later, in a lecture at the New York International Festival of the Arts, that for him Japanese traditional music "always recalled the bitter memories of war". Despite his almost complete lack of musical training, and taking inspiration from what little Western music he had heard, Takemitsu began to compose in earnest at the age of 16: "... I began [writing] music attracted to music itself as one human being. Being in music I found my raison d'etre as a man. After the war, music was the only thing. Choosing to be in music clarified my identity." Though he studied briefly with Yasuji Kiyose beginning in 1948, Takemitsu remained largely self-taught throughout his musical career. CANNOTANSWER
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CANNOTANSWER
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was a Japanese composer and writer on aesthetics and music theory. Largely self-taught, Takemitsu was admired for the subtle manipulation of instrumental and orchestral timbre. He is known for combining elements of oriental and occidental philosophy and for fusing sound with silence and tradition with innovation.
He composed several hundred independent works of music, scored more than ninety films and published twenty books. He was also a founding member of the Jikken Kōbō (Experimental Workshop) in Japan, a group of avant-garde artists who distanced themselves from academia and whose collaborative work is often regarded among the most influential of the 20th century.
His 1957 Requiem for string orchestra attracted international attention, led to several commissions from across the world and established his reputation as the leading 20th-century Japanese composer. He was the recipient of numerous awards and honours and the Toru Takemitsu Composition Award is named after him.
Biography
Youth
Takemitsu was born in Tokyo on October 8, 1930; a month later his family moved to Dalian in the Chinese province of Liaoning. In 1938 he returned to Japan to attend elementary school, but his education was cut short by military conscription in 1944. Takemitsu described his experience of military service at such a young age, under the Japanese Nationalist government, as "... extremely bitter". Takemitsu first became conscious of Western classical music during his term of military service, in the form of a popular French Song ("Parlez-moi d'amour") which he listened to with colleagues in secret, played on a gramophone with a makeshift needle fashioned from bamboo.
During the post-war U.S. occupation of Japan, Takemitsu worked for the U.S. Armed Forces, but was ill for a long period. Hospitalised and bed-ridden, he took the opportunity to listen to as much Western music as he could on the U.S. Armed Forces network. While deeply affected by these experiences of Western music, he simultaneously felt a need to distance himself from the traditional music of his native Japan. He explained much later, in a lecture at the New York International Festival of the Arts, that for him Japanese traditional music "always recalled the bitter memories of war".
Despite his lack of musical training, and taking inspiration from what little Western music he had heard, Takemitsu began to compose in earnest at the age of 16: "... I began [writing] music attracted to music itself as one human being. Being in music I found my raison d'être as a man. After the war, music was the only thing. Choosing to be in music clarified my identity." Though he studied briefly with Yasuji Kiyose beginning in 1948, Takemitsu remained largely self-taught throughout his musical career.
Early development and Jikken Kōbō
In 1948, Takemitsu conceived the idea of electronic music technology, or in his own words, to "bring noise into tempered musical tones inside a busy small tube." During the 1950s, Takemitsu had learned that in 1948 "a French [engineer] Pierre Schaeffer invented the method(s) of musique concrète based on the same idea as mine. I was pleased with this coincidence."
In 1951, Takemitsu was a founding member of the anti-academic : an artistic group established for multidisciplinary collaboration on mixed-media projects, who sought to avoid Japanese artistic tradition. The performances and works undertaken by the group introduced several contemporary Western composers to Japanese audiences. During this period he wrote Saegirarenai Kyūsoku I ("Uninterrupted Rest I", 1952: a piano work, without a regular rhythmic pulse or barlines); and by 1955 Takemitsu had begun to use electronic tape-recording techniques in such works as Relief Statique (1955) and Vocalism A·I (1956). Takemitsu also studied in the early 1950s with the composer Fumio Hayasaka, perhaps best known for the scores he wrote for films by Kenji Mizoguchi and Akira Kurosawa, the latter of whom Takemitsu would collaborate with decades later.
In the late 1950s chance brought Takemitsu international attention: his Requiem for string orchestra (1957), written as an homage to Hayasaka, was heard by Igor Stravinsky in 1958 during his visit to Japan. (The NHK had organised opportunities for Stravinsky to listen to some of the latest Japanese music; when Takemitsu's work was put on by mistake, Stravinsky insisted on hearing it to the end.) At a press conference later, Stravinsky expressed his admiration for the work, praising its "sincerity" and "passionate" writing. Stravinsky subsequently invited Takemitsu to lunch; and for Takemitsu this was an "unforgettable" experience. After Stravinsky returned to the U.S., Takemitsu soon received a commission for a new work from the Koussevitsky Foundation which, he assumed, had come as a suggestion from Stravinsky to Aaron Copland. For this he composed Dorian Horizon, (1966), which was premièred by the San Francisco Symphony, conducted by Copland.
Influence of Cage; interest in traditional Japanese music
During his time with Jikken Kōbō, Takemitsu came into contact with the experimental work of John Cage; but when the composer Toshi Ichiyanagi returned from his studies in America in 1961, he gave the first Japanese performance of Cage's Concert for Piano and Orchestra. This left a "deep impression" on Takemitsu: he recalled the impact of hearing the work when writing an obituary for Cage, 31 years later. This encouraged Takemitsu in his use of indeterminate procedures and graphic-score notation, for example in the graphic scores of Ring (1961), Corona for pianist(s) and Corona II for string(s) (both 1962). In these works each performer is presented with cards printed with coloured circular patterns which are freely arranged by the performer to create "the score".
Although the immediate influence of Cage's procedures did not last in Takemitsu's music—Coral Island, for example for soprano and orchestra (1962) shows significant departures from indeterminate procedures partly as a result of Takemitsu's renewed interest in the music of Anton Webern—certain similarities between Cage's philosophies and Takemitsu's thought remained. For example, Cage's emphasis on timbres within individual sound-events, and his notion of silence "as plenum rather than vacuum", can be aligned with Takemitsu's interest in ma. Furthermore, Cage's interest in Zen practice (through his contact with Zen scholar Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki) seems to have resulted in a renewed interest in the East in general, and ultimately alerted Takemitsu to the potential for incorporating elements drawn from Japanese traditional music into his composition:
I must express my deep and sincere gratitude to John Cage. The reason for this is that in my own life, in my own development, for a long period I struggled to avoid being "Japanese", to avoid "Japanese" qualities. It was largely through my contact with John Cage that I came to recognize the value of my own tradition.
For Takemitsu, as he explained later in a lecture in 1988, one performance of Japanese traditional music stood out:
One day I chanced to see a performance of the Bunraku puppet theater and was very surprised by it. It was in the tone quality, the timbre, of the futazao shamisen, the wide-necked shamisen used in Bunraku, that I first recognized the splendor of traditional Japanese music. I was very moved by it and I wondered why my attention had never been captured before by this Japanese music.
Thereafter, he resolved to study all types of traditional Japanese music, paying special attention to the differences between the two very different musical traditions, in a diligent attempt to "bring forth the sensibilities of Japanese music that had always been within [him]". This was no easy task, since in the years following the war traditional music was largely overlooked and ignored: only one or two "masters" continued to keep their art alive, often meeting with public indifference. In conservatoria across the country, even students of traditional instruments were always required to learn the piano.
From the early 1960s, Takemitsu began to make use of traditional Japanese instruments in his music, and even took up playing the biwa—an instrument he used in his score for the film Seppuku (1962). In 1967, Takemitsu received a commission from the New York Philharmonic, to commemorate the orchestra's 125th anniversary, for which he wrote November Steps for biwa, shakuhachi, and orchestra. Initially, Takemitsu had great difficulty in uniting these instruments from such different musical cultures in one work. Eclipse for biwa and shakuhachi (1966) illustrates Takemitsu's attempts to find a viable notational system for these instruments, which in normal circumstances neither sound together nor are used in works notated in any system of Western staff notation.
The first performance of November Steps was given in 1967, under Seiji Ozawa. Despite the trials of writing such an ambitious work, Takemitsu maintained "that making the attempt was very worthwhile because what resulted somehow liberated music from a certain stagnation and brought to music something distinctly new and different". The work was distributed widely in the West when it was coupled as the fourth side of an LP release of Messiaen's Turangalîla Symphony.
In 1972, Takemitsu, accompanied by Iannis Xenakis, Betsy Jolas, and others, heard Balinese gamelan music in Bali. The experience influenced the composer on a largely philosophical and theological level. For those accompanying Takemitsu on the expedition (most of whom were French musicians), who "... could not keep their composure as I did before this music: it was too foreign for them to be able to assess the resulting discrepancies with their logic", the experience was without precedent. For Takemitsu, however, by now quite familiar with his own native musical tradition, there was a relationship between "the sounds of the gamelan, the tone of the kapachi, the unique scales and rhythms by which they are formed, and Japanese traditional music which had shaped such a large part of my sensitivity". In his solo piano work For Away (written for Roger Woodward in 1973), a single, complex line is distributed between the pianist's hands, which reflects the interlocking patterns between the metallophones of a gamelan orchestra.
A year later, Takemitsu returned to the instrumental combination of shakuhachi, biwa, and orchestra, in the less well known work Autumn (1973). The significance of this work is revealed in its far greater integration of the traditional Japanese instruments into the orchestral discourse; whereas in November Steps, the two contrasting instrumental ensembles perform largely in alternation, with only a few moments of contact. Takemitsu expressed this change in attitude:
But now my attitude is getting to be a little different, I think. Now my concern is mostly to find out what there is in common ... Autumn was written after November Steps. I really wanted to do something which I hadn't done in November Steps, not to blend the instruments, but to integrate them.
International status and the gradual shift in style
By 1970, Takemitsu's reputation as a leading member of avant-garde community was well established, and during his involvement with Expo '70 in Osaka, he was at last able to meet more of his Western colleagues, including Karlheinz Stockhausen. Also, during a contemporary music festival in April 1970, produced by the Japanese composer himself ("Iron and Steel Pavilion"), Takemitsu met among the participants Lukas Foss, Peter Sculthorpe, and Vinko Globokar. Later that year, as part of a commission from Paul Sacher and the Zurich Collegium Musicum, Takemitsu incorporated into his Eucalypts I parts for international performers: flautist Aurèle Nicolet, oboist Heinz Holliger, and harpist Ursula Holliger.
Critical examination of the complex instrumental works written during this period for the new generation of "contemporary soloists" reveals the level of his high-profile engagement with the Western avant-garde, in works such as Voice for solo flute (1971), Waves for clarinet, horn, two trombones and bass drum (1976), Quatrain for clarinet, violin, cello, piano and orchestra (1977). Experiments and works that incorporated traditional Japanese musical ideas and language continued to appear in his output, and an increased interest in the traditional Japanese garden began to reflect itself in works such as for gagaku orchestra (1973), and A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden for orchestra (1977).
Throughout this apogee of avant-garde work, Takemitsu's musical style seems to have undergone a series of stylistic changes. Comparison of Green (for orchestra, 1967) and A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden (1977) quickly reveals the seeds of this change. The latter was composed according to a pre-compositional scheme, in which pentatonic modes were superimposed over one central pentatonic scale (the so-called "black-key pentatonic") around a central sustained central pitch (F-sharp), and an approach that is highly indicative of the sort of "pantonal" and modal pitch material seen gradually emerging in his works throughout the 1970s. The former, Green (or November Steps II) written 10 years earlier, is heavily influenced by Debussy, and is, in spite of its very dissonant language (including momentary quarter-tone clusters), largely constructed through a complex web of modal forms. These modal forms are largely audible, particularly in the momentary repose toward the end of the work. Thus in these works, it is possible to see both a continuity of approach, and the emergence of a simpler harmonic language that was to characterise the work of his later period.
His friend and colleague Jō Kondō said, "If his later works sound different from earlier pieces, it is due to his gradual refining of his basic style rather than any real alteration of it."
Later works: the sea of tonality
In a Tokyo lecture given in 1984, Takemitsu identified a melodic motive in his Far Calls. Coming Far! (for violin and orchestra, 1980) that would recur throughout his later works:
I wanted to plan a tonal "sea". Here the "sea" is E-flat [Es in German nomenclature]-E-A, a three-note ascending motive consisting of a half step and perfect fourth. [... In Far Calls] this is extended upward from A with two major thirds and one minor third ... Using these patterns I set the "sea of tonality" from which many pantonal chords flow.
Takemitsu's words here highlight his changing stylistic trends from the late 1970s into the 1980s, which have been described as "an increased use of diatonic material [... with] references to tertian harmony and jazz voicing", which do not, however, project a sense of "large-scale tonality". Many of the works from this period have titles that include a reference to water: Toward the Sea (1981), Rain Tree and Rain Coming (1982), riverrun and I Hear the Water Dreaming (1987). Takemitsu wrote in his notes for the score of Rain Coming that "... the complete collection [is] entitled "Waterscape" ... it was the composer's intention to create a series of works, which like their subject, pass through various metamorphoses, culminating in a sea of tonality." Throughout these works, the S-E-A motive (discussed further below) features prominently, and points to an increased emphasis on the melodic element in Takemitsu's music that began during this later period.
His 1981 work for orchestra named Dreamtime was inspired by a visit to Groote Eylandt, off the coast of the Northern Territory of Australia, to witness a large gathering of Australian indigenous dancers, singers and story tellers. He was there at the invitation of the choreographer Jiří Kylián.
Pedal notes played an increasingly prominent role in Takemitsu's music during this period, as in A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden. In Dream/Window, (orchestra, 1985) a pedal D serves as anchor point, holding together statements of a striking four-note motivic gesture which recurs in various instrumental and rhythmic guises throughout. Very occasionally, fully fledged references to diatonic tonality can be found, often in harmonic allusions to early- and pre-20th-century composers—for example, Folios for guitar (1974), which quotes from J. S. Bach's St Matthew Passion, and Family Tree for narrator and orchestra (1984), which invokes the musical language of Maurice Ravel and American popular song. (He revered the St Matthew Passion, and would play through it on the piano before commencing a new work, as a form of "purificatory ritual".)
By this time, Takemitsu's incorporation of traditional Japanese (and other Eastern) musical traditions with his Western style had become much more integrated. Takemitsu commented, "There is no doubt ... the various countries and cultures of the world have begun a journey toward the geographic and historic unity of all peoples ... The old and new exist within me with equal weight."
Toward the end of his life, Takemitsu had planned to complete an opera, a collaboration with the novelist Barry Gifford and the director Daniel Schmid, commissioned by the Opéra National de Lyon in France. He was in the process of publishing a plan of its musical and dramatic structure with Kenzaburō Ōe, but he was prevented from completing it by his death at 65. He died of pneumonia on February 20, 1996, while undergoing treatment for bladder cancer.
Personal life
He was married to Asaka Takemitsu (formerly Wakayama) for 42 years. She first met Toru in 1951, cared for him when he was suffering from tuberculosis in his early twenties, then married him in 1954. They had one child, a daughter named Maki. Asaka attended most premieres of his music and published a memoir of their life together in 2010.
Music
Composers whom Takemitsu cited as influential in his early work include Claude Debussy, Anton Webern, Edgard Varèse, Arnold Schoenberg, and Olivier Messiaen. Messiaen in particular was introduced to him by fellow composer Toshi Ichiyanagi, and remained a lifelong influence. Although Takemitsu's wartime experiences of nationalism initially discouraged him from cultivating an interest in traditional Japanese music, he showed an early interest in "... the Japanese Garden in color spacing and form ...". The formal garden of the kaiyu-shiki interested him in particular.
He expressed his unusual stance toward compositional theory early on, his lack of respect for the "trite rules of music, rules that are ... stifled by formulas and calculations"; for Takemitsu it was of far greater importance that "sounds have the freedom to breathe. ... Just as one cannot plan his life, neither can he plan music".
Takemitsu's sensitivity to instrumental and orchestral timbre can be heard throughout his work, and is often made apparent by the unusual instrumental combinations he specified. This is evident in works such as November Steps, that combine traditional Japanese instruments, shakuhachi and biwa, with a conventional Western orchestra. It may also be discerned in his works for ensembles that make no use of traditional instruments, for example Quotation of Dream (1991), Archipelago S., for 21 players (1993), and Arc I & II (1963–66/1976). In these works, the more conventional orchestral forces are divided into unconventional "groups". Even where these instrumental combinations were determined by the particular ensemble commissioning the work, "Takemitsu's genius for instrumentation (and genius it was, in my view) ...", in the words of Oliver Knussen, "... creates the illusion that the instrumental restrictions are self-imposed".
Influence of traditional Japanese music
Takemitsu summarized his initial aversion to Japanese (and all non-Western) traditional musical forms in his own words: "There may be folk music with strength and beauty, but I cannot be completely honest in this kind of music. I want a more active relationship to the present. (Folk music in a 'contemporary style' is nothing but a deception)." His dislike for the musical traditions of Japan in particular were intensified by his experiences of the war, during which Japanese music became associated with militaristic and nationalistic cultural ideals.
Nevertheless, Takemitsu incorporated some idiomatic elements of Japanese music in his very earliest works, perhaps unconsciously. One unpublished set of pieces, Kakehi ("Conduit"), written at the age of seventeen, incorporates the ryō, ritsu and insen scales throughout. When Takemitsu discovered that these "nationalist" elements had somehow found their way into his music, he was so alarmed that he later destroyed the works. Further examples can be seen for example in the quarter-tone glissandi of Masques I (for two flutes, 1959), which mirror the characteristic pitch bends of the shakuhachi, and for which he devised his own unique notation: a held note is tied to an enharmonic spelling of the same pitch class, with a portamento direction across the tie.
Other Japanese characteristics, including the further use of traditional pentatonic scales, continued to crop up elsewhere in his early works. In the opening bars of Litany, for Michael Vyner, a reconstruction from memory by Takemitsu of Lento in Due Movimenti (1950; the original score was lost), pentatonicism is clearly visible in the upper voice, which opens the work on an unaccompanied anacrusis. The pitches of the opening melody combine to form the constituent notes of the ascending form of the Japanese in scale.
When, from the early 1960s, Takemitsu began to "consciously apprehend" the sounds of traditional Japanese music, he found that his creative process, "the logic of my compositional thought[,] was torn apart", and nevertheless, "hogaku [traditional Japanese music ...] seized my heart and refuses to release it". In particular, Takemitsu perceived that, for example, the sound of a single stroke of the biwa or single pitch breathed through the shakuhachi, could "so transport our reason because they are of extreme complexity ... already complete in themselves". This fascination with the sounds produced in traditional Japanese music brought Takemitsu to his idea of ma (usually translated as the space between two objects), which ultimately informed his understanding of the intense quality of traditional Japanese music as a whole:
Just one sound can be complete in itself, for its complexity lies in the formulation of ma, an unquantifiable metaphysical space (duration) of dynamically tensed absence of sound. For example, in the performance of nō, the ma of sound and silence does not have an organic relation for the purpose of artistic expression. Rather, these two elements contrast sharply with one another in an immaterial balance.
In 1970, Takemitsu received a commission from the National Theatre of Japan to write a work for the gagaku ensemble of the Imperial Household; this was fulfilled in 1973, when he completed Shuteiga ("In an Autumn Garden", although he later incorporated the work, as the fourth movement, into his 50-minute-long "In an Autumn Garden—Complete Version"). As well as being "... the furthest removed from the West of any work he had written", While it introduces certain Western musical ideas to the Japanese court ensemble, the work represents the deepest of Takemitsu's investigations into Japanese musical tradition, the lasting effects of which are clearly reflected in his works for conventional Western ensemble formats that followed.
In Garden Rain (1974, for brass ensemble), the limited and pitch-specific harmonic vocabulary of the Japanese mouth organ, the shō (see ex. 3), and its specific timbres, are clearly emulated in Takemitsu's writing for brass instruments; even similarities of performance practice can be seen, (the players are often required to hold notes to the limit of their breath capacity). In A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden, the characteristic timbres of the shō and its chords (several of which are simultaneous soundings of traditional Japanese pentatonic scales) are emulated in the opening held chords of the wind instruments (the first chord is in fact an exact transposition of the shō's chord, Jū (i); see ex. 3); meanwhile a solo oboe is assigned a melodic line that is similarly reminiscent of the lines played by the hichiriki in gagaku ensembles.
Influence of Messiaen
The influence of Olivier Messiaen on Takemitsu was already apparent in some of Takemitsu's earliest published works. By the time he composed Lento in Due Movimenti, (1950), Takemitsu had already come into possession of a copy of Messiaen's 8 Préludes (through Toshi Ichiyanagi), and the influence of Messiaen is clearly visible in the work, in the use of modes, the suspension of regular metre, and sensitivity to timbre. Throughout his career, Takemitsu often made use of modes from which he derived his musical material, both melodic and harmonic among which Messiaen's modes of limited transposition to appear with some frequency. In particular, the use of the octatonic, (mode II, or the 8–28 collection), and mode VI (8–25) is particularly common. However, Takemitsu pointed out that he had used the octatonic collection in his music before ever coming across it in Messiaen's music.
In 1975, Takemitsu met Messiaen in New York, and during "what was to be a one-hour 'lesson' [but which] lasted three hours ... Messiaen played his Quartet for the End of Time for Takemitsu at the piano", which, Takemitsu recalled, was like listening to an orchestral performance. Takemitsu responded to this with his homage to the French composer, Quatrain, for which he asked Messiaen's permission to use the same instrumental combination for the main quartet, cello, violin, clarinet and piano (which is accompanied by orchestra). As well as the obvious similarity of instrumentation, Takemitsu employs several melodic figures that appear to "mimic" certain musical examples given by Messiaen in his Technique de mon langage musical, (see ex. 4). In 1977, Takemitsu reworked Quatrain for quartet alone, without orchestra, and titled the new work Quatrain II.
On hearing of Messiaen's death in 1992, Takemitsu was interviewed by telephone, and still in shock, "blurted out, 'His death leaves a crisis in contemporary music!'" Then later, in an obituary written for the French composer in the same year, Takemitsu further expressed his sense of loss at Messiaen's death: "Truly, he was my spiritual mentor ... Among the many things I learned from his music, the concept and experience of color and the form of time will be unforgettable." The composition Rain Tree Sketch II, which was to be Takemitsu's final piano piece, was also written that year and subtitled "In Memoriam Olivier Messiaen".
Influence of Debussy
Takemitsu frequently expressed his indebtedness to Claude Debussy, referring to the French composer as his "great mentor". As Arnold Whittall puts it:
Given the enthusiasm for the exotic and the Orient in these [Debussy and Messiaen] and other French composers, it is understandable that Takemitsu should have been attracted to the expressive and formal qualities of music in which flexibility of rhythm and richness of harmony count for so much.
For Takemitsu, Debussy's "greatest contribution was his unique orchestration which emphasizes colour, light and shadow ... the orchestration of Debussy has many musical focuses." He was fully aware of Debussy's own interest in Japanese art, (the cover of the first edition of La mer, for example, was famously adorned by Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa). For Takemitsu, this interest in Japanese culture, combined with his unique personality, and perhaps most importantly, his lineage as a composer of the French musical tradition running from Rameau and Lully through Berlioz in which colour is given special attention, gave Debussy his unique style and sense of orchestration.
During the composition of Green (November Steps II, for orchestra, 1967: "steeped in the sound-color world of the orchestral music of Claude Debussy") Takemitsu said he had taken the scores of Debussy's Prélude à l'Après-midi d'un Faune and Jeux to the mountain villa where both this work and November Steps I were composed. For Oliver Knussen, "the final appearance of the main theme irresistibly prompts the thought that Takemitsu may, quite unconsciously, have been attempting a latter-day Japanese Après-midi d'un Faune". Details of orchestration in Green, such as the prominent use of antique cymbals, and tremolandi harmonies in the strings, clearly point to the influence of Takemitsu's compositional mentor, and of these works in particular.
In Quotation of Dream (1991), direct quotations from Debussy's La Mer and Takemitsu's earlier works relating to the sea are incorporated into the musical flow ("stylistic jolts were not intended"), depicting the landscape outside the Japanese garden of his own music.
Motives
Several recurring musical motives can be heard in Takemitsu's works. In particular the pitch motive E♭–E–A can be heard in many of his later works, whose titles refer to water in some form (Toward the Sea, 1981; Rain Tree Sketch, 1982; I Hear the Water Dreaming, 1987).
When spelt in German (Es–E–A), the motive can be seen as a musical "transliteration" of the word "sea". Takemitsu used this motive (usually transposed) to indicate the presence of water in his "musical landscapes", even in works whose titles do not directly refer to water, such as A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden (1977; see ex. 5).
Musique concrète
During Takemitsu's years as a member of the Jikken Kōbō, he experimented with compositions of musique concrète (and a very limited amount of electronic music, the most notable example being Stanza II for harp and tape written later in 1972). In Water Music (1960), Takemitsu's source material consisted entirely of sounds produced by droplets of water. His manipulation of these sounds, through the use of highly percussive envelopes, often results in a resemblance to traditional Japanese instruments, such as the tsuzumi and nō ensembles.
Aleatory techniques
One aspect of John Cage's compositional procedure that Takemitsu continued to use throughout his career, was the use of indeterminacy, in which performers are given a degree of choice in what to perform. As mentioned previously, this was particularly used in works such as November Steps, in which musicians playing traditional Japanese instruments were able to play in an orchestral setting with a certain degree of improvisational freedom.
However, he also employed a technique that is sometimes called "aleatory counterpoint" in his well-known orchestral work A Flock Descends Into the Pentagonal Garden (1977, at [J] in the score), and in the score of Arc II: i Textures (1964) for piano and orchestra, in which sections of the orchestra are divided into groups, and required to repeat short passages of music at will. In these passages the overall sequence of events is, however, controlled by the conductor, who is instructed about the approximate durations for each section, and who indicates to the orchestra when to move from one section to next. The technique is commonly found in the work of Witold Lutosławski, who pioneered it in his Jeux vénitiens.
Film music
Takemitsu's contribution to film music was considerable; in under 40 years he composed music for over 100 films, some of which were written for purely financial reasons (such as those written for Noboru Nakamura). However, as the composer attained financial independence, he grew more selective, often reading whole scripts before agreeing to compose the music, and later surveying the action on set, "breathing the atmosphere" whilst conceiving his musical ideas.
One notable consideration in Takemitsu's composition for film was his careful use of silence (also important in many of his concert works), which often immediately intensifies the events on screen, and prevents any monotony through a continuous musical accompaniment. For the first battle scene of Akira Kurosawa's Ran, Takemitsu provided an extended passage of intense elegiac quality that halts at the sound of a single gunshot, leaving the audience with the pure "sounds of battle: cries screams and neighing horses".
Takemitsu attached the greatest importance to the director's conception of the film; in an interview with Max Tessier, he explained that, "everything depends on the film itself ... I try to concentrate as much as possible on the subject, so that I can express what the director feels himself. I try to extend his feelings with my music."
Legacy
In a memorial issue of Contemporary Music Review, Jō Kondō wrote, "Needless to say, Takemitsu is among the most important composers in Japanese music history. He was also the first Japanese composer fully recognized in the west, and remained the guiding light for the younger generations of Japanese composers."
Composer Peter Lieberson shared the following in his program note to The Ocean that has no East and West, written in memory of Takemitsu: "I spent the most time with Toru in Tokyo when I was invited to be a guest composer at his Music Today Festival in 1987. Peter Serkin and composer Oliver Knussen were also there, as was cellist Fred Sherry. Though he was the senior of our group by many years, Toru stayed up with us every night and literally drank us under the table. I was confirmed in my impression of Toru as a person who lived his life like a traditional Zen poet."
In the foreword to a selection of Takemitsu's writings in English, conductor Seiji Ozawa writes: "I am very proud of my friend Toru Takemitsu. He is the first Japanese composer to write for a world audience and achieve international recognition."
Awards and honours
Takemitsu won awards for composition, both in Japan and abroad, including the Prix Italia for his orchestral work Tableau noir in 1958, the Otaka Prize in 1976 and 1981, the Los Angeles Film Critics Award in 1987 (for the film score Ran) and the University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition in 1994 (for Fantasma/Cantos). In Japan, he received the Film Awards of the Japanese Academy for outstanding achievement in music, for soundtracks to the following films:
1979
1985 Fire Festival (film)
1986
1990
1996
He was also invited to attend numerous international festivals throughout his career, and presented lectures and talks at academic institutions across the world. He was made an honorary member of the Akademie der Künste of the DDR in 1979, and the American Institute of Arts and Letters in 1985. He was admitted to the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1985, and the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1986. He was the recipient of the 22nd Suntory Music Award (1990). Posthumously, Takemitsu received an Honorary Doctorate from Columbia University early in 1996 and was awarded the fourth Glenn Gould Prize in fall 1996.
The Toru Takemitsu Composition Award, intended to "encourage a younger generation of composers who will shape the coming age through their new musical works", is named after him.
Literary works
Takemitsu, Tōru, with Cronin, Tania and Tann, Hilary, "Afterword", Perspectives of New Music, vol. 27, no. 2 (Summer, 1989), 205–214, (subscription access)
Takemitsu, Tōru, (trans. Adachi, Sumi with Reynolds, Roger), "Mirrors", Perspectives of New Music, vol. 30, no. 1 (Winter, 1992), 36–80, (subscription access)
Takemitsu, Tōru, (trans. Hugh de Ferranti) "One Sound", Contemporary Music Review, vol. 8, part 2, (Harwood, 1994), 3–4, (subscription access)
Takemitsu, Tōru, "Contemporary Music in Japan", Perspectives of New Music, vol. 27, no. 2 (Summer, 1989), 198–204 (subscription access)
Notes and references
Sources
General references
Further reading
External links
Toru Takemitsu: Complete Works
Slate article focusing on his film music
Interview with Toru Takemitsu
Interview with Tōru Takemitsu, March 6, 1990
1930 births
1996 deaths
20th-century classical composers
20th-century classical pianists
20th-century guitarists
20th-century Japanese composers
20th-century Japanese male musicians
20th-century musicologists
Deaths from cancer in Japan
Deutsche Grammophon artists
Composers for the classical guitar
Composers for piano
Deaths from bladder cancer
Deaths from pneumonia in Japan
Electronic musicians
Georges Delerue Award winners
Glenn Gould Prize winners
International Rostrum of Composers prize-winners
Japanese classical composers
Japanese classical guitarists
Japanese classical pianists
Japanese electronic musicians
Japanese film score composers
Japanese male classical composers
Japanese male classical pianists
Japanese male film score composers
Music theorists
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"Kristian Bernt Torgersen (born 16 May 2003) is a Norwegian football midfielder who plays for Stabæk.\n\nHailing from Haslum in Bærum, he also played youth football for Fornebu FK before joining the youth ranks of Stabæk. He was also a Norwegian youth international from age 15. He signed a professional contract in August 2020, and made his senior debut in December 2020 against Strømsgodset. In the 2021 season opener against Odd, three days after his 18th birthday, he was in the starting eleven.\n\nHis hobbies include skateboarding and music producing.\n\nReferences\n\n2003 births\nLiving people\nSportspeople from Bærum\nNorwegian footballers\nStabæk Fotball players\nEliteserien players\nAssociation football midfielders\nNorway youth international footballers",
"Khrystyna Dmytrenko (; born 31 May 1999) is a Ukrainian biathlete. Her elder sister Valeria is also a biathlete. Her hobbies are singing and reading books.\n\nCareer\nShe represented Ukraine at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics in Lillehammer and became the first ever Ukrainian youth Olympic champion both in biathlon and winter sports.\n\nPerformances\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Biathlon.com.ua\n\n1999 births\nLiving people\nSportspeople from Chernihiv\nUkrainian female biathletes\nBiathletes at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics\nYouth Olympic gold medalists for Ukraine"
] |
[
"Amy Winehouse",
"Substance abuse and mental illness"
] |
C_efbf3039679a4232a67306f7dfb6f70c_1
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What substance problems did Amy Winehouse have?
| 1 |
What substance problems did Amy Winehouse have?
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Amy Winehouse
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Winehouse's battles with substance abuse were the subject of much media attention. In 2005, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, and weight loss. People who saw her during the end of that year and early 2006 reported a rebound that coincided with the writing of Back to Black. Her family believes that the mid-2006 death of her grandmother, who was a stabilising influence, set her off into addiction. In August 2007, Winehouse cancelled a number of shows in the UK and Europe, citing exhaustion and ill health. She was hospitalised during this period for what was reported as an overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol. In various interviews, she admitted to having problems with self-harm, depression, and eating disorders. Winehouse told a magazine that the drugs were to blame for her hospitalisation and that "I really thought that it was over for me then." Soon afterward, Winehouse's father commented that when he had made public statements regarding her problems he was using the media because it seemed the only way to get through to her. In an interview with The Album Chart Show on British television, Winehouse said she was manic depressive and not alcoholic, adding that that sounded like "an alcoholic in denial." A US reporter writes that Winehouse was a "victim of mental illness in a society that doesn't understand or respond to mental illness with great effectiveness." In December 2007, Winehouse's spokesman reported that the singer was in a physician-supervised programme and was channelling her difficulties by writing a lot of music. The British tabloid The Sun posted a video of a woman, alleged to be Winehouse, apparently smoking crack cocaine and speaking of having taken ecstasy and valium. Winehouse's father moved in with her, and Island Records, her record label, announced the abandonment of plans for an American promotion campaign on her behalf. In late January 2008, Winehouse reportedly entered a rehabilitation facility for a two-week treatment program. On 23 January 2008, the video was passed on to the Metropolitan Police, who questioned her on 5 February. No charges were brought. On 26 March 2008, Winehouse's spokesman said she was "doing well." Her record company reportedly believed that her recovery remained fragile. By late April 2008, her erratic behaviour, including an allegation of assault, caused fear that her drug rehabilitation efforts had been unsuccessful, leading to efforts by Winehouse's father and manager to seek assistance in having her involuntarily committed. Her dishevelled appearance during and after a scheduled club night in September sparked new rumours of a relapse. Photographers were quoted as saying she appeared to have cuts on her legs and arms. According to her physician, Winehouse quit illegal substances in 2008. In an October 2010 interview, speaking of her decision to quit drugs, Winehouse said, "I literally woke up one day and was like, 'I don't want to do this any more'." Drinking alcohol emerged as a problem with Winehouse abstaining for a few weeks then lapsing. The physician said that Winehouse was treated with Librium for alcohol withdrawal and anxiety, and underwent psychological and psychiatric evaluations in 2010, but refused psychological therapy. CANNOTANSWER
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In 2005, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, and weight loss.
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Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was a British singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz.
A member of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra during her youth, Winehouse signed to Simon Fuller's 19 Management in 2002 and soon recorded a number of songs before signing a publishing deal with EMI. She also formed a working relationship with producer Salaam Remi through these record publishers. Winehouse's debut album, Frank, was released in 2003. Many of the album's songs were influenced by jazz and, apart from two covers, were co-written by Winehouse. Frank was a critical success in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize. The song "Stronger Than Me" won her the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors.
Winehouse released her follow-up album, Back to Black, in 2006, which went on to become an international success and one of the best-selling albums in UK history. At the 2007 Brit Awards it was nominated for British Album of the Year, and she received the award for British Female Solo Artist. The song "Rehab" won her a second Ivor Novello Award. At the 50th Grammy Awards in 2008, she won five awards, tying the then record for the most wins by a female artist in a single night and becoming the first British woman to win five Grammys, including three of the General Field "Big Four" Grammy Awards: Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year (for "Rehab"), as well as Best Pop Vocal Album.
Winehouse was plagued by drug and alcohol addiction. She died of alcohol poisoning on 23 July 2011, at the age of 27. After her death, Back to Black temporarily became the UK's best-selling album of the 21st century. VH1 ranked Winehouse 26th on their list of the 100 Greatest Women in Music.
Early life
Amy Jade Winehouse was born on 14 September 1983 at Chase Farm Hospital in Gordon Hill, Enfield, to Jewish parents. Her father, Mitchell "Mitch" Winehouse, was a window panel installer and taxi driver; her mother, Janis Winehouse (née Seaton), was a pharmacist, who suffers from multiple sclerosis. The great-great-grandfather of Amy Harris Winehouse emigrated from Minsk, Belarus to London in 1891. She had an older brother, Alex (born 1979), and the family lived in London's Southgate area, where she attended Osidge Primary School. Winehouse attended a Jewish Sunday school while she was a child. During an interview following her rise to fame, she expressed her dismissal towards the school by saying that she used to beg her father to permit her not to go and that she learned nothing about being Jewish by going anyway. In the same interview, Winehouse said she only went to a synagogue once a year on Yom Kippur "out of respect".
Many of Winehouse's maternal uncles were professional jazz musicians. Amy's paternal grandmother, Cynthia, was a singer and dated the English jazz saxophonist Ronnie Scott. She and Amy's parents influenced Amy's interest in jazz. Her father, Mitch, often sang Frank Sinatra songs to her, and whenever she got chastised at school, she would sing "Fly Me to the Moon" before going up to the headmistress to be told off. Winehouse's parents separated when she was nine, and she lived with her mother and stayed with her father and his girlfriend in Hatfield Heath, Essex, on weekends.
In 1992, her grandmother Cynthia suggested that Amy attend the Susi Earnshaw Theatre School, where she went on Saturdays to further her vocal education and to learn to tap dance. She attended the school for four years and founded a short-lived rap group called Sweet 'n' Sour, with Juliette Ashby, her childhood friend, before seeking full-time training at Sylvia Young Theatre School. Several years later it was reported that Winehouse had been expelled at 14 for "not applying herself" and also for piercing her nose, but these claims were denied by Sylvia Young: "She changed schools at 15...I've heard it said she was expelled; she wasn't. I'd never have expelled Amy." Mitch Winehouse also denied the claims. She attended the Mount School, Mill Hill and the BRIT School in Selhurst, Croydon, dropping out at age 16.
After toying around with her brother Alex's guitar, Winehouse bought her own when she was 14 and began writing music shortly afterwards. Soon after she began working for a living, as an entertainment journalist for the World Entertainment News Network and also singing with local group the Bolsha Band. In July 2000, she became the featured female vocalist with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. She was influenced by Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington, the latter of whom she was already listening to at home. Winehouse's best friend, soul singer Tyler James, sent her demo tape to an A&R person.
Career
2002–2005: Career beginnings and Frank
Winehouse was signed to Simon Fuller's 19 Management in 2002 and was paid £250 a week against future earnings. While being developed by the management company, Winehouse was kept as a recording industry secret, although she was a regular jazz standards singer at the Cobden Club. Her future A&R representative at Island, Darcus Beese, heard of her by accident when the manager of The Lewinson Brothers showed him some productions of his clients, which featured Winehouse as key vocalist. When he asked who the singer was, the manager told him he was not allowed to say. Having decided that he wanted to sign her, it took several months of asking around for Beese to eventually discover who the singer was. However, Winehouse had already recorded a number of songs and signed a publishing deal with EMI by this time. Incidentally, she formed a working relationship with producer Salaam Remi through these record publishers.
Beese introduced Winehouse to his boss, Nick Gatfield; the Island head shared his enthusiasm in signing the young artist. Winehouse was signed to Island, as rival interest in her had started to build with representatives of EMI and Virgin starting to make moves. Beese told HitQuarters that he felt the excitement over an artist who was an atypical pop star for the time was due to a backlash against reality TV music shows, which included audiences starved for fresh, genuine young talent.
Winehouse's debut album, Frank, was released on 20 October 2003. Produced mainly by Salaam Remi, many songs were influenced by jazz and, apart from two covers, Winehouse co-wrote every song. The album received critical acclaim with compliments given to the "cool, critical gaze" in its lyrics. Winehouse's voice was compared with those of Sarah Vaughan and Macy Gray, among others.
The album entered the upper reaches of the UK album chart in 2004 when it was nominated for the Brit Awards in the categories of "British Female Solo Artist" and "British Urban Act." It went on to achieve platinum sales. Later in 2004, she and Remi won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song, for their first single together, "Stronger Than Me." The album was also shortlisted for the 2004 Mercury Music Prize. In the same year, she performed at the Glastonbury Festival – Jazzworld, the V Festival and the Montreal International Jazz Festival. After the release of the album, Winehouse commented that she was "only 80 percent behind [the] album" because Island Records had overruled her preferences for the songs and mixes to be included. The further singles from the album were "Take the Box," "In My Bed"/"You Sent Me Flying" and "Pumps"/"Help Yourself."
2006–2008: Back to Black and international success
After the release of her first jazz-influenced album, Winehouse's focus shifted to the girl groups of the 1950s and 1960s. Winehouse hired New York singer Sharon Jones's longtime band, the Dap-Kings, to back her up in the studio and on tour. Mitch Winehouse relates in Amy, My Daughter how fascinating watching her process was: her perfectionism in the studio and how she would put what she had sung on a CD and play it in his taxi outside to know how most people would hear her music. In May 2006, Winehouse's demo tracks such as "You Know I'm No Good" and "Rehab" appeared on Mark Ronson's New York radio show on East Village Radio. These were some of the first new songs played on the radio after the release of "Pumps" and both were slated to appear on her second album. The 11-track album, completed in five months, was produced entirely by Salaam Remi and Ronson, with the production credits being split between them. Ronson said in a 2010 interview that he liked working with Winehouse because she was blunt when she did not like his work. She in turn thought that when they first met, he was a sound engineer and that she was expecting an older man with a beard.
Promotion of Back to Black soon began and, in early October 2006 Winehouse's official website was relaunched with a new layout and clips of previously unreleased songs. Back to Black was released in the UK on 30 October 2006. It went to number one on the UK Albums Chart for two weeks in January 2007, dropping then climbing back for several weeks in February. In the US, it entered at number seven on the Billboard 200. It was the best-selling album in the UK of 2007, selling 1.85million copies over the course of the year. The first single released from the album was the Ronson-produced "Rehab." The song reached the top ten in the UK and the US. Time magazine named "Rehab" the Best Song of 2007. Writer Josh Tyrangiel praised Winehouse for her confidence, saying, "What she is is mouthy, funny, sultry, and quite possibly crazy" and "It's impossible not to be seduced by her originality. Combine it with production by Mark Ronson that references four decades worth of soul music without once ripping it off, and you've got the best song of 2007." The album's second single and lead single in the US, "You Know I'm No Good," was released in January 2007 with a remix featuring rap vocals by Ghostface Killah. It ultimately reached number 18 on the UK singles chart. The title track, "Back to Black," was released in the UK in April 2007 and peaked at number 25, but was more successful across mainland Europe. "Tears Dry on Their Own," "Love Is a Losing Game" were also released as singles, but failed to achieve the same level of success.
A deluxe edition of Back to Black was also released on 5 November 2007 in the UK. The bonus disc features B-sides, rare, and live tracks, as well as "Valerie." Winehouse's debut DVD I Told You I Was Trouble: Live in London was released the same day in the UK and 13 November in the US. It includes a live set recorded at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire and a 50-minute documentary charting the singer's career over the previous four years. Frank was released in the United States on 20 November 2007 to positive reviews. The album debuted at number 61 on the Billboard 200 chart. In addition to her own album, she collaborated with other artists on singles. Winehouse was a vocalist on the song "Valerie" on Ronson's solo album Version. The song peaked at number two in the UK, upon its October single release. "Valerie" was nominated for a 2008 Brit Award for "Best British Single." Her work with ex-Sugababe Mutya Buena, "B Boy Baby," was released on 17 December 2007. It served as the fourth single from Buena's debut album, Real Girl. Winehouse was also in talks of working with Missy Elliott for her album Block Party.
Winehouse promoted the release of Back to Black with headline performances in late 2006, including a Little Noise Sessions charity concert at the Union Chapel in Islington, London. On 31 December 2006, Winehouse appeared on Jools Holland's Annual Hootenanny and performed a cover of Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" along with Paul Weller and Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra. She also performed Toots and the Maytals' "Monkey Man". At his request, actor Bruce Willis introduced Winehouse before her performance of "Rehab" at the 2007 MTV Movie Awards in Universal City, California, on 3 June 2007. During the summer of 2007, she performed at various festivals, including Glastonbury Festival and Lollapalooza in Chicago.
The rest of her tour, however, did not go as well. In November 2007, the opening night of a 17-date tour was marred by booing and walkouts at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. A critic for the Birmingham Mail said it was "one of the saddest nights of my life...I saw a supremely talented artist reduced to tears, stumbling around the stage and, unforgivably, swearing at the audience." Other concerts ended similarly, with, for example, fans at her Hammersmith Apollo performance in London saying that she "looked highly intoxicated throughout," until she announced on 27 November 2007, that her performances and public appearances were cancelled for the remainder of the year, citing her doctor's advice to take a complete rest. A statement issued by concert promoter Live Nation blamed "the rigours involved in touring and the intense emotional strain that Amy has been under in recent weeks" for the decision. Mitch Winehouse wrote about her nervousness before public performances in his 2012 book, Amy, My Daughter. On 13 January 2008, Back to Black held the number-one position on the Billboard Pan European charts for the third consecutive week.
On 10 February 2008, Winehouse received five Grammy Awards, winning in the following categories: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the single "Rehab," and Best Pop Vocal Album. The singer also earned a Grammy as Best New Artist, earning her an entry in the 2009 edition of the Guinness Book of Records for Most Grammy Awards won by a British Female Act. Additionally, Back to Black was nominated for Album of the Year. Ronson's work with her won the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, in the non-classical category. She ended her acceptance speech for Record of the Year with, "This is for London because Camden town ain't burning down," in reference to the 2008 Camden Market fire. Performing "You Know I'm No Good" and "Rehab" via satellite from London's Riverside Studios at 3 a.m. UK time, she couldn't be at the ceremony in Los Angeles as her visa approval had not been processed in time.
After the Grammys, the album's sales increased, catapulting Back to Black to number two on the US Billboard 200, after it initially peaked in the seventh position. On 20 February 2008, Winehouse performed at the 2008 Brit Awards at Earls Court in London, performing "Valerie" with Mark Ronson, followed by "Love Is a Losing Game." She urged the crowd to "make some noise for my Blake." A special deluxe edition of Back to Black topped the UK album charts on 2 March 2008. Meanwhile, the original edition of the album was ranked at number 30 in its 68th week on the charts, while Frank charted at number 35.
In Paris, she performed what was described as a "well-executed 40-minute" set at the opening of a Fendi boutique in early March. By 12 March, the album had sold a total of 2,467,575 copies—318,350 copies had been sold in the previous 10 weeks—putting the album on the UK's top-10 best-selling albums of the 21st century for the first time. On 7 April, Back to Black was in the top position of the pan-European charts for the sixth consecutive and thirteenth aggregate week. Amy Winehouse – The Girl Done Good: A Documentary Review, a 78-minute DVD, was released on 14 April 2008. The documentary features interviews with those who knew her at a young age, people who helped her achieve success, jazz music experts, and music and pop-culture specialists.
At the 2008 Ivor Novello Awards in May, Winehouse became the first-ever artist to receive two nominations for the top award: Best Song Musically & Lyrically. She won the award for "Love Is a Losing Game" and was nominated for "You Know I'm No Good." "Rehab," a Novello winner for best contemporary song in 2006, also received a 2008 nomination for best-selling British song. Winehouse was also nominated for a 2008 MTV Europe Award in the "Act of the Year" category.
Although her father, manager and various members of her touring team reportedly tried to dissuade her, Winehouse performed at the Rock in Rio Lisboa festival in Portugal in May 2008. Although the set was plagued by a late arrival and problems with her voice, the crowd warmed to her. In addition to her own material she performed two Specials covers. Winehouse performed at Nelson Mandela's 90th Birthday Party concert at London's Hyde Park on 27 June 2008, and the next day at the Glastonbury Festival. On 12 July, at the Oxegen Festival in Ireland she performed a well-received 50-minute set which was followed the next day by a 14-song set at T in the Park.
On 16 August she played at the Staffordshire leg of the V Festival, and the following day played the Chelmsford leg of the festival. Organisers said that Winehouse attracted the biggest crowds of the festival. Audience reaction was reported as mixed. On 6 September, she was Bestival's Saturday headliner, where her performance was described as polished—terminated by a curfew as the show running overdue, after Winehouse started an hour late—and her storming off stage.
A clip of Winehouse's music was included in the "Roots and Influences" area that looked at connections between different artists at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex NYC, which opened in December 2008. One thread started with Billie Holiday, continued with Aretha Franklin and Mary J. Blige, and then finished with Winehouse.
Back to Black was the world's seventh-biggest-selling album of 2008. The album's sales meant that the market performance of Universal Music's recorded music division did not drop to levels experienced by the overall music market.
2009–2011: Final projects before death
In a 2009 poll of U.S. residents conducted for VisitBritain by Harris Interactive, one-fifth of the participants indicated they had listened to Winehouse's music during the previous year. She performed with Rhythms del Mundo on their cover of the Sam Cooke song, "Cupid", for an Artists Project Earth benefit album released in July that year.
Winehouse and Ronson contributed a cover of Lesley Gore's "It's My Party" to the Quincy Jones tribute album Q Soul Bossa Nostra, released in November 2010. She had agreed to form a group with Questlove of the Roots but her problems obtaining a visa delayed their working together. Salaam Remi had already created some material with Winehouse as part of the project. According to The Times, Universal Music pressed her for new material in 2008, but as of 2 September that year she had not been near a recording studio. In late October, Winehouse's spokesman was quoted as saying that Winehouse had not been given a deadline to complete her third album, for which she was learning to play drums.
In May 2009, Winehouse returned to performing at a jazz festival in St. Lucia amid torrential downpours and technical difficulties. During her set, it was reported she was unsteady on her feet and had trouble remembering lyrics. She apologised to the crowd for being "bored" and ended the set in the middle of a song. During her stay in St. Lucia, however, she worked on new music with Remi. On 23 August that year Winehouse sang with the Specials at the V Festival, on their songs "You're Wondering Now" and "Ghost Town".
Island claimed that a new album would be due for release in 2010. Island co-president Darcus Beese said, "I've heard a couple of song demos that have absolutely floored me." In July 2010, Winehouse was quoted as saying her next album would be released no later than January 2011, saying "It's going to be very much the same as my second album, where there's a lot of jukebox stuff and songs that are... just jukebox, really." Ronson, however, said at that time that he had not started to record the album. She performed "Valerie" with Ronson at a movie premiere but forgot some of the song's lyrics. In October, Winehouse performed a four-song set to promote her fashion line. In December 2010, she played a 40-minute concert at a Russian oligarch's party in Moscow, with the tycoon hand-selecting the songs.
In January 2011, Winehouse played five dates in Brazil, with opening acts of Janelle Monáe and Mayer Hawthorne. The following month she cut short a performance in Dubai following booing from the audience. Winehouse was reported to be tired, distracted and "tipsy" during the performance.
On 18 June 2011, Winehouse started her twelve-leg European tour in Belgrade. Local media described her performance as a scandal and disaster; she was booed off the stage due to her apparently being too drunk to perform. Serbian defence minister Dragan Sutanovac called Winehouse's performances "a huge shame and a disappointment". It was reported that she was unable to remember the city she was in, the lyrics of her songs or the names of the members of her band. The local press also claimed that Winehouse was forced to perform by her bodyguards, who did not allow her to leave the stage when she tried to do so. She then pulled out of performances in Istanbul and Athens, which had been scheduled for the following week. On 21 June, it was announced that she had cancelled all shows of her tour and would be given "as long as it takes" to sort herself out.
Winehouse's last public appearance took place at Camden's Roundhouse on 20 July 2011, when she made a surprise appearance on stage to support her goddaughter, Dionne Bromfield, who was singing "Mama Said" with the Wanted. Winehouse died three days later. Her last recording was a duet with American singer Tony Bennett for his album, Duets II, released on 20 September 2011. Their single from the album, "Body and Soul", was released on 14 September 2011 on MTV and VH1 to commemorate what would have been her 28th birthday.
Other ventures
Winehouse joined a campaign to stop a block of flats being built beside the George Tavern, a famous London East End music venue. Campaign supporters feared the residential development would end the spot's lucrative sideline as a film and photo location, on which it relies to survive. As part of a breast cancer awareness campaign, Winehouse appeared in a revealing photograph for the April 2008 issue of Easy Living magazine. Winehouse had an estimated £10m fortune, tying her for tenth place in the 2008 The Sunday Times listing of the wealth of musicians under age 30. The following year her fortune had dropped to an estimated £5m. Her finances are run by Mitch and Janis Winehouse. It was reported she earned about £1m singing at two private parties during Paris Fashion Week. as well as another £1m to perform at a Moscow Art Gallery for Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. Winehouse loaned a vintage dress used in her video for "Tears Dry on Their Own" as well as a DVD to the British Music Experience, a new museum dedicated to the history of British pop music. The museum, located at the O2 Arena in London, opened on 9 March 2009.
In January 2009, Winehouse announced that she was launching her own record label. The first act on her Lioness Records is Winehouse's 13-year-old goddaughter, Dionne Bromfield. Her first album, featuring covers of classic soul records, was released on 12 October 2009. Winehouse is the backing singer on several tracks on the album and she performed backing vocals for Bromfield on the BBC's television programme Strictly Come Dancing on 10 October.
Winehouse and her family are the subject of a 2009 documentary shot by Daphne Barak titled Saving Amy. Winehouse entered into a joint venture in 2009 with EMI to launch a range of wrapping paper and gift cards containing song lyrics from her album Back to Black. On 8 January 2010, a television documentary, My Daughter Amy, aired on Channel 4. Saving Amy was released as a paperback book in January 2010.
Winehouse collaborated on a 17 piece fashion collection with the Fred Perry label. It was released for sale in October 2010. According to Fred Perry's marketing director "We had three major design meetings where she was closely involved in product style selection and the application of fabric, colour and styling details," and gave "crucial input on proportion, colour and fit." The collection consists of "vintage-inspired looks including Capri pants, a bowling dress, a trench coat, pencil skirts, a longline argyle sweater and a pink-and-black checkerboard-printed collared shirt." At the behest of her family, three forthcoming collections up to and including autumn/winter 2012 that she had designed prior to her death will be released.
Awards and nominations
Among the awards and recognition for her debut album Frank, Winehouse earned an Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy of Songwriters for Best Contemporary Song ("Stronger Than Me"), a Brit Award nomination for Best British Female Solo Artist, and an inclusion in Robert Dimery's 2006 book, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Her second studio album, Back to Black, produced numerous nominations, including two Brit Awards (Best British Album, and won her Best British Female Solo Artist), six Grammy Awards (including five wins), four Ivor Novello Awards, four MTV Europe Music Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards, three World Music Awards, and it was nominated for the Mercury Prize (Album of the Year) and a MOBO Awards (Best UK Female). During her career, Winehouse received 23 awards from 60 nominations.
Critical appraisal
Winehouse was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, (sometimes labelled as blue-eyed soul and neo soul), rhythm and blues, and jazz. The BBC's Garry Mulholland called Winehouse "the pre-eminent vocal talent of her generation". According to AllMusic's Cyril Cordor, she was one of the UK's premier singers during the 2000s; "fans and critics alike embraced her rugged charm, brash sense of humor, and distinctively soulful and jazzy vocals". In The Guardian, Caroline Sullivan later wrote that "her idolisation of Dinah Washington and the Ronettes distinguished her from almost all newly minted pop singers of the early 2000s; her exceptionally-susceptible-to-heartbreak voice did the rest". Soon after Winehouse's death, a number of prominent critics assessed the singer's legacy: Maura Johnston from The Village Voice said, "When she was on, Winehouse had few peers—she wasn't an octave-jumper like other big divas of the moment, but her contralto had a snap to it that enriched even the simplest syllables with a full spectrum of emotion"; Sasha Frere-Jones of The New Yorker proclaimed, "Nobody can match Winehouse's unique transitions or her utterly weird phrasings. She sounded like an original sixties soul star, developed when the landscape had no rules. But now untrammeled traditionalism is in the lead and her beautiful footnote has been cut short. American soul—through visionaries like Erykah Badu and Janelle Monae and Jill Scott—had moved on. But Winehouse was a fine shepherd of the past."
By contrast, Robert Christgau dismissed Winehouse as "a self-aggrandizing self-abuser who's taken seriously because she makes a show of soul". In his opinion, the singer "simulated gravitas by running her suicidal tendencies through an amalgam of 20th-century African-American vocal stylings—the slides, growls, and melismatic outcries that for many matures are now the only reliable signifiers of pop substance".
On 13 February 2012, Winehouse was ranked 26 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women in Music list. In March 2017, singer-songwriter Bob Dylan said he was enjoying listening to Winehouse's last record (Back to Black), and called her "the last real individualist around."
Image
Winehouse's greatest love was 1960s girl groups. Her hairdresser, Alex Foden, borrowed her "instantly recognisable" beehive hairdo (a weave) and she borrowed her Cleopatra makeup from the Ronettes. Her imitation was so successful, as The Village Voice reports: "Ronnie Spector—who, it could be argued, all but invented Winehouse's style in the first place when she took the stage at the Brooklyn Fox Theater with her fellow Ronettes more than 40 years ago—was so taken aback at a picture of Winehouse in the New York Post that she exclaimed, "I don't know her, I never met her, and when I saw that pic, I thought, 'That's me!' But then I found out, no, it's Amy! I didn't have on my glasses."
The New York Times style reporter, Guy Trebay, discussed the multiplicity of influences on Winehouse's style after her death. Trebay noted, "her stylish husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, may have influenced her look." Additionally, Trebay observed:
Former Rolling Stone editor Joe Levy, who had put her on the magazine's cover, broke her look down this way:
Winehouse's use of bold red lipstick, thick eyebrows and heavy eyeliner came from Latinas she saw in Miami, on her trip there to work with Salaam Remi on Back to Black. Her look was repeatedly denigrated by the British press. At the same time that the NME Awards nominated Winehouse in the categories of "Best Solo Artist" and "Best Music DVD" in 2008, they awarded her "Worst Dressed Performer." Winehouse was also ranked number two on Richard Blackwell's 48th annual "Ten Worst Dressed Women" list, behind Victoria Beckham.
Criticism
Winehouse's dichotomous public image of critical and commercial success versus personal turmoil prompted significant media comment. The New Statesman called Winehouse "a filthy-mouthed, down-to-earth diva", while Newsweek called her "a perfect storm of sex kitten, raw talent and poor impulse control". Karen Heller with The Philadelphia Inquirer summarised the maelstrom this way:
By 2008, her drug problems threatened her career. As Nick Gatfield, the president of Island Records, toyed with the idea of releasing Winehouse "to deal with her problems", he said, "It's a reflection of her status [in the US] that when you flick through the TV coverage [of the Grammys] it's her image they use." Post-Grammys, some questioned whether Winehouse should have been honoured with the awards given her recent personal and drug problems, including Natalie Cole, who introduced Winehouse at the ceremony and who herself battled substance-abuse problems while winning a Grammy for Best New Artist in 1975. (Winehouse was prevented from travelling to and performing at the Grammy Awards ceremony in the US due to failing a drug test.) In a newspaper commentary, the executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, said that the alleged drug habits of Winehouse and other celebrities sent a bad message "to others who are vulnerable to addiction" and undermine the efforts of other celebrities trying to raise awareness of problems in Africa, now that more cocaine used in Europe passes through that continent. Winehouse's spokesperson noted that "Amy has never given a quote about drugs or flaunted it in any way. She's had some problems and is trying to get better. The U.N. should get its own house in order."
In January 2008, her record label stated it believed the extensive media coverage she had received increased record sales. In an April 2008 poll conducted by Sky News, Winehouse was named the second greatest "ultimate heroine" by the UK population at large, topping the voting for that category of those polled under 25 years old. Psychologist Donna Dawson commented that the results demonstrated that women like Winehouse who had "a certain sense of vulnerability or have had to fight against some adversity in their lives" received recognition.
In July 2008, BBC Radio Scotland's head, Jeff Zycinski, stated that the BBC, and media in general, were complicit in undermining celebrities, including Winehouse. He said that public interest in the singer's lifestyle did not make her lifestyle newsworthy. Rod McKenzie, editor of the BBC Radio One programme Newsbeat, replied: "If you play [Amy Winehouse's] music to a certain demographic, those same people want to know what's happening in her private life. If you don't cover it, you're insulting young licence fee payers." In The Scotsman, British singer and songwriter Lily Allen was quoted to have said – "I know Amy Winehouse very well. And she is very different to what people portray her as being. Yes, she does get out of her mind on drugs sometimes, but she is also a very clever, intelligent, witty, funny person who can hold it together. You just don't see that side."
Charity work
Throughout her life Winehouse donated her money, music and time to many charities, particularly those concerned with children. She was once named "the most charitable act" by Pop World. While this side of her personality was never well known to the general public, throughout both the arts community and the charity community she was known for her generosity.
In 2008, Winehouse appeared naked in an issue of Easy Living Magazine to raise awareness of breast cancer. In 2009, she appeared on a CD called Classics alongside musicians such as the Rolling Stones, the Killers and many Cuban musicians to raise awareness of climate change. In March 2011, Winehouse donated over £20,000 worth of clothes to a local charity shop in London.
A Caribbean man Julian Jean DeBaptiste revealed that Winehouse had paid for his urgent surgery costing £4,000 during her stay in Saint Lucia in 2009. "I had surgery on 1 July 2009... it cost a fortune and Amy paid for the whole thing. I tried to thank her but she just hugged me and told me not to say anything. Her generosity gave me my life back."
Legacy and honours
Artwork and tributes
London's Mall Galleries opened an exhibition in May 2008 that included a sculpture of Winehouse, titled Excess. The piece, created by Guy Portelli, had a miniature of the singer lying on top of a cracked champagne bottle, with a pool of spilled liquid underneath. The body was covered with what appeared to be tiny pills, while one outstretched hand held a glass. Another piece, a print titled Celebrity 1 by artist Charlotte Suckling, was shown in the same exhibition.
A wax sculpture of Winehouse went on display at the London Madame Tussauds on 23 July 2008. The singer did not attend the unveiling, although her parents did. A sculpture by Marco Perego, titled The Only Good Rock Star Is a Dead Rock Star, that depicts Winehouse lying in a pool of blood with an apple and a bullet hole in her head after being shot by American novelist and Beat poet William S. Burroughs (in a recreation of the accidental killing of his wife Joan Vollmer), was scheduled to go on display in New York's Half Gallery on 14 November 2008 with a sale price of US$100,000. Perego said of the sculpture: "Rock stars are the sacrificial animals of society." Winehouse's spokesperson stated: "It's a funny kind of tribute. The artist seems in thrall to a tabloid persona that is not the real Amy. People often use her image to sell their work."
In 2012, Winehouse was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork – the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover – to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life that he most admires.
On 14 September 2014 (which would have been Winehouse's 31st birthday), a statue was unveiled of her, which was created by sculptor Scott Eaton, at Stables Market in Camden Town, north London. Fans and relatives gathered for the unveiling in Camden's Stable Market, where it will be a permanent memorial to her. London-based Eaton, who sculpted the piece after being introduced to Winehouse's father Mitch, said the statue was meant to capture her "attitude and strength, but also give subtle hints of insecurity." Her father Mitch said of the statue: "Now Amy will oversee the comings and goings of her home town forever... Amy was in love with Camden and it is the place her fans from all over the world associate her with."
In March 2020, Winehouse's name on a stone was unveiled on the new Music Walk of Fame in Camden, with her parents Mitch and Janis in attendance at the ceremony.
Influence
Adele has credited Winehouse's success in making her and fellow British singer Duffy's journey to the United States "a bit smoother." Lady Gaga credited Winehouse with paving the way for her rise to the top of the charts, explaining that Winehouse made it easier for unconventional women to have mainstream pop success. Raphael Saadiq, Anthony Hamilton and John Legend said "Amy Winehouse was produced by people who wanted to create a marketing coup. The positive side is that it reacquainted an audience with this music and played an introductory role for others. This reinvigorated the genre by overcoming the vintage aspect."
Other artists that have credited Winehouse as an influence and/or for paving the way for them include Bruno Mars, Tove Lo, Jessie J, Emeli Sandé, Victoria Justice, Paloma Faith, Lana Del Rey, Sam Smith, Florence Welch, Halsey, Alessia Cara, Estelle, Daya, Jorja Smith, Lauren Jauregui and Billie Eilish.
After the release of Back to Black, record companies sought out female artists with a similar sound and fearless and experimental female musicians in general. Adele and Duffy were the second wave of artists with a sound similar to Winehouse's. A third wave of female musicians that has emerged since the album was released are led by V V Brown, Florence and the Machine, La Roux and Little Boots. In March 2011, the New York Daily News ran an article attributing the continuing wave of British female artists that have been successful in the United States to Winehouse and her absence. Spin magazine music editor Charles Aaron was quoted as saying "Amy Winehouse was the Nirvana moment for all these women," "They can all be traced back to her in terms of attitude, musical styles or fashion." According to Keith Caulfield, chart manager for Billboard, "Because of Amy, or the lack thereof, the marketplace was able to get singers like Adele, Estelle and Duffy," "Now those ladies have brought on the new ones, like Eliza Doolittle, Rumer and Ellie."
Amy Winehouse Foundation
After the singer's death by alcohol intoxication in July 2011, the Amy Winehouse Foundation was set up by Winehouse's family and launched on 14 September 2011 (which would have been Winehouse's 28th birthday). Its aim is to help young people and it works with other charitable organisations to provide frontline support. Its central office is in North London, but it also has an office in New York (operating under the name 'The Amy Winehouse Foundation US'). Both Jon Snow and Barbara Windsor are patrons for the charity, and ambassadors include Keira Chaplin and Mica Paris. In October 2015 Mark Ronson became a patron. Amy's brother Alex works full-time for the foundation, having given up his career as an online music journalist.
The charity itself works to prevent the effects of drug and alcohol misuse on young people and it also aims to support, inform and inspire vulnerable and disadvantaged young people to help them reach their full potential. On 12 March 2013, with the help of ex-addict Russell Brand, the Foundation launched the Amy Winehouse Foundation Resilience Programme For Schools across the UK which aims to provide effective education around drugs, alcohol and dealing with emotional issues.
Films
Documentary film
A documentary film, Amy (2015), directed by Asif Kapadia and produced by James Gay-Rees was released on 3 July 2015. The film covers Winehouse's life, her relationships, her struggles with substance abuse both before and after her career blossomed, and which eventually caused her death. The film received its première at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival on 16 May and has been reviewed as "a tragic masterpiece", "brilliant", "heartbreaking" and "unmissable". The soundtrack of the same name was released on 30 October 2015, along with the DVD that includes music featured in the documentary by film composer Antônio Pinto and classic and some unreleased tracks by Winehouse. The film was highly acclaimed and received various accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 2016 Oscars, Best Music Film at the 2016 Grammy Awards, the BAFTA for Best Documentary, the MTV Movie Award for Best Documentary, in addition to a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best British Film.
Biopic film
On 14 October 2018, it was announced that Winehouse's family had signed a deal with Monumental Pictures to make a biopic about her life, which will be directed by Alison Owen and produced by Debra Hayward. Winehouse's story will be adapted for the big screen by Geoff Deane, who has written comedy movies Kinky Boots (2005) and It's a Boy Girl Thing (2006). The project was scheduled to start filming in early 2019 and the funds are allegedly going towards the foundation.
Musical
On 9 October 2017, it was announced by Winehouse's father Mitch that a West End/Broadway musical on Amy is in the works. Mitch Winehouse revealed the news at the Amy Winehouse Foundation Gala event in London.
Personal life
Winehouse was raised Jewish and expressed pride in being Jewish, although she was not religious. During one interview, Winehouse said "being Jewish to me is about being together as a real family. It's not about lighting candles and saying a bracha." Winehouse also frequently performed with a large Star of David medallion.
In 2013, in memory of Winehouse the Jewish Museum London ran an exhibition titled "Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait". The museum researched about her paternal great-great-grandfather's arrival from Minsk in 1890, and how the family finally settled in London, starting out in working-class jobs before gradually moving to middle-class jobs.
Winehouse had 14 known tattoos, including "Daddy's Girl" on her left arm for her father and a pin-up girl with the name "Cynthia" on her right arm in memory of her Jewish grandmother.
Relationships
Winehouse dated chef-musician Alex Clare (sometimes referred to as Alex Claire) in 2006, while on a break from her on-off boyfriend and future husband, Blake Fielder-Civil. She and Clare lived together briefly, and in a pattern that Fielder-Civil would later repeat, Clare sold his story to the News of the World, which published it under the headline "Bondage Crazed Amy Just Can't Beehive in Bed."
Fielder-Civil, a former video production assistant, had dropped out of Bourne Grammar School and, aged 16, moved to London from his native Lincolnshire. He married Winehouse on 18 May 2007, in Miami Beach, Florida. In a June 2007 interview, Winehouse admitted she could sometimes be violent toward him after she had been drinking, saying: "If he says one thing I don't like, then I'll chin him." In August 2007, they were photographed, bloodied and bruised, in the streets of London after an alleged fight, although she contended her injuries were self-inflicted. Winehouse's parents and in-laws publicly reported their numerous concerns, the latter citing fears that the two might commit suicide. Fielder-Civil's father encouraged fans to boycott Winehouse's music, and Mitch Winehouse said this would not help. Fielder-Civil was quoted in a British tabloid as saying he introduced Winehouse to crack cocaine and heroin. During a visit with Mitch Winehouse at the prison in July 2008, Fielder-Civil reportedly said that he and Winehouse would cut themselves to ease the pain of withdrawal.
From 21 July 2008 to 25 February 2009, Fielder-Civil was imprisoned following his guilty plea on charges of trying to pervert the course of justice and of grievous bodily harm with intent. The incident, in July 2007, involved his assault of a pub landlord that broke the victim's cheek. According to the prosecution, the landlord accepted £200,000 as part of a deal to "effectively throw the [court] case and not turn up," and he testified that the money belonged to Winehouse, but she pulled out of a meeting with the men involved in the plot, to attend an awards ceremony. Mitch Winehouse, as manager of his daughter's money, has denied the payoff came from her.
When Winehouse was spotted with aspiring actor Josh Bowman on holiday in Saint Lucia, in early January 2009, she said she was "in love again, and I don't need drugs." She commented that her "whole marriage was based on doing drugs" and that "for the time being I've just forgotten I'm even married." On 12 January, Winehouse's spokesman confirmed that "papers have been received" for what Fielder-Civil's solicitor has said are divorce proceedings based on a claim of adultery. In March, Winehouse was quoted in a magazine as saying, "I still love Blake and I want him to move into my new house with me—that was my plan all along ... I won't let him divorce me. He's the male version of me and we're perfect for each other." Nonetheless, an uncontested divorce was granted on 16 July 2009 and became final on 28 August 2009. Fielder-Civil received no money in the settlement.
She was in a relationship with a British writer and director of films, Reg Traviss, from early 2010 until she died. According to media reports and a biography written by Winehouse's father, Traviss and Winehouse had planned to marry and intended to have children.
After Winehouse's death, Pete Doherty said that he and Winehouse had been lovers at one point. However, in July 2008, when Rolling Stone reporter Claire Hoffman asked Winehouse about her relationship with Doherty, Winehouse replied: "We're just good friends", and added: "I asked Pete to do a concept EP, and he made this face, he looked at me like I'd pooed on the floor. He wouldn't do it. We're just really close".
Substance abuse and mental illness
Winehouse's battles with substance abuse were the subject of much media attention. In 2005, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, and weight loss. People who saw her during the end of that year and early 2006 reported a rebound that coincided with the writing of Back to Black. Her family believes that the mid-2006 death of her grandmother, who was a stabilising influence, set her off into addiction. In August 2007, Winehouse cancelled a number of shows in the UK and Europe, citing exhaustion and ill health. She was hospitalised during this period for what was reported as an overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol. In various interviews, she admitted to having problems with self-harm, depression, and eating disorders.
Winehouse told a magazine that the drugs were to blame for her hospitalisation and that "I really thought that it was over for me then." Soon afterwards, Winehouse's father commented that when he had made public statements regarding her problems he was using the media because it seemed the only way to get through to her. In an interview with The Album Chart Show on British television, Winehouse said she was manic depressive and not alcoholic, adding that that sounded like "an alcoholic in denial". A US reporter writes that Winehouse was a "victim of mental illness in a society that doesn't understand or respond to mental illness with great effectiveness."
In December 2007, Winehouse's spokesman reported that the singer was in a physician-supervised programme and was channelling her difficulties by writing a lot of music. The British tabloid The Sun posted a video of a woman, alleged to be Winehouse, apparently smoking crack cocaine and speaking of having taken ecstasy and valium. Winehouse's father moved in with her, and Island Records, her record label, announced the abandonment of plans for an American promotion campaign on her behalf. In late January 2008, Winehouse reportedly entered a rehabilitation facility for a two-week treatment program.
On 23 January 2008, the video was passed on to the Metropolitan Police, who questioned her on 5 February. No charges were brought. On 26 March 2008, Winehouse's spokesman said she was "doing well". Her record company reportedly believed that her recovery remained fragile. By late April 2008, her erratic behaviourincluding an allegation of assaultcaused fear that her drug rehabilitation efforts had been unsuccessful. Winehouse's father and manager then sought to have her detained under the Mental Health Act of 1983. Her dishevelled appearance during and after a scheduled club night in September 2008 prompted new rumours of a relapse. Photographers were quoted as saying she appeared to have cuts on her arms and legs.
According to her physician, Winehouse quit using illegal substances in 2008. In an October 2010 interview, speaking of her decision to quit drugs, Winehouse said, "I literally woke up one day and was like, 'I don't want to do this any more. However, alcohol emerged as a problem, with Winehouse abstaining for a few weeks and then lapsing into alcohol abuse. Her physician said that Winehouse was treated with Librium for alcohol withdrawal and anxiety and underwent psychological and psychiatric evaluations in 2010, but refused psychological therapy.
Violence and legal difficulties
In 2006, Winehouse admitted to punching a female fan in the face for criticising her having taken Blake Fielder-Civil as a husband. She then attacked her own spouse as he attempted to calm her down, kneeing him in the crotch. In October 2007, Winehouse and Fielder-Civil were arrested in Bergen, Norway, for possession of seven grams of cannabis. The couple were later released and fined 3850 kroner (around £350). Winehouse first appealed the fines, but later dropped the appeal.
On 26 April 2008, Winehouse was cautioned after she admitted to police she slapped a 38-year-old man in the face, a "common assault" offence, her first of two. She voluntarily turned herself in and was held overnight. Police said, at her arrival she was "in no fit state" to be interviewed. Ten days later, Winehouse was arrested on suspicion of possessing drugs after a video of her apparently smoking crack cocaine was passed to the police in January, but was released on bail a few hours later because they could not confirm, from the video, what she was smoking. The Crown Prosecution Service considered charging her, but cleared her when it could not establish that the substance in the video was a controlled drug. Some members of Parliament reacted negatively. Two London residents were subsequently charged with conspiracy to supply cocaine and ecstasy to Winehouse. One of the pair was sentenced to two years in prison on 13 December 2008, while the other received a two-year community order.
On 5 March 2009, Winehouse was arrested and charged with common assault following a claim by dancer Sherene Flash that Winehouse hit her in the eye at the September 2008 Prince's Trust charity ball. Winehouse's spokesperson announced the cancellation of the singer's US Coachella Festival appearance in light of the new legal issue, and Winehouse appeared in court on 17 March to enter her plea of not guilty. On 23 July, her trial began with prosecutor Lyall Thompson charging that Winehouse acted with "deliberate and unjustifiable violence" while appearing to be under the influence of alcohol or another substance. She testified that she did not punch Flash, but tried to push her away because she was scared of her; she cited her worry that Flash would sell her story to a tabloid, Flash's height advantage, and Flash's "rude" behaviour. On 24 July, District Judge Timothy Workman ruled that Winehouse was not guilty, citing the facts that all but two of the witnesses were intoxicated at the time of the incident and that medical evidence did not show "the sort of injury that often occurs when there is a forceful punch to the eye."
On 19 December 2009, Winehouse was arrested for a third time on charges of common assault, plus another charge of public order offence after assaulting the front-of-house manager of the Milton Keynes Theatre after he asked her to move from her seat. Winehouse pled guilty to the charges and was given a conditional discharge.
Paparazzi
With the paparazzi taking photographs of her wherever they could, Winehouse obtained an injunction against a leading paparazzi agency, Big Pictures, under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997; the resultant court order issued by the High Court in 2009 banned them from following her. Photographers were also banned from following her within 100 metres of her London home and photographing Winehouse in her home or the homes of her friends and relatives. According to a newspaper report, sources close to the singer said legal action was taken out of concern for the safety of Winehouse and those close to her.
Respiratory and other health problems
On 23 June 2008, Winehouse's publicist corrected earlier misstatements by Mitch Winehouse that his daughter had early stage emphysema, instead claiming she had signs of what could lead to early-stage emphysema. Mitch Winehouse had also stated that his daughter's lungs were operating at 70 percent capacity and that she had an irregular heartbeat. He said that these problems had been caused by her chain smoking crack cocaine. The singer's father also reported that doctors had warned Winehouse that, if she continued smoking crack cocaine, she would have to wear an oxygen mask and would eventually die. In a radio interview, Mitch Winehouse said the singer was responding "fabulously" to treatment, which included being covered with nicotine patches. British Lung Foundation spokesman Keith Prowse noted this type of condition could be managed with treatment. Prowse also said the condition was not normal for a person her age but "heavy smoking and inhaling other substances like drugs can age the lungs prematurely." Norman H. Edelman of the American Lung Association explained that if she stopped smoking, her lung functions would decline at the rate of a normal person, but continued smoking would lead to a more rapid decline in lung function.
Winehouse was released from the London Clinic 24 hours after returning from a temporary leave to perform at Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday and at a concert in Glastonbury, and continued receiving treatment as an outpatient. In July 2008, Winehouse stated that she had been diagnosed with "some areas of emphysema" and said she was getting herself together by "eating loads of healthy food, sleeping loads, playing my guitar, making music and writing letters to my husband every day." She also kept a vertical tanning bed in her flat. Winehouse began precautionary testing on her lungs and chest on 25 October 2008 at the London Clinic for what was reported as a chest infection. Winehouse was in and out of the facility and was granted permission to set her own schedule regarding home leave. She returned to the hospital on 23 November 2008 for a reported reaction to her medication.
Death
Winehouse's bodyguard said that he had arrived at her residence three days before her death and felt she had been somewhat intoxicated. He observed moderate drinking over the next few days, and said she had been "laughing, listening to music and watching TV at 2 a.m. the day of her death". At 10 a.m. BST on 23 July 2011, he observed her lying on her bed and tried unsuccessfully to rouse her. This did not raise much suspicion because she usually slept late after a night out. According to the bodyguard, shortly after 3p.m., he checked on her again and observed her lying in the same position as before, leading to a further check, in which he concluded that she was not breathing and had no pulse; he said he called emergency services. At 3:54p.m., two ambulances were called to Winehouse's home in Camden, London. Winehouse was pronounced dead at the scene, at the age of 27. Shortly afterwards, the Metropolitan Police confirmed that she had died.
After her death was announced, media and camera crews appeared, as crowds gathered near Winehouse's residence to pay their respects. Forensic investigators entered the flat as police cordoned off the street outside; they recovered one small and two large bottles of vodka from her room. After her death, the singer broke her second Guinness World Record: for the most songs by a woman to simultaneously appear on the UK singles chart, with eight.
A coroner's inquest reached a verdict of misadventure. The report released on 26 October 2011 explained that Winehouse's blood alcohol content was 416 per 100 (0.416%) at the time of her death, more than five times the legal drink-drive limit. According to the coroner, "The unintended consequences of such potentially fatal levels was her sudden death."
Winehouse's record label, Universal Republic, released a statement that read in part: "We are deeply saddened at the sudden loss of such a gifted musician, artist and performer." Many musical artists have since paid tribute to Winehouse including U2, M.I.A., Lady Gaga, Marianne Faithfull, Bruno Mars, Nicki Minaj, Keisha Buchanan, Rihanna, George Michael, Adele, Kelly Clarkson, Courtney Love, and the punk rock band Green Day, who wrote a song in her tribute titled "Amy". In her 2012 album Banga, singer Patti Smith released "This Is the Girl", written as an homage to Winehouse. Mark Ronson dedicated his UK number-one album Uptown Special to Winehouse, stating: "I'm always thinking of you and inspired by you." Winehouse did not leave a will; her estate was inherited by her parents. Winehouse's parents set up the Amy Winehouse Foundation to prevent harm from drug misuse among young people; her brother Alex is an employee.
On 17 December 2012, British authorities reopened the probe into Winehouse's death. On 8 January 2013, a second inquest confirmed that Winehouse died of accidental alcohol poisoning. In a June 2013 interview, Alex Winehouse revealed his belief that his sister's eating disorder, and the consequent physical weakness, was the primary cause of her death:
Funeral
Family and friends attended Winehouse's private funeral on 26 July 2011 at Edgwarebury Lane Cemetery in north London. Her mother and father, Janis and Mitch Winehouse, close friends Nick Grimshaw and Kelly Osbourne, producer Mark Ronson, goddaughter Dionne Bromfield and her boyfriend Reg Traviss were among those in attendance at the private service led by Rabbi Frank Hellner. Her father delivered the eulogy, saying "Goodnight, my angel, sleep tight. Mummy and Daddy love you ever so much." Carole King's "So Far Away" closed the service with mourners singing along. She was later cremated at Golders Green Crematorium. The family planned to sit a two-day shiva. On 16 September 2012, Winehouse's ashes were buried alongside her grandmother's, Cynthia Levy at Edgwarebury Lane Cemetery.
Posthumous retrospectives
Winehouse's parents have each written memoirs about their daughter and donated the proceeds from both books to the Amy Winehouse Foundation. In the introduction to Mitch Winehouse's biography, entitled Amy: My Daughter (2012), he explained: "Apart from being her father, I was also her friend, confidant and adviser—not that she always took my advice, but she always heard me out." Her mother Janis published Loving Amy: A Mother's Story, in 2014.
An exhibit of Winehouse's personal items, co-curated by her brother and sister-in-law, entitled Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait, was on display at the Jewish Museum London from 3 July 2013 until 15 September 2013, and later exhibited in San Francisco, 23 July 2015 to 1 November 2015. Display items, such as books and music, were featured together with captions written by Winehouse's brother.
In late 2011, there were reports that Winehouse's former boyfriend, Reg Traviss, was developing a film about her. Winehouse's father Mitch Winehouse, who owns the copyright to his daughter's music, said he would not authorise the use of her music for the film.
Winehouse is the subject of Amy (2015), a documentary directed by Asif Kapadia and produced by James Gay-Rees, Kapadia, and Universal Music. Kapadia and Gay-Rees introduced the project at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. The film debuted at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and won the 2016 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
In 2018, a documentary film based on Winehouse's album Back to Black, Amy Winehouse – Back to Black was released. It contains new interviews as well as archival footage. It was made by Eagle Vision and produced by Gil Cang. Released on DVD on 2 November 2018, the film features interviews by producers Ronson & Remi, who worked half and half on the album, along with the Dap Kings, Remi's music team, Ronnie Spector from the Ronettes and close ones to Winehouse, including Nick Shymansky, Juliette Ashby and Dionne Bromfield. The film is accompanied by An Intimate Evening in London, footage of a show Winehouse gave at Riverside Studios, London in 2008. In February 2019, Salaam Remi released a compilation album including the song "Find My Love" which is a posthumous collaboration between Winehouse and rapper Nas.
In 2020, an exhibition entitled Beyond Black – The Style of Amy Winehouse opened at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles. The exhibit mainly explores Winehouse's style and fashion, displaying her outfits such as her iconic dresses, shoes, hair accessories, her makeup bag as well as Winehouse's personal belongings including her Grammy awards from 2008, handwritten lyrics, records and unseen home videos. The exhibition went on display in the U.S. from 17 January 2020 until 13 April 2020. In November 2021, various of Winehouse's personal items and famous dresses would later be auctioned at Julien's Auctions in Los Angeles and made more than £3m, 30% going to the Amy Winehouse Foundation. A follow-up exhibition Amy: Beyond the Stage opened on 26 November 2021 at the Design Museum in Kensington, London which also presented some of Winehouse's personal belongings and focus on her fashion sense, as well as paying homage to her musical career.
In July 2021, a new documentary entitled Reclaiming Amy aired on BBC Two to mark the 10th anniversary of Winehouse's death. The film was primarily based on the perspective and narrated by her mother Janis Winehouse-Collins and included intimate stories of those who were close to Winehouse until the end of her life, including close friends Naomi Parry (Amy's stylist), Catriona Gourlay and Chantelle Dusette.
Discography
Frank (2003)
Back to Black (2006)
Lioness: Hidden Treasures (2011)
Filmography
Amy (2015)
Amy Winehouse: Back to Black (2018)
Reclaiming Amy (2021)
See also
List of deaths through alcohol
References
Sources
Further reading
External links
Amy Winehouse collected news and commentary at The New York Times
Amy Winehouse Foundation - Charity Commission for England and Wales
1983 births
2011 deaths
20th-century English singers
20th-century English women singers
21st-century English singers
21st-century English women singers
Alcohol-related deaths in England
Alumni of the Sylvia Young Theatre School
Brit Award winners
British women jazz singers
English contraltos
English jazz singers
English Jews
Belarusian Jews
English people convicted of assault
English people of Polish-Jewish descent
English people of Russian-Jewish descent
English rhythm and blues singers
English soul singers
English women guitarists
English guitarists
Golders Green Crematorium
Grammy Award winners
Ivor Novello Award winners
Jewish English musicians
Jewish jazz musicians
Jewish singers
Jewish songwriters
MTV Europe Music Award winners
National Youth Jazz Orchestra members
Neo soul singers
People educated at the BRIT School
People educated at Susi Earnshaw Theatre School
People from the London Borough of Camden
People from Southgate, London
People with bipolar disorder
Republic Records artists
Singers from London
World Music Awards winners
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[
"The Amy Winehouse Foundation is a registered charity in England and Wales (number 1143740), set up in memory of English singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse (1983–2011).\n\nAfter Amy Winehouse's untimely death, on 23 July 2011 from alcohol poisoning at the age of 27, the foundation was set up by Winehouse's family and launched on 14 September 2011 (which would have been Winehouse's 28th birthday). Its aim is to help vulnerable or disadvantaged young people and it works with other charitable organisations to provide frontline support. Its central office is in North London, but it also has an office in New York (operating under the name 'The Amy Winehouse Foundation US'). Jon Snow and Mark Ronson are patrons for the charity, and ambassadors include Jess Glynne, Kiera Chaplin and Mica Paris. The late Barbara Windsor was also a patron.\n\nFocus\n\nThe Foundation’s work focuses on three core areas:\n\n To inform and educate young people about the effects of drug and alcohol misuse, as well as to support those seeking help for their problems and those needing on-going support in their recovery\nTo provide support for those most vulnerable, including those who are disadvantaged through circumstance or at high risk of substance misuse.\nTo support the personal development of disadvantaged young people through music.\n\nThe Foundation was established with royalties from the sales of 2011's Lioness: Hidden Treasures album (with £1 per album going to the charity), and also the sales of Amy - My Daughter, a biography of Winehouse written by her father, Mitch Winehouse. As of 2012/13, the charity relies on donations from the general public and fundraising events to continue its work. Such events include the auction of the iconic polka dot chiffon dress worn by Winehouse on the cover of her critically acclaimed second album Back to Black - with a winning bid of £36,000 GBP.\n\nThe Amy Winehouse Resilience Programme\n\nOn 12 March 2013, the Foundation launched the Amy Winehouse Foundation Resilience Programme For Schools with the help of ex-addict Russell Brand. The programme aims to provide effective education around drugs, alcohol and dealing with emotional issues to secondary schools across the UK. On 4 June 2013, the Mayor of Camden Town, Jonathan Simpson, wrote an article for the Huffington Post in support of the programme.\n\nAmy's Yard\nOne of the Amy Winehouse Foundations’ main areas of focus is ‘to support the personal development of disadvantaged young people through music’. Since the Foundation began we have met countless young people with immense talent who are simply held back by not being able to access professional studio time due to the costs and lack of provision. The Foundation therefore decided to develop Amy’s very own studio and share it with some of the young people from the partner organisations we work with.\n\nOn 14 September 2015 (which would have been Winehouse's 32nd birthday), the Amy Winehouse Foundation released their first album Amy's Yard - The Sessions: Volume 1 in partnership with Island Records. The album features tracks completed by young artists who have been involved within \"Amy's Yard Programme\".\n\nPatrons\n \nBarbara Windsor (until 2020)\nJon Snow\nMark Ronson\nNas\nMonte Lipman\n\nTrustees\n \n Mitchell Winehouse\n Janis Winehouse\n Jane Winehouse\n Richard Collins\n Jonathan Simpson\n Barry Yin\n Yogesh Dewan\n Professor Stephen Lee\n Michael Winehouse\n Melissa Rice\n\nEvents\nSince its launch on 14 September 2011, the Amy Winehouse Foundation have done a series of events on every birthday of Amy Winehouse. In 2013 (when it would have been Winehouse's 30th birthday), the charity widely celebrated the birthday by doing an exhibition at the Jewish Museum in Camden Town, creating a shop that was for a limited amount of time, named Amy's Pop-Up Shop in Camden Town, a picture gallery entitled as For You I Was A Flame at the Proud Gallery and various performances took place from people involved with the foundation.\n\nIn 2014, a Statue of Amy Winehouse was unveiled at Stables Market in Camden Town, done by Scott Eaton. Winehouse's parents Mitch & Janis were in attendance for the event, as well as Winehouse's friend, Barbara Windsor.\n\nIn 2015, an album was released on Winehouse's birthday, entitled as Amy's Yard - The Sessions: Volume 1. The project sees young people with a musical talent mentored to become self-sustaining music artists. They are given time in Amy's own studio and are guided by producer Urban Monk who has worked with the likes of Giggs, Wiley, Plan B, Ghetts, Lily Allen and Mr Hudson.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n Amy Winehouse Foundation - Charity Commission for England and Wales\n\nFoundation\nFoundations based in the United Kingdom\nOrganizations established in 2011\n2011 establishments in the United Kingdom\nMedical and health organisations based in London\n\nit:Amy Winehouse#Amy Winehouse Foundation",
"Amy Winehouse: Back to Black is a 2018 documentary film about English singer Amy Winehouse and the making of her second studio album, Back to Black (2006). It contains new interviews, as well as archive footage.\n\nDirected by Jeremy Marre, the film was first broadcast on BBC Four on 14 September 2018 (on what would have been Winehouse's 35th birthday) as part of the Classic Albums documentary series. It was released on DVD, Blu-ray and digitally on 2 November 2018 by Eagle Vision.\n\nThe film is accompanied by An Intimate Evening in London, featuring footage of a performance by Winehouse at Riverside Studios in London in February 2008.\n\nContributors\n Amy Winehouse (archive footage)\n Mark Ronson\n Salaam Remi\n Tom Elmhirst\n Darcus Beese\n Nick Shymansky\n Juliette Ashby\n Dionne Bromfield\n Ronnie Spector\n\nAn Intimate Evening in London\nThe documentary film is accompanied by An Intimate Evening in London, consisting of previously unseen footage of a performance by Winehouse at Riverside Studios in London in February 2008. It was a private show given for family, friends and record company executives on the night she won five Grammy Awards.\n\nSee also\n Amy (2015)\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n \n\n2018 television films\n2018 documentary films\nAmy Winehouse\nBritish documentary films\nBritish films\nDocumentary films about singers\nDocumentary films about women\nEnglish-language films\n2018 films\nBritish television films\nTelevision series by BBC Studios"
] |
[
"Amy Winehouse",
"Substance abuse and mental illness",
"What substance problems did Amy Winehouse have?",
"In 2005, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, and weight loss."
] |
C_efbf3039679a4232a67306f7dfb6f70c_1
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What did the press say about her drinking and drug use?
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What did the press say about Amy Winehouse's drinking and drug use?
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Amy Winehouse
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Winehouse's battles with substance abuse were the subject of much media attention. In 2005, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, and weight loss. People who saw her during the end of that year and early 2006 reported a rebound that coincided with the writing of Back to Black. Her family believes that the mid-2006 death of her grandmother, who was a stabilising influence, set her off into addiction. In August 2007, Winehouse cancelled a number of shows in the UK and Europe, citing exhaustion and ill health. She was hospitalised during this period for what was reported as an overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol. In various interviews, she admitted to having problems with self-harm, depression, and eating disorders. Winehouse told a magazine that the drugs were to blame for her hospitalisation and that "I really thought that it was over for me then." Soon afterward, Winehouse's father commented that when he had made public statements regarding her problems he was using the media because it seemed the only way to get through to her. In an interview with The Album Chart Show on British television, Winehouse said she was manic depressive and not alcoholic, adding that that sounded like "an alcoholic in denial." A US reporter writes that Winehouse was a "victim of mental illness in a society that doesn't understand or respond to mental illness with great effectiveness." In December 2007, Winehouse's spokesman reported that the singer was in a physician-supervised programme and was channelling her difficulties by writing a lot of music. The British tabloid The Sun posted a video of a woman, alleged to be Winehouse, apparently smoking crack cocaine and speaking of having taken ecstasy and valium. Winehouse's father moved in with her, and Island Records, her record label, announced the abandonment of plans for an American promotion campaign on her behalf. In late January 2008, Winehouse reportedly entered a rehabilitation facility for a two-week treatment program. On 23 January 2008, the video was passed on to the Metropolitan Police, who questioned her on 5 February. No charges were brought. On 26 March 2008, Winehouse's spokesman said she was "doing well." Her record company reportedly believed that her recovery remained fragile. By late April 2008, her erratic behaviour, including an allegation of assault, caused fear that her drug rehabilitation efforts had been unsuccessful, leading to efforts by Winehouse's father and manager to seek assistance in having her involuntarily committed. Her dishevelled appearance during and after a scheduled club night in September sparked new rumours of a relapse. Photographers were quoted as saying she appeared to have cuts on her legs and arms. According to her physician, Winehouse quit illegal substances in 2008. In an October 2010 interview, speaking of her decision to quit drugs, Winehouse said, "I literally woke up one day and was like, 'I don't want to do this any more'." Drinking alcohol emerged as a problem with Winehouse abstaining for a few weeks then lapsing. The physician said that Winehouse was treated with Librium for alcohol withdrawal and anxiety, and underwent psychological and psychiatric evaluations in 2010, but refused psychological therapy. CANNOTANSWER
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A US reporter writes that Winehouse was a "victim of mental illness in a society that doesn't understand or respond to mental illness with great effectiveness."
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Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was a British singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz.
A member of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra during her youth, Winehouse signed to Simon Fuller's 19 Management in 2002 and soon recorded a number of songs before signing a publishing deal with EMI. She also formed a working relationship with producer Salaam Remi through these record publishers. Winehouse's debut album, Frank, was released in 2003. Many of the album's songs were influenced by jazz and, apart from two covers, were co-written by Winehouse. Frank was a critical success in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize. The song "Stronger Than Me" won her the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors.
Winehouse released her follow-up album, Back to Black, in 2006, which went on to become an international success and one of the best-selling albums in UK history. At the 2007 Brit Awards it was nominated for British Album of the Year, and she received the award for British Female Solo Artist. The song "Rehab" won her a second Ivor Novello Award. At the 50th Grammy Awards in 2008, she won five awards, tying the then record for the most wins by a female artist in a single night and becoming the first British woman to win five Grammys, including three of the General Field "Big Four" Grammy Awards: Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year (for "Rehab"), as well as Best Pop Vocal Album.
Winehouse was plagued by drug and alcohol addiction. She died of alcohol poisoning on 23 July 2011, at the age of 27. After her death, Back to Black temporarily became the UK's best-selling album of the 21st century. VH1 ranked Winehouse 26th on their list of the 100 Greatest Women in Music.
Early life
Amy Jade Winehouse was born on 14 September 1983 at Chase Farm Hospital in Gordon Hill, Enfield, to Jewish parents. Her father, Mitchell "Mitch" Winehouse, was a window panel installer and taxi driver; her mother, Janis Winehouse (née Seaton), was a pharmacist, who suffers from multiple sclerosis. The great-great-grandfather of Amy Harris Winehouse emigrated from Minsk, Belarus to London in 1891. She had an older brother, Alex (born 1979), and the family lived in London's Southgate area, where she attended Osidge Primary School. Winehouse attended a Jewish Sunday school while she was a child. During an interview following her rise to fame, she expressed her dismissal towards the school by saying that she used to beg her father to permit her not to go and that she learned nothing about being Jewish by going anyway. In the same interview, Winehouse said she only went to a synagogue once a year on Yom Kippur "out of respect".
Many of Winehouse's maternal uncles were professional jazz musicians. Amy's paternal grandmother, Cynthia, was a singer and dated the English jazz saxophonist Ronnie Scott. She and Amy's parents influenced Amy's interest in jazz. Her father, Mitch, often sang Frank Sinatra songs to her, and whenever she got chastised at school, she would sing "Fly Me to the Moon" before going up to the headmistress to be told off. Winehouse's parents separated when she was nine, and she lived with her mother and stayed with her father and his girlfriend in Hatfield Heath, Essex, on weekends.
In 1992, her grandmother Cynthia suggested that Amy attend the Susi Earnshaw Theatre School, where she went on Saturdays to further her vocal education and to learn to tap dance. She attended the school for four years and founded a short-lived rap group called Sweet 'n' Sour, with Juliette Ashby, her childhood friend, before seeking full-time training at Sylvia Young Theatre School. Several years later it was reported that Winehouse had been expelled at 14 for "not applying herself" and also for piercing her nose, but these claims were denied by Sylvia Young: "She changed schools at 15...I've heard it said she was expelled; she wasn't. I'd never have expelled Amy." Mitch Winehouse also denied the claims. She attended the Mount School, Mill Hill and the BRIT School in Selhurst, Croydon, dropping out at age 16.
After toying around with her brother Alex's guitar, Winehouse bought her own when she was 14 and began writing music shortly afterwards. Soon after she began working for a living, as an entertainment journalist for the World Entertainment News Network and also singing with local group the Bolsha Band. In July 2000, she became the featured female vocalist with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. She was influenced by Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington, the latter of whom she was already listening to at home. Winehouse's best friend, soul singer Tyler James, sent her demo tape to an A&R person.
Career
2002–2005: Career beginnings and Frank
Winehouse was signed to Simon Fuller's 19 Management in 2002 and was paid £250 a week against future earnings. While being developed by the management company, Winehouse was kept as a recording industry secret, although she was a regular jazz standards singer at the Cobden Club. Her future A&R representative at Island, Darcus Beese, heard of her by accident when the manager of The Lewinson Brothers showed him some productions of his clients, which featured Winehouse as key vocalist. When he asked who the singer was, the manager told him he was not allowed to say. Having decided that he wanted to sign her, it took several months of asking around for Beese to eventually discover who the singer was. However, Winehouse had already recorded a number of songs and signed a publishing deal with EMI by this time. Incidentally, she formed a working relationship with producer Salaam Remi through these record publishers.
Beese introduced Winehouse to his boss, Nick Gatfield; the Island head shared his enthusiasm in signing the young artist. Winehouse was signed to Island, as rival interest in her had started to build with representatives of EMI and Virgin starting to make moves. Beese told HitQuarters that he felt the excitement over an artist who was an atypical pop star for the time was due to a backlash against reality TV music shows, which included audiences starved for fresh, genuine young talent.
Winehouse's debut album, Frank, was released on 20 October 2003. Produced mainly by Salaam Remi, many songs were influenced by jazz and, apart from two covers, Winehouse co-wrote every song. The album received critical acclaim with compliments given to the "cool, critical gaze" in its lyrics. Winehouse's voice was compared with those of Sarah Vaughan and Macy Gray, among others.
The album entered the upper reaches of the UK album chart in 2004 when it was nominated for the Brit Awards in the categories of "British Female Solo Artist" and "British Urban Act." It went on to achieve platinum sales. Later in 2004, she and Remi won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song, for their first single together, "Stronger Than Me." The album was also shortlisted for the 2004 Mercury Music Prize. In the same year, she performed at the Glastonbury Festival – Jazzworld, the V Festival and the Montreal International Jazz Festival. After the release of the album, Winehouse commented that she was "only 80 percent behind [the] album" because Island Records had overruled her preferences for the songs and mixes to be included. The further singles from the album were "Take the Box," "In My Bed"/"You Sent Me Flying" and "Pumps"/"Help Yourself."
2006–2008: Back to Black and international success
After the release of her first jazz-influenced album, Winehouse's focus shifted to the girl groups of the 1950s and 1960s. Winehouse hired New York singer Sharon Jones's longtime band, the Dap-Kings, to back her up in the studio and on tour. Mitch Winehouse relates in Amy, My Daughter how fascinating watching her process was: her perfectionism in the studio and how she would put what she had sung on a CD and play it in his taxi outside to know how most people would hear her music. In May 2006, Winehouse's demo tracks such as "You Know I'm No Good" and "Rehab" appeared on Mark Ronson's New York radio show on East Village Radio. These were some of the first new songs played on the radio after the release of "Pumps" and both were slated to appear on her second album. The 11-track album, completed in five months, was produced entirely by Salaam Remi and Ronson, with the production credits being split between them. Ronson said in a 2010 interview that he liked working with Winehouse because she was blunt when she did not like his work. She in turn thought that when they first met, he was a sound engineer and that she was expecting an older man with a beard.
Promotion of Back to Black soon began and, in early October 2006 Winehouse's official website was relaunched with a new layout and clips of previously unreleased songs. Back to Black was released in the UK on 30 October 2006. It went to number one on the UK Albums Chart for two weeks in January 2007, dropping then climbing back for several weeks in February. In the US, it entered at number seven on the Billboard 200. It was the best-selling album in the UK of 2007, selling 1.85million copies over the course of the year. The first single released from the album was the Ronson-produced "Rehab." The song reached the top ten in the UK and the US. Time magazine named "Rehab" the Best Song of 2007. Writer Josh Tyrangiel praised Winehouse for her confidence, saying, "What she is is mouthy, funny, sultry, and quite possibly crazy" and "It's impossible not to be seduced by her originality. Combine it with production by Mark Ronson that references four decades worth of soul music without once ripping it off, and you've got the best song of 2007." The album's second single and lead single in the US, "You Know I'm No Good," was released in January 2007 with a remix featuring rap vocals by Ghostface Killah. It ultimately reached number 18 on the UK singles chart. The title track, "Back to Black," was released in the UK in April 2007 and peaked at number 25, but was more successful across mainland Europe. "Tears Dry on Their Own," "Love Is a Losing Game" were also released as singles, but failed to achieve the same level of success.
A deluxe edition of Back to Black was also released on 5 November 2007 in the UK. The bonus disc features B-sides, rare, and live tracks, as well as "Valerie." Winehouse's debut DVD I Told You I Was Trouble: Live in London was released the same day in the UK and 13 November in the US. It includes a live set recorded at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire and a 50-minute documentary charting the singer's career over the previous four years. Frank was released in the United States on 20 November 2007 to positive reviews. The album debuted at number 61 on the Billboard 200 chart. In addition to her own album, she collaborated with other artists on singles. Winehouse was a vocalist on the song "Valerie" on Ronson's solo album Version. The song peaked at number two in the UK, upon its October single release. "Valerie" was nominated for a 2008 Brit Award for "Best British Single." Her work with ex-Sugababe Mutya Buena, "B Boy Baby," was released on 17 December 2007. It served as the fourth single from Buena's debut album, Real Girl. Winehouse was also in talks of working with Missy Elliott for her album Block Party.
Winehouse promoted the release of Back to Black with headline performances in late 2006, including a Little Noise Sessions charity concert at the Union Chapel in Islington, London. On 31 December 2006, Winehouse appeared on Jools Holland's Annual Hootenanny and performed a cover of Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" along with Paul Weller and Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra. She also performed Toots and the Maytals' "Monkey Man". At his request, actor Bruce Willis introduced Winehouse before her performance of "Rehab" at the 2007 MTV Movie Awards in Universal City, California, on 3 June 2007. During the summer of 2007, she performed at various festivals, including Glastonbury Festival and Lollapalooza in Chicago.
The rest of her tour, however, did not go as well. In November 2007, the opening night of a 17-date tour was marred by booing and walkouts at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. A critic for the Birmingham Mail said it was "one of the saddest nights of my life...I saw a supremely talented artist reduced to tears, stumbling around the stage and, unforgivably, swearing at the audience." Other concerts ended similarly, with, for example, fans at her Hammersmith Apollo performance in London saying that she "looked highly intoxicated throughout," until she announced on 27 November 2007, that her performances and public appearances were cancelled for the remainder of the year, citing her doctor's advice to take a complete rest. A statement issued by concert promoter Live Nation blamed "the rigours involved in touring and the intense emotional strain that Amy has been under in recent weeks" for the decision. Mitch Winehouse wrote about her nervousness before public performances in his 2012 book, Amy, My Daughter. On 13 January 2008, Back to Black held the number-one position on the Billboard Pan European charts for the third consecutive week.
On 10 February 2008, Winehouse received five Grammy Awards, winning in the following categories: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the single "Rehab," and Best Pop Vocal Album. The singer also earned a Grammy as Best New Artist, earning her an entry in the 2009 edition of the Guinness Book of Records for Most Grammy Awards won by a British Female Act. Additionally, Back to Black was nominated for Album of the Year. Ronson's work with her won the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, in the non-classical category. She ended her acceptance speech for Record of the Year with, "This is for London because Camden town ain't burning down," in reference to the 2008 Camden Market fire. Performing "You Know I'm No Good" and "Rehab" via satellite from London's Riverside Studios at 3 a.m. UK time, she couldn't be at the ceremony in Los Angeles as her visa approval had not been processed in time.
After the Grammys, the album's sales increased, catapulting Back to Black to number two on the US Billboard 200, after it initially peaked in the seventh position. On 20 February 2008, Winehouse performed at the 2008 Brit Awards at Earls Court in London, performing "Valerie" with Mark Ronson, followed by "Love Is a Losing Game." She urged the crowd to "make some noise for my Blake." A special deluxe edition of Back to Black topped the UK album charts on 2 March 2008. Meanwhile, the original edition of the album was ranked at number 30 in its 68th week on the charts, while Frank charted at number 35.
In Paris, she performed what was described as a "well-executed 40-minute" set at the opening of a Fendi boutique in early March. By 12 March, the album had sold a total of 2,467,575 copies—318,350 copies had been sold in the previous 10 weeks—putting the album on the UK's top-10 best-selling albums of the 21st century for the first time. On 7 April, Back to Black was in the top position of the pan-European charts for the sixth consecutive and thirteenth aggregate week. Amy Winehouse – The Girl Done Good: A Documentary Review, a 78-minute DVD, was released on 14 April 2008. The documentary features interviews with those who knew her at a young age, people who helped her achieve success, jazz music experts, and music and pop-culture specialists.
At the 2008 Ivor Novello Awards in May, Winehouse became the first-ever artist to receive two nominations for the top award: Best Song Musically & Lyrically. She won the award for "Love Is a Losing Game" and was nominated for "You Know I'm No Good." "Rehab," a Novello winner for best contemporary song in 2006, also received a 2008 nomination for best-selling British song. Winehouse was also nominated for a 2008 MTV Europe Award in the "Act of the Year" category.
Although her father, manager and various members of her touring team reportedly tried to dissuade her, Winehouse performed at the Rock in Rio Lisboa festival in Portugal in May 2008. Although the set was plagued by a late arrival and problems with her voice, the crowd warmed to her. In addition to her own material she performed two Specials covers. Winehouse performed at Nelson Mandela's 90th Birthday Party concert at London's Hyde Park on 27 June 2008, and the next day at the Glastonbury Festival. On 12 July, at the Oxegen Festival in Ireland she performed a well-received 50-minute set which was followed the next day by a 14-song set at T in the Park.
On 16 August she played at the Staffordshire leg of the V Festival, and the following day played the Chelmsford leg of the festival. Organisers said that Winehouse attracted the biggest crowds of the festival. Audience reaction was reported as mixed. On 6 September, she was Bestival's Saturday headliner, where her performance was described as polished—terminated by a curfew as the show running overdue, after Winehouse started an hour late—and her storming off stage.
A clip of Winehouse's music was included in the "Roots and Influences" area that looked at connections between different artists at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex NYC, which opened in December 2008. One thread started with Billie Holiday, continued with Aretha Franklin and Mary J. Blige, and then finished with Winehouse.
Back to Black was the world's seventh-biggest-selling album of 2008. The album's sales meant that the market performance of Universal Music's recorded music division did not drop to levels experienced by the overall music market.
2009–2011: Final projects before death
In a 2009 poll of U.S. residents conducted for VisitBritain by Harris Interactive, one-fifth of the participants indicated they had listened to Winehouse's music during the previous year. She performed with Rhythms del Mundo on their cover of the Sam Cooke song, "Cupid", for an Artists Project Earth benefit album released in July that year.
Winehouse and Ronson contributed a cover of Lesley Gore's "It's My Party" to the Quincy Jones tribute album Q Soul Bossa Nostra, released in November 2010. She had agreed to form a group with Questlove of the Roots but her problems obtaining a visa delayed their working together. Salaam Remi had already created some material with Winehouse as part of the project. According to The Times, Universal Music pressed her for new material in 2008, but as of 2 September that year she had not been near a recording studio. In late October, Winehouse's spokesman was quoted as saying that Winehouse had not been given a deadline to complete her third album, for which she was learning to play drums.
In May 2009, Winehouse returned to performing at a jazz festival in St. Lucia amid torrential downpours and technical difficulties. During her set, it was reported she was unsteady on her feet and had trouble remembering lyrics. She apologised to the crowd for being "bored" and ended the set in the middle of a song. During her stay in St. Lucia, however, she worked on new music with Remi. On 23 August that year Winehouse sang with the Specials at the V Festival, on their songs "You're Wondering Now" and "Ghost Town".
Island claimed that a new album would be due for release in 2010. Island co-president Darcus Beese said, "I've heard a couple of song demos that have absolutely floored me." In July 2010, Winehouse was quoted as saying her next album would be released no later than January 2011, saying "It's going to be very much the same as my second album, where there's a lot of jukebox stuff and songs that are... just jukebox, really." Ronson, however, said at that time that he had not started to record the album. She performed "Valerie" with Ronson at a movie premiere but forgot some of the song's lyrics. In October, Winehouse performed a four-song set to promote her fashion line. In December 2010, she played a 40-minute concert at a Russian oligarch's party in Moscow, with the tycoon hand-selecting the songs.
In January 2011, Winehouse played five dates in Brazil, with opening acts of Janelle Monáe and Mayer Hawthorne. The following month she cut short a performance in Dubai following booing from the audience. Winehouse was reported to be tired, distracted and "tipsy" during the performance.
On 18 June 2011, Winehouse started her twelve-leg European tour in Belgrade. Local media described her performance as a scandal and disaster; she was booed off the stage due to her apparently being too drunk to perform. Serbian defence minister Dragan Sutanovac called Winehouse's performances "a huge shame and a disappointment". It was reported that she was unable to remember the city she was in, the lyrics of her songs or the names of the members of her band. The local press also claimed that Winehouse was forced to perform by her bodyguards, who did not allow her to leave the stage when she tried to do so. She then pulled out of performances in Istanbul and Athens, which had been scheduled for the following week. On 21 June, it was announced that she had cancelled all shows of her tour and would be given "as long as it takes" to sort herself out.
Winehouse's last public appearance took place at Camden's Roundhouse on 20 July 2011, when she made a surprise appearance on stage to support her goddaughter, Dionne Bromfield, who was singing "Mama Said" with the Wanted. Winehouse died three days later. Her last recording was a duet with American singer Tony Bennett for his album, Duets II, released on 20 September 2011. Their single from the album, "Body and Soul", was released on 14 September 2011 on MTV and VH1 to commemorate what would have been her 28th birthday.
Other ventures
Winehouse joined a campaign to stop a block of flats being built beside the George Tavern, a famous London East End music venue. Campaign supporters feared the residential development would end the spot's lucrative sideline as a film and photo location, on which it relies to survive. As part of a breast cancer awareness campaign, Winehouse appeared in a revealing photograph for the April 2008 issue of Easy Living magazine. Winehouse had an estimated £10m fortune, tying her for tenth place in the 2008 The Sunday Times listing of the wealth of musicians under age 30. The following year her fortune had dropped to an estimated £5m. Her finances are run by Mitch and Janis Winehouse. It was reported she earned about £1m singing at two private parties during Paris Fashion Week. as well as another £1m to perform at a Moscow Art Gallery for Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. Winehouse loaned a vintage dress used in her video for "Tears Dry on Their Own" as well as a DVD to the British Music Experience, a new museum dedicated to the history of British pop music. The museum, located at the O2 Arena in London, opened on 9 March 2009.
In January 2009, Winehouse announced that she was launching her own record label. The first act on her Lioness Records is Winehouse's 13-year-old goddaughter, Dionne Bromfield. Her first album, featuring covers of classic soul records, was released on 12 October 2009. Winehouse is the backing singer on several tracks on the album and she performed backing vocals for Bromfield on the BBC's television programme Strictly Come Dancing on 10 October.
Winehouse and her family are the subject of a 2009 documentary shot by Daphne Barak titled Saving Amy. Winehouse entered into a joint venture in 2009 with EMI to launch a range of wrapping paper and gift cards containing song lyrics from her album Back to Black. On 8 January 2010, a television documentary, My Daughter Amy, aired on Channel 4. Saving Amy was released as a paperback book in January 2010.
Winehouse collaborated on a 17 piece fashion collection with the Fred Perry label. It was released for sale in October 2010. According to Fred Perry's marketing director "We had three major design meetings where she was closely involved in product style selection and the application of fabric, colour and styling details," and gave "crucial input on proportion, colour and fit." The collection consists of "vintage-inspired looks including Capri pants, a bowling dress, a trench coat, pencil skirts, a longline argyle sweater and a pink-and-black checkerboard-printed collared shirt." At the behest of her family, three forthcoming collections up to and including autumn/winter 2012 that she had designed prior to her death will be released.
Awards and nominations
Among the awards and recognition for her debut album Frank, Winehouse earned an Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy of Songwriters for Best Contemporary Song ("Stronger Than Me"), a Brit Award nomination for Best British Female Solo Artist, and an inclusion in Robert Dimery's 2006 book, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Her second studio album, Back to Black, produced numerous nominations, including two Brit Awards (Best British Album, and won her Best British Female Solo Artist), six Grammy Awards (including five wins), four Ivor Novello Awards, four MTV Europe Music Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards, three World Music Awards, and it was nominated for the Mercury Prize (Album of the Year) and a MOBO Awards (Best UK Female). During her career, Winehouse received 23 awards from 60 nominations.
Critical appraisal
Winehouse was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, (sometimes labelled as blue-eyed soul and neo soul), rhythm and blues, and jazz. The BBC's Garry Mulholland called Winehouse "the pre-eminent vocal talent of her generation". According to AllMusic's Cyril Cordor, she was one of the UK's premier singers during the 2000s; "fans and critics alike embraced her rugged charm, brash sense of humor, and distinctively soulful and jazzy vocals". In The Guardian, Caroline Sullivan later wrote that "her idolisation of Dinah Washington and the Ronettes distinguished her from almost all newly minted pop singers of the early 2000s; her exceptionally-susceptible-to-heartbreak voice did the rest". Soon after Winehouse's death, a number of prominent critics assessed the singer's legacy: Maura Johnston from The Village Voice said, "When she was on, Winehouse had few peers—she wasn't an octave-jumper like other big divas of the moment, but her contralto had a snap to it that enriched even the simplest syllables with a full spectrum of emotion"; Sasha Frere-Jones of The New Yorker proclaimed, "Nobody can match Winehouse's unique transitions or her utterly weird phrasings. She sounded like an original sixties soul star, developed when the landscape had no rules. But now untrammeled traditionalism is in the lead and her beautiful footnote has been cut short. American soul—through visionaries like Erykah Badu and Janelle Monae and Jill Scott—had moved on. But Winehouse was a fine shepherd of the past."
By contrast, Robert Christgau dismissed Winehouse as "a self-aggrandizing self-abuser who's taken seriously because she makes a show of soul". In his opinion, the singer "simulated gravitas by running her suicidal tendencies through an amalgam of 20th-century African-American vocal stylings—the slides, growls, and melismatic outcries that for many matures are now the only reliable signifiers of pop substance".
On 13 February 2012, Winehouse was ranked 26 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women in Music list. In March 2017, singer-songwriter Bob Dylan said he was enjoying listening to Winehouse's last record (Back to Black), and called her "the last real individualist around."
Image
Winehouse's greatest love was 1960s girl groups. Her hairdresser, Alex Foden, borrowed her "instantly recognisable" beehive hairdo (a weave) and she borrowed her Cleopatra makeup from the Ronettes. Her imitation was so successful, as The Village Voice reports: "Ronnie Spector—who, it could be argued, all but invented Winehouse's style in the first place when she took the stage at the Brooklyn Fox Theater with her fellow Ronettes more than 40 years ago—was so taken aback at a picture of Winehouse in the New York Post that she exclaimed, "I don't know her, I never met her, and when I saw that pic, I thought, 'That's me!' But then I found out, no, it's Amy! I didn't have on my glasses."
The New York Times style reporter, Guy Trebay, discussed the multiplicity of influences on Winehouse's style after her death. Trebay noted, "her stylish husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, may have influenced her look." Additionally, Trebay observed:
Former Rolling Stone editor Joe Levy, who had put her on the magazine's cover, broke her look down this way:
Winehouse's use of bold red lipstick, thick eyebrows and heavy eyeliner came from Latinas she saw in Miami, on her trip there to work with Salaam Remi on Back to Black. Her look was repeatedly denigrated by the British press. At the same time that the NME Awards nominated Winehouse in the categories of "Best Solo Artist" and "Best Music DVD" in 2008, they awarded her "Worst Dressed Performer." Winehouse was also ranked number two on Richard Blackwell's 48th annual "Ten Worst Dressed Women" list, behind Victoria Beckham.
Criticism
Winehouse's dichotomous public image of critical and commercial success versus personal turmoil prompted significant media comment. The New Statesman called Winehouse "a filthy-mouthed, down-to-earth diva", while Newsweek called her "a perfect storm of sex kitten, raw talent and poor impulse control". Karen Heller with The Philadelphia Inquirer summarised the maelstrom this way:
By 2008, her drug problems threatened her career. As Nick Gatfield, the president of Island Records, toyed with the idea of releasing Winehouse "to deal with her problems", he said, "It's a reflection of her status [in the US] that when you flick through the TV coverage [of the Grammys] it's her image they use." Post-Grammys, some questioned whether Winehouse should have been honoured with the awards given her recent personal and drug problems, including Natalie Cole, who introduced Winehouse at the ceremony and who herself battled substance-abuse problems while winning a Grammy for Best New Artist in 1975. (Winehouse was prevented from travelling to and performing at the Grammy Awards ceremony in the US due to failing a drug test.) In a newspaper commentary, the executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, said that the alleged drug habits of Winehouse and other celebrities sent a bad message "to others who are vulnerable to addiction" and undermine the efforts of other celebrities trying to raise awareness of problems in Africa, now that more cocaine used in Europe passes through that continent. Winehouse's spokesperson noted that "Amy has never given a quote about drugs or flaunted it in any way. She's had some problems and is trying to get better. The U.N. should get its own house in order."
In January 2008, her record label stated it believed the extensive media coverage she had received increased record sales. In an April 2008 poll conducted by Sky News, Winehouse was named the second greatest "ultimate heroine" by the UK population at large, topping the voting for that category of those polled under 25 years old. Psychologist Donna Dawson commented that the results demonstrated that women like Winehouse who had "a certain sense of vulnerability or have had to fight against some adversity in their lives" received recognition.
In July 2008, BBC Radio Scotland's head, Jeff Zycinski, stated that the BBC, and media in general, were complicit in undermining celebrities, including Winehouse. He said that public interest in the singer's lifestyle did not make her lifestyle newsworthy. Rod McKenzie, editor of the BBC Radio One programme Newsbeat, replied: "If you play [Amy Winehouse's] music to a certain demographic, those same people want to know what's happening in her private life. If you don't cover it, you're insulting young licence fee payers." In The Scotsman, British singer and songwriter Lily Allen was quoted to have said – "I know Amy Winehouse very well. And she is very different to what people portray her as being. Yes, she does get out of her mind on drugs sometimes, but she is also a very clever, intelligent, witty, funny person who can hold it together. You just don't see that side."
Charity work
Throughout her life Winehouse donated her money, music and time to many charities, particularly those concerned with children. She was once named "the most charitable act" by Pop World. While this side of her personality was never well known to the general public, throughout both the arts community and the charity community she was known for her generosity.
In 2008, Winehouse appeared naked in an issue of Easy Living Magazine to raise awareness of breast cancer. In 2009, she appeared on a CD called Classics alongside musicians such as the Rolling Stones, the Killers and many Cuban musicians to raise awareness of climate change. In March 2011, Winehouse donated over £20,000 worth of clothes to a local charity shop in London.
A Caribbean man Julian Jean DeBaptiste revealed that Winehouse had paid for his urgent surgery costing £4,000 during her stay in Saint Lucia in 2009. "I had surgery on 1 July 2009... it cost a fortune and Amy paid for the whole thing. I tried to thank her but she just hugged me and told me not to say anything. Her generosity gave me my life back."
Legacy and honours
Artwork and tributes
London's Mall Galleries opened an exhibition in May 2008 that included a sculpture of Winehouse, titled Excess. The piece, created by Guy Portelli, had a miniature of the singer lying on top of a cracked champagne bottle, with a pool of spilled liquid underneath. The body was covered with what appeared to be tiny pills, while one outstretched hand held a glass. Another piece, a print titled Celebrity 1 by artist Charlotte Suckling, was shown in the same exhibition.
A wax sculpture of Winehouse went on display at the London Madame Tussauds on 23 July 2008. The singer did not attend the unveiling, although her parents did. A sculpture by Marco Perego, titled The Only Good Rock Star Is a Dead Rock Star, that depicts Winehouse lying in a pool of blood with an apple and a bullet hole in her head after being shot by American novelist and Beat poet William S. Burroughs (in a recreation of the accidental killing of his wife Joan Vollmer), was scheduled to go on display in New York's Half Gallery on 14 November 2008 with a sale price of US$100,000. Perego said of the sculpture: "Rock stars are the sacrificial animals of society." Winehouse's spokesperson stated: "It's a funny kind of tribute. The artist seems in thrall to a tabloid persona that is not the real Amy. People often use her image to sell their work."
In 2012, Winehouse was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork – the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover – to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life that he most admires.
On 14 September 2014 (which would have been Winehouse's 31st birthday), a statue was unveiled of her, which was created by sculptor Scott Eaton, at Stables Market in Camden Town, north London. Fans and relatives gathered for the unveiling in Camden's Stable Market, where it will be a permanent memorial to her. London-based Eaton, who sculpted the piece after being introduced to Winehouse's father Mitch, said the statue was meant to capture her "attitude and strength, but also give subtle hints of insecurity." Her father Mitch said of the statue: "Now Amy will oversee the comings and goings of her home town forever... Amy was in love with Camden and it is the place her fans from all over the world associate her with."
In March 2020, Winehouse's name on a stone was unveiled on the new Music Walk of Fame in Camden, with her parents Mitch and Janis in attendance at the ceremony.
Influence
Adele has credited Winehouse's success in making her and fellow British singer Duffy's journey to the United States "a bit smoother." Lady Gaga credited Winehouse with paving the way for her rise to the top of the charts, explaining that Winehouse made it easier for unconventional women to have mainstream pop success. Raphael Saadiq, Anthony Hamilton and John Legend said "Amy Winehouse was produced by people who wanted to create a marketing coup. The positive side is that it reacquainted an audience with this music and played an introductory role for others. This reinvigorated the genre by overcoming the vintage aspect."
Other artists that have credited Winehouse as an influence and/or for paving the way for them include Bruno Mars, Tove Lo, Jessie J, Emeli Sandé, Victoria Justice, Paloma Faith, Lana Del Rey, Sam Smith, Florence Welch, Halsey, Alessia Cara, Estelle, Daya, Jorja Smith, Lauren Jauregui and Billie Eilish.
After the release of Back to Black, record companies sought out female artists with a similar sound and fearless and experimental female musicians in general. Adele and Duffy were the second wave of artists with a sound similar to Winehouse's. A third wave of female musicians that has emerged since the album was released are led by V V Brown, Florence and the Machine, La Roux and Little Boots. In March 2011, the New York Daily News ran an article attributing the continuing wave of British female artists that have been successful in the United States to Winehouse and her absence. Spin magazine music editor Charles Aaron was quoted as saying "Amy Winehouse was the Nirvana moment for all these women," "They can all be traced back to her in terms of attitude, musical styles or fashion." According to Keith Caulfield, chart manager for Billboard, "Because of Amy, or the lack thereof, the marketplace was able to get singers like Adele, Estelle and Duffy," "Now those ladies have brought on the new ones, like Eliza Doolittle, Rumer and Ellie."
Amy Winehouse Foundation
After the singer's death by alcohol intoxication in July 2011, the Amy Winehouse Foundation was set up by Winehouse's family and launched on 14 September 2011 (which would have been Winehouse's 28th birthday). Its aim is to help young people and it works with other charitable organisations to provide frontline support. Its central office is in North London, but it also has an office in New York (operating under the name 'The Amy Winehouse Foundation US'). Both Jon Snow and Barbara Windsor are patrons for the charity, and ambassadors include Keira Chaplin and Mica Paris. In October 2015 Mark Ronson became a patron. Amy's brother Alex works full-time for the foundation, having given up his career as an online music journalist.
The charity itself works to prevent the effects of drug and alcohol misuse on young people and it also aims to support, inform and inspire vulnerable and disadvantaged young people to help them reach their full potential. On 12 March 2013, with the help of ex-addict Russell Brand, the Foundation launched the Amy Winehouse Foundation Resilience Programme For Schools across the UK which aims to provide effective education around drugs, alcohol and dealing with emotional issues.
Films
Documentary film
A documentary film, Amy (2015), directed by Asif Kapadia and produced by James Gay-Rees was released on 3 July 2015. The film covers Winehouse's life, her relationships, her struggles with substance abuse both before and after her career blossomed, and which eventually caused her death. The film received its première at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival on 16 May and has been reviewed as "a tragic masterpiece", "brilliant", "heartbreaking" and "unmissable". The soundtrack of the same name was released on 30 October 2015, along with the DVD that includes music featured in the documentary by film composer Antônio Pinto and classic and some unreleased tracks by Winehouse. The film was highly acclaimed and received various accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 2016 Oscars, Best Music Film at the 2016 Grammy Awards, the BAFTA for Best Documentary, the MTV Movie Award for Best Documentary, in addition to a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best British Film.
Biopic film
On 14 October 2018, it was announced that Winehouse's family had signed a deal with Monumental Pictures to make a biopic about her life, which will be directed by Alison Owen and produced by Debra Hayward. Winehouse's story will be adapted for the big screen by Geoff Deane, who has written comedy movies Kinky Boots (2005) and It's a Boy Girl Thing (2006). The project was scheduled to start filming in early 2019 and the funds are allegedly going towards the foundation.
Musical
On 9 October 2017, it was announced by Winehouse's father Mitch that a West End/Broadway musical on Amy is in the works. Mitch Winehouse revealed the news at the Amy Winehouse Foundation Gala event in London.
Personal life
Winehouse was raised Jewish and expressed pride in being Jewish, although she was not religious. During one interview, Winehouse said "being Jewish to me is about being together as a real family. It's not about lighting candles and saying a bracha." Winehouse also frequently performed with a large Star of David medallion.
In 2013, in memory of Winehouse the Jewish Museum London ran an exhibition titled "Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait". The museum researched about her paternal great-great-grandfather's arrival from Minsk in 1890, and how the family finally settled in London, starting out in working-class jobs before gradually moving to middle-class jobs.
Winehouse had 14 known tattoos, including "Daddy's Girl" on her left arm for her father and a pin-up girl with the name "Cynthia" on her right arm in memory of her Jewish grandmother.
Relationships
Winehouse dated chef-musician Alex Clare (sometimes referred to as Alex Claire) in 2006, while on a break from her on-off boyfriend and future husband, Blake Fielder-Civil. She and Clare lived together briefly, and in a pattern that Fielder-Civil would later repeat, Clare sold his story to the News of the World, which published it under the headline "Bondage Crazed Amy Just Can't Beehive in Bed."
Fielder-Civil, a former video production assistant, had dropped out of Bourne Grammar School and, aged 16, moved to London from his native Lincolnshire. He married Winehouse on 18 May 2007, in Miami Beach, Florida. In a June 2007 interview, Winehouse admitted she could sometimes be violent toward him after she had been drinking, saying: "If he says one thing I don't like, then I'll chin him." In August 2007, they were photographed, bloodied and bruised, in the streets of London after an alleged fight, although she contended her injuries were self-inflicted. Winehouse's parents and in-laws publicly reported their numerous concerns, the latter citing fears that the two might commit suicide. Fielder-Civil's father encouraged fans to boycott Winehouse's music, and Mitch Winehouse said this would not help. Fielder-Civil was quoted in a British tabloid as saying he introduced Winehouse to crack cocaine and heroin. During a visit with Mitch Winehouse at the prison in July 2008, Fielder-Civil reportedly said that he and Winehouse would cut themselves to ease the pain of withdrawal.
From 21 July 2008 to 25 February 2009, Fielder-Civil was imprisoned following his guilty plea on charges of trying to pervert the course of justice and of grievous bodily harm with intent. The incident, in July 2007, involved his assault of a pub landlord that broke the victim's cheek. According to the prosecution, the landlord accepted £200,000 as part of a deal to "effectively throw the [court] case and not turn up," and he testified that the money belonged to Winehouse, but she pulled out of a meeting with the men involved in the plot, to attend an awards ceremony. Mitch Winehouse, as manager of his daughter's money, has denied the payoff came from her.
When Winehouse was spotted with aspiring actor Josh Bowman on holiday in Saint Lucia, in early January 2009, she said she was "in love again, and I don't need drugs." She commented that her "whole marriage was based on doing drugs" and that "for the time being I've just forgotten I'm even married." On 12 January, Winehouse's spokesman confirmed that "papers have been received" for what Fielder-Civil's solicitor has said are divorce proceedings based on a claim of adultery. In March, Winehouse was quoted in a magazine as saying, "I still love Blake and I want him to move into my new house with me—that was my plan all along ... I won't let him divorce me. He's the male version of me and we're perfect for each other." Nonetheless, an uncontested divorce was granted on 16 July 2009 and became final on 28 August 2009. Fielder-Civil received no money in the settlement.
She was in a relationship with a British writer and director of films, Reg Traviss, from early 2010 until she died. According to media reports and a biography written by Winehouse's father, Traviss and Winehouse had planned to marry and intended to have children.
After Winehouse's death, Pete Doherty said that he and Winehouse had been lovers at one point. However, in July 2008, when Rolling Stone reporter Claire Hoffman asked Winehouse about her relationship with Doherty, Winehouse replied: "We're just good friends", and added: "I asked Pete to do a concept EP, and he made this face, he looked at me like I'd pooed on the floor. He wouldn't do it. We're just really close".
Substance abuse and mental illness
Winehouse's battles with substance abuse were the subject of much media attention. In 2005, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, and weight loss. People who saw her during the end of that year and early 2006 reported a rebound that coincided with the writing of Back to Black. Her family believes that the mid-2006 death of her grandmother, who was a stabilising influence, set her off into addiction. In August 2007, Winehouse cancelled a number of shows in the UK and Europe, citing exhaustion and ill health. She was hospitalised during this period for what was reported as an overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol. In various interviews, she admitted to having problems with self-harm, depression, and eating disorders.
Winehouse told a magazine that the drugs were to blame for her hospitalisation and that "I really thought that it was over for me then." Soon afterwards, Winehouse's father commented that when he had made public statements regarding her problems he was using the media because it seemed the only way to get through to her. In an interview with The Album Chart Show on British television, Winehouse said she was manic depressive and not alcoholic, adding that that sounded like "an alcoholic in denial". A US reporter writes that Winehouse was a "victim of mental illness in a society that doesn't understand or respond to mental illness with great effectiveness."
In December 2007, Winehouse's spokesman reported that the singer was in a physician-supervised programme and was channelling her difficulties by writing a lot of music. The British tabloid The Sun posted a video of a woman, alleged to be Winehouse, apparently smoking crack cocaine and speaking of having taken ecstasy and valium. Winehouse's father moved in with her, and Island Records, her record label, announced the abandonment of plans for an American promotion campaign on her behalf. In late January 2008, Winehouse reportedly entered a rehabilitation facility for a two-week treatment program.
On 23 January 2008, the video was passed on to the Metropolitan Police, who questioned her on 5 February. No charges were brought. On 26 March 2008, Winehouse's spokesman said she was "doing well". Her record company reportedly believed that her recovery remained fragile. By late April 2008, her erratic behaviourincluding an allegation of assaultcaused fear that her drug rehabilitation efforts had been unsuccessful. Winehouse's father and manager then sought to have her detained under the Mental Health Act of 1983. Her dishevelled appearance during and after a scheduled club night in September 2008 prompted new rumours of a relapse. Photographers were quoted as saying she appeared to have cuts on her arms and legs.
According to her physician, Winehouse quit using illegal substances in 2008. In an October 2010 interview, speaking of her decision to quit drugs, Winehouse said, "I literally woke up one day and was like, 'I don't want to do this any more. However, alcohol emerged as a problem, with Winehouse abstaining for a few weeks and then lapsing into alcohol abuse. Her physician said that Winehouse was treated with Librium for alcohol withdrawal and anxiety and underwent psychological and psychiatric evaluations in 2010, but refused psychological therapy.
Violence and legal difficulties
In 2006, Winehouse admitted to punching a female fan in the face for criticising her having taken Blake Fielder-Civil as a husband. She then attacked her own spouse as he attempted to calm her down, kneeing him in the crotch. In October 2007, Winehouse and Fielder-Civil were arrested in Bergen, Norway, for possession of seven grams of cannabis. The couple were later released and fined 3850 kroner (around £350). Winehouse first appealed the fines, but later dropped the appeal.
On 26 April 2008, Winehouse was cautioned after she admitted to police she slapped a 38-year-old man in the face, a "common assault" offence, her first of two. She voluntarily turned herself in and was held overnight. Police said, at her arrival she was "in no fit state" to be interviewed. Ten days later, Winehouse was arrested on suspicion of possessing drugs after a video of her apparently smoking crack cocaine was passed to the police in January, but was released on bail a few hours later because they could not confirm, from the video, what she was smoking. The Crown Prosecution Service considered charging her, but cleared her when it could not establish that the substance in the video was a controlled drug. Some members of Parliament reacted negatively. Two London residents were subsequently charged with conspiracy to supply cocaine and ecstasy to Winehouse. One of the pair was sentenced to two years in prison on 13 December 2008, while the other received a two-year community order.
On 5 March 2009, Winehouse was arrested and charged with common assault following a claim by dancer Sherene Flash that Winehouse hit her in the eye at the September 2008 Prince's Trust charity ball. Winehouse's spokesperson announced the cancellation of the singer's US Coachella Festival appearance in light of the new legal issue, and Winehouse appeared in court on 17 March to enter her plea of not guilty. On 23 July, her trial began with prosecutor Lyall Thompson charging that Winehouse acted with "deliberate and unjustifiable violence" while appearing to be under the influence of alcohol or another substance. She testified that she did not punch Flash, but tried to push her away because she was scared of her; she cited her worry that Flash would sell her story to a tabloid, Flash's height advantage, and Flash's "rude" behaviour. On 24 July, District Judge Timothy Workman ruled that Winehouse was not guilty, citing the facts that all but two of the witnesses were intoxicated at the time of the incident and that medical evidence did not show "the sort of injury that often occurs when there is a forceful punch to the eye."
On 19 December 2009, Winehouse was arrested for a third time on charges of common assault, plus another charge of public order offence after assaulting the front-of-house manager of the Milton Keynes Theatre after he asked her to move from her seat. Winehouse pled guilty to the charges and was given a conditional discharge.
Paparazzi
With the paparazzi taking photographs of her wherever they could, Winehouse obtained an injunction against a leading paparazzi agency, Big Pictures, under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997; the resultant court order issued by the High Court in 2009 banned them from following her. Photographers were also banned from following her within 100 metres of her London home and photographing Winehouse in her home or the homes of her friends and relatives. According to a newspaper report, sources close to the singer said legal action was taken out of concern for the safety of Winehouse and those close to her.
Respiratory and other health problems
On 23 June 2008, Winehouse's publicist corrected earlier misstatements by Mitch Winehouse that his daughter had early stage emphysema, instead claiming she had signs of what could lead to early-stage emphysema. Mitch Winehouse had also stated that his daughter's lungs were operating at 70 percent capacity and that she had an irregular heartbeat. He said that these problems had been caused by her chain smoking crack cocaine. The singer's father also reported that doctors had warned Winehouse that, if she continued smoking crack cocaine, she would have to wear an oxygen mask and would eventually die. In a radio interview, Mitch Winehouse said the singer was responding "fabulously" to treatment, which included being covered with nicotine patches. British Lung Foundation spokesman Keith Prowse noted this type of condition could be managed with treatment. Prowse also said the condition was not normal for a person her age but "heavy smoking and inhaling other substances like drugs can age the lungs prematurely." Norman H. Edelman of the American Lung Association explained that if she stopped smoking, her lung functions would decline at the rate of a normal person, but continued smoking would lead to a more rapid decline in lung function.
Winehouse was released from the London Clinic 24 hours after returning from a temporary leave to perform at Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday and at a concert in Glastonbury, and continued receiving treatment as an outpatient. In July 2008, Winehouse stated that she had been diagnosed with "some areas of emphysema" and said she was getting herself together by "eating loads of healthy food, sleeping loads, playing my guitar, making music and writing letters to my husband every day." She also kept a vertical tanning bed in her flat. Winehouse began precautionary testing on her lungs and chest on 25 October 2008 at the London Clinic for what was reported as a chest infection. Winehouse was in and out of the facility and was granted permission to set her own schedule regarding home leave. She returned to the hospital on 23 November 2008 for a reported reaction to her medication.
Death
Winehouse's bodyguard said that he had arrived at her residence three days before her death and felt she had been somewhat intoxicated. He observed moderate drinking over the next few days, and said she had been "laughing, listening to music and watching TV at 2 a.m. the day of her death". At 10 a.m. BST on 23 July 2011, he observed her lying on her bed and tried unsuccessfully to rouse her. This did not raise much suspicion because she usually slept late after a night out. According to the bodyguard, shortly after 3p.m., he checked on her again and observed her lying in the same position as before, leading to a further check, in which he concluded that she was not breathing and had no pulse; he said he called emergency services. At 3:54p.m., two ambulances were called to Winehouse's home in Camden, London. Winehouse was pronounced dead at the scene, at the age of 27. Shortly afterwards, the Metropolitan Police confirmed that she had died.
After her death was announced, media and camera crews appeared, as crowds gathered near Winehouse's residence to pay their respects. Forensic investigators entered the flat as police cordoned off the street outside; they recovered one small and two large bottles of vodka from her room. After her death, the singer broke her second Guinness World Record: for the most songs by a woman to simultaneously appear on the UK singles chart, with eight.
A coroner's inquest reached a verdict of misadventure. The report released on 26 October 2011 explained that Winehouse's blood alcohol content was 416 per 100 (0.416%) at the time of her death, more than five times the legal drink-drive limit. According to the coroner, "The unintended consequences of such potentially fatal levels was her sudden death."
Winehouse's record label, Universal Republic, released a statement that read in part: "We are deeply saddened at the sudden loss of such a gifted musician, artist and performer." Many musical artists have since paid tribute to Winehouse including U2, M.I.A., Lady Gaga, Marianne Faithfull, Bruno Mars, Nicki Minaj, Keisha Buchanan, Rihanna, George Michael, Adele, Kelly Clarkson, Courtney Love, and the punk rock band Green Day, who wrote a song in her tribute titled "Amy". In her 2012 album Banga, singer Patti Smith released "This Is the Girl", written as an homage to Winehouse. Mark Ronson dedicated his UK number-one album Uptown Special to Winehouse, stating: "I'm always thinking of you and inspired by you." Winehouse did not leave a will; her estate was inherited by her parents. Winehouse's parents set up the Amy Winehouse Foundation to prevent harm from drug misuse among young people; her brother Alex is an employee.
On 17 December 2012, British authorities reopened the probe into Winehouse's death. On 8 January 2013, a second inquest confirmed that Winehouse died of accidental alcohol poisoning. In a June 2013 interview, Alex Winehouse revealed his belief that his sister's eating disorder, and the consequent physical weakness, was the primary cause of her death:
Funeral
Family and friends attended Winehouse's private funeral on 26 July 2011 at Edgwarebury Lane Cemetery in north London. Her mother and father, Janis and Mitch Winehouse, close friends Nick Grimshaw and Kelly Osbourne, producer Mark Ronson, goddaughter Dionne Bromfield and her boyfriend Reg Traviss were among those in attendance at the private service led by Rabbi Frank Hellner. Her father delivered the eulogy, saying "Goodnight, my angel, sleep tight. Mummy and Daddy love you ever so much." Carole King's "So Far Away" closed the service with mourners singing along. She was later cremated at Golders Green Crematorium. The family planned to sit a two-day shiva. On 16 September 2012, Winehouse's ashes were buried alongside her grandmother's, Cynthia Levy at Edgwarebury Lane Cemetery.
Posthumous retrospectives
Winehouse's parents have each written memoirs about their daughter and donated the proceeds from both books to the Amy Winehouse Foundation. In the introduction to Mitch Winehouse's biography, entitled Amy: My Daughter (2012), he explained: "Apart from being her father, I was also her friend, confidant and adviser—not that she always took my advice, but she always heard me out." Her mother Janis published Loving Amy: A Mother's Story, in 2014.
An exhibit of Winehouse's personal items, co-curated by her brother and sister-in-law, entitled Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait, was on display at the Jewish Museum London from 3 July 2013 until 15 September 2013, and later exhibited in San Francisco, 23 July 2015 to 1 November 2015. Display items, such as books and music, were featured together with captions written by Winehouse's brother.
In late 2011, there were reports that Winehouse's former boyfriend, Reg Traviss, was developing a film about her. Winehouse's father Mitch Winehouse, who owns the copyright to his daughter's music, said he would not authorise the use of her music for the film.
Winehouse is the subject of Amy (2015), a documentary directed by Asif Kapadia and produced by James Gay-Rees, Kapadia, and Universal Music. Kapadia and Gay-Rees introduced the project at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. The film debuted at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and won the 2016 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
In 2018, a documentary film based on Winehouse's album Back to Black, Amy Winehouse – Back to Black was released. It contains new interviews as well as archival footage. It was made by Eagle Vision and produced by Gil Cang. Released on DVD on 2 November 2018, the film features interviews by producers Ronson & Remi, who worked half and half on the album, along with the Dap Kings, Remi's music team, Ronnie Spector from the Ronettes and close ones to Winehouse, including Nick Shymansky, Juliette Ashby and Dionne Bromfield. The film is accompanied by An Intimate Evening in London, footage of a show Winehouse gave at Riverside Studios, London in 2008. In February 2019, Salaam Remi released a compilation album including the song "Find My Love" which is a posthumous collaboration between Winehouse and rapper Nas.
In 2020, an exhibition entitled Beyond Black – The Style of Amy Winehouse opened at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles. The exhibit mainly explores Winehouse's style and fashion, displaying her outfits such as her iconic dresses, shoes, hair accessories, her makeup bag as well as Winehouse's personal belongings including her Grammy awards from 2008, handwritten lyrics, records and unseen home videos. The exhibition went on display in the U.S. from 17 January 2020 until 13 April 2020. In November 2021, various of Winehouse's personal items and famous dresses would later be auctioned at Julien's Auctions in Los Angeles and made more than £3m, 30% going to the Amy Winehouse Foundation. A follow-up exhibition Amy: Beyond the Stage opened on 26 November 2021 at the Design Museum in Kensington, London which also presented some of Winehouse's personal belongings and focus on her fashion sense, as well as paying homage to her musical career.
In July 2021, a new documentary entitled Reclaiming Amy aired on BBC Two to mark the 10th anniversary of Winehouse's death. The film was primarily based on the perspective and narrated by her mother Janis Winehouse-Collins and included intimate stories of those who were close to Winehouse until the end of her life, including close friends Naomi Parry (Amy's stylist), Catriona Gourlay and Chantelle Dusette.
Discography
Frank (2003)
Back to Black (2006)
Lioness: Hidden Treasures (2011)
Filmography
Amy (2015)
Amy Winehouse: Back to Black (2018)
Reclaiming Amy (2021)
See also
List of deaths through alcohol
References
Sources
Further reading
External links
Amy Winehouse collected news and commentary at The New York Times
Amy Winehouse Foundation - Charity Commission for England and Wales
1983 births
2011 deaths
20th-century English singers
20th-century English women singers
21st-century English singers
21st-century English women singers
Alcohol-related deaths in England
Alumni of the Sylvia Young Theatre School
Brit Award winners
British women jazz singers
English contraltos
English jazz singers
English Jews
Belarusian Jews
English people convicted of assault
English people of Polish-Jewish descent
English people of Russian-Jewish descent
English rhythm and blues singers
English soul singers
English women guitarists
English guitarists
Golders Green Crematorium
Grammy Award winners
Ivor Novello Award winners
Jewish English musicians
Jewish jazz musicians
Jewish singers
Jewish songwriters
MTV Europe Music Award winners
National Youth Jazz Orchestra members
Neo soul singers
People educated at the BRIT School
People educated at Susi Earnshaw Theatre School
People from the London Borough of Camden
People from Southgate, London
People with bipolar disorder
Republic Records artists
Singers from London
World Music Awards winners
| true |
[
"\"Just Say No\" was an advertising campaign prevalent during the 1980s and early 1990s as a part of the U.S. \"War on Drugs\", aiming to discourage children from engaging in illegal recreational drug use by offering various ways of saying no. The slogan was created and championed by First Lady Nancy Reagan during her husband's presidency.\n\nInitiation\nThe campaign emerged from a substance abuse prevention program supported by the National Institutes of Health, pioneered in the 1970s by University of Houston Social Psychology Professor Richard I. Evans. Evans promoted a social inoculation model, which included teaching student skills to resist peer pressure and other social influences. The campaign involved University projects done by students across the nation. Jordan Zimmerman, then a student at University of South Florida, and later an advertising entrepreneur, won the campaign. The anti-drug movement was among the resistance skills recommended in response to low peer pressure, and Nancy Reagan's larger campaign proved to be a useful dissemination of this social inoculation strategy.\n\nNancy Reagan first became involved during a campaign trip in 1980 to Daytop Village, New York. She recalls feeling impressed by a need to educate the youth about drugs and drug abuse. Upon her husband's election to the presidency, she returned to Daytop Village and outlined how she wished to help educate the youth. She stated in 1981 that her best role would be to bring awareness about the dangers of drug abuse:\n\nUnderstanding what drugs can do to your children, understanding peer pressure and understanding why they turn to drugs is ... the first step in solving the problem.\n\nEfforts\n\nThe \"Just Say No\" slogan was the creation of Robert Cox and David Cantor, advertising executives at the New York office of Needham, Harper & Steers/USA in the early 1980s.\n\nIn 1982, the phrase \"Just Say No\" first emerged when Nancy Reagan was visiting Longfellow Elementary School in Oakland, California. When asked by a schoolgirl what to do if she was offered drugs by her peers, the First Lady responded, \"Just say 'no'.\" Just Say No club organizations within schools and school-run anti-drug programs soon became common, in which young people were making pacts not to use drugs.\n\nWhen asked about her efforts in the campaign, Nancy Reagan said: \"If you can save just one child, it's worth it.\" She traveled throughout the United States and several other nations, totaling over . Nancy Reagan visited drug rehabilitation centers and abuse prevention programs; with the media attention that the first lady receives, she appeared on television talk shows, recorded public service announcements, and wrote guest articles. By the autumn of 1985, she had appeared on 23 talk shows, co-hosted an October 1983 episode of Good Morning America, and starred in a two-hour PBS documentary on drug abuse.\n\nThe campaign and the phrase \"Just Say No\" made their way into popular American culture when television series such as Diff'rent Strokes and Punky Brewster produced episodes centered on the campaign. In 1983, Nancy Reagan appeared as herself on Diff'rent Strokes to garner support for the anti-drug campaign. She participated in a 1985 rock music video \"Stop the Madness\" as well. She even appeared in numerous public service announcements, including one which aired in movie theaters where she appeared alongside actor Clint Eastwood. La Toya Jackson became spokesperson for the campaign in 1987 and recorded a song titled \"Just Say No\" with British hit producers Stock/Aitken/Waterman.\n\nIn 1985, Nancy Reagan expanded the campaign internationally. She invited the First Ladies of 30 nations to the White House in Washington, DC, for a conference entitled the \"First Ladies Conference on Drug Abuse\". She later became the first First Lady invited to address the United Nations.\n\nShe enlisted the help of the Girl Scouts of the United States of America, Kiwanis Club International, and the National Federation of Parents for a Drug-Free Youth to promote the cause; the Kiwanis put up over 2000 billboards with Nancy Reagan's likeness and the slogan. Over 5000 Just Say No clubs were founded in schools and youth organizations in the United States and abroad. Many clubs and organizations remain in operation around the country, where they aim to educate children and teenagers about the effects of drugs.\n\nJust Say No crossed over to the United Kingdom in the 1980s, where it was popularized by the BBC's 1986 \"Drugwatch\" campaign, which revolved around a heroin-addiction storyline in the popular children's TV drama serial Grange Hill. The cast's cover of the original US campaign song, with an added rap, reached the UK top ten. The death of Anna Wood in Sydney, Australia and British teen Leah Betts from Essex in the mid-1990s sparked a media firestorm across both the UK and Australia over the use of illegal drugs. Wood's parents even released her school photograph on a badge with the saying \"Just say no to drugs\" placed on it to warn society on the dangers of illicit drug use. The photograph was widely circulated in the media. A photo of Betts in a coma in her hospital bed was also circulated in British media. Both teenagers died due to water intoxication as they drank too much water after ingesting ecstasy.\n\nEffects\n\nNancy Reagan's related efforts increased public awareness of drug use, but extant research has not established a direct relationship between the Just Say No campaign and reduced drug use. Although the use and abuse of illegal recreational drugs significantly declined during the Reagan presidency, this may be a spurious correlation: a 2009 analysis of 20 controlled studies on enrollment in one of the most popular \"Just Say No\" programs, DARE, showed no impact on drug use.\n\nThe campaign drew significant criticism. Critics labelled Nancy Reagan's approach to promoting drug awareness reductive, arguing that tackling the issue of drug abuse required a more complex approach than simply encouraging the use of catchphrase. In fact, two studies suggested that enrollees in DARE-like programs were actually more likely to use alcohol and cigarettes. Journalist Michael McGrath suggested that inflamed fears from \"Just Say No\" exacerbated mass incarceration and prevented youth from receiving accurate information about dealing with drug abuse and responsible drug use. Critics also think that \"Just Say No\" contributed towards the well seasoned stigma about people who use drugs being labelled as \"bad\", and the stigma toward those people who are addicted to drugs being labelled as making a cognizant immoral choice to engage in drug use.\n\nSee also\n Drug education\n Above the Influence\n Virginity pledge\n Winners Don't Use Drugs\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nFirst Lady Nancy Reagan and Just Say No at the Reagan Presidential Library\nFirst Lady Nancy Reagan throws out the first pitch at the 1988 World Series for Just Say No at youTube\n\nAmerican advertising slogans\nAnti-drugs public service announcements\nArticles containing video clips\nHistory of drug control\nNancy Reagan\nAmerican political catchphrases\nDrug control law in the United States\nSongs about drugs\nGrange Hill\n1982 neologisms\n1980s neologisms",
"Latawnya, The Naughty Horse, Learns to Say \"No\" to Drugs is a book by Sylvia Scott Gibson directed towards children, warning them about the dangers of alcohol and what the book refers to as \"smoking drugs\". It was published by Vantage Press with a copyright date of 1991. This anti-drug children's book is unusual in that it uses horses instead of humans as characters. Due to its absurd writing, illustrations, and comments from the author, this book sells rapidly almost anytime a copy becomes available on Amazon.com.\n\nPlot\nThe plot mainly deals with the title character, Latawnya, the youngest horse in her family. While out playing with her sisters Latoya and Daisy, they come across four other mares: Connie, Chrystal, Jackie, and Angie. They ask Latawnya if she wants to engage in \"smoking games\" and \"drinking games\". Latawnya realizes that they want to smoke drugs and drink alcohol, and she joins in. Her sisters catch her with the four \"bad\" horses and proceed to criticize her for \"smoking drugs and drinking,\" something that their parents tell them not to do. Although Latawnya begs Latoya and Daisy not to tell their parents, they tell on her anyway, resulting in an uncomfortable confrontation with them, as they are disappointed in her experimenting with smoking drugs and drinking. After an intense lecture from her parents (including a scene wherein an old friend of the father horse suffers an overdose after engaging in smoking games and drinking games), Latawnya realizes the error of her ways and promises never to engage in \"smoking games\" and \"drinking games\" again.\n\nSequel\nIn April 2010, a sequel entitled Latawnya the Naughty Horse Two was published. Gibson's daughters, Latawnya and Chrystal, wrote that they loved the book.\n\nLegal action\nIn August 2010, Gibson filed a pro se lawsuit against Amazon.com, Urban Dictionary, and Wikipedia. She objected to Amazon's sale of the book in \"11 countries\", citing the fact that it contains her legal name and the names of her family members. She also raised issue with Urban Dictionary selling merchandise featuring excerpts from the book and with Wikipedia's article on the book, which she claimed contained \"discriminating and false statements\" and illegally published the book's plot. The lawsuit was dismissed in September 2011.\n\nBibliography\n\nNotes\n\nExternal links\n Sylvia Scott Gibson et al v. Amazon.com (Document 142) on Justia\n\n1991 children's books\nAmerican children's books\nChildren's fiction books\nSelf-published books\nEnglish-language books\nHorses in literature\nAlcohol abuse in fiction"
] |
[
"Amy Winehouse",
"Substance abuse and mental illness",
"What substance problems did Amy Winehouse have?",
"In 2005, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, and weight loss.",
"What did the press say about her drinking and drug use?",
"A US reporter writes that Winehouse was a \"victim of mental illness in a society that doesn't understand or respond to mental illness with great effectiveness.\""
] |
C_efbf3039679a4232a67306f7dfb6f70c_1
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What help did Winehouse get for her problems?
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What help did Amy Winehouse get for the substance problems?
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Amy Winehouse
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Winehouse's battles with substance abuse were the subject of much media attention. In 2005, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, and weight loss. People who saw her during the end of that year and early 2006 reported a rebound that coincided with the writing of Back to Black. Her family believes that the mid-2006 death of her grandmother, who was a stabilising influence, set her off into addiction. In August 2007, Winehouse cancelled a number of shows in the UK and Europe, citing exhaustion and ill health. She was hospitalised during this period for what was reported as an overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol. In various interviews, she admitted to having problems with self-harm, depression, and eating disorders. Winehouse told a magazine that the drugs were to blame for her hospitalisation and that "I really thought that it was over for me then." Soon afterward, Winehouse's father commented that when he had made public statements regarding her problems he was using the media because it seemed the only way to get through to her. In an interview with The Album Chart Show on British television, Winehouse said she was manic depressive and not alcoholic, adding that that sounded like "an alcoholic in denial." A US reporter writes that Winehouse was a "victim of mental illness in a society that doesn't understand or respond to mental illness with great effectiveness." In December 2007, Winehouse's spokesman reported that the singer was in a physician-supervised programme and was channelling her difficulties by writing a lot of music. The British tabloid The Sun posted a video of a woman, alleged to be Winehouse, apparently smoking crack cocaine and speaking of having taken ecstasy and valium. Winehouse's father moved in with her, and Island Records, her record label, announced the abandonment of plans for an American promotion campaign on her behalf. In late January 2008, Winehouse reportedly entered a rehabilitation facility for a two-week treatment program. On 23 January 2008, the video was passed on to the Metropolitan Police, who questioned her on 5 February. No charges were brought. On 26 March 2008, Winehouse's spokesman said she was "doing well." Her record company reportedly believed that her recovery remained fragile. By late April 2008, her erratic behaviour, including an allegation of assault, caused fear that her drug rehabilitation efforts had been unsuccessful, leading to efforts by Winehouse's father and manager to seek assistance in having her involuntarily committed. Her dishevelled appearance during and after a scheduled club night in September sparked new rumours of a relapse. Photographers were quoted as saying she appeared to have cuts on her legs and arms. According to her physician, Winehouse quit illegal substances in 2008. In an October 2010 interview, speaking of her decision to quit drugs, Winehouse said, "I literally woke up one day and was like, 'I don't want to do this any more'." Drinking alcohol emerged as a problem with Winehouse abstaining for a few weeks then lapsing. The physician said that Winehouse was treated with Librium for alcohol withdrawal and anxiety, and underwent psychological and psychiatric evaluations in 2010, but refused psychological therapy. CANNOTANSWER
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She was hospitalised during this period for what was reported as an overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol.
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Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was a British singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz.
A member of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra during her youth, Winehouse signed to Simon Fuller's 19 Management in 2002 and soon recorded a number of songs before signing a publishing deal with EMI. She also formed a working relationship with producer Salaam Remi through these record publishers. Winehouse's debut album, Frank, was released in 2003. Many of the album's songs were influenced by jazz and, apart from two covers, were co-written by Winehouse. Frank was a critical success in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize. The song "Stronger Than Me" won her the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors.
Winehouse released her follow-up album, Back to Black, in 2006, which went on to become an international success and one of the best-selling albums in UK history. At the 2007 Brit Awards it was nominated for British Album of the Year, and she received the award for British Female Solo Artist. The song "Rehab" won her a second Ivor Novello Award. At the 50th Grammy Awards in 2008, she won five awards, tying the then record for the most wins by a female artist in a single night and becoming the first British woman to win five Grammys, including three of the General Field "Big Four" Grammy Awards: Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year (for "Rehab"), as well as Best Pop Vocal Album.
Winehouse was plagued by drug and alcohol addiction. She died of alcohol poisoning on 23 July 2011, at the age of 27. After her death, Back to Black temporarily became the UK's best-selling album of the 21st century. VH1 ranked Winehouse 26th on their list of the 100 Greatest Women in Music.
Early life
Amy Jade Winehouse was born on 14 September 1983 at Chase Farm Hospital in Gordon Hill, Enfield, to Jewish parents. Her father, Mitchell "Mitch" Winehouse, was a window panel installer and taxi driver; her mother, Janis Winehouse (née Seaton), was a pharmacist, who suffers from multiple sclerosis. The great-great-grandfather of Amy Harris Winehouse emigrated from Minsk, Belarus to London in 1891. She had an older brother, Alex (born 1979), and the family lived in London's Southgate area, where she attended Osidge Primary School. Winehouse attended a Jewish Sunday school while she was a child. During an interview following her rise to fame, she expressed her dismissal towards the school by saying that she used to beg her father to permit her not to go and that she learned nothing about being Jewish by going anyway. In the same interview, Winehouse said she only went to a synagogue once a year on Yom Kippur "out of respect".
Many of Winehouse's maternal uncles were professional jazz musicians. Amy's paternal grandmother, Cynthia, was a singer and dated the English jazz saxophonist Ronnie Scott. She and Amy's parents influenced Amy's interest in jazz. Her father, Mitch, often sang Frank Sinatra songs to her, and whenever she got chastised at school, she would sing "Fly Me to the Moon" before going up to the headmistress to be told off. Winehouse's parents separated when she was nine, and she lived with her mother and stayed with her father and his girlfriend in Hatfield Heath, Essex, on weekends.
In 1992, her grandmother Cynthia suggested that Amy attend the Susi Earnshaw Theatre School, where she went on Saturdays to further her vocal education and to learn to tap dance. She attended the school for four years and founded a short-lived rap group called Sweet 'n' Sour, with Juliette Ashby, her childhood friend, before seeking full-time training at Sylvia Young Theatre School. Several years later it was reported that Winehouse had been expelled at 14 for "not applying herself" and also for piercing her nose, but these claims were denied by Sylvia Young: "She changed schools at 15...I've heard it said she was expelled; she wasn't. I'd never have expelled Amy." Mitch Winehouse also denied the claims. She attended the Mount School, Mill Hill and the BRIT School in Selhurst, Croydon, dropping out at age 16.
After toying around with her brother Alex's guitar, Winehouse bought her own when she was 14 and began writing music shortly afterwards. Soon after she began working for a living, as an entertainment journalist for the World Entertainment News Network and also singing with local group the Bolsha Band. In July 2000, she became the featured female vocalist with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. She was influenced by Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington, the latter of whom she was already listening to at home. Winehouse's best friend, soul singer Tyler James, sent her demo tape to an A&R person.
Career
2002–2005: Career beginnings and Frank
Winehouse was signed to Simon Fuller's 19 Management in 2002 and was paid £250 a week against future earnings. While being developed by the management company, Winehouse was kept as a recording industry secret, although she was a regular jazz standards singer at the Cobden Club. Her future A&R representative at Island, Darcus Beese, heard of her by accident when the manager of The Lewinson Brothers showed him some productions of his clients, which featured Winehouse as key vocalist. When he asked who the singer was, the manager told him he was not allowed to say. Having decided that he wanted to sign her, it took several months of asking around for Beese to eventually discover who the singer was. However, Winehouse had already recorded a number of songs and signed a publishing deal with EMI by this time. Incidentally, she formed a working relationship with producer Salaam Remi through these record publishers.
Beese introduced Winehouse to his boss, Nick Gatfield; the Island head shared his enthusiasm in signing the young artist. Winehouse was signed to Island, as rival interest in her had started to build with representatives of EMI and Virgin starting to make moves. Beese told HitQuarters that he felt the excitement over an artist who was an atypical pop star for the time was due to a backlash against reality TV music shows, which included audiences starved for fresh, genuine young talent.
Winehouse's debut album, Frank, was released on 20 October 2003. Produced mainly by Salaam Remi, many songs were influenced by jazz and, apart from two covers, Winehouse co-wrote every song. The album received critical acclaim with compliments given to the "cool, critical gaze" in its lyrics. Winehouse's voice was compared with those of Sarah Vaughan and Macy Gray, among others.
The album entered the upper reaches of the UK album chart in 2004 when it was nominated for the Brit Awards in the categories of "British Female Solo Artist" and "British Urban Act." It went on to achieve platinum sales. Later in 2004, she and Remi won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song, for their first single together, "Stronger Than Me." The album was also shortlisted for the 2004 Mercury Music Prize. In the same year, she performed at the Glastonbury Festival – Jazzworld, the V Festival and the Montreal International Jazz Festival. After the release of the album, Winehouse commented that she was "only 80 percent behind [the] album" because Island Records had overruled her preferences for the songs and mixes to be included. The further singles from the album were "Take the Box," "In My Bed"/"You Sent Me Flying" and "Pumps"/"Help Yourself."
2006–2008: Back to Black and international success
After the release of her first jazz-influenced album, Winehouse's focus shifted to the girl groups of the 1950s and 1960s. Winehouse hired New York singer Sharon Jones's longtime band, the Dap-Kings, to back her up in the studio and on tour. Mitch Winehouse relates in Amy, My Daughter how fascinating watching her process was: her perfectionism in the studio and how she would put what she had sung on a CD and play it in his taxi outside to know how most people would hear her music. In May 2006, Winehouse's demo tracks such as "You Know I'm No Good" and "Rehab" appeared on Mark Ronson's New York radio show on East Village Radio. These were some of the first new songs played on the radio after the release of "Pumps" and both were slated to appear on her second album. The 11-track album, completed in five months, was produced entirely by Salaam Remi and Ronson, with the production credits being split between them. Ronson said in a 2010 interview that he liked working with Winehouse because she was blunt when she did not like his work. She in turn thought that when they first met, he was a sound engineer and that she was expecting an older man with a beard.
Promotion of Back to Black soon began and, in early October 2006 Winehouse's official website was relaunched with a new layout and clips of previously unreleased songs. Back to Black was released in the UK on 30 October 2006. It went to number one on the UK Albums Chart for two weeks in January 2007, dropping then climbing back for several weeks in February. In the US, it entered at number seven on the Billboard 200. It was the best-selling album in the UK of 2007, selling 1.85million copies over the course of the year. The first single released from the album was the Ronson-produced "Rehab." The song reached the top ten in the UK and the US. Time magazine named "Rehab" the Best Song of 2007. Writer Josh Tyrangiel praised Winehouse for her confidence, saying, "What she is is mouthy, funny, sultry, and quite possibly crazy" and "It's impossible not to be seduced by her originality. Combine it with production by Mark Ronson that references four decades worth of soul music without once ripping it off, and you've got the best song of 2007." The album's second single and lead single in the US, "You Know I'm No Good," was released in January 2007 with a remix featuring rap vocals by Ghostface Killah. It ultimately reached number 18 on the UK singles chart. The title track, "Back to Black," was released in the UK in April 2007 and peaked at number 25, but was more successful across mainland Europe. "Tears Dry on Their Own," "Love Is a Losing Game" were also released as singles, but failed to achieve the same level of success.
A deluxe edition of Back to Black was also released on 5 November 2007 in the UK. The bonus disc features B-sides, rare, and live tracks, as well as "Valerie." Winehouse's debut DVD I Told You I Was Trouble: Live in London was released the same day in the UK and 13 November in the US. It includes a live set recorded at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire and a 50-minute documentary charting the singer's career over the previous four years. Frank was released in the United States on 20 November 2007 to positive reviews. The album debuted at number 61 on the Billboard 200 chart. In addition to her own album, she collaborated with other artists on singles. Winehouse was a vocalist on the song "Valerie" on Ronson's solo album Version. The song peaked at number two in the UK, upon its October single release. "Valerie" was nominated for a 2008 Brit Award for "Best British Single." Her work with ex-Sugababe Mutya Buena, "B Boy Baby," was released on 17 December 2007. It served as the fourth single from Buena's debut album, Real Girl. Winehouse was also in talks of working with Missy Elliott for her album Block Party.
Winehouse promoted the release of Back to Black with headline performances in late 2006, including a Little Noise Sessions charity concert at the Union Chapel in Islington, London. On 31 December 2006, Winehouse appeared on Jools Holland's Annual Hootenanny and performed a cover of Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" along with Paul Weller and Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra. She also performed Toots and the Maytals' "Monkey Man". At his request, actor Bruce Willis introduced Winehouse before her performance of "Rehab" at the 2007 MTV Movie Awards in Universal City, California, on 3 June 2007. During the summer of 2007, she performed at various festivals, including Glastonbury Festival and Lollapalooza in Chicago.
The rest of her tour, however, did not go as well. In November 2007, the opening night of a 17-date tour was marred by booing and walkouts at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. A critic for the Birmingham Mail said it was "one of the saddest nights of my life...I saw a supremely talented artist reduced to tears, stumbling around the stage and, unforgivably, swearing at the audience." Other concerts ended similarly, with, for example, fans at her Hammersmith Apollo performance in London saying that she "looked highly intoxicated throughout," until she announced on 27 November 2007, that her performances and public appearances were cancelled for the remainder of the year, citing her doctor's advice to take a complete rest. A statement issued by concert promoter Live Nation blamed "the rigours involved in touring and the intense emotional strain that Amy has been under in recent weeks" for the decision. Mitch Winehouse wrote about her nervousness before public performances in his 2012 book, Amy, My Daughter. On 13 January 2008, Back to Black held the number-one position on the Billboard Pan European charts for the third consecutive week.
On 10 February 2008, Winehouse received five Grammy Awards, winning in the following categories: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the single "Rehab," and Best Pop Vocal Album. The singer also earned a Grammy as Best New Artist, earning her an entry in the 2009 edition of the Guinness Book of Records for Most Grammy Awards won by a British Female Act. Additionally, Back to Black was nominated for Album of the Year. Ronson's work with her won the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, in the non-classical category. She ended her acceptance speech for Record of the Year with, "This is for London because Camden town ain't burning down," in reference to the 2008 Camden Market fire. Performing "You Know I'm No Good" and "Rehab" via satellite from London's Riverside Studios at 3 a.m. UK time, she couldn't be at the ceremony in Los Angeles as her visa approval had not been processed in time.
After the Grammys, the album's sales increased, catapulting Back to Black to number two on the US Billboard 200, after it initially peaked in the seventh position. On 20 February 2008, Winehouse performed at the 2008 Brit Awards at Earls Court in London, performing "Valerie" with Mark Ronson, followed by "Love Is a Losing Game." She urged the crowd to "make some noise for my Blake." A special deluxe edition of Back to Black topped the UK album charts on 2 March 2008. Meanwhile, the original edition of the album was ranked at number 30 in its 68th week on the charts, while Frank charted at number 35.
In Paris, she performed what was described as a "well-executed 40-minute" set at the opening of a Fendi boutique in early March. By 12 March, the album had sold a total of 2,467,575 copies—318,350 copies had been sold in the previous 10 weeks—putting the album on the UK's top-10 best-selling albums of the 21st century for the first time. On 7 April, Back to Black was in the top position of the pan-European charts for the sixth consecutive and thirteenth aggregate week. Amy Winehouse – The Girl Done Good: A Documentary Review, a 78-minute DVD, was released on 14 April 2008. The documentary features interviews with those who knew her at a young age, people who helped her achieve success, jazz music experts, and music and pop-culture specialists.
At the 2008 Ivor Novello Awards in May, Winehouse became the first-ever artist to receive two nominations for the top award: Best Song Musically & Lyrically. She won the award for "Love Is a Losing Game" and was nominated for "You Know I'm No Good." "Rehab," a Novello winner for best contemporary song in 2006, also received a 2008 nomination for best-selling British song. Winehouse was also nominated for a 2008 MTV Europe Award in the "Act of the Year" category.
Although her father, manager and various members of her touring team reportedly tried to dissuade her, Winehouse performed at the Rock in Rio Lisboa festival in Portugal in May 2008. Although the set was plagued by a late arrival and problems with her voice, the crowd warmed to her. In addition to her own material she performed two Specials covers. Winehouse performed at Nelson Mandela's 90th Birthday Party concert at London's Hyde Park on 27 June 2008, and the next day at the Glastonbury Festival. On 12 July, at the Oxegen Festival in Ireland she performed a well-received 50-minute set which was followed the next day by a 14-song set at T in the Park.
On 16 August she played at the Staffordshire leg of the V Festival, and the following day played the Chelmsford leg of the festival. Organisers said that Winehouse attracted the biggest crowds of the festival. Audience reaction was reported as mixed. On 6 September, she was Bestival's Saturday headliner, where her performance was described as polished—terminated by a curfew as the show running overdue, after Winehouse started an hour late—and her storming off stage.
A clip of Winehouse's music was included in the "Roots and Influences" area that looked at connections between different artists at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex NYC, which opened in December 2008. One thread started with Billie Holiday, continued with Aretha Franklin and Mary J. Blige, and then finished with Winehouse.
Back to Black was the world's seventh-biggest-selling album of 2008. The album's sales meant that the market performance of Universal Music's recorded music division did not drop to levels experienced by the overall music market.
2009–2011: Final projects before death
In a 2009 poll of U.S. residents conducted for VisitBritain by Harris Interactive, one-fifth of the participants indicated they had listened to Winehouse's music during the previous year. She performed with Rhythms del Mundo on their cover of the Sam Cooke song, "Cupid", for an Artists Project Earth benefit album released in July that year.
Winehouse and Ronson contributed a cover of Lesley Gore's "It's My Party" to the Quincy Jones tribute album Q Soul Bossa Nostra, released in November 2010. She had agreed to form a group with Questlove of the Roots but her problems obtaining a visa delayed their working together. Salaam Remi had already created some material with Winehouse as part of the project. According to The Times, Universal Music pressed her for new material in 2008, but as of 2 September that year she had not been near a recording studio. In late October, Winehouse's spokesman was quoted as saying that Winehouse had not been given a deadline to complete her third album, for which she was learning to play drums.
In May 2009, Winehouse returned to performing at a jazz festival in St. Lucia amid torrential downpours and technical difficulties. During her set, it was reported she was unsteady on her feet and had trouble remembering lyrics. She apologised to the crowd for being "bored" and ended the set in the middle of a song. During her stay in St. Lucia, however, she worked on new music with Remi. On 23 August that year Winehouse sang with the Specials at the V Festival, on their songs "You're Wondering Now" and "Ghost Town".
Island claimed that a new album would be due for release in 2010. Island co-president Darcus Beese said, "I've heard a couple of song demos that have absolutely floored me." In July 2010, Winehouse was quoted as saying her next album would be released no later than January 2011, saying "It's going to be very much the same as my second album, where there's a lot of jukebox stuff and songs that are... just jukebox, really." Ronson, however, said at that time that he had not started to record the album. She performed "Valerie" with Ronson at a movie premiere but forgot some of the song's lyrics. In October, Winehouse performed a four-song set to promote her fashion line. In December 2010, she played a 40-minute concert at a Russian oligarch's party in Moscow, with the tycoon hand-selecting the songs.
In January 2011, Winehouse played five dates in Brazil, with opening acts of Janelle Monáe and Mayer Hawthorne. The following month she cut short a performance in Dubai following booing from the audience. Winehouse was reported to be tired, distracted and "tipsy" during the performance.
On 18 June 2011, Winehouse started her twelve-leg European tour in Belgrade. Local media described her performance as a scandal and disaster; she was booed off the stage due to her apparently being too drunk to perform. Serbian defence minister Dragan Sutanovac called Winehouse's performances "a huge shame and a disappointment". It was reported that she was unable to remember the city she was in, the lyrics of her songs or the names of the members of her band. The local press also claimed that Winehouse was forced to perform by her bodyguards, who did not allow her to leave the stage when she tried to do so. She then pulled out of performances in Istanbul and Athens, which had been scheduled for the following week. On 21 June, it was announced that she had cancelled all shows of her tour and would be given "as long as it takes" to sort herself out.
Winehouse's last public appearance took place at Camden's Roundhouse on 20 July 2011, when she made a surprise appearance on stage to support her goddaughter, Dionne Bromfield, who was singing "Mama Said" with the Wanted. Winehouse died three days later. Her last recording was a duet with American singer Tony Bennett for his album, Duets II, released on 20 September 2011. Their single from the album, "Body and Soul", was released on 14 September 2011 on MTV and VH1 to commemorate what would have been her 28th birthday.
Other ventures
Winehouse joined a campaign to stop a block of flats being built beside the George Tavern, a famous London East End music venue. Campaign supporters feared the residential development would end the spot's lucrative sideline as a film and photo location, on which it relies to survive. As part of a breast cancer awareness campaign, Winehouse appeared in a revealing photograph for the April 2008 issue of Easy Living magazine. Winehouse had an estimated £10m fortune, tying her for tenth place in the 2008 The Sunday Times listing of the wealth of musicians under age 30. The following year her fortune had dropped to an estimated £5m. Her finances are run by Mitch and Janis Winehouse. It was reported she earned about £1m singing at two private parties during Paris Fashion Week. as well as another £1m to perform at a Moscow Art Gallery for Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. Winehouse loaned a vintage dress used in her video for "Tears Dry on Their Own" as well as a DVD to the British Music Experience, a new museum dedicated to the history of British pop music. The museum, located at the O2 Arena in London, opened on 9 March 2009.
In January 2009, Winehouse announced that she was launching her own record label. The first act on her Lioness Records is Winehouse's 13-year-old goddaughter, Dionne Bromfield. Her first album, featuring covers of classic soul records, was released on 12 October 2009. Winehouse is the backing singer on several tracks on the album and she performed backing vocals for Bromfield on the BBC's television programme Strictly Come Dancing on 10 October.
Winehouse and her family are the subject of a 2009 documentary shot by Daphne Barak titled Saving Amy. Winehouse entered into a joint venture in 2009 with EMI to launch a range of wrapping paper and gift cards containing song lyrics from her album Back to Black. On 8 January 2010, a television documentary, My Daughter Amy, aired on Channel 4. Saving Amy was released as a paperback book in January 2010.
Winehouse collaborated on a 17 piece fashion collection with the Fred Perry label. It was released for sale in October 2010. According to Fred Perry's marketing director "We had three major design meetings where she was closely involved in product style selection and the application of fabric, colour and styling details," and gave "crucial input on proportion, colour and fit." The collection consists of "vintage-inspired looks including Capri pants, a bowling dress, a trench coat, pencil skirts, a longline argyle sweater and a pink-and-black checkerboard-printed collared shirt." At the behest of her family, three forthcoming collections up to and including autumn/winter 2012 that she had designed prior to her death will be released.
Awards and nominations
Among the awards and recognition for her debut album Frank, Winehouse earned an Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy of Songwriters for Best Contemporary Song ("Stronger Than Me"), a Brit Award nomination for Best British Female Solo Artist, and an inclusion in Robert Dimery's 2006 book, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Her second studio album, Back to Black, produced numerous nominations, including two Brit Awards (Best British Album, and won her Best British Female Solo Artist), six Grammy Awards (including five wins), four Ivor Novello Awards, four MTV Europe Music Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards, three World Music Awards, and it was nominated for the Mercury Prize (Album of the Year) and a MOBO Awards (Best UK Female). During her career, Winehouse received 23 awards from 60 nominations.
Critical appraisal
Winehouse was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, (sometimes labelled as blue-eyed soul and neo soul), rhythm and blues, and jazz. The BBC's Garry Mulholland called Winehouse "the pre-eminent vocal talent of her generation". According to AllMusic's Cyril Cordor, she was one of the UK's premier singers during the 2000s; "fans and critics alike embraced her rugged charm, brash sense of humor, and distinctively soulful and jazzy vocals". In The Guardian, Caroline Sullivan later wrote that "her idolisation of Dinah Washington and the Ronettes distinguished her from almost all newly minted pop singers of the early 2000s; her exceptionally-susceptible-to-heartbreak voice did the rest". Soon after Winehouse's death, a number of prominent critics assessed the singer's legacy: Maura Johnston from The Village Voice said, "When she was on, Winehouse had few peers—she wasn't an octave-jumper like other big divas of the moment, but her contralto had a snap to it that enriched even the simplest syllables with a full spectrum of emotion"; Sasha Frere-Jones of The New Yorker proclaimed, "Nobody can match Winehouse's unique transitions or her utterly weird phrasings. She sounded like an original sixties soul star, developed when the landscape had no rules. But now untrammeled traditionalism is in the lead and her beautiful footnote has been cut short. American soul—through visionaries like Erykah Badu and Janelle Monae and Jill Scott—had moved on. But Winehouse was a fine shepherd of the past."
By contrast, Robert Christgau dismissed Winehouse as "a self-aggrandizing self-abuser who's taken seriously because she makes a show of soul". In his opinion, the singer "simulated gravitas by running her suicidal tendencies through an amalgam of 20th-century African-American vocal stylings—the slides, growls, and melismatic outcries that for many matures are now the only reliable signifiers of pop substance".
On 13 February 2012, Winehouse was ranked 26 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women in Music list. In March 2017, singer-songwriter Bob Dylan said he was enjoying listening to Winehouse's last record (Back to Black), and called her "the last real individualist around."
Image
Winehouse's greatest love was 1960s girl groups. Her hairdresser, Alex Foden, borrowed her "instantly recognisable" beehive hairdo (a weave) and she borrowed her Cleopatra makeup from the Ronettes. Her imitation was so successful, as The Village Voice reports: "Ronnie Spector—who, it could be argued, all but invented Winehouse's style in the first place when she took the stage at the Brooklyn Fox Theater with her fellow Ronettes more than 40 years ago—was so taken aback at a picture of Winehouse in the New York Post that she exclaimed, "I don't know her, I never met her, and when I saw that pic, I thought, 'That's me!' But then I found out, no, it's Amy! I didn't have on my glasses."
The New York Times style reporter, Guy Trebay, discussed the multiplicity of influences on Winehouse's style after her death. Trebay noted, "her stylish husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, may have influenced her look." Additionally, Trebay observed:
Former Rolling Stone editor Joe Levy, who had put her on the magazine's cover, broke her look down this way:
Winehouse's use of bold red lipstick, thick eyebrows and heavy eyeliner came from Latinas she saw in Miami, on her trip there to work with Salaam Remi on Back to Black. Her look was repeatedly denigrated by the British press. At the same time that the NME Awards nominated Winehouse in the categories of "Best Solo Artist" and "Best Music DVD" in 2008, they awarded her "Worst Dressed Performer." Winehouse was also ranked number two on Richard Blackwell's 48th annual "Ten Worst Dressed Women" list, behind Victoria Beckham.
Criticism
Winehouse's dichotomous public image of critical and commercial success versus personal turmoil prompted significant media comment. The New Statesman called Winehouse "a filthy-mouthed, down-to-earth diva", while Newsweek called her "a perfect storm of sex kitten, raw talent and poor impulse control". Karen Heller with The Philadelphia Inquirer summarised the maelstrom this way:
By 2008, her drug problems threatened her career. As Nick Gatfield, the president of Island Records, toyed with the idea of releasing Winehouse "to deal with her problems", he said, "It's a reflection of her status [in the US] that when you flick through the TV coverage [of the Grammys] it's her image they use." Post-Grammys, some questioned whether Winehouse should have been honoured with the awards given her recent personal and drug problems, including Natalie Cole, who introduced Winehouse at the ceremony and who herself battled substance-abuse problems while winning a Grammy for Best New Artist in 1975. (Winehouse was prevented from travelling to and performing at the Grammy Awards ceremony in the US due to failing a drug test.) In a newspaper commentary, the executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, said that the alleged drug habits of Winehouse and other celebrities sent a bad message "to others who are vulnerable to addiction" and undermine the efforts of other celebrities trying to raise awareness of problems in Africa, now that more cocaine used in Europe passes through that continent. Winehouse's spokesperson noted that "Amy has never given a quote about drugs or flaunted it in any way. She's had some problems and is trying to get better. The U.N. should get its own house in order."
In January 2008, her record label stated it believed the extensive media coverage she had received increased record sales. In an April 2008 poll conducted by Sky News, Winehouse was named the second greatest "ultimate heroine" by the UK population at large, topping the voting for that category of those polled under 25 years old. Psychologist Donna Dawson commented that the results demonstrated that women like Winehouse who had "a certain sense of vulnerability or have had to fight against some adversity in their lives" received recognition.
In July 2008, BBC Radio Scotland's head, Jeff Zycinski, stated that the BBC, and media in general, were complicit in undermining celebrities, including Winehouse. He said that public interest in the singer's lifestyle did not make her lifestyle newsworthy. Rod McKenzie, editor of the BBC Radio One programme Newsbeat, replied: "If you play [Amy Winehouse's] music to a certain demographic, those same people want to know what's happening in her private life. If you don't cover it, you're insulting young licence fee payers." In The Scotsman, British singer and songwriter Lily Allen was quoted to have said – "I know Amy Winehouse very well. And she is very different to what people portray her as being. Yes, she does get out of her mind on drugs sometimes, but she is also a very clever, intelligent, witty, funny person who can hold it together. You just don't see that side."
Charity work
Throughout her life Winehouse donated her money, music and time to many charities, particularly those concerned with children. She was once named "the most charitable act" by Pop World. While this side of her personality was never well known to the general public, throughout both the arts community and the charity community she was known for her generosity.
In 2008, Winehouse appeared naked in an issue of Easy Living Magazine to raise awareness of breast cancer. In 2009, she appeared on a CD called Classics alongside musicians such as the Rolling Stones, the Killers and many Cuban musicians to raise awareness of climate change. In March 2011, Winehouse donated over £20,000 worth of clothes to a local charity shop in London.
A Caribbean man Julian Jean DeBaptiste revealed that Winehouse had paid for his urgent surgery costing £4,000 during her stay in Saint Lucia in 2009. "I had surgery on 1 July 2009... it cost a fortune and Amy paid for the whole thing. I tried to thank her but she just hugged me and told me not to say anything. Her generosity gave me my life back."
Legacy and honours
Artwork and tributes
London's Mall Galleries opened an exhibition in May 2008 that included a sculpture of Winehouse, titled Excess. The piece, created by Guy Portelli, had a miniature of the singer lying on top of a cracked champagne bottle, with a pool of spilled liquid underneath. The body was covered with what appeared to be tiny pills, while one outstretched hand held a glass. Another piece, a print titled Celebrity 1 by artist Charlotte Suckling, was shown in the same exhibition.
A wax sculpture of Winehouse went on display at the London Madame Tussauds on 23 July 2008. The singer did not attend the unveiling, although her parents did. A sculpture by Marco Perego, titled The Only Good Rock Star Is a Dead Rock Star, that depicts Winehouse lying in a pool of blood with an apple and a bullet hole in her head after being shot by American novelist and Beat poet William S. Burroughs (in a recreation of the accidental killing of his wife Joan Vollmer), was scheduled to go on display in New York's Half Gallery on 14 November 2008 with a sale price of US$100,000. Perego said of the sculpture: "Rock stars are the sacrificial animals of society." Winehouse's spokesperson stated: "It's a funny kind of tribute. The artist seems in thrall to a tabloid persona that is not the real Amy. People often use her image to sell their work."
In 2012, Winehouse was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork – the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover – to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life that he most admires.
On 14 September 2014 (which would have been Winehouse's 31st birthday), a statue was unveiled of her, which was created by sculptor Scott Eaton, at Stables Market in Camden Town, north London. Fans and relatives gathered for the unveiling in Camden's Stable Market, where it will be a permanent memorial to her. London-based Eaton, who sculpted the piece after being introduced to Winehouse's father Mitch, said the statue was meant to capture her "attitude and strength, but also give subtle hints of insecurity." Her father Mitch said of the statue: "Now Amy will oversee the comings and goings of her home town forever... Amy was in love with Camden and it is the place her fans from all over the world associate her with."
In March 2020, Winehouse's name on a stone was unveiled on the new Music Walk of Fame in Camden, with her parents Mitch and Janis in attendance at the ceremony.
Influence
Adele has credited Winehouse's success in making her and fellow British singer Duffy's journey to the United States "a bit smoother." Lady Gaga credited Winehouse with paving the way for her rise to the top of the charts, explaining that Winehouse made it easier for unconventional women to have mainstream pop success. Raphael Saadiq, Anthony Hamilton and John Legend said "Amy Winehouse was produced by people who wanted to create a marketing coup. The positive side is that it reacquainted an audience with this music and played an introductory role for others. This reinvigorated the genre by overcoming the vintage aspect."
Other artists that have credited Winehouse as an influence and/or for paving the way for them include Bruno Mars, Tove Lo, Jessie J, Emeli Sandé, Victoria Justice, Paloma Faith, Lana Del Rey, Sam Smith, Florence Welch, Halsey, Alessia Cara, Estelle, Daya, Jorja Smith, Lauren Jauregui and Billie Eilish.
After the release of Back to Black, record companies sought out female artists with a similar sound and fearless and experimental female musicians in general. Adele and Duffy were the second wave of artists with a sound similar to Winehouse's. A third wave of female musicians that has emerged since the album was released are led by V V Brown, Florence and the Machine, La Roux and Little Boots. In March 2011, the New York Daily News ran an article attributing the continuing wave of British female artists that have been successful in the United States to Winehouse and her absence. Spin magazine music editor Charles Aaron was quoted as saying "Amy Winehouse was the Nirvana moment for all these women," "They can all be traced back to her in terms of attitude, musical styles or fashion." According to Keith Caulfield, chart manager for Billboard, "Because of Amy, or the lack thereof, the marketplace was able to get singers like Adele, Estelle and Duffy," "Now those ladies have brought on the new ones, like Eliza Doolittle, Rumer and Ellie."
Amy Winehouse Foundation
After the singer's death by alcohol intoxication in July 2011, the Amy Winehouse Foundation was set up by Winehouse's family and launched on 14 September 2011 (which would have been Winehouse's 28th birthday). Its aim is to help young people and it works with other charitable organisations to provide frontline support. Its central office is in North London, but it also has an office in New York (operating under the name 'The Amy Winehouse Foundation US'). Both Jon Snow and Barbara Windsor are patrons for the charity, and ambassadors include Keira Chaplin and Mica Paris. In October 2015 Mark Ronson became a patron. Amy's brother Alex works full-time for the foundation, having given up his career as an online music journalist.
The charity itself works to prevent the effects of drug and alcohol misuse on young people and it also aims to support, inform and inspire vulnerable and disadvantaged young people to help them reach their full potential. On 12 March 2013, with the help of ex-addict Russell Brand, the Foundation launched the Amy Winehouse Foundation Resilience Programme For Schools across the UK which aims to provide effective education around drugs, alcohol and dealing with emotional issues.
Films
Documentary film
A documentary film, Amy (2015), directed by Asif Kapadia and produced by James Gay-Rees was released on 3 July 2015. The film covers Winehouse's life, her relationships, her struggles with substance abuse both before and after her career blossomed, and which eventually caused her death. The film received its première at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival on 16 May and has been reviewed as "a tragic masterpiece", "brilliant", "heartbreaking" and "unmissable". The soundtrack of the same name was released on 30 October 2015, along with the DVD that includes music featured in the documentary by film composer Antônio Pinto and classic and some unreleased tracks by Winehouse. The film was highly acclaimed and received various accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 2016 Oscars, Best Music Film at the 2016 Grammy Awards, the BAFTA for Best Documentary, the MTV Movie Award for Best Documentary, in addition to a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best British Film.
Biopic film
On 14 October 2018, it was announced that Winehouse's family had signed a deal with Monumental Pictures to make a biopic about her life, which will be directed by Alison Owen and produced by Debra Hayward. Winehouse's story will be adapted for the big screen by Geoff Deane, who has written comedy movies Kinky Boots (2005) and It's a Boy Girl Thing (2006). The project was scheduled to start filming in early 2019 and the funds are allegedly going towards the foundation.
Musical
On 9 October 2017, it was announced by Winehouse's father Mitch that a West End/Broadway musical on Amy is in the works. Mitch Winehouse revealed the news at the Amy Winehouse Foundation Gala event in London.
Personal life
Winehouse was raised Jewish and expressed pride in being Jewish, although she was not religious. During one interview, Winehouse said "being Jewish to me is about being together as a real family. It's not about lighting candles and saying a bracha." Winehouse also frequently performed with a large Star of David medallion.
In 2013, in memory of Winehouse the Jewish Museum London ran an exhibition titled "Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait". The museum researched about her paternal great-great-grandfather's arrival from Minsk in 1890, and how the family finally settled in London, starting out in working-class jobs before gradually moving to middle-class jobs.
Winehouse had 14 known tattoos, including "Daddy's Girl" on her left arm for her father and a pin-up girl with the name "Cynthia" on her right arm in memory of her Jewish grandmother.
Relationships
Winehouse dated chef-musician Alex Clare (sometimes referred to as Alex Claire) in 2006, while on a break from her on-off boyfriend and future husband, Blake Fielder-Civil. She and Clare lived together briefly, and in a pattern that Fielder-Civil would later repeat, Clare sold his story to the News of the World, which published it under the headline "Bondage Crazed Amy Just Can't Beehive in Bed."
Fielder-Civil, a former video production assistant, had dropped out of Bourne Grammar School and, aged 16, moved to London from his native Lincolnshire. He married Winehouse on 18 May 2007, in Miami Beach, Florida. In a June 2007 interview, Winehouse admitted she could sometimes be violent toward him after she had been drinking, saying: "If he says one thing I don't like, then I'll chin him." In August 2007, they were photographed, bloodied and bruised, in the streets of London after an alleged fight, although she contended her injuries were self-inflicted. Winehouse's parents and in-laws publicly reported their numerous concerns, the latter citing fears that the two might commit suicide. Fielder-Civil's father encouraged fans to boycott Winehouse's music, and Mitch Winehouse said this would not help. Fielder-Civil was quoted in a British tabloid as saying he introduced Winehouse to crack cocaine and heroin. During a visit with Mitch Winehouse at the prison in July 2008, Fielder-Civil reportedly said that he and Winehouse would cut themselves to ease the pain of withdrawal.
From 21 July 2008 to 25 February 2009, Fielder-Civil was imprisoned following his guilty plea on charges of trying to pervert the course of justice and of grievous bodily harm with intent. The incident, in July 2007, involved his assault of a pub landlord that broke the victim's cheek. According to the prosecution, the landlord accepted £200,000 as part of a deal to "effectively throw the [court] case and not turn up," and he testified that the money belonged to Winehouse, but she pulled out of a meeting with the men involved in the plot, to attend an awards ceremony. Mitch Winehouse, as manager of his daughter's money, has denied the payoff came from her.
When Winehouse was spotted with aspiring actor Josh Bowman on holiday in Saint Lucia, in early January 2009, she said she was "in love again, and I don't need drugs." She commented that her "whole marriage was based on doing drugs" and that "for the time being I've just forgotten I'm even married." On 12 January, Winehouse's spokesman confirmed that "papers have been received" for what Fielder-Civil's solicitor has said are divorce proceedings based on a claim of adultery. In March, Winehouse was quoted in a magazine as saying, "I still love Blake and I want him to move into my new house with me—that was my plan all along ... I won't let him divorce me. He's the male version of me and we're perfect for each other." Nonetheless, an uncontested divorce was granted on 16 July 2009 and became final on 28 August 2009. Fielder-Civil received no money in the settlement.
She was in a relationship with a British writer and director of films, Reg Traviss, from early 2010 until she died. According to media reports and a biography written by Winehouse's father, Traviss and Winehouse had planned to marry and intended to have children.
After Winehouse's death, Pete Doherty said that he and Winehouse had been lovers at one point. However, in July 2008, when Rolling Stone reporter Claire Hoffman asked Winehouse about her relationship with Doherty, Winehouse replied: "We're just good friends", and added: "I asked Pete to do a concept EP, and he made this face, he looked at me like I'd pooed on the floor. He wouldn't do it. We're just really close".
Substance abuse and mental illness
Winehouse's battles with substance abuse were the subject of much media attention. In 2005, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, and weight loss. People who saw her during the end of that year and early 2006 reported a rebound that coincided with the writing of Back to Black. Her family believes that the mid-2006 death of her grandmother, who was a stabilising influence, set her off into addiction. In August 2007, Winehouse cancelled a number of shows in the UK and Europe, citing exhaustion and ill health. She was hospitalised during this period for what was reported as an overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol. In various interviews, she admitted to having problems with self-harm, depression, and eating disorders.
Winehouse told a magazine that the drugs were to blame for her hospitalisation and that "I really thought that it was over for me then." Soon afterwards, Winehouse's father commented that when he had made public statements regarding her problems he was using the media because it seemed the only way to get through to her. In an interview with The Album Chart Show on British television, Winehouse said she was manic depressive and not alcoholic, adding that that sounded like "an alcoholic in denial". A US reporter writes that Winehouse was a "victim of mental illness in a society that doesn't understand or respond to mental illness with great effectiveness."
In December 2007, Winehouse's spokesman reported that the singer was in a physician-supervised programme and was channelling her difficulties by writing a lot of music. The British tabloid The Sun posted a video of a woman, alleged to be Winehouse, apparently smoking crack cocaine and speaking of having taken ecstasy and valium. Winehouse's father moved in with her, and Island Records, her record label, announced the abandonment of plans for an American promotion campaign on her behalf. In late January 2008, Winehouse reportedly entered a rehabilitation facility for a two-week treatment program.
On 23 January 2008, the video was passed on to the Metropolitan Police, who questioned her on 5 February. No charges were brought. On 26 March 2008, Winehouse's spokesman said she was "doing well". Her record company reportedly believed that her recovery remained fragile. By late April 2008, her erratic behaviourincluding an allegation of assaultcaused fear that her drug rehabilitation efforts had been unsuccessful. Winehouse's father and manager then sought to have her detained under the Mental Health Act of 1983. Her dishevelled appearance during and after a scheduled club night in September 2008 prompted new rumours of a relapse. Photographers were quoted as saying she appeared to have cuts on her arms and legs.
According to her physician, Winehouse quit using illegal substances in 2008. In an October 2010 interview, speaking of her decision to quit drugs, Winehouse said, "I literally woke up one day and was like, 'I don't want to do this any more. However, alcohol emerged as a problem, with Winehouse abstaining for a few weeks and then lapsing into alcohol abuse. Her physician said that Winehouse was treated with Librium for alcohol withdrawal and anxiety and underwent psychological and psychiatric evaluations in 2010, but refused psychological therapy.
Violence and legal difficulties
In 2006, Winehouse admitted to punching a female fan in the face for criticising her having taken Blake Fielder-Civil as a husband. She then attacked her own spouse as he attempted to calm her down, kneeing him in the crotch. In October 2007, Winehouse and Fielder-Civil were arrested in Bergen, Norway, for possession of seven grams of cannabis. The couple were later released and fined 3850 kroner (around £350). Winehouse first appealed the fines, but later dropped the appeal.
On 26 April 2008, Winehouse was cautioned after she admitted to police she slapped a 38-year-old man in the face, a "common assault" offence, her first of two. She voluntarily turned herself in and was held overnight. Police said, at her arrival she was "in no fit state" to be interviewed. Ten days later, Winehouse was arrested on suspicion of possessing drugs after a video of her apparently smoking crack cocaine was passed to the police in January, but was released on bail a few hours later because they could not confirm, from the video, what she was smoking. The Crown Prosecution Service considered charging her, but cleared her when it could not establish that the substance in the video was a controlled drug. Some members of Parliament reacted negatively. Two London residents were subsequently charged with conspiracy to supply cocaine and ecstasy to Winehouse. One of the pair was sentenced to two years in prison on 13 December 2008, while the other received a two-year community order.
On 5 March 2009, Winehouse was arrested and charged with common assault following a claim by dancer Sherene Flash that Winehouse hit her in the eye at the September 2008 Prince's Trust charity ball. Winehouse's spokesperson announced the cancellation of the singer's US Coachella Festival appearance in light of the new legal issue, and Winehouse appeared in court on 17 March to enter her plea of not guilty. On 23 July, her trial began with prosecutor Lyall Thompson charging that Winehouse acted with "deliberate and unjustifiable violence" while appearing to be under the influence of alcohol or another substance. She testified that she did not punch Flash, but tried to push her away because she was scared of her; she cited her worry that Flash would sell her story to a tabloid, Flash's height advantage, and Flash's "rude" behaviour. On 24 July, District Judge Timothy Workman ruled that Winehouse was not guilty, citing the facts that all but two of the witnesses were intoxicated at the time of the incident and that medical evidence did not show "the sort of injury that often occurs when there is a forceful punch to the eye."
On 19 December 2009, Winehouse was arrested for a third time on charges of common assault, plus another charge of public order offence after assaulting the front-of-house manager of the Milton Keynes Theatre after he asked her to move from her seat. Winehouse pled guilty to the charges and was given a conditional discharge.
Paparazzi
With the paparazzi taking photographs of her wherever they could, Winehouse obtained an injunction against a leading paparazzi agency, Big Pictures, under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997; the resultant court order issued by the High Court in 2009 banned them from following her. Photographers were also banned from following her within 100 metres of her London home and photographing Winehouse in her home or the homes of her friends and relatives. According to a newspaper report, sources close to the singer said legal action was taken out of concern for the safety of Winehouse and those close to her.
Respiratory and other health problems
On 23 June 2008, Winehouse's publicist corrected earlier misstatements by Mitch Winehouse that his daughter had early stage emphysema, instead claiming she had signs of what could lead to early-stage emphysema. Mitch Winehouse had also stated that his daughter's lungs were operating at 70 percent capacity and that she had an irregular heartbeat. He said that these problems had been caused by her chain smoking crack cocaine. The singer's father also reported that doctors had warned Winehouse that, if she continued smoking crack cocaine, she would have to wear an oxygen mask and would eventually die. In a radio interview, Mitch Winehouse said the singer was responding "fabulously" to treatment, which included being covered with nicotine patches. British Lung Foundation spokesman Keith Prowse noted this type of condition could be managed with treatment. Prowse also said the condition was not normal for a person her age but "heavy smoking and inhaling other substances like drugs can age the lungs prematurely." Norman H. Edelman of the American Lung Association explained that if she stopped smoking, her lung functions would decline at the rate of a normal person, but continued smoking would lead to a more rapid decline in lung function.
Winehouse was released from the London Clinic 24 hours after returning from a temporary leave to perform at Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday and at a concert in Glastonbury, and continued receiving treatment as an outpatient. In July 2008, Winehouse stated that she had been diagnosed with "some areas of emphysema" and said she was getting herself together by "eating loads of healthy food, sleeping loads, playing my guitar, making music and writing letters to my husband every day." She also kept a vertical tanning bed in her flat. Winehouse began precautionary testing on her lungs and chest on 25 October 2008 at the London Clinic for what was reported as a chest infection. Winehouse was in and out of the facility and was granted permission to set her own schedule regarding home leave. She returned to the hospital on 23 November 2008 for a reported reaction to her medication.
Death
Winehouse's bodyguard said that he had arrived at her residence three days before her death and felt she had been somewhat intoxicated. He observed moderate drinking over the next few days, and said she had been "laughing, listening to music and watching TV at 2 a.m. the day of her death". At 10 a.m. BST on 23 July 2011, he observed her lying on her bed and tried unsuccessfully to rouse her. This did not raise much suspicion because she usually slept late after a night out. According to the bodyguard, shortly after 3p.m., he checked on her again and observed her lying in the same position as before, leading to a further check, in which he concluded that she was not breathing and had no pulse; he said he called emergency services. At 3:54p.m., two ambulances were called to Winehouse's home in Camden, London. Winehouse was pronounced dead at the scene, at the age of 27. Shortly afterwards, the Metropolitan Police confirmed that she had died.
After her death was announced, media and camera crews appeared, as crowds gathered near Winehouse's residence to pay their respects. Forensic investigators entered the flat as police cordoned off the street outside; they recovered one small and two large bottles of vodka from her room. After her death, the singer broke her second Guinness World Record: for the most songs by a woman to simultaneously appear on the UK singles chart, with eight.
A coroner's inquest reached a verdict of misadventure. The report released on 26 October 2011 explained that Winehouse's blood alcohol content was 416 per 100 (0.416%) at the time of her death, more than five times the legal drink-drive limit. According to the coroner, "The unintended consequences of such potentially fatal levels was her sudden death."
Winehouse's record label, Universal Republic, released a statement that read in part: "We are deeply saddened at the sudden loss of such a gifted musician, artist and performer." Many musical artists have since paid tribute to Winehouse including U2, M.I.A., Lady Gaga, Marianne Faithfull, Bruno Mars, Nicki Minaj, Keisha Buchanan, Rihanna, George Michael, Adele, Kelly Clarkson, Courtney Love, and the punk rock band Green Day, who wrote a song in her tribute titled "Amy". In her 2012 album Banga, singer Patti Smith released "This Is the Girl", written as an homage to Winehouse. Mark Ronson dedicated his UK number-one album Uptown Special to Winehouse, stating: "I'm always thinking of you and inspired by you." Winehouse did not leave a will; her estate was inherited by her parents. Winehouse's parents set up the Amy Winehouse Foundation to prevent harm from drug misuse among young people; her brother Alex is an employee.
On 17 December 2012, British authorities reopened the probe into Winehouse's death. On 8 January 2013, a second inquest confirmed that Winehouse died of accidental alcohol poisoning. In a June 2013 interview, Alex Winehouse revealed his belief that his sister's eating disorder, and the consequent physical weakness, was the primary cause of her death:
Funeral
Family and friends attended Winehouse's private funeral on 26 July 2011 at Edgwarebury Lane Cemetery in north London. Her mother and father, Janis and Mitch Winehouse, close friends Nick Grimshaw and Kelly Osbourne, producer Mark Ronson, goddaughter Dionne Bromfield and her boyfriend Reg Traviss were among those in attendance at the private service led by Rabbi Frank Hellner. Her father delivered the eulogy, saying "Goodnight, my angel, sleep tight. Mummy and Daddy love you ever so much." Carole King's "So Far Away" closed the service with mourners singing along. She was later cremated at Golders Green Crematorium. The family planned to sit a two-day shiva. On 16 September 2012, Winehouse's ashes were buried alongside her grandmother's, Cynthia Levy at Edgwarebury Lane Cemetery.
Posthumous retrospectives
Winehouse's parents have each written memoirs about their daughter and donated the proceeds from both books to the Amy Winehouse Foundation. In the introduction to Mitch Winehouse's biography, entitled Amy: My Daughter (2012), he explained: "Apart from being her father, I was also her friend, confidant and adviser—not that she always took my advice, but she always heard me out." Her mother Janis published Loving Amy: A Mother's Story, in 2014.
An exhibit of Winehouse's personal items, co-curated by her brother and sister-in-law, entitled Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait, was on display at the Jewish Museum London from 3 July 2013 until 15 September 2013, and later exhibited in San Francisco, 23 July 2015 to 1 November 2015. Display items, such as books and music, were featured together with captions written by Winehouse's brother.
In late 2011, there were reports that Winehouse's former boyfriend, Reg Traviss, was developing a film about her. Winehouse's father Mitch Winehouse, who owns the copyright to his daughter's music, said he would not authorise the use of her music for the film.
Winehouse is the subject of Amy (2015), a documentary directed by Asif Kapadia and produced by James Gay-Rees, Kapadia, and Universal Music. Kapadia and Gay-Rees introduced the project at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. The film debuted at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and won the 2016 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
In 2018, a documentary film based on Winehouse's album Back to Black, Amy Winehouse – Back to Black was released. It contains new interviews as well as archival footage. It was made by Eagle Vision and produced by Gil Cang. Released on DVD on 2 November 2018, the film features interviews by producers Ronson & Remi, who worked half and half on the album, along with the Dap Kings, Remi's music team, Ronnie Spector from the Ronettes and close ones to Winehouse, including Nick Shymansky, Juliette Ashby and Dionne Bromfield. The film is accompanied by An Intimate Evening in London, footage of a show Winehouse gave at Riverside Studios, London in 2008. In February 2019, Salaam Remi released a compilation album including the song "Find My Love" which is a posthumous collaboration between Winehouse and rapper Nas.
In 2020, an exhibition entitled Beyond Black – The Style of Amy Winehouse opened at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles. The exhibit mainly explores Winehouse's style and fashion, displaying her outfits such as her iconic dresses, shoes, hair accessories, her makeup bag as well as Winehouse's personal belongings including her Grammy awards from 2008, handwritten lyrics, records and unseen home videos. The exhibition went on display in the U.S. from 17 January 2020 until 13 April 2020. In November 2021, various of Winehouse's personal items and famous dresses would later be auctioned at Julien's Auctions in Los Angeles and made more than £3m, 30% going to the Amy Winehouse Foundation. A follow-up exhibition Amy: Beyond the Stage opened on 26 November 2021 at the Design Museum in Kensington, London which also presented some of Winehouse's personal belongings and focus on her fashion sense, as well as paying homage to her musical career.
In July 2021, a new documentary entitled Reclaiming Amy aired on BBC Two to mark the 10th anniversary of Winehouse's death. The film was primarily based on the perspective and narrated by her mother Janis Winehouse-Collins and included intimate stories of those who were close to Winehouse until the end of her life, including close friends Naomi Parry (Amy's stylist), Catriona Gourlay and Chantelle Dusette.
Discography
Frank (2003)
Back to Black (2006)
Lioness: Hidden Treasures (2011)
Filmography
Amy (2015)
Amy Winehouse: Back to Black (2018)
Reclaiming Amy (2021)
See also
List of deaths through alcohol
References
Sources
Further reading
External links
Amy Winehouse collected news and commentary at The New York Times
Amy Winehouse Foundation - Charity Commission for England and Wales
1983 births
2011 deaths
20th-century English singers
20th-century English women singers
21st-century English singers
21st-century English women singers
Alcohol-related deaths in England
Alumni of the Sylvia Young Theatre School
Brit Award winners
British women jazz singers
English contraltos
English jazz singers
English Jews
Belarusian Jews
English people convicted of assault
English people of Polish-Jewish descent
English people of Russian-Jewish descent
English rhythm and blues singers
English soul singers
English women guitarists
English guitarists
Golders Green Crematorium
Grammy Award winners
Ivor Novello Award winners
Jewish English musicians
Jewish jazz musicians
Jewish singers
Jewish songwriters
MTV Europe Music Award winners
National Youth Jazz Orchestra members
Neo soul singers
People educated at the BRIT School
People educated at Susi Earnshaw Theatre School
People from the London Borough of Camden
People from Southgate, London
People with bipolar disorder
Republic Records artists
Singers from London
World Music Awards winners
| true |
[
"\"Fuck Me Pumps\" is a song by English singer and songwriter Amy Winehouse from her debut studio album, Frank (2003). Written by Winehouse and Salaam Remi, the song was released in the United Kingdom as the album's fourth and final single on 23 August 2004 under the title \"Pumps\"—with \"Help Yourself\" as its coupling track—reaching number 65 on the UK Singles Chart. A clean radio edit was released for promotional purposes.\n\nThe track is an R&B song with humorous lyrics about stereotypical \"gold-digging\" girls, and in general women who rely on their looks to get by. The term \"fuck-me pumps\" or \"FMPs\" is a slang expression for sexy women's shoes, particularly those featuring bare heels. Chris Willman from Entertainment picked \"Fuck Me Pumps\" as the best song from Frank. The music video for \"Pumps\" shows Winehouse walking the streets with a microphone wearing pumps (high-heeled shoes).\n\nPersonnel\nCredits adapted from \"Pumps / Help Yourself\" CD liner notes\n\nSongwriting – Amy Winehouse, Salaam Remi\nArranging, Producing – The Chameleon\nVocals, guitar, additional pump steps – Amy Winehouse\nElectric bass, drums, beatbox – Salaam Remi\nClarinet, flute, saxophone – Vincent Henry\nElectric piano – John Adams\nAssistant engineering – Steve \"ESP\" Nowa\nMixing, recording – Gary \"Mon\" Noble\n\nTrack listing\nUK CD single\n\"Pumps\"\n\"Help Yourself\"\n\"(There Is) No Greater Love\" (AOL Session)\n\nCharts\n\nSee also\nFuck-me shoes\n\nReferences\n\n2003 songs\n2004 singles\nAmy Winehouse songs\nSongs written by Amy Winehouse\nSongs written by Salaam Remi\nSong recordings produced by Salaam Remi\nAlternative hip hop songs",
"\"Stronger Than Me\" is a song by English singer and songwriter Amy Winehouse from her debut studio album Frank (2003). Written by Winehouse and Salaam Remi, \"Stronger Than Me\" was released in the United Kingdom as the lead single on 6 October 2003, it ended up as the lowest-charting single from Frank and of Winehouse's career, peaking at number 71 on the UK Singles Chart. The song nevertheless won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song Musically and Lyrically in 2004.\n\nThe single for \"Stronger Than Me\" features an exclusive B-side, \"What It Is\". A rare live version of the song performed by Winehouse was featured in the documentary film biopic that's based on the life & death of Winehouse, Amy (2015) and the original version was included on the film's original soundtrack. It was said in the film that \"Stronger Than Me\" first sold over 800 copies a day after its initial release by Winehouse's previous guitarist, Ian Burter.\n\nMusic video\nA music video was produced to promote the single.\nThe video features Winehouse entering a bar and finding her boyfriend drunk. Winehouse laments her boyfriend's failure to be the stronger and more dominant partner. The video continues as she returns her boyfriend to their apartment. Winehouse is seen being fondled by her drunken boyfriend as they struggle to exit the bar, and she looks on in disgust as he vomits in their taxi. As the video concludes, she's seen on a street struggling to get her unconscious boyfriend into their home. Failing to do so, Winehouse gives up, leaving him semi-conscious on the sidewalk and going inside as the song ends.\n\nTrack listings and formats\n\nUK CD single and digital download\n\"Stronger Than Me\" – 3:33\n\"What It Is\" – 4:44\n\"Take the Box\" (The Headquarters Mix) – 3:49\n\nUK promo CD single\n\"Stronger Than Me\" (Album Version) – 3:33\n\nUK 12\" single\nSide A:\n\"Stronger Than Me\" (Album Version)\n\"Stronger Than Me\" (Curtis Lynch Jnr.)\nSide B:\n\"Stronger Than Me\" (Harmonic 33 Remix)\n\"Stronger Than Me\" (Acapella)\n\nCharts\n\nReferences\n\n2003 debut singles\nAmy Winehouse songs\nSongs written by Amy Winehouse\nSongs written by Salaam Remi\nSong recordings produced by Salaam Remi\nIsland Records singles"
] |
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"Substance abuse and mental illness",
"What substance problems did Amy Winehouse have?",
"In 2005, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, and weight loss.",
"What did the press say about her drinking and drug use?",
"A US reporter writes that Winehouse was a \"victim of mental illness in a society that doesn't understand or respond to mental illness with great effectiveness.\"",
"What help did Winehouse get for her problems?",
"She was hospitalised during this period for what was reported as an overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol."
] |
C_efbf3039679a4232a67306f7dfb6f70c_1
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What did her family do at this time?
| 4 |
What did Amy Winehouse's family do when Winehouse was hospitalized for an overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine, and alcohol?
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Amy Winehouse
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Winehouse's battles with substance abuse were the subject of much media attention. In 2005, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, and weight loss. People who saw her during the end of that year and early 2006 reported a rebound that coincided with the writing of Back to Black. Her family believes that the mid-2006 death of her grandmother, who was a stabilising influence, set her off into addiction. In August 2007, Winehouse cancelled a number of shows in the UK and Europe, citing exhaustion and ill health. She was hospitalised during this period for what was reported as an overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol. In various interviews, she admitted to having problems with self-harm, depression, and eating disorders. Winehouse told a magazine that the drugs were to blame for her hospitalisation and that "I really thought that it was over for me then." Soon afterward, Winehouse's father commented that when he had made public statements regarding her problems he was using the media because it seemed the only way to get through to her. In an interview with The Album Chart Show on British television, Winehouse said she was manic depressive and not alcoholic, adding that that sounded like "an alcoholic in denial." A US reporter writes that Winehouse was a "victim of mental illness in a society that doesn't understand or respond to mental illness with great effectiveness." In December 2007, Winehouse's spokesman reported that the singer was in a physician-supervised programme and was channelling her difficulties by writing a lot of music. The British tabloid The Sun posted a video of a woman, alleged to be Winehouse, apparently smoking crack cocaine and speaking of having taken ecstasy and valium. Winehouse's father moved in with her, and Island Records, her record label, announced the abandonment of plans for an American promotion campaign on her behalf. In late January 2008, Winehouse reportedly entered a rehabilitation facility for a two-week treatment program. On 23 January 2008, the video was passed on to the Metropolitan Police, who questioned her on 5 February. No charges were brought. On 26 March 2008, Winehouse's spokesman said she was "doing well." Her record company reportedly believed that her recovery remained fragile. By late April 2008, her erratic behaviour, including an allegation of assault, caused fear that her drug rehabilitation efforts had been unsuccessful, leading to efforts by Winehouse's father and manager to seek assistance in having her involuntarily committed. Her dishevelled appearance during and after a scheduled club night in September sparked new rumours of a relapse. Photographers were quoted as saying she appeared to have cuts on her legs and arms. According to her physician, Winehouse quit illegal substances in 2008. In an October 2010 interview, speaking of her decision to quit drugs, Winehouse said, "I literally woke up one day and was like, 'I don't want to do this any more'." Drinking alcohol emerged as a problem with Winehouse abstaining for a few weeks then lapsing. The physician said that Winehouse was treated with Librium for alcohol withdrawal and anxiety, and underwent psychological and psychiatric evaluations in 2010, but refused psychological therapy. CANNOTANSWER
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Winehouse's father commented that when he had made public statements regarding her problems he was using the media because it seemed the only way to get through to her.
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Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was a British singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz.
A member of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra during her youth, Winehouse signed to Simon Fuller's 19 Management in 2002 and soon recorded a number of songs before signing a publishing deal with EMI. She also formed a working relationship with producer Salaam Remi through these record publishers. Winehouse's debut album, Frank, was released in 2003. Many of the album's songs were influenced by jazz and, apart from two covers, were co-written by Winehouse. Frank was a critical success in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize. The song "Stronger Than Me" won her the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors.
Winehouse released her follow-up album, Back to Black, in 2006, which went on to become an international success and one of the best-selling albums in UK history. At the 2007 Brit Awards it was nominated for British Album of the Year, and she received the award for British Female Solo Artist. The song "Rehab" won her a second Ivor Novello Award. At the 50th Grammy Awards in 2008, she won five awards, tying the then record for the most wins by a female artist in a single night and becoming the first British woman to win five Grammys, including three of the General Field "Big Four" Grammy Awards: Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year (for "Rehab"), as well as Best Pop Vocal Album.
Winehouse was plagued by drug and alcohol addiction. She died of alcohol poisoning on 23 July 2011, at the age of 27. After her death, Back to Black temporarily became the UK's best-selling album of the 21st century. VH1 ranked Winehouse 26th on their list of the 100 Greatest Women in Music.
Early life
Amy Jade Winehouse was born on 14 September 1983 at Chase Farm Hospital in Gordon Hill, Enfield, to Jewish parents. Her father, Mitchell "Mitch" Winehouse, was a window panel installer and taxi driver; her mother, Janis Winehouse (née Seaton), was a pharmacist, who suffers from multiple sclerosis. The great-great-grandfather of Amy Harris Winehouse emigrated from Minsk, Belarus to London in 1891. She had an older brother, Alex (born 1979), and the family lived in London's Southgate area, where she attended Osidge Primary School. Winehouse attended a Jewish Sunday school while she was a child. During an interview following her rise to fame, she expressed her dismissal towards the school by saying that she used to beg her father to permit her not to go and that she learned nothing about being Jewish by going anyway. In the same interview, Winehouse said she only went to a synagogue once a year on Yom Kippur "out of respect".
Many of Winehouse's maternal uncles were professional jazz musicians. Amy's paternal grandmother, Cynthia, was a singer and dated the English jazz saxophonist Ronnie Scott. She and Amy's parents influenced Amy's interest in jazz. Her father, Mitch, often sang Frank Sinatra songs to her, and whenever she got chastised at school, she would sing "Fly Me to the Moon" before going up to the headmistress to be told off. Winehouse's parents separated when she was nine, and she lived with her mother and stayed with her father and his girlfriend in Hatfield Heath, Essex, on weekends.
In 1992, her grandmother Cynthia suggested that Amy attend the Susi Earnshaw Theatre School, where she went on Saturdays to further her vocal education and to learn to tap dance. She attended the school for four years and founded a short-lived rap group called Sweet 'n' Sour, with Juliette Ashby, her childhood friend, before seeking full-time training at Sylvia Young Theatre School. Several years later it was reported that Winehouse had been expelled at 14 for "not applying herself" and also for piercing her nose, but these claims were denied by Sylvia Young: "She changed schools at 15...I've heard it said she was expelled; she wasn't. I'd never have expelled Amy." Mitch Winehouse also denied the claims. She attended the Mount School, Mill Hill and the BRIT School in Selhurst, Croydon, dropping out at age 16.
After toying around with her brother Alex's guitar, Winehouse bought her own when she was 14 and began writing music shortly afterwards. Soon after she began working for a living, as an entertainment journalist for the World Entertainment News Network and also singing with local group the Bolsha Band. In July 2000, she became the featured female vocalist with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. She was influenced by Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington, the latter of whom she was already listening to at home. Winehouse's best friend, soul singer Tyler James, sent her demo tape to an A&R person.
Career
2002–2005: Career beginnings and Frank
Winehouse was signed to Simon Fuller's 19 Management in 2002 and was paid £250 a week against future earnings. While being developed by the management company, Winehouse was kept as a recording industry secret, although she was a regular jazz standards singer at the Cobden Club. Her future A&R representative at Island, Darcus Beese, heard of her by accident when the manager of The Lewinson Brothers showed him some productions of his clients, which featured Winehouse as key vocalist. When he asked who the singer was, the manager told him he was not allowed to say. Having decided that he wanted to sign her, it took several months of asking around for Beese to eventually discover who the singer was. However, Winehouse had already recorded a number of songs and signed a publishing deal with EMI by this time. Incidentally, she formed a working relationship with producer Salaam Remi through these record publishers.
Beese introduced Winehouse to his boss, Nick Gatfield; the Island head shared his enthusiasm in signing the young artist. Winehouse was signed to Island, as rival interest in her had started to build with representatives of EMI and Virgin starting to make moves. Beese told HitQuarters that he felt the excitement over an artist who was an atypical pop star for the time was due to a backlash against reality TV music shows, which included audiences starved for fresh, genuine young talent.
Winehouse's debut album, Frank, was released on 20 October 2003. Produced mainly by Salaam Remi, many songs were influenced by jazz and, apart from two covers, Winehouse co-wrote every song. The album received critical acclaim with compliments given to the "cool, critical gaze" in its lyrics. Winehouse's voice was compared with those of Sarah Vaughan and Macy Gray, among others.
The album entered the upper reaches of the UK album chart in 2004 when it was nominated for the Brit Awards in the categories of "British Female Solo Artist" and "British Urban Act." It went on to achieve platinum sales. Later in 2004, she and Remi won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song, for their first single together, "Stronger Than Me." The album was also shortlisted for the 2004 Mercury Music Prize. In the same year, she performed at the Glastonbury Festival – Jazzworld, the V Festival and the Montreal International Jazz Festival. After the release of the album, Winehouse commented that she was "only 80 percent behind [the] album" because Island Records had overruled her preferences for the songs and mixes to be included. The further singles from the album were "Take the Box," "In My Bed"/"You Sent Me Flying" and "Pumps"/"Help Yourself."
2006–2008: Back to Black and international success
After the release of her first jazz-influenced album, Winehouse's focus shifted to the girl groups of the 1950s and 1960s. Winehouse hired New York singer Sharon Jones's longtime band, the Dap-Kings, to back her up in the studio and on tour. Mitch Winehouse relates in Amy, My Daughter how fascinating watching her process was: her perfectionism in the studio and how she would put what she had sung on a CD and play it in his taxi outside to know how most people would hear her music. In May 2006, Winehouse's demo tracks such as "You Know I'm No Good" and "Rehab" appeared on Mark Ronson's New York radio show on East Village Radio. These were some of the first new songs played on the radio after the release of "Pumps" and both were slated to appear on her second album. The 11-track album, completed in five months, was produced entirely by Salaam Remi and Ronson, with the production credits being split between them. Ronson said in a 2010 interview that he liked working with Winehouse because she was blunt when she did not like his work. She in turn thought that when they first met, he was a sound engineer and that she was expecting an older man with a beard.
Promotion of Back to Black soon began and, in early October 2006 Winehouse's official website was relaunched with a new layout and clips of previously unreleased songs. Back to Black was released in the UK on 30 October 2006. It went to number one on the UK Albums Chart for two weeks in January 2007, dropping then climbing back for several weeks in February. In the US, it entered at number seven on the Billboard 200. It was the best-selling album in the UK of 2007, selling 1.85million copies over the course of the year. The first single released from the album was the Ronson-produced "Rehab." The song reached the top ten in the UK and the US. Time magazine named "Rehab" the Best Song of 2007. Writer Josh Tyrangiel praised Winehouse for her confidence, saying, "What she is is mouthy, funny, sultry, and quite possibly crazy" and "It's impossible not to be seduced by her originality. Combine it with production by Mark Ronson that references four decades worth of soul music without once ripping it off, and you've got the best song of 2007." The album's second single and lead single in the US, "You Know I'm No Good," was released in January 2007 with a remix featuring rap vocals by Ghostface Killah. It ultimately reached number 18 on the UK singles chart. The title track, "Back to Black," was released in the UK in April 2007 and peaked at number 25, but was more successful across mainland Europe. "Tears Dry on Their Own," "Love Is a Losing Game" were also released as singles, but failed to achieve the same level of success.
A deluxe edition of Back to Black was also released on 5 November 2007 in the UK. The bonus disc features B-sides, rare, and live tracks, as well as "Valerie." Winehouse's debut DVD I Told You I Was Trouble: Live in London was released the same day in the UK and 13 November in the US. It includes a live set recorded at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire and a 50-minute documentary charting the singer's career over the previous four years. Frank was released in the United States on 20 November 2007 to positive reviews. The album debuted at number 61 on the Billboard 200 chart. In addition to her own album, she collaborated with other artists on singles. Winehouse was a vocalist on the song "Valerie" on Ronson's solo album Version. The song peaked at number two in the UK, upon its October single release. "Valerie" was nominated for a 2008 Brit Award for "Best British Single." Her work with ex-Sugababe Mutya Buena, "B Boy Baby," was released on 17 December 2007. It served as the fourth single from Buena's debut album, Real Girl. Winehouse was also in talks of working with Missy Elliott for her album Block Party.
Winehouse promoted the release of Back to Black with headline performances in late 2006, including a Little Noise Sessions charity concert at the Union Chapel in Islington, London. On 31 December 2006, Winehouse appeared on Jools Holland's Annual Hootenanny and performed a cover of Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" along with Paul Weller and Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra. She also performed Toots and the Maytals' "Monkey Man". At his request, actor Bruce Willis introduced Winehouse before her performance of "Rehab" at the 2007 MTV Movie Awards in Universal City, California, on 3 June 2007. During the summer of 2007, she performed at various festivals, including Glastonbury Festival and Lollapalooza in Chicago.
The rest of her tour, however, did not go as well. In November 2007, the opening night of a 17-date tour was marred by booing and walkouts at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. A critic for the Birmingham Mail said it was "one of the saddest nights of my life...I saw a supremely talented artist reduced to tears, stumbling around the stage and, unforgivably, swearing at the audience." Other concerts ended similarly, with, for example, fans at her Hammersmith Apollo performance in London saying that she "looked highly intoxicated throughout," until she announced on 27 November 2007, that her performances and public appearances were cancelled for the remainder of the year, citing her doctor's advice to take a complete rest. A statement issued by concert promoter Live Nation blamed "the rigours involved in touring and the intense emotional strain that Amy has been under in recent weeks" for the decision. Mitch Winehouse wrote about her nervousness before public performances in his 2012 book, Amy, My Daughter. On 13 January 2008, Back to Black held the number-one position on the Billboard Pan European charts for the third consecutive week.
On 10 February 2008, Winehouse received five Grammy Awards, winning in the following categories: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the single "Rehab," and Best Pop Vocal Album. The singer also earned a Grammy as Best New Artist, earning her an entry in the 2009 edition of the Guinness Book of Records for Most Grammy Awards won by a British Female Act. Additionally, Back to Black was nominated for Album of the Year. Ronson's work with her won the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, in the non-classical category. She ended her acceptance speech for Record of the Year with, "This is for London because Camden town ain't burning down," in reference to the 2008 Camden Market fire. Performing "You Know I'm No Good" and "Rehab" via satellite from London's Riverside Studios at 3 a.m. UK time, she couldn't be at the ceremony in Los Angeles as her visa approval had not been processed in time.
After the Grammys, the album's sales increased, catapulting Back to Black to number two on the US Billboard 200, after it initially peaked in the seventh position. On 20 February 2008, Winehouse performed at the 2008 Brit Awards at Earls Court in London, performing "Valerie" with Mark Ronson, followed by "Love Is a Losing Game." She urged the crowd to "make some noise for my Blake." A special deluxe edition of Back to Black topped the UK album charts on 2 March 2008. Meanwhile, the original edition of the album was ranked at number 30 in its 68th week on the charts, while Frank charted at number 35.
In Paris, she performed what was described as a "well-executed 40-minute" set at the opening of a Fendi boutique in early March. By 12 March, the album had sold a total of 2,467,575 copies—318,350 copies had been sold in the previous 10 weeks—putting the album on the UK's top-10 best-selling albums of the 21st century for the first time. On 7 April, Back to Black was in the top position of the pan-European charts for the sixth consecutive and thirteenth aggregate week. Amy Winehouse – The Girl Done Good: A Documentary Review, a 78-minute DVD, was released on 14 April 2008. The documentary features interviews with those who knew her at a young age, people who helped her achieve success, jazz music experts, and music and pop-culture specialists.
At the 2008 Ivor Novello Awards in May, Winehouse became the first-ever artist to receive two nominations for the top award: Best Song Musically & Lyrically. She won the award for "Love Is a Losing Game" and was nominated for "You Know I'm No Good." "Rehab," a Novello winner for best contemporary song in 2006, also received a 2008 nomination for best-selling British song. Winehouse was also nominated for a 2008 MTV Europe Award in the "Act of the Year" category.
Although her father, manager and various members of her touring team reportedly tried to dissuade her, Winehouse performed at the Rock in Rio Lisboa festival in Portugal in May 2008. Although the set was plagued by a late arrival and problems with her voice, the crowd warmed to her. In addition to her own material she performed two Specials covers. Winehouse performed at Nelson Mandela's 90th Birthday Party concert at London's Hyde Park on 27 June 2008, and the next day at the Glastonbury Festival. On 12 July, at the Oxegen Festival in Ireland she performed a well-received 50-minute set which was followed the next day by a 14-song set at T in the Park.
On 16 August she played at the Staffordshire leg of the V Festival, and the following day played the Chelmsford leg of the festival. Organisers said that Winehouse attracted the biggest crowds of the festival. Audience reaction was reported as mixed. On 6 September, she was Bestival's Saturday headliner, where her performance was described as polished—terminated by a curfew as the show running overdue, after Winehouse started an hour late—and her storming off stage.
A clip of Winehouse's music was included in the "Roots and Influences" area that looked at connections between different artists at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex NYC, which opened in December 2008. One thread started with Billie Holiday, continued with Aretha Franklin and Mary J. Blige, and then finished with Winehouse.
Back to Black was the world's seventh-biggest-selling album of 2008. The album's sales meant that the market performance of Universal Music's recorded music division did not drop to levels experienced by the overall music market.
2009–2011: Final projects before death
In a 2009 poll of U.S. residents conducted for VisitBritain by Harris Interactive, one-fifth of the participants indicated they had listened to Winehouse's music during the previous year. She performed with Rhythms del Mundo on their cover of the Sam Cooke song, "Cupid", for an Artists Project Earth benefit album released in July that year.
Winehouse and Ronson contributed a cover of Lesley Gore's "It's My Party" to the Quincy Jones tribute album Q Soul Bossa Nostra, released in November 2010. She had agreed to form a group with Questlove of the Roots but her problems obtaining a visa delayed their working together. Salaam Remi had already created some material with Winehouse as part of the project. According to The Times, Universal Music pressed her for new material in 2008, but as of 2 September that year she had not been near a recording studio. In late October, Winehouse's spokesman was quoted as saying that Winehouse had not been given a deadline to complete her third album, for which she was learning to play drums.
In May 2009, Winehouse returned to performing at a jazz festival in St. Lucia amid torrential downpours and technical difficulties. During her set, it was reported she was unsteady on her feet and had trouble remembering lyrics. She apologised to the crowd for being "bored" and ended the set in the middle of a song. During her stay in St. Lucia, however, she worked on new music with Remi. On 23 August that year Winehouse sang with the Specials at the V Festival, on their songs "You're Wondering Now" and "Ghost Town".
Island claimed that a new album would be due for release in 2010. Island co-president Darcus Beese said, "I've heard a couple of song demos that have absolutely floored me." In July 2010, Winehouse was quoted as saying her next album would be released no later than January 2011, saying "It's going to be very much the same as my second album, where there's a lot of jukebox stuff and songs that are... just jukebox, really." Ronson, however, said at that time that he had not started to record the album. She performed "Valerie" with Ronson at a movie premiere but forgot some of the song's lyrics. In October, Winehouse performed a four-song set to promote her fashion line. In December 2010, she played a 40-minute concert at a Russian oligarch's party in Moscow, with the tycoon hand-selecting the songs.
In January 2011, Winehouse played five dates in Brazil, with opening acts of Janelle Monáe and Mayer Hawthorne. The following month she cut short a performance in Dubai following booing from the audience. Winehouse was reported to be tired, distracted and "tipsy" during the performance.
On 18 June 2011, Winehouse started her twelve-leg European tour in Belgrade. Local media described her performance as a scandal and disaster; she was booed off the stage due to her apparently being too drunk to perform. Serbian defence minister Dragan Sutanovac called Winehouse's performances "a huge shame and a disappointment". It was reported that she was unable to remember the city she was in, the lyrics of her songs or the names of the members of her band. The local press also claimed that Winehouse was forced to perform by her bodyguards, who did not allow her to leave the stage when she tried to do so. She then pulled out of performances in Istanbul and Athens, which had been scheduled for the following week. On 21 June, it was announced that she had cancelled all shows of her tour and would be given "as long as it takes" to sort herself out.
Winehouse's last public appearance took place at Camden's Roundhouse on 20 July 2011, when she made a surprise appearance on stage to support her goddaughter, Dionne Bromfield, who was singing "Mama Said" with the Wanted. Winehouse died three days later. Her last recording was a duet with American singer Tony Bennett for his album, Duets II, released on 20 September 2011. Their single from the album, "Body and Soul", was released on 14 September 2011 on MTV and VH1 to commemorate what would have been her 28th birthday.
Other ventures
Winehouse joined a campaign to stop a block of flats being built beside the George Tavern, a famous London East End music venue. Campaign supporters feared the residential development would end the spot's lucrative sideline as a film and photo location, on which it relies to survive. As part of a breast cancer awareness campaign, Winehouse appeared in a revealing photograph for the April 2008 issue of Easy Living magazine. Winehouse had an estimated £10m fortune, tying her for tenth place in the 2008 The Sunday Times listing of the wealth of musicians under age 30. The following year her fortune had dropped to an estimated £5m. Her finances are run by Mitch and Janis Winehouse. It was reported she earned about £1m singing at two private parties during Paris Fashion Week. as well as another £1m to perform at a Moscow Art Gallery for Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. Winehouse loaned a vintage dress used in her video for "Tears Dry on Their Own" as well as a DVD to the British Music Experience, a new museum dedicated to the history of British pop music. The museum, located at the O2 Arena in London, opened on 9 March 2009.
In January 2009, Winehouse announced that she was launching her own record label. The first act on her Lioness Records is Winehouse's 13-year-old goddaughter, Dionne Bromfield. Her first album, featuring covers of classic soul records, was released on 12 October 2009. Winehouse is the backing singer on several tracks on the album and she performed backing vocals for Bromfield on the BBC's television programme Strictly Come Dancing on 10 October.
Winehouse and her family are the subject of a 2009 documentary shot by Daphne Barak titled Saving Amy. Winehouse entered into a joint venture in 2009 with EMI to launch a range of wrapping paper and gift cards containing song lyrics from her album Back to Black. On 8 January 2010, a television documentary, My Daughter Amy, aired on Channel 4. Saving Amy was released as a paperback book in January 2010.
Winehouse collaborated on a 17 piece fashion collection with the Fred Perry label. It was released for sale in October 2010. According to Fred Perry's marketing director "We had three major design meetings where she was closely involved in product style selection and the application of fabric, colour and styling details," and gave "crucial input on proportion, colour and fit." The collection consists of "vintage-inspired looks including Capri pants, a bowling dress, a trench coat, pencil skirts, a longline argyle sweater and a pink-and-black checkerboard-printed collared shirt." At the behest of her family, three forthcoming collections up to and including autumn/winter 2012 that she had designed prior to her death will be released.
Awards and nominations
Among the awards and recognition for her debut album Frank, Winehouse earned an Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy of Songwriters for Best Contemporary Song ("Stronger Than Me"), a Brit Award nomination for Best British Female Solo Artist, and an inclusion in Robert Dimery's 2006 book, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Her second studio album, Back to Black, produced numerous nominations, including two Brit Awards (Best British Album, and won her Best British Female Solo Artist), six Grammy Awards (including five wins), four Ivor Novello Awards, four MTV Europe Music Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards, three World Music Awards, and it was nominated for the Mercury Prize (Album of the Year) and a MOBO Awards (Best UK Female). During her career, Winehouse received 23 awards from 60 nominations.
Critical appraisal
Winehouse was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, (sometimes labelled as blue-eyed soul and neo soul), rhythm and blues, and jazz. The BBC's Garry Mulholland called Winehouse "the pre-eminent vocal talent of her generation". According to AllMusic's Cyril Cordor, she was one of the UK's premier singers during the 2000s; "fans and critics alike embraced her rugged charm, brash sense of humor, and distinctively soulful and jazzy vocals". In The Guardian, Caroline Sullivan later wrote that "her idolisation of Dinah Washington and the Ronettes distinguished her from almost all newly minted pop singers of the early 2000s; her exceptionally-susceptible-to-heartbreak voice did the rest". Soon after Winehouse's death, a number of prominent critics assessed the singer's legacy: Maura Johnston from The Village Voice said, "When she was on, Winehouse had few peers—she wasn't an octave-jumper like other big divas of the moment, but her contralto had a snap to it that enriched even the simplest syllables with a full spectrum of emotion"; Sasha Frere-Jones of The New Yorker proclaimed, "Nobody can match Winehouse's unique transitions or her utterly weird phrasings. She sounded like an original sixties soul star, developed when the landscape had no rules. But now untrammeled traditionalism is in the lead and her beautiful footnote has been cut short. American soul—through visionaries like Erykah Badu and Janelle Monae and Jill Scott—had moved on. But Winehouse was a fine shepherd of the past."
By contrast, Robert Christgau dismissed Winehouse as "a self-aggrandizing self-abuser who's taken seriously because she makes a show of soul". In his opinion, the singer "simulated gravitas by running her suicidal tendencies through an amalgam of 20th-century African-American vocal stylings—the slides, growls, and melismatic outcries that for many matures are now the only reliable signifiers of pop substance".
On 13 February 2012, Winehouse was ranked 26 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women in Music list. In March 2017, singer-songwriter Bob Dylan said he was enjoying listening to Winehouse's last record (Back to Black), and called her "the last real individualist around."
Image
Winehouse's greatest love was 1960s girl groups. Her hairdresser, Alex Foden, borrowed her "instantly recognisable" beehive hairdo (a weave) and she borrowed her Cleopatra makeup from the Ronettes. Her imitation was so successful, as The Village Voice reports: "Ronnie Spector—who, it could be argued, all but invented Winehouse's style in the first place when she took the stage at the Brooklyn Fox Theater with her fellow Ronettes more than 40 years ago—was so taken aback at a picture of Winehouse in the New York Post that she exclaimed, "I don't know her, I never met her, and when I saw that pic, I thought, 'That's me!' But then I found out, no, it's Amy! I didn't have on my glasses."
The New York Times style reporter, Guy Trebay, discussed the multiplicity of influences on Winehouse's style after her death. Trebay noted, "her stylish husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, may have influenced her look." Additionally, Trebay observed:
Former Rolling Stone editor Joe Levy, who had put her on the magazine's cover, broke her look down this way:
Winehouse's use of bold red lipstick, thick eyebrows and heavy eyeliner came from Latinas she saw in Miami, on her trip there to work with Salaam Remi on Back to Black. Her look was repeatedly denigrated by the British press. At the same time that the NME Awards nominated Winehouse in the categories of "Best Solo Artist" and "Best Music DVD" in 2008, they awarded her "Worst Dressed Performer." Winehouse was also ranked number two on Richard Blackwell's 48th annual "Ten Worst Dressed Women" list, behind Victoria Beckham.
Criticism
Winehouse's dichotomous public image of critical and commercial success versus personal turmoil prompted significant media comment. The New Statesman called Winehouse "a filthy-mouthed, down-to-earth diva", while Newsweek called her "a perfect storm of sex kitten, raw talent and poor impulse control". Karen Heller with The Philadelphia Inquirer summarised the maelstrom this way:
By 2008, her drug problems threatened her career. As Nick Gatfield, the president of Island Records, toyed with the idea of releasing Winehouse "to deal with her problems", he said, "It's a reflection of her status [in the US] that when you flick through the TV coverage [of the Grammys] it's her image they use." Post-Grammys, some questioned whether Winehouse should have been honoured with the awards given her recent personal and drug problems, including Natalie Cole, who introduced Winehouse at the ceremony and who herself battled substance-abuse problems while winning a Grammy for Best New Artist in 1975. (Winehouse was prevented from travelling to and performing at the Grammy Awards ceremony in the US due to failing a drug test.) In a newspaper commentary, the executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, said that the alleged drug habits of Winehouse and other celebrities sent a bad message "to others who are vulnerable to addiction" and undermine the efforts of other celebrities trying to raise awareness of problems in Africa, now that more cocaine used in Europe passes through that continent. Winehouse's spokesperson noted that "Amy has never given a quote about drugs or flaunted it in any way. She's had some problems and is trying to get better. The U.N. should get its own house in order."
In January 2008, her record label stated it believed the extensive media coverage she had received increased record sales. In an April 2008 poll conducted by Sky News, Winehouse was named the second greatest "ultimate heroine" by the UK population at large, topping the voting for that category of those polled under 25 years old. Psychologist Donna Dawson commented that the results demonstrated that women like Winehouse who had "a certain sense of vulnerability or have had to fight against some adversity in their lives" received recognition.
In July 2008, BBC Radio Scotland's head, Jeff Zycinski, stated that the BBC, and media in general, were complicit in undermining celebrities, including Winehouse. He said that public interest in the singer's lifestyle did not make her lifestyle newsworthy. Rod McKenzie, editor of the BBC Radio One programme Newsbeat, replied: "If you play [Amy Winehouse's] music to a certain demographic, those same people want to know what's happening in her private life. If you don't cover it, you're insulting young licence fee payers." In The Scotsman, British singer and songwriter Lily Allen was quoted to have said – "I know Amy Winehouse very well. And she is very different to what people portray her as being. Yes, she does get out of her mind on drugs sometimes, but she is also a very clever, intelligent, witty, funny person who can hold it together. You just don't see that side."
Charity work
Throughout her life Winehouse donated her money, music and time to many charities, particularly those concerned with children. She was once named "the most charitable act" by Pop World. While this side of her personality was never well known to the general public, throughout both the arts community and the charity community she was known for her generosity.
In 2008, Winehouse appeared naked in an issue of Easy Living Magazine to raise awareness of breast cancer. In 2009, she appeared on a CD called Classics alongside musicians such as the Rolling Stones, the Killers and many Cuban musicians to raise awareness of climate change. In March 2011, Winehouse donated over £20,000 worth of clothes to a local charity shop in London.
A Caribbean man Julian Jean DeBaptiste revealed that Winehouse had paid for his urgent surgery costing £4,000 during her stay in Saint Lucia in 2009. "I had surgery on 1 July 2009... it cost a fortune and Amy paid for the whole thing. I tried to thank her but she just hugged me and told me not to say anything. Her generosity gave me my life back."
Legacy and honours
Artwork and tributes
London's Mall Galleries opened an exhibition in May 2008 that included a sculpture of Winehouse, titled Excess. The piece, created by Guy Portelli, had a miniature of the singer lying on top of a cracked champagne bottle, with a pool of spilled liquid underneath. The body was covered with what appeared to be tiny pills, while one outstretched hand held a glass. Another piece, a print titled Celebrity 1 by artist Charlotte Suckling, was shown in the same exhibition.
A wax sculpture of Winehouse went on display at the London Madame Tussauds on 23 July 2008. The singer did not attend the unveiling, although her parents did. A sculpture by Marco Perego, titled The Only Good Rock Star Is a Dead Rock Star, that depicts Winehouse lying in a pool of blood with an apple and a bullet hole in her head after being shot by American novelist and Beat poet William S. Burroughs (in a recreation of the accidental killing of his wife Joan Vollmer), was scheduled to go on display in New York's Half Gallery on 14 November 2008 with a sale price of US$100,000. Perego said of the sculpture: "Rock stars are the sacrificial animals of society." Winehouse's spokesperson stated: "It's a funny kind of tribute. The artist seems in thrall to a tabloid persona that is not the real Amy. People often use her image to sell their work."
In 2012, Winehouse was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork – the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover – to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life that he most admires.
On 14 September 2014 (which would have been Winehouse's 31st birthday), a statue was unveiled of her, which was created by sculptor Scott Eaton, at Stables Market in Camden Town, north London. Fans and relatives gathered for the unveiling in Camden's Stable Market, where it will be a permanent memorial to her. London-based Eaton, who sculpted the piece after being introduced to Winehouse's father Mitch, said the statue was meant to capture her "attitude and strength, but also give subtle hints of insecurity." Her father Mitch said of the statue: "Now Amy will oversee the comings and goings of her home town forever... Amy was in love with Camden and it is the place her fans from all over the world associate her with."
In March 2020, Winehouse's name on a stone was unveiled on the new Music Walk of Fame in Camden, with her parents Mitch and Janis in attendance at the ceremony.
Influence
Adele has credited Winehouse's success in making her and fellow British singer Duffy's journey to the United States "a bit smoother." Lady Gaga credited Winehouse with paving the way for her rise to the top of the charts, explaining that Winehouse made it easier for unconventional women to have mainstream pop success. Raphael Saadiq, Anthony Hamilton and John Legend said "Amy Winehouse was produced by people who wanted to create a marketing coup. The positive side is that it reacquainted an audience with this music and played an introductory role for others. This reinvigorated the genre by overcoming the vintage aspect."
Other artists that have credited Winehouse as an influence and/or for paving the way for them include Bruno Mars, Tove Lo, Jessie J, Emeli Sandé, Victoria Justice, Paloma Faith, Lana Del Rey, Sam Smith, Florence Welch, Halsey, Alessia Cara, Estelle, Daya, Jorja Smith, Lauren Jauregui and Billie Eilish.
After the release of Back to Black, record companies sought out female artists with a similar sound and fearless and experimental female musicians in general. Adele and Duffy were the second wave of artists with a sound similar to Winehouse's. A third wave of female musicians that has emerged since the album was released are led by V V Brown, Florence and the Machine, La Roux and Little Boots. In March 2011, the New York Daily News ran an article attributing the continuing wave of British female artists that have been successful in the United States to Winehouse and her absence. Spin magazine music editor Charles Aaron was quoted as saying "Amy Winehouse was the Nirvana moment for all these women," "They can all be traced back to her in terms of attitude, musical styles or fashion." According to Keith Caulfield, chart manager for Billboard, "Because of Amy, or the lack thereof, the marketplace was able to get singers like Adele, Estelle and Duffy," "Now those ladies have brought on the new ones, like Eliza Doolittle, Rumer and Ellie."
Amy Winehouse Foundation
After the singer's death by alcohol intoxication in July 2011, the Amy Winehouse Foundation was set up by Winehouse's family and launched on 14 September 2011 (which would have been Winehouse's 28th birthday). Its aim is to help young people and it works with other charitable organisations to provide frontline support. Its central office is in North London, but it also has an office in New York (operating under the name 'The Amy Winehouse Foundation US'). Both Jon Snow and Barbara Windsor are patrons for the charity, and ambassadors include Keira Chaplin and Mica Paris. In October 2015 Mark Ronson became a patron. Amy's brother Alex works full-time for the foundation, having given up his career as an online music journalist.
The charity itself works to prevent the effects of drug and alcohol misuse on young people and it also aims to support, inform and inspire vulnerable and disadvantaged young people to help them reach their full potential. On 12 March 2013, with the help of ex-addict Russell Brand, the Foundation launched the Amy Winehouse Foundation Resilience Programme For Schools across the UK which aims to provide effective education around drugs, alcohol and dealing with emotional issues.
Films
Documentary film
A documentary film, Amy (2015), directed by Asif Kapadia and produced by James Gay-Rees was released on 3 July 2015. The film covers Winehouse's life, her relationships, her struggles with substance abuse both before and after her career blossomed, and which eventually caused her death. The film received its première at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival on 16 May and has been reviewed as "a tragic masterpiece", "brilliant", "heartbreaking" and "unmissable". The soundtrack of the same name was released on 30 October 2015, along with the DVD that includes music featured in the documentary by film composer Antônio Pinto and classic and some unreleased tracks by Winehouse. The film was highly acclaimed and received various accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 2016 Oscars, Best Music Film at the 2016 Grammy Awards, the BAFTA for Best Documentary, the MTV Movie Award for Best Documentary, in addition to a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best British Film.
Biopic film
On 14 October 2018, it was announced that Winehouse's family had signed a deal with Monumental Pictures to make a biopic about her life, which will be directed by Alison Owen and produced by Debra Hayward. Winehouse's story will be adapted for the big screen by Geoff Deane, who has written comedy movies Kinky Boots (2005) and It's a Boy Girl Thing (2006). The project was scheduled to start filming in early 2019 and the funds are allegedly going towards the foundation.
Musical
On 9 October 2017, it was announced by Winehouse's father Mitch that a West End/Broadway musical on Amy is in the works. Mitch Winehouse revealed the news at the Amy Winehouse Foundation Gala event in London.
Personal life
Winehouse was raised Jewish and expressed pride in being Jewish, although she was not religious. During one interview, Winehouse said "being Jewish to me is about being together as a real family. It's not about lighting candles and saying a bracha." Winehouse also frequently performed with a large Star of David medallion.
In 2013, in memory of Winehouse the Jewish Museum London ran an exhibition titled "Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait". The museum researched about her paternal great-great-grandfather's arrival from Minsk in 1890, and how the family finally settled in London, starting out in working-class jobs before gradually moving to middle-class jobs.
Winehouse had 14 known tattoos, including "Daddy's Girl" on her left arm for her father and a pin-up girl with the name "Cynthia" on her right arm in memory of her Jewish grandmother.
Relationships
Winehouse dated chef-musician Alex Clare (sometimes referred to as Alex Claire) in 2006, while on a break from her on-off boyfriend and future husband, Blake Fielder-Civil. She and Clare lived together briefly, and in a pattern that Fielder-Civil would later repeat, Clare sold his story to the News of the World, which published it under the headline "Bondage Crazed Amy Just Can't Beehive in Bed."
Fielder-Civil, a former video production assistant, had dropped out of Bourne Grammar School and, aged 16, moved to London from his native Lincolnshire. He married Winehouse on 18 May 2007, in Miami Beach, Florida. In a June 2007 interview, Winehouse admitted she could sometimes be violent toward him after she had been drinking, saying: "If he says one thing I don't like, then I'll chin him." In August 2007, they were photographed, bloodied and bruised, in the streets of London after an alleged fight, although she contended her injuries were self-inflicted. Winehouse's parents and in-laws publicly reported their numerous concerns, the latter citing fears that the two might commit suicide. Fielder-Civil's father encouraged fans to boycott Winehouse's music, and Mitch Winehouse said this would not help. Fielder-Civil was quoted in a British tabloid as saying he introduced Winehouse to crack cocaine and heroin. During a visit with Mitch Winehouse at the prison in July 2008, Fielder-Civil reportedly said that he and Winehouse would cut themselves to ease the pain of withdrawal.
From 21 July 2008 to 25 February 2009, Fielder-Civil was imprisoned following his guilty plea on charges of trying to pervert the course of justice and of grievous bodily harm with intent. The incident, in July 2007, involved his assault of a pub landlord that broke the victim's cheek. According to the prosecution, the landlord accepted £200,000 as part of a deal to "effectively throw the [court] case and not turn up," and he testified that the money belonged to Winehouse, but she pulled out of a meeting with the men involved in the plot, to attend an awards ceremony. Mitch Winehouse, as manager of his daughter's money, has denied the payoff came from her.
When Winehouse was spotted with aspiring actor Josh Bowman on holiday in Saint Lucia, in early January 2009, she said she was "in love again, and I don't need drugs." She commented that her "whole marriage was based on doing drugs" and that "for the time being I've just forgotten I'm even married." On 12 January, Winehouse's spokesman confirmed that "papers have been received" for what Fielder-Civil's solicitor has said are divorce proceedings based on a claim of adultery. In March, Winehouse was quoted in a magazine as saying, "I still love Blake and I want him to move into my new house with me—that was my plan all along ... I won't let him divorce me. He's the male version of me and we're perfect for each other." Nonetheless, an uncontested divorce was granted on 16 July 2009 and became final on 28 August 2009. Fielder-Civil received no money in the settlement.
She was in a relationship with a British writer and director of films, Reg Traviss, from early 2010 until she died. According to media reports and a biography written by Winehouse's father, Traviss and Winehouse had planned to marry and intended to have children.
After Winehouse's death, Pete Doherty said that he and Winehouse had been lovers at one point. However, in July 2008, when Rolling Stone reporter Claire Hoffman asked Winehouse about her relationship with Doherty, Winehouse replied: "We're just good friends", and added: "I asked Pete to do a concept EP, and he made this face, he looked at me like I'd pooed on the floor. He wouldn't do it. We're just really close".
Substance abuse and mental illness
Winehouse's battles with substance abuse were the subject of much media attention. In 2005, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, and weight loss. People who saw her during the end of that year and early 2006 reported a rebound that coincided with the writing of Back to Black. Her family believes that the mid-2006 death of her grandmother, who was a stabilising influence, set her off into addiction. In August 2007, Winehouse cancelled a number of shows in the UK and Europe, citing exhaustion and ill health. She was hospitalised during this period for what was reported as an overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol. In various interviews, she admitted to having problems with self-harm, depression, and eating disorders.
Winehouse told a magazine that the drugs were to blame for her hospitalisation and that "I really thought that it was over for me then." Soon afterwards, Winehouse's father commented that when he had made public statements regarding her problems he was using the media because it seemed the only way to get through to her. In an interview with The Album Chart Show on British television, Winehouse said she was manic depressive and not alcoholic, adding that that sounded like "an alcoholic in denial". A US reporter writes that Winehouse was a "victim of mental illness in a society that doesn't understand or respond to mental illness with great effectiveness."
In December 2007, Winehouse's spokesman reported that the singer was in a physician-supervised programme and was channelling her difficulties by writing a lot of music. The British tabloid The Sun posted a video of a woman, alleged to be Winehouse, apparently smoking crack cocaine and speaking of having taken ecstasy and valium. Winehouse's father moved in with her, and Island Records, her record label, announced the abandonment of plans for an American promotion campaign on her behalf. In late January 2008, Winehouse reportedly entered a rehabilitation facility for a two-week treatment program.
On 23 January 2008, the video was passed on to the Metropolitan Police, who questioned her on 5 February. No charges were brought. On 26 March 2008, Winehouse's spokesman said she was "doing well". Her record company reportedly believed that her recovery remained fragile. By late April 2008, her erratic behaviourincluding an allegation of assaultcaused fear that her drug rehabilitation efforts had been unsuccessful. Winehouse's father and manager then sought to have her detained under the Mental Health Act of 1983. Her dishevelled appearance during and after a scheduled club night in September 2008 prompted new rumours of a relapse. Photographers were quoted as saying she appeared to have cuts on her arms and legs.
According to her physician, Winehouse quit using illegal substances in 2008. In an October 2010 interview, speaking of her decision to quit drugs, Winehouse said, "I literally woke up one day and was like, 'I don't want to do this any more. However, alcohol emerged as a problem, with Winehouse abstaining for a few weeks and then lapsing into alcohol abuse. Her physician said that Winehouse was treated with Librium for alcohol withdrawal and anxiety and underwent psychological and psychiatric evaluations in 2010, but refused psychological therapy.
Violence and legal difficulties
In 2006, Winehouse admitted to punching a female fan in the face for criticising her having taken Blake Fielder-Civil as a husband. She then attacked her own spouse as he attempted to calm her down, kneeing him in the crotch. In October 2007, Winehouse and Fielder-Civil were arrested in Bergen, Norway, for possession of seven grams of cannabis. The couple were later released and fined 3850 kroner (around £350). Winehouse first appealed the fines, but later dropped the appeal.
On 26 April 2008, Winehouse was cautioned after she admitted to police she slapped a 38-year-old man in the face, a "common assault" offence, her first of two. She voluntarily turned herself in and was held overnight. Police said, at her arrival she was "in no fit state" to be interviewed. Ten days later, Winehouse was arrested on suspicion of possessing drugs after a video of her apparently smoking crack cocaine was passed to the police in January, but was released on bail a few hours later because they could not confirm, from the video, what she was smoking. The Crown Prosecution Service considered charging her, but cleared her when it could not establish that the substance in the video was a controlled drug. Some members of Parliament reacted negatively. Two London residents were subsequently charged with conspiracy to supply cocaine and ecstasy to Winehouse. One of the pair was sentenced to two years in prison on 13 December 2008, while the other received a two-year community order.
On 5 March 2009, Winehouse was arrested and charged with common assault following a claim by dancer Sherene Flash that Winehouse hit her in the eye at the September 2008 Prince's Trust charity ball. Winehouse's spokesperson announced the cancellation of the singer's US Coachella Festival appearance in light of the new legal issue, and Winehouse appeared in court on 17 March to enter her plea of not guilty. On 23 July, her trial began with prosecutor Lyall Thompson charging that Winehouse acted with "deliberate and unjustifiable violence" while appearing to be under the influence of alcohol or another substance. She testified that she did not punch Flash, but tried to push her away because she was scared of her; she cited her worry that Flash would sell her story to a tabloid, Flash's height advantage, and Flash's "rude" behaviour. On 24 July, District Judge Timothy Workman ruled that Winehouse was not guilty, citing the facts that all but two of the witnesses were intoxicated at the time of the incident and that medical evidence did not show "the sort of injury that often occurs when there is a forceful punch to the eye."
On 19 December 2009, Winehouse was arrested for a third time on charges of common assault, plus another charge of public order offence after assaulting the front-of-house manager of the Milton Keynes Theatre after he asked her to move from her seat. Winehouse pled guilty to the charges and was given a conditional discharge.
Paparazzi
With the paparazzi taking photographs of her wherever they could, Winehouse obtained an injunction against a leading paparazzi agency, Big Pictures, under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997; the resultant court order issued by the High Court in 2009 banned them from following her. Photographers were also banned from following her within 100 metres of her London home and photographing Winehouse in her home or the homes of her friends and relatives. According to a newspaper report, sources close to the singer said legal action was taken out of concern for the safety of Winehouse and those close to her.
Respiratory and other health problems
On 23 June 2008, Winehouse's publicist corrected earlier misstatements by Mitch Winehouse that his daughter had early stage emphysema, instead claiming she had signs of what could lead to early-stage emphysema. Mitch Winehouse had also stated that his daughter's lungs were operating at 70 percent capacity and that she had an irregular heartbeat. He said that these problems had been caused by her chain smoking crack cocaine. The singer's father also reported that doctors had warned Winehouse that, if she continued smoking crack cocaine, she would have to wear an oxygen mask and would eventually die. In a radio interview, Mitch Winehouse said the singer was responding "fabulously" to treatment, which included being covered with nicotine patches. British Lung Foundation spokesman Keith Prowse noted this type of condition could be managed with treatment. Prowse also said the condition was not normal for a person her age but "heavy smoking and inhaling other substances like drugs can age the lungs prematurely." Norman H. Edelman of the American Lung Association explained that if she stopped smoking, her lung functions would decline at the rate of a normal person, but continued smoking would lead to a more rapid decline in lung function.
Winehouse was released from the London Clinic 24 hours after returning from a temporary leave to perform at Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday and at a concert in Glastonbury, and continued receiving treatment as an outpatient. In July 2008, Winehouse stated that she had been diagnosed with "some areas of emphysema" and said she was getting herself together by "eating loads of healthy food, sleeping loads, playing my guitar, making music and writing letters to my husband every day." She also kept a vertical tanning bed in her flat. Winehouse began precautionary testing on her lungs and chest on 25 October 2008 at the London Clinic for what was reported as a chest infection. Winehouse was in and out of the facility and was granted permission to set her own schedule regarding home leave. She returned to the hospital on 23 November 2008 for a reported reaction to her medication.
Death
Winehouse's bodyguard said that he had arrived at her residence three days before her death and felt she had been somewhat intoxicated. He observed moderate drinking over the next few days, and said she had been "laughing, listening to music and watching TV at 2 a.m. the day of her death". At 10 a.m. BST on 23 July 2011, he observed her lying on her bed and tried unsuccessfully to rouse her. This did not raise much suspicion because she usually slept late after a night out. According to the bodyguard, shortly after 3p.m., he checked on her again and observed her lying in the same position as before, leading to a further check, in which he concluded that she was not breathing and had no pulse; he said he called emergency services. At 3:54p.m., two ambulances were called to Winehouse's home in Camden, London. Winehouse was pronounced dead at the scene, at the age of 27. Shortly afterwards, the Metropolitan Police confirmed that she had died.
After her death was announced, media and camera crews appeared, as crowds gathered near Winehouse's residence to pay their respects. Forensic investigators entered the flat as police cordoned off the street outside; they recovered one small and two large bottles of vodka from her room. After her death, the singer broke her second Guinness World Record: for the most songs by a woman to simultaneously appear on the UK singles chart, with eight.
A coroner's inquest reached a verdict of misadventure. The report released on 26 October 2011 explained that Winehouse's blood alcohol content was 416 per 100 (0.416%) at the time of her death, more than five times the legal drink-drive limit. According to the coroner, "The unintended consequences of such potentially fatal levels was her sudden death."
Winehouse's record label, Universal Republic, released a statement that read in part: "We are deeply saddened at the sudden loss of such a gifted musician, artist and performer." Many musical artists have since paid tribute to Winehouse including U2, M.I.A., Lady Gaga, Marianne Faithfull, Bruno Mars, Nicki Minaj, Keisha Buchanan, Rihanna, George Michael, Adele, Kelly Clarkson, Courtney Love, and the punk rock band Green Day, who wrote a song in her tribute titled "Amy". In her 2012 album Banga, singer Patti Smith released "This Is the Girl", written as an homage to Winehouse. Mark Ronson dedicated his UK number-one album Uptown Special to Winehouse, stating: "I'm always thinking of you and inspired by you." Winehouse did not leave a will; her estate was inherited by her parents. Winehouse's parents set up the Amy Winehouse Foundation to prevent harm from drug misuse among young people; her brother Alex is an employee.
On 17 December 2012, British authorities reopened the probe into Winehouse's death. On 8 January 2013, a second inquest confirmed that Winehouse died of accidental alcohol poisoning. In a June 2013 interview, Alex Winehouse revealed his belief that his sister's eating disorder, and the consequent physical weakness, was the primary cause of her death:
Funeral
Family and friends attended Winehouse's private funeral on 26 July 2011 at Edgwarebury Lane Cemetery in north London. Her mother and father, Janis and Mitch Winehouse, close friends Nick Grimshaw and Kelly Osbourne, producer Mark Ronson, goddaughter Dionne Bromfield and her boyfriend Reg Traviss were among those in attendance at the private service led by Rabbi Frank Hellner. Her father delivered the eulogy, saying "Goodnight, my angel, sleep tight. Mummy and Daddy love you ever so much." Carole King's "So Far Away" closed the service with mourners singing along. She was later cremated at Golders Green Crematorium. The family planned to sit a two-day shiva. On 16 September 2012, Winehouse's ashes were buried alongside her grandmother's, Cynthia Levy at Edgwarebury Lane Cemetery.
Posthumous retrospectives
Winehouse's parents have each written memoirs about their daughter and donated the proceeds from both books to the Amy Winehouse Foundation. In the introduction to Mitch Winehouse's biography, entitled Amy: My Daughter (2012), he explained: "Apart from being her father, I was also her friend, confidant and adviser—not that she always took my advice, but she always heard me out." Her mother Janis published Loving Amy: A Mother's Story, in 2014.
An exhibit of Winehouse's personal items, co-curated by her brother and sister-in-law, entitled Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait, was on display at the Jewish Museum London from 3 July 2013 until 15 September 2013, and later exhibited in San Francisco, 23 July 2015 to 1 November 2015. Display items, such as books and music, were featured together with captions written by Winehouse's brother.
In late 2011, there were reports that Winehouse's former boyfriend, Reg Traviss, was developing a film about her. Winehouse's father Mitch Winehouse, who owns the copyright to his daughter's music, said he would not authorise the use of her music for the film.
Winehouse is the subject of Amy (2015), a documentary directed by Asif Kapadia and produced by James Gay-Rees, Kapadia, and Universal Music. Kapadia and Gay-Rees introduced the project at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. The film debuted at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and won the 2016 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
In 2018, a documentary film based on Winehouse's album Back to Black, Amy Winehouse – Back to Black was released. It contains new interviews as well as archival footage. It was made by Eagle Vision and produced by Gil Cang. Released on DVD on 2 November 2018, the film features interviews by producers Ronson & Remi, who worked half and half on the album, along with the Dap Kings, Remi's music team, Ronnie Spector from the Ronettes and close ones to Winehouse, including Nick Shymansky, Juliette Ashby and Dionne Bromfield. The film is accompanied by An Intimate Evening in London, footage of a show Winehouse gave at Riverside Studios, London in 2008. In February 2019, Salaam Remi released a compilation album including the song "Find My Love" which is a posthumous collaboration between Winehouse and rapper Nas.
In 2020, an exhibition entitled Beyond Black – The Style of Amy Winehouse opened at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles. The exhibit mainly explores Winehouse's style and fashion, displaying her outfits such as her iconic dresses, shoes, hair accessories, her makeup bag as well as Winehouse's personal belongings including her Grammy awards from 2008, handwritten lyrics, records and unseen home videos. The exhibition went on display in the U.S. from 17 January 2020 until 13 April 2020. In November 2021, various of Winehouse's personal items and famous dresses would later be auctioned at Julien's Auctions in Los Angeles and made more than £3m, 30% going to the Amy Winehouse Foundation. A follow-up exhibition Amy: Beyond the Stage opened on 26 November 2021 at the Design Museum in Kensington, London which also presented some of Winehouse's personal belongings and focus on her fashion sense, as well as paying homage to her musical career.
In July 2021, a new documentary entitled Reclaiming Amy aired on BBC Two to mark the 10th anniversary of Winehouse's death. The film was primarily based on the perspective and narrated by her mother Janis Winehouse-Collins and included intimate stories of those who were close to Winehouse until the end of her life, including close friends Naomi Parry (Amy's stylist), Catriona Gourlay and Chantelle Dusette.
Discography
Frank (2003)
Back to Black (2006)
Lioness: Hidden Treasures (2011)
Filmography
Amy (2015)
Amy Winehouse: Back to Black (2018)
Reclaiming Amy (2021)
See also
List of deaths through alcohol
References
Sources
Further reading
External links
Amy Winehouse collected news and commentary at The New York Times
Amy Winehouse Foundation - Charity Commission for England and Wales
1983 births
2011 deaths
20th-century English singers
20th-century English women singers
21st-century English singers
21st-century English women singers
Alcohol-related deaths in England
Alumni of the Sylvia Young Theatre School
Brit Award winners
British women jazz singers
English contraltos
English jazz singers
English Jews
Belarusian Jews
English people convicted of assault
English people of Polish-Jewish descent
English people of Russian-Jewish descent
English rhythm and blues singers
English soul singers
English women guitarists
English guitarists
Golders Green Crematorium
Grammy Award winners
Ivor Novello Award winners
Jewish English musicians
Jewish jazz musicians
Jewish singers
Jewish songwriters
MTV Europe Music Award winners
National Youth Jazz Orchestra members
Neo soul singers
People educated at the BRIT School
People educated at Susi Earnshaw Theatre School
People from the London Borough of Camden
People from Southgate, London
People with bipolar disorder
Republic Records artists
Singers from London
World Music Awards winners
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"\"What Do I Have to Do\" is a song performed by Australian singer and songwriter Kylie Minogue taken from her third studio album, Rhythm of Love (1990). The song was written and produced by Stock, Aitken & Waterman. Originally, the song was planned to be released after the single \"Better the Devil You Know\", but instead \"Step Back in Time\" was released and this was released as the third single on 21 January 1991. The song received positive reviews from most music critics, who thought the song was an instant rave classic.\n\nThe song peaked at number eleven in her native Australia. The song did however peak at number six in the United Kingdom, becoming a success there. The song was also hit in France and The Netherlands.\n\nThe song has been performed on most of Minogue's concert tours, including her Rhythm of Love Tour, Let's Get to It Tour and Intimate and Live Tour. The song has also been performed at the Showgirl: The Greatest Hits Tour and the Homecoming Tour, and has been most recently been performed at her Aphrodite World Tour.\n\nBackground\nThere are three official promotional mixes of the song. The early unreleased first version is synth orienated and has multilayered vocals. Much of the synth was omitted and the drums, bass and vocals were toned down for the second album version. The third version, the 7\" Mix, contains a newer drum track, multilayered vocals in the chorus and relies much less on the synthesizers than on the album version. This version of the song also contains samples from American comedian Sam Kinison, and was used for the music video. In the UK a limited edition 7″ single came with postcards with shots from the video.\n\nOriginally, \"What Do I Have To Do\" was planned to be released as the follow-up single to \"Better the Devil You Know\", but was later released as the third single off the album instead, and the track was specially remixed for single release. The 1999 biographical book Girl Next Door identified this track as Kylie's favourite to perform live.\n\nThe single artwork was photographed by Robert Erdmann.\n\nReception\n\nCritical response\n\"What Do I Have To Do?\" received very positive reviews from many music critics. Jason Shawahn from About.com said the song, along with \"Better The Devil You Know\" and \"Wouldn't Change a Thing\", \"are nothing if not pop masterpieces.\" He also labeled it as a \"pop classic\". Quentin Harrison from Albumism noted it as \"luxuriant electro-pop\", adding that Ian Curnow and Phil Harding \"rework it into an appetizing, but accessible house ditty that emphasizes unity between the single's beat and Minogue's supple vocal.\" While reviewing Rhythm of Love, Chris True from AllMusic highlighted the song as an album standout. NME voted it as the thirtieth best track of 1991. Eleanor Levy from Record Mirror described it as \"more mature, in a Hi-NRG, Bronski Beatish way.\" She added, \"More straightforward rhythm than formula pop song, it fizzes predictably rather than sparkles but, like Kylie's ever-elongating fringe, will no doubt grow and grow.\" Caroline Sullivan from Smash Hits called it \"supreme\", and said the song \"sees a return to the reassuring old Kylie-sound\". While reviewing Ultimate Kylie, Mark Edwards from Stylus Magazine gave it a positive remark, saying that along with \"Shocked\" and \"Give Me Just a Little More Time\", they \"were great songs and suddenly Kylie was a little bit cool.\"\n\nChart performance\n\"What Do I Have to Do\" debuted at number twenty-seven on the Australian Singles Chart, until rising and peaking at number eleven, staying there for two consecutive weeks. The song then debuted at number ninety-nine on the Dutch Top 40, until peaking at number eighty-one for one week. The song then debuted and peaked at number fifty on the French Singles Chart.\n\nImpact and legacy\nEnglish DJ and record producer Nicky Holloway chose \"What Do I Have to Do\" as one of his top 10 vinyl thrills in 1996, saying, \"I've had so much fun with this over the years. You don't realise what you're dancing to until it's too late to stop! It's got a long intro so people are dancing away and don't realise that it's Kylie Minogue until they're sucked into it.\"\n\nMusic video\n\nThe music video for the song was directed by Dave Hogan. In relation to this video, Minogue is quoted as saying \"how many Hollywood stars can you look like in three and a half minutes...\". Her younger sister Dannii Minogue also appears in the video. The music video begins with clips of the dance scene intercut with Minogue emerging from a swimming pool and her love interest seeing her with another man. The love interest is played by Zane O'Donnell, the same model who would appear in the video for Minogue's subsequent single \"Shocked\". \nMinogue then goes out to the balcony overlooking a fairground and the man follows. The video then shifts to the man watching Minogue dancing with a female friend in a club. The next scene is Minogue waking up in her lover's bed as he prepares to leave the bedroom. After this, Minogue singing on the bed is intercut with scenes of her singing and dancing in front of a white backdrop. The video goes back to her and her friend having fun in the club as the man stares at her again. Later, she sits on the bench overlooking the scene and takes a glance at a lookalike of her lover next to her. Following this, she gets up to dance as the man watches. Finally, she gets a tattoo of a black panther on her back and shows it to her lover. The video concludes with all of Minogue's performance scenes intercut with her doing the ironing in a Gingham Apron and on a date with her lover. The final shot is of Minogue and her lover walking across a bridge.\n\nWhile reviewing the DVD version of Greatest Hits for Amazon.co.uk, John Galilee said \"Her most outrageous but greatest video moment is where she parodies certain movie stars in the chic video for \"What Do I Have to Do?\", and because of her heavy eye make-up almost earns herself the title drag-queen Kylie (watch out for sister Dannii who briefly stars in the video, wearing a blonde wig).\"\n\nFormats and track listings\nThese are the formats and track listings of major single releases of \"What Do I Have to Do\".\n\n 7\" vinyl single\n \"What Do I Have to Do\" (7\" Mix) – 3:32\n \"What Do I Have to Do\" (Instrumental) – 3:48\n\n 12\" vinyl single\n \"What Do I Have to Do\" (Pumpin' Mix) – 7:48\n \"What Do I Have to Do\" (Extended Instrumental) – 5:08\n\n CD single\n \"What Do I Have to Do\" (7\" Mix) – 3:32\n \"What Do I Have to Do\" (Pumpin' Mix) – 7:48\n \"What Do I Have to Do\" (Extended Instrumental) – 5:08\n\n iTunes Digital EP – Remixes\n(Not available at time of original release. Released for the first time as part of iTunes PWL archive release in 2009)\n \"What Do I Have to Do\" (12\" Instrumental)\n \"What Do I Have to Do\" (7\" Mix)\n \"What Do I Have to Do\" (7\" Backing Track)\n \"What Do I Have to Do\" (7\" Instrumental)\n \"What Do I Have to Do\" (Album Backing Track)\n \"What Do I Have to Do\" (Album Instrumental)\n \"What Do I Have to Do\" (Between the Sheets Mix)\n \"What Do I Have to Do\" (Extended Album Mix)\n \"What Do I Have to Do\" (Movers & Shakers 12\" Backing Track)\n \"What Do I Have to Do\" (Movers & Shakers 12\" Instrumental)\n \"What Do I Have to Do\" (Movers & Shakers 7\" Backing Track)\n \"What Do I Have to Do\" (Movers & Shakers 7\" Instrumental)\n \"What Do I Have to Do\" (Movers & Shakers 7\" Mix)\n \"What Do I Have to Do\" (Movers & Shakers 12\" Mix)\n \"What Do I Have to Do\" (Movers & Shakers Do the Dub)\n \"What Do I Have to Do\" (Pumpin' Mix)\n\n iTunes Digital EP – The Original Synth Mixes (released 8 November 2010)\n \"What Do I Have to Do\" (Billy The Fish Mix: Part I) 3:44\n \"What Do I Have to Do\" (Billy The Fish Mix: Part II) 7:30\n \"What Do I Have to Do\" (Original 12\" Mix) 7:09\n \"What Do I Have to Do\" (Extended Album Mix II) 8:42\n\n iTunes Digital EP – What Do I Have to Do?\n \"What Do I Have to Do\" (7\" Mix) — 3:33\n \"What Do I Have to Do\" (Pumpin' Mix) — 7:47\n \"What Do I Have to Do\" (Extended Album Mix) — 8:07\n \"What Do I Have to Do\" (7\" Instrumental) — 3:33\n \"What Do I Have to Do\" (Extended Instrumental) — 5:07\n \"What Do I Have to Do\" (7\" Backing Track) — 3:33\n \"What Do I Have to Do\" (Album Instrumental) — 3:43\n \"What Do I Have to Do\" (Album Backing Track) — 3:43\n \"Things Can Only Get Better\" (Album Instrumental) — 3:55\n \"Things Can Only Get Better\" (Album Backing Track) — 3:55\n\nLive performances\nMinogue performed the song on the following concert tours:\n Rhythm of Love Tour\n Let's Get to It Tour\n Intimate and Live Tour\n On a Night Like This Tour\n Showgirl: The Greatest Hits Tour (as part of the \"Smiley Kylie Medley\")\n Showgirl: The Homecoming Tour (as part of the \"Everything Taboo Medley\")\n For You, for Me (as part of the \"Everything Taboo Medley\")\n Aphrodite World Tour\nSummer 2019\n\nThe song was also performed on:\n An Audience with Kylie Minogue 2001 TV special, performed as part of the hits medley.\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nReferences\n\n1991 singles\nKylie Minogue songs\nSong recordings produced by Stock Aitken Waterman\nSongs written by Mike Stock (musician)\nSongs written by Matt Aitken\nSongs written by Pete Waterman\n1990 songs\nMushroom Records singles\nPete Waterman Entertainment singles\nTorch songs\nEurodance songs",
"\"What Do the Lonely Do at Christmas\" is a song recorded by R&B group the Emotions, released in 1973 by Stax Records. The single peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay Recurrents chart in 2006.\n\nOverview\n\"What Do the Lonely Do at Christmas\" was produced by Al Bell. The song was composed by Carl Hampton and Homer Banks. The single's B-side was an instrumental version of \"What Do the Lonely Do at Christmas\".\n\n\"What Do the Lonely Do at Christmas\" also appeared on the Emotions 2004 compilation album Songs of Innocence and Experience.\n\nCritical reception\nAllen Thayer of Wax Poetics called What Do the Lonely Do at Christmas \"a killer soul song that happens to be set at Christmas time and includes some subtle yet tasteful aural accents to give it that wintery, cold, and lonely feel.\"\n\nCovers\nWhat Do the Lonely Do at Christmas has been covered by Patti LaBelle on her 2007 album Miss Patti's Christmas and Anthony Hamilton on his 2014 album Home for the Holidays.\n\nReferences\n\n1973 singles\nThe Emotions songs\nStax Records singles\nAmerican Christmas songs"
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[
"Amy Winehouse",
"Substance abuse and mental illness",
"What substance problems did Amy Winehouse have?",
"In 2005, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, and weight loss.",
"What did the press say about her drinking and drug use?",
"A US reporter writes that Winehouse was a \"victim of mental illness in a society that doesn't understand or respond to mental illness with great effectiveness.\"",
"What help did Winehouse get for her problems?",
"She was hospitalised during this period for what was reported as an overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol.",
"What did her family do at this time?",
"Winehouse's father commented that when he had made public statements regarding her problems he was using the media because it seemed the only way to get through to her."
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Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?
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Besides Amy Winehouse's father's comments on reaching out to Amy, are there any other interesting aspects about this article?
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Amy Winehouse
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Winehouse's battles with substance abuse were the subject of much media attention. In 2005, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, and weight loss. People who saw her during the end of that year and early 2006 reported a rebound that coincided with the writing of Back to Black. Her family believes that the mid-2006 death of her grandmother, who was a stabilising influence, set her off into addiction. In August 2007, Winehouse cancelled a number of shows in the UK and Europe, citing exhaustion and ill health. She was hospitalised during this period for what was reported as an overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol. In various interviews, she admitted to having problems with self-harm, depression, and eating disorders. Winehouse told a magazine that the drugs were to blame for her hospitalisation and that "I really thought that it was over for me then." Soon afterward, Winehouse's father commented that when he had made public statements regarding her problems he was using the media because it seemed the only way to get through to her. In an interview with The Album Chart Show on British television, Winehouse said she was manic depressive and not alcoholic, adding that that sounded like "an alcoholic in denial." A US reporter writes that Winehouse was a "victim of mental illness in a society that doesn't understand or respond to mental illness with great effectiveness." In December 2007, Winehouse's spokesman reported that the singer was in a physician-supervised programme and was channelling her difficulties by writing a lot of music. The British tabloid The Sun posted a video of a woman, alleged to be Winehouse, apparently smoking crack cocaine and speaking of having taken ecstasy and valium. Winehouse's father moved in with her, and Island Records, her record label, announced the abandonment of plans for an American promotion campaign on her behalf. In late January 2008, Winehouse reportedly entered a rehabilitation facility for a two-week treatment program. On 23 January 2008, the video was passed on to the Metropolitan Police, who questioned her on 5 February. No charges were brought. On 26 March 2008, Winehouse's spokesman said she was "doing well." Her record company reportedly believed that her recovery remained fragile. By late April 2008, her erratic behaviour, including an allegation of assault, caused fear that her drug rehabilitation efforts had been unsuccessful, leading to efforts by Winehouse's father and manager to seek assistance in having her involuntarily committed. Her dishevelled appearance during and after a scheduled club night in September sparked new rumours of a relapse. Photographers were quoted as saying she appeared to have cuts on her legs and arms. According to her physician, Winehouse quit illegal substances in 2008. In an October 2010 interview, speaking of her decision to quit drugs, Winehouse said, "I literally woke up one day and was like, 'I don't want to do this any more'." Drinking alcohol emerged as a problem with Winehouse abstaining for a few weeks then lapsing. The physician said that Winehouse was treated with Librium for alcohol withdrawal and anxiety, and underwent psychological and psychiatric evaluations in 2010, but refused psychological therapy. CANNOTANSWER
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The Sun posted a video of a woman, alleged to be Winehouse, apparently smoking crack cocaine and speaking of having taken ecstasy and valium.
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Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was a British singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz.
A member of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra during her youth, Winehouse signed to Simon Fuller's 19 Management in 2002 and soon recorded a number of songs before signing a publishing deal with EMI. She also formed a working relationship with producer Salaam Remi through these record publishers. Winehouse's debut album, Frank, was released in 2003. Many of the album's songs were influenced by jazz and, apart from two covers, were co-written by Winehouse. Frank was a critical success in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize. The song "Stronger Than Me" won her the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors.
Winehouse released her follow-up album, Back to Black, in 2006, which went on to become an international success and one of the best-selling albums in UK history. At the 2007 Brit Awards it was nominated for British Album of the Year, and she received the award for British Female Solo Artist. The song "Rehab" won her a second Ivor Novello Award. At the 50th Grammy Awards in 2008, she won five awards, tying the then record for the most wins by a female artist in a single night and becoming the first British woman to win five Grammys, including three of the General Field "Big Four" Grammy Awards: Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year (for "Rehab"), as well as Best Pop Vocal Album.
Winehouse was plagued by drug and alcohol addiction. She died of alcohol poisoning on 23 July 2011, at the age of 27. After her death, Back to Black temporarily became the UK's best-selling album of the 21st century. VH1 ranked Winehouse 26th on their list of the 100 Greatest Women in Music.
Early life
Amy Jade Winehouse was born on 14 September 1983 at Chase Farm Hospital in Gordon Hill, Enfield, to Jewish parents. Her father, Mitchell "Mitch" Winehouse, was a window panel installer and taxi driver; her mother, Janis Winehouse (née Seaton), was a pharmacist, who suffers from multiple sclerosis. The great-great-grandfather of Amy Harris Winehouse emigrated from Minsk, Belarus to London in 1891. She had an older brother, Alex (born 1979), and the family lived in London's Southgate area, where she attended Osidge Primary School. Winehouse attended a Jewish Sunday school while she was a child. During an interview following her rise to fame, she expressed her dismissal towards the school by saying that she used to beg her father to permit her not to go and that she learned nothing about being Jewish by going anyway. In the same interview, Winehouse said she only went to a synagogue once a year on Yom Kippur "out of respect".
Many of Winehouse's maternal uncles were professional jazz musicians. Amy's paternal grandmother, Cynthia, was a singer and dated the English jazz saxophonist Ronnie Scott. She and Amy's parents influenced Amy's interest in jazz. Her father, Mitch, often sang Frank Sinatra songs to her, and whenever she got chastised at school, she would sing "Fly Me to the Moon" before going up to the headmistress to be told off. Winehouse's parents separated when she was nine, and she lived with her mother and stayed with her father and his girlfriend in Hatfield Heath, Essex, on weekends.
In 1992, her grandmother Cynthia suggested that Amy attend the Susi Earnshaw Theatre School, where she went on Saturdays to further her vocal education and to learn to tap dance. She attended the school for four years and founded a short-lived rap group called Sweet 'n' Sour, with Juliette Ashby, her childhood friend, before seeking full-time training at Sylvia Young Theatre School. Several years later it was reported that Winehouse had been expelled at 14 for "not applying herself" and also for piercing her nose, but these claims were denied by Sylvia Young: "She changed schools at 15...I've heard it said she was expelled; she wasn't. I'd never have expelled Amy." Mitch Winehouse also denied the claims. She attended the Mount School, Mill Hill and the BRIT School in Selhurst, Croydon, dropping out at age 16.
After toying around with her brother Alex's guitar, Winehouse bought her own when she was 14 and began writing music shortly afterwards. Soon after she began working for a living, as an entertainment journalist for the World Entertainment News Network and also singing with local group the Bolsha Band. In July 2000, she became the featured female vocalist with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. She was influenced by Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington, the latter of whom she was already listening to at home. Winehouse's best friend, soul singer Tyler James, sent her demo tape to an A&R person.
Career
2002–2005: Career beginnings and Frank
Winehouse was signed to Simon Fuller's 19 Management in 2002 and was paid £250 a week against future earnings. While being developed by the management company, Winehouse was kept as a recording industry secret, although she was a regular jazz standards singer at the Cobden Club. Her future A&R representative at Island, Darcus Beese, heard of her by accident when the manager of The Lewinson Brothers showed him some productions of his clients, which featured Winehouse as key vocalist. When he asked who the singer was, the manager told him he was not allowed to say. Having decided that he wanted to sign her, it took several months of asking around for Beese to eventually discover who the singer was. However, Winehouse had already recorded a number of songs and signed a publishing deal with EMI by this time. Incidentally, she formed a working relationship with producer Salaam Remi through these record publishers.
Beese introduced Winehouse to his boss, Nick Gatfield; the Island head shared his enthusiasm in signing the young artist. Winehouse was signed to Island, as rival interest in her had started to build with representatives of EMI and Virgin starting to make moves. Beese told HitQuarters that he felt the excitement over an artist who was an atypical pop star for the time was due to a backlash against reality TV music shows, which included audiences starved for fresh, genuine young talent.
Winehouse's debut album, Frank, was released on 20 October 2003. Produced mainly by Salaam Remi, many songs were influenced by jazz and, apart from two covers, Winehouse co-wrote every song. The album received critical acclaim with compliments given to the "cool, critical gaze" in its lyrics. Winehouse's voice was compared with those of Sarah Vaughan and Macy Gray, among others.
The album entered the upper reaches of the UK album chart in 2004 when it was nominated for the Brit Awards in the categories of "British Female Solo Artist" and "British Urban Act." It went on to achieve platinum sales. Later in 2004, she and Remi won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song, for their first single together, "Stronger Than Me." The album was also shortlisted for the 2004 Mercury Music Prize. In the same year, she performed at the Glastonbury Festival – Jazzworld, the V Festival and the Montreal International Jazz Festival. After the release of the album, Winehouse commented that she was "only 80 percent behind [the] album" because Island Records had overruled her preferences for the songs and mixes to be included. The further singles from the album were "Take the Box," "In My Bed"/"You Sent Me Flying" and "Pumps"/"Help Yourself."
2006–2008: Back to Black and international success
After the release of her first jazz-influenced album, Winehouse's focus shifted to the girl groups of the 1950s and 1960s. Winehouse hired New York singer Sharon Jones's longtime band, the Dap-Kings, to back her up in the studio and on tour. Mitch Winehouse relates in Amy, My Daughter how fascinating watching her process was: her perfectionism in the studio and how she would put what she had sung on a CD and play it in his taxi outside to know how most people would hear her music. In May 2006, Winehouse's demo tracks such as "You Know I'm No Good" and "Rehab" appeared on Mark Ronson's New York radio show on East Village Radio. These were some of the first new songs played on the radio after the release of "Pumps" and both were slated to appear on her second album. The 11-track album, completed in five months, was produced entirely by Salaam Remi and Ronson, with the production credits being split between them. Ronson said in a 2010 interview that he liked working with Winehouse because she was blunt when she did not like his work. She in turn thought that when they first met, he was a sound engineer and that she was expecting an older man with a beard.
Promotion of Back to Black soon began and, in early October 2006 Winehouse's official website was relaunched with a new layout and clips of previously unreleased songs. Back to Black was released in the UK on 30 October 2006. It went to number one on the UK Albums Chart for two weeks in January 2007, dropping then climbing back for several weeks in February. In the US, it entered at number seven on the Billboard 200. It was the best-selling album in the UK of 2007, selling 1.85million copies over the course of the year. The first single released from the album was the Ronson-produced "Rehab." The song reached the top ten in the UK and the US. Time magazine named "Rehab" the Best Song of 2007. Writer Josh Tyrangiel praised Winehouse for her confidence, saying, "What she is is mouthy, funny, sultry, and quite possibly crazy" and "It's impossible not to be seduced by her originality. Combine it with production by Mark Ronson that references four decades worth of soul music without once ripping it off, and you've got the best song of 2007." The album's second single and lead single in the US, "You Know I'm No Good," was released in January 2007 with a remix featuring rap vocals by Ghostface Killah. It ultimately reached number 18 on the UK singles chart. The title track, "Back to Black," was released in the UK in April 2007 and peaked at number 25, but was more successful across mainland Europe. "Tears Dry on Their Own," "Love Is a Losing Game" were also released as singles, but failed to achieve the same level of success.
A deluxe edition of Back to Black was also released on 5 November 2007 in the UK. The bonus disc features B-sides, rare, and live tracks, as well as "Valerie." Winehouse's debut DVD I Told You I Was Trouble: Live in London was released the same day in the UK and 13 November in the US. It includes a live set recorded at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire and a 50-minute documentary charting the singer's career over the previous four years. Frank was released in the United States on 20 November 2007 to positive reviews. The album debuted at number 61 on the Billboard 200 chart. In addition to her own album, she collaborated with other artists on singles. Winehouse was a vocalist on the song "Valerie" on Ronson's solo album Version. The song peaked at number two in the UK, upon its October single release. "Valerie" was nominated for a 2008 Brit Award for "Best British Single." Her work with ex-Sugababe Mutya Buena, "B Boy Baby," was released on 17 December 2007. It served as the fourth single from Buena's debut album, Real Girl. Winehouse was also in talks of working with Missy Elliott for her album Block Party.
Winehouse promoted the release of Back to Black with headline performances in late 2006, including a Little Noise Sessions charity concert at the Union Chapel in Islington, London. On 31 December 2006, Winehouse appeared on Jools Holland's Annual Hootenanny and performed a cover of Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" along with Paul Weller and Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra. She also performed Toots and the Maytals' "Monkey Man". At his request, actor Bruce Willis introduced Winehouse before her performance of "Rehab" at the 2007 MTV Movie Awards in Universal City, California, on 3 June 2007. During the summer of 2007, she performed at various festivals, including Glastonbury Festival and Lollapalooza in Chicago.
The rest of her tour, however, did not go as well. In November 2007, the opening night of a 17-date tour was marred by booing and walkouts at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. A critic for the Birmingham Mail said it was "one of the saddest nights of my life...I saw a supremely talented artist reduced to tears, stumbling around the stage and, unforgivably, swearing at the audience." Other concerts ended similarly, with, for example, fans at her Hammersmith Apollo performance in London saying that she "looked highly intoxicated throughout," until she announced on 27 November 2007, that her performances and public appearances were cancelled for the remainder of the year, citing her doctor's advice to take a complete rest. A statement issued by concert promoter Live Nation blamed "the rigours involved in touring and the intense emotional strain that Amy has been under in recent weeks" for the decision. Mitch Winehouse wrote about her nervousness before public performances in his 2012 book, Amy, My Daughter. On 13 January 2008, Back to Black held the number-one position on the Billboard Pan European charts for the third consecutive week.
On 10 February 2008, Winehouse received five Grammy Awards, winning in the following categories: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the single "Rehab," and Best Pop Vocal Album. The singer also earned a Grammy as Best New Artist, earning her an entry in the 2009 edition of the Guinness Book of Records for Most Grammy Awards won by a British Female Act. Additionally, Back to Black was nominated for Album of the Year. Ronson's work with her won the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, in the non-classical category. She ended her acceptance speech for Record of the Year with, "This is for London because Camden town ain't burning down," in reference to the 2008 Camden Market fire. Performing "You Know I'm No Good" and "Rehab" via satellite from London's Riverside Studios at 3 a.m. UK time, she couldn't be at the ceremony in Los Angeles as her visa approval had not been processed in time.
After the Grammys, the album's sales increased, catapulting Back to Black to number two on the US Billboard 200, after it initially peaked in the seventh position. On 20 February 2008, Winehouse performed at the 2008 Brit Awards at Earls Court in London, performing "Valerie" with Mark Ronson, followed by "Love Is a Losing Game." She urged the crowd to "make some noise for my Blake." A special deluxe edition of Back to Black topped the UK album charts on 2 March 2008. Meanwhile, the original edition of the album was ranked at number 30 in its 68th week on the charts, while Frank charted at number 35.
In Paris, she performed what was described as a "well-executed 40-minute" set at the opening of a Fendi boutique in early March. By 12 March, the album had sold a total of 2,467,575 copies—318,350 copies had been sold in the previous 10 weeks—putting the album on the UK's top-10 best-selling albums of the 21st century for the first time. On 7 April, Back to Black was in the top position of the pan-European charts for the sixth consecutive and thirteenth aggregate week. Amy Winehouse – The Girl Done Good: A Documentary Review, a 78-minute DVD, was released on 14 April 2008. The documentary features interviews with those who knew her at a young age, people who helped her achieve success, jazz music experts, and music and pop-culture specialists.
At the 2008 Ivor Novello Awards in May, Winehouse became the first-ever artist to receive two nominations for the top award: Best Song Musically & Lyrically. She won the award for "Love Is a Losing Game" and was nominated for "You Know I'm No Good." "Rehab," a Novello winner for best contemporary song in 2006, also received a 2008 nomination for best-selling British song. Winehouse was also nominated for a 2008 MTV Europe Award in the "Act of the Year" category.
Although her father, manager and various members of her touring team reportedly tried to dissuade her, Winehouse performed at the Rock in Rio Lisboa festival in Portugal in May 2008. Although the set was plagued by a late arrival and problems with her voice, the crowd warmed to her. In addition to her own material she performed two Specials covers. Winehouse performed at Nelson Mandela's 90th Birthday Party concert at London's Hyde Park on 27 June 2008, and the next day at the Glastonbury Festival. On 12 July, at the Oxegen Festival in Ireland she performed a well-received 50-minute set which was followed the next day by a 14-song set at T in the Park.
On 16 August she played at the Staffordshire leg of the V Festival, and the following day played the Chelmsford leg of the festival. Organisers said that Winehouse attracted the biggest crowds of the festival. Audience reaction was reported as mixed. On 6 September, she was Bestival's Saturday headliner, where her performance was described as polished—terminated by a curfew as the show running overdue, after Winehouse started an hour late—and her storming off stage.
A clip of Winehouse's music was included in the "Roots and Influences" area that looked at connections between different artists at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex NYC, which opened in December 2008. One thread started with Billie Holiday, continued with Aretha Franklin and Mary J. Blige, and then finished with Winehouse.
Back to Black was the world's seventh-biggest-selling album of 2008. The album's sales meant that the market performance of Universal Music's recorded music division did not drop to levels experienced by the overall music market.
2009–2011: Final projects before death
In a 2009 poll of U.S. residents conducted for VisitBritain by Harris Interactive, one-fifth of the participants indicated they had listened to Winehouse's music during the previous year. She performed with Rhythms del Mundo on their cover of the Sam Cooke song, "Cupid", for an Artists Project Earth benefit album released in July that year.
Winehouse and Ronson contributed a cover of Lesley Gore's "It's My Party" to the Quincy Jones tribute album Q Soul Bossa Nostra, released in November 2010. She had agreed to form a group with Questlove of the Roots but her problems obtaining a visa delayed their working together. Salaam Remi had already created some material with Winehouse as part of the project. According to The Times, Universal Music pressed her for new material in 2008, but as of 2 September that year she had not been near a recording studio. In late October, Winehouse's spokesman was quoted as saying that Winehouse had not been given a deadline to complete her third album, for which she was learning to play drums.
In May 2009, Winehouse returned to performing at a jazz festival in St. Lucia amid torrential downpours and technical difficulties. During her set, it was reported she was unsteady on her feet and had trouble remembering lyrics. She apologised to the crowd for being "bored" and ended the set in the middle of a song. During her stay in St. Lucia, however, she worked on new music with Remi. On 23 August that year Winehouse sang with the Specials at the V Festival, on their songs "You're Wondering Now" and "Ghost Town".
Island claimed that a new album would be due for release in 2010. Island co-president Darcus Beese said, "I've heard a couple of song demos that have absolutely floored me." In July 2010, Winehouse was quoted as saying her next album would be released no later than January 2011, saying "It's going to be very much the same as my second album, where there's a lot of jukebox stuff and songs that are... just jukebox, really." Ronson, however, said at that time that he had not started to record the album. She performed "Valerie" with Ronson at a movie premiere but forgot some of the song's lyrics. In October, Winehouse performed a four-song set to promote her fashion line. In December 2010, she played a 40-minute concert at a Russian oligarch's party in Moscow, with the tycoon hand-selecting the songs.
In January 2011, Winehouse played five dates in Brazil, with opening acts of Janelle Monáe and Mayer Hawthorne. The following month she cut short a performance in Dubai following booing from the audience. Winehouse was reported to be tired, distracted and "tipsy" during the performance.
On 18 June 2011, Winehouse started her twelve-leg European tour in Belgrade. Local media described her performance as a scandal and disaster; she was booed off the stage due to her apparently being too drunk to perform. Serbian defence minister Dragan Sutanovac called Winehouse's performances "a huge shame and a disappointment". It was reported that she was unable to remember the city she was in, the lyrics of her songs or the names of the members of her band. The local press also claimed that Winehouse was forced to perform by her bodyguards, who did not allow her to leave the stage when she tried to do so. She then pulled out of performances in Istanbul and Athens, which had been scheduled for the following week. On 21 June, it was announced that she had cancelled all shows of her tour and would be given "as long as it takes" to sort herself out.
Winehouse's last public appearance took place at Camden's Roundhouse on 20 July 2011, when she made a surprise appearance on stage to support her goddaughter, Dionne Bromfield, who was singing "Mama Said" with the Wanted. Winehouse died three days later. Her last recording was a duet with American singer Tony Bennett for his album, Duets II, released on 20 September 2011. Their single from the album, "Body and Soul", was released on 14 September 2011 on MTV and VH1 to commemorate what would have been her 28th birthday.
Other ventures
Winehouse joined a campaign to stop a block of flats being built beside the George Tavern, a famous London East End music venue. Campaign supporters feared the residential development would end the spot's lucrative sideline as a film and photo location, on which it relies to survive. As part of a breast cancer awareness campaign, Winehouse appeared in a revealing photograph for the April 2008 issue of Easy Living magazine. Winehouse had an estimated £10m fortune, tying her for tenth place in the 2008 The Sunday Times listing of the wealth of musicians under age 30. The following year her fortune had dropped to an estimated £5m. Her finances are run by Mitch and Janis Winehouse. It was reported she earned about £1m singing at two private parties during Paris Fashion Week. as well as another £1m to perform at a Moscow Art Gallery for Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. Winehouse loaned a vintage dress used in her video for "Tears Dry on Their Own" as well as a DVD to the British Music Experience, a new museum dedicated to the history of British pop music. The museum, located at the O2 Arena in London, opened on 9 March 2009.
In January 2009, Winehouse announced that she was launching her own record label. The first act on her Lioness Records is Winehouse's 13-year-old goddaughter, Dionne Bromfield. Her first album, featuring covers of classic soul records, was released on 12 October 2009. Winehouse is the backing singer on several tracks on the album and she performed backing vocals for Bromfield on the BBC's television programme Strictly Come Dancing on 10 October.
Winehouse and her family are the subject of a 2009 documentary shot by Daphne Barak titled Saving Amy. Winehouse entered into a joint venture in 2009 with EMI to launch a range of wrapping paper and gift cards containing song lyrics from her album Back to Black. On 8 January 2010, a television documentary, My Daughter Amy, aired on Channel 4. Saving Amy was released as a paperback book in January 2010.
Winehouse collaborated on a 17 piece fashion collection with the Fred Perry label. It was released for sale in October 2010. According to Fred Perry's marketing director "We had three major design meetings where she was closely involved in product style selection and the application of fabric, colour and styling details," and gave "crucial input on proportion, colour and fit." The collection consists of "vintage-inspired looks including Capri pants, a bowling dress, a trench coat, pencil skirts, a longline argyle sweater and a pink-and-black checkerboard-printed collared shirt." At the behest of her family, three forthcoming collections up to and including autumn/winter 2012 that she had designed prior to her death will be released.
Awards and nominations
Among the awards and recognition for her debut album Frank, Winehouse earned an Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy of Songwriters for Best Contemporary Song ("Stronger Than Me"), a Brit Award nomination for Best British Female Solo Artist, and an inclusion in Robert Dimery's 2006 book, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Her second studio album, Back to Black, produced numerous nominations, including two Brit Awards (Best British Album, and won her Best British Female Solo Artist), six Grammy Awards (including five wins), four Ivor Novello Awards, four MTV Europe Music Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards, three World Music Awards, and it was nominated for the Mercury Prize (Album of the Year) and a MOBO Awards (Best UK Female). During her career, Winehouse received 23 awards from 60 nominations.
Critical appraisal
Winehouse was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, (sometimes labelled as blue-eyed soul and neo soul), rhythm and blues, and jazz. The BBC's Garry Mulholland called Winehouse "the pre-eminent vocal talent of her generation". According to AllMusic's Cyril Cordor, she was one of the UK's premier singers during the 2000s; "fans and critics alike embraced her rugged charm, brash sense of humor, and distinctively soulful and jazzy vocals". In The Guardian, Caroline Sullivan later wrote that "her idolisation of Dinah Washington and the Ronettes distinguished her from almost all newly minted pop singers of the early 2000s; her exceptionally-susceptible-to-heartbreak voice did the rest". Soon after Winehouse's death, a number of prominent critics assessed the singer's legacy: Maura Johnston from The Village Voice said, "When she was on, Winehouse had few peers—she wasn't an octave-jumper like other big divas of the moment, but her contralto had a snap to it that enriched even the simplest syllables with a full spectrum of emotion"; Sasha Frere-Jones of The New Yorker proclaimed, "Nobody can match Winehouse's unique transitions or her utterly weird phrasings. She sounded like an original sixties soul star, developed when the landscape had no rules. But now untrammeled traditionalism is in the lead and her beautiful footnote has been cut short. American soul—through visionaries like Erykah Badu and Janelle Monae and Jill Scott—had moved on. But Winehouse was a fine shepherd of the past."
By contrast, Robert Christgau dismissed Winehouse as "a self-aggrandizing self-abuser who's taken seriously because she makes a show of soul". In his opinion, the singer "simulated gravitas by running her suicidal tendencies through an amalgam of 20th-century African-American vocal stylings—the slides, growls, and melismatic outcries that for many matures are now the only reliable signifiers of pop substance".
On 13 February 2012, Winehouse was ranked 26 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women in Music list. In March 2017, singer-songwriter Bob Dylan said he was enjoying listening to Winehouse's last record (Back to Black), and called her "the last real individualist around."
Image
Winehouse's greatest love was 1960s girl groups. Her hairdresser, Alex Foden, borrowed her "instantly recognisable" beehive hairdo (a weave) and she borrowed her Cleopatra makeup from the Ronettes. Her imitation was so successful, as The Village Voice reports: "Ronnie Spector—who, it could be argued, all but invented Winehouse's style in the first place when she took the stage at the Brooklyn Fox Theater with her fellow Ronettes more than 40 years ago—was so taken aback at a picture of Winehouse in the New York Post that she exclaimed, "I don't know her, I never met her, and when I saw that pic, I thought, 'That's me!' But then I found out, no, it's Amy! I didn't have on my glasses."
The New York Times style reporter, Guy Trebay, discussed the multiplicity of influences on Winehouse's style after her death. Trebay noted, "her stylish husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, may have influenced her look." Additionally, Trebay observed:
Former Rolling Stone editor Joe Levy, who had put her on the magazine's cover, broke her look down this way:
Winehouse's use of bold red lipstick, thick eyebrows and heavy eyeliner came from Latinas she saw in Miami, on her trip there to work with Salaam Remi on Back to Black. Her look was repeatedly denigrated by the British press. At the same time that the NME Awards nominated Winehouse in the categories of "Best Solo Artist" and "Best Music DVD" in 2008, they awarded her "Worst Dressed Performer." Winehouse was also ranked number two on Richard Blackwell's 48th annual "Ten Worst Dressed Women" list, behind Victoria Beckham.
Criticism
Winehouse's dichotomous public image of critical and commercial success versus personal turmoil prompted significant media comment. The New Statesman called Winehouse "a filthy-mouthed, down-to-earth diva", while Newsweek called her "a perfect storm of sex kitten, raw talent and poor impulse control". Karen Heller with The Philadelphia Inquirer summarised the maelstrom this way:
By 2008, her drug problems threatened her career. As Nick Gatfield, the president of Island Records, toyed with the idea of releasing Winehouse "to deal with her problems", he said, "It's a reflection of her status [in the US] that when you flick through the TV coverage [of the Grammys] it's her image they use." Post-Grammys, some questioned whether Winehouse should have been honoured with the awards given her recent personal and drug problems, including Natalie Cole, who introduced Winehouse at the ceremony and who herself battled substance-abuse problems while winning a Grammy for Best New Artist in 1975. (Winehouse was prevented from travelling to and performing at the Grammy Awards ceremony in the US due to failing a drug test.) In a newspaper commentary, the executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, said that the alleged drug habits of Winehouse and other celebrities sent a bad message "to others who are vulnerable to addiction" and undermine the efforts of other celebrities trying to raise awareness of problems in Africa, now that more cocaine used in Europe passes through that continent. Winehouse's spokesperson noted that "Amy has never given a quote about drugs or flaunted it in any way. She's had some problems and is trying to get better. The U.N. should get its own house in order."
In January 2008, her record label stated it believed the extensive media coverage she had received increased record sales. In an April 2008 poll conducted by Sky News, Winehouse was named the second greatest "ultimate heroine" by the UK population at large, topping the voting for that category of those polled under 25 years old. Psychologist Donna Dawson commented that the results demonstrated that women like Winehouse who had "a certain sense of vulnerability or have had to fight against some adversity in their lives" received recognition.
In July 2008, BBC Radio Scotland's head, Jeff Zycinski, stated that the BBC, and media in general, were complicit in undermining celebrities, including Winehouse. He said that public interest in the singer's lifestyle did not make her lifestyle newsworthy. Rod McKenzie, editor of the BBC Radio One programme Newsbeat, replied: "If you play [Amy Winehouse's] music to a certain demographic, those same people want to know what's happening in her private life. If you don't cover it, you're insulting young licence fee payers." In The Scotsman, British singer and songwriter Lily Allen was quoted to have said – "I know Amy Winehouse very well. And she is very different to what people portray her as being. Yes, she does get out of her mind on drugs sometimes, but she is also a very clever, intelligent, witty, funny person who can hold it together. You just don't see that side."
Charity work
Throughout her life Winehouse donated her money, music and time to many charities, particularly those concerned with children. She was once named "the most charitable act" by Pop World. While this side of her personality was never well known to the general public, throughout both the arts community and the charity community she was known for her generosity.
In 2008, Winehouse appeared naked in an issue of Easy Living Magazine to raise awareness of breast cancer. In 2009, she appeared on a CD called Classics alongside musicians such as the Rolling Stones, the Killers and many Cuban musicians to raise awareness of climate change. In March 2011, Winehouse donated over £20,000 worth of clothes to a local charity shop in London.
A Caribbean man Julian Jean DeBaptiste revealed that Winehouse had paid for his urgent surgery costing £4,000 during her stay in Saint Lucia in 2009. "I had surgery on 1 July 2009... it cost a fortune and Amy paid for the whole thing. I tried to thank her but she just hugged me and told me not to say anything. Her generosity gave me my life back."
Legacy and honours
Artwork and tributes
London's Mall Galleries opened an exhibition in May 2008 that included a sculpture of Winehouse, titled Excess. The piece, created by Guy Portelli, had a miniature of the singer lying on top of a cracked champagne bottle, with a pool of spilled liquid underneath. The body was covered with what appeared to be tiny pills, while one outstretched hand held a glass. Another piece, a print titled Celebrity 1 by artist Charlotte Suckling, was shown in the same exhibition.
A wax sculpture of Winehouse went on display at the London Madame Tussauds on 23 July 2008. The singer did not attend the unveiling, although her parents did. A sculpture by Marco Perego, titled The Only Good Rock Star Is a Dead Rock Star, that depicts Winehouse lying in a pool of blood with an apple and a bullet hole in her head after being shot by American novelist and Beat poet William S. Burroughs (in a recreation of the accidental killing of his wife Joan Vollmer), was scheduled to go on display in New York's Half Gallery on 14 November 2008 with a sale price of US$100,000. Perego said of the sculpture: "Rock stars are the sacrificial animals of society." Winehouse's spokesperson stated: "It's a funny kind of tribute. The artist seems in thrall to a tabloid persona that is not the real Amy. People often use her image to sell their work."
In 2012, Winehouse was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork – the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover – to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life that he most admires.
On 14 September 2014 (which would have been Winehouse's 31st birthday), a statue was unveiled of her, which was created by sculptor Scott Eaton, at Stables Market in Camden Town, north London. Fans and relatives gathered for the unveiling in Camden's Stable Market, where it will be a permanent memorial to her. London-based Eaton, who sculpted the piece after being introduced to Winehouse's father Mitch, said the statue was meant to capture her "attitude and strength, but also give subtle hints of insecurity." Her father Mitch said of the statue: "Now Amy will oversee the comings and goings of her home town forever... Amy was in love with Camden and it is the place her fans from all over the world associate her with."
In March 2020, Winehouse's name on a stone was unveiled on the new Music Walk of Fame in Camden, with her parents Mitch and Janis in attendance at the ceremony.
Influence
Adele has credited Winehouse's success in making her and fellow British singer Duffy's journey to the United States "a bit smoother." Lady Gaga credited Winehouse with paving the way for her rise to the top of the charts, explaining that Winehouse made it easier for unconventional women to have mainstream pop success. Raphael Saadiq, Anthony Hamilton and John Legend said "Amy Winehouse was produced by people who wanted to create a marketing coup. The positive side is that it reacquainted an audience with this music and played an introductory role for others. This reinvigorated the genre by overcoming the vintage aspect."
Other artists that have credited Winehouse as an influence and/or for paving the way for them include Bruno Mars, Tove Lo, Jessie J, Emeli Sandé, Victoria Justice, Paloma Faith, Lana Del Rey, Sam Smith, Florence Welch, Halsey, Alessia Cara, Estelle, Daya, Jorja Smith, Lauren Jauregui and Billie Eilish.
After the release of Back to Black, record companies sought out female artists with a similar sound and fearless and experimental female musicians in general. Adele and Duffy were the second wave of artists with a sound similar to Winehouse's. A third wave of female musicians that has emerged since the album was released are led by V V Brown, Florence and the Machine, La Roux and Little Boots. In March 2011, the New York Daily News ran an article attributing the continuing wave of British female artists that have been successful in the United States to Winehouse and her absence. Spin magazine music editor Charles Aaron was quoted as saying "Amy Winehouse was the Nirvana moment for all these women," "They can all be traced back to her in terms of attitude, musical styles or fashion." According to Keith Caulfield, chart manager for Billboard, "Because of Amy, or the lack thereof, the marketplace was able to get singers like Adele, Estelle and Duffy," "Now those ladies have brought on the new ones, like Eliza Doolittle, Rumer and Ellie."
Amy Winehouse Foundation
After the singer's death by alcohol intoxication in July 2011, the Amy Winehouse Foundation was set up by Winehouse's family and launched on 14 September 2011 (which would have been Winehouse's 28th birthday). Its aim is to help young people and it works with other charitable organisations to provide frontline support. Its central office is in North London, but it also has an office in New York (operating under the name 'The Amy Winehouse Foundation US'). Both Jon Snow and Barbara Windsor are patrons for the charity, and ambassadors include Keira Chaplin and Mica Paris. In October 2015 Mark Ronson became a patron. Amy's brother Alex works full-time for the foundation, having given up his career as an online music journalist.
The charity itself works to prevent the effects of drug and alcohol misuse on young people and it also aims to support, inform and inspire vulnerable and disadvantaged young people to help them reach their full potential. On 12 March 2013, with the help of ex-addict Russell Brand, the Foundation launched the Amy Winehouse Foundation Resilience Programme For Schools across the UK which aims to provide effective education around drugs, alcohol and dealing with emotional issues.
Films
Documentary film
A documentary film, Amy (2015), directed by Asif Kapadia and produced by James Gay-Rees was released on 3 July 2015. The film covers Winehouse's life, her relationships, her struggles with substance abuse both before and after her career blossomed, and which eventually caused her death. The film received its première at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival on 16 May and has been reviewed as "a tragic masterpiece", "brilliant", "heartbreaking" and "unmissable". The soundtrack of the same name was released on 30 October 2015, along with the DVD that includes music featured in the documentary by film composer Antônio Pinto and classic and some unreleased tracks by Winehouse. The film was highly acclaimed and received various accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 2016 Oscars, Best Music Film at the 2016 Grammy Awards, the BAFTA for Best Documentary, the MTV Movie Award for Best Documentary, in addition to a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best British Film.
Biopic film
On 14 October 2018, it was announced that Winehouse's family had signed a deal with Monumental Pictures to make a biopic about her life, which will be directed by Alison Owen and produced by Debra Hayward. Winehouse's story will be adapted for the big screen by Geoff Deane, who has written comedy movies Kinky Boots (2005) and It's a Boy Girl Thing (2006). The project was scheduled to start filming in early 2019 and the funds are allegedly going towards the foundation.
Musical
On 9 October 2017, it was announced by Winehouse's father Mitch that a West End/Broadway musical on Amy is in the works. Mitch Winehouse revealed the news at the Amy Winehouse Foundation Gala event in London.
Personal life
Winehouse was raised Jewish and expressed pride in being Jewish, although she was not religious. During one interview, Winehouse said "being Jewish to me is about being together as a real family. It's not about lighting candles and saying a bracha." Winehouse also frequently performed with a large Star of David medallion.
In 2013, in memory of Winehouse the Jewish Museum London ran an exhibition titled "Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait". The museum researched about her paternal great-great-grandfather's arrival from Minsk in 1890, and how the family finally settled in London, starting out in working-class jobs before gradually moving to middle-class jobs.
Winehouse had 14 known tattoos, including "Daddy's Girl" on her left arm for her father and a pin-up girl with the name "Cynthia" on her right arm in memory of her Jewish grandmother.
Relationships
Winehouse dated chef-musician Alex Clare (sometimes referred to as Alex Claire) in 2006, while on a break from her on-off boyfriend and future husband, Blake Fielder-Civil. She and Clare lived together briefly, and in a pattern that Fielder-Civil would later repeat, Clare sold his story to the News of the World, which published it under the headline "Bondage Crazed Amy Just Can't Beehive in Bed."
Fielder-Civil, a former video production assistant, had dropped out of Bourne Grammar School and, aged 16, moved to London from his native Lincolnshire. He married Winehouse on 18 May 2007, in Miami Beach, Florida. In a June 2007 interview, Winehouse admitted she could sometimes be violent toward him after she had been drinking, saying: "If he says one thing I don't like, then I'll chin him." In August 2007, they were photographed, bloodied and bruised, in the streets of London after an alleged fight, although she contended her injuries were self-inflicted. Winehouse's parents and in-laws publicly reported their numerous concerns, the latter citing fears that the two might commit suicide. Fielder-Civil's father encouraged fans to boycott Winehouse's music, and Mitch Winehouse said this would not help. Fielder-Civil was quoted in a British tabloid as saying he introduced Winehouse to crack cocaine and heroin. During a visit with Mitch Winehouse at the prison in July 2008, Fielder-Civil reportedly said that he and Winehouse would cut themselves to ease the pain of withdrawal.
From 21 July 2008 to 25 February 2009, Fielder-Civil was imprisoned following his guilty plea on charges of trying to pervert the course of justice and of grievous bodily harm with intent. The incident, in July 2007, involved his assault of a pub landlord that broke the victim's cheek. According to the prosecution, the landlord accepted £200,000 as part of a deal to "effectively throw the [court] case and not turn up," and he testified that the money belonged to Winehouse, but she pulled out of a meeting with the men involved in the plot, to attend an awards ceremony. Mitch Winehouse, as manager of his daughter's money, has denied the payoff came from her.
When Winehouse was spotted with aspiring actor Josh Bowman on holiday in Saint Lucia, in early January 2009, she said she was "in love again, and I don't need drugs." She commented that her "whole marriage was based on doing drugs" and that "for the time being I've just forgotten I'm even married." On 12 January, Winehouse's spokesman confirmed that "papers have been received" for what Fielder-Civil's solicitor has said are divorce proceedings based on a claim of adultery. In March, Winehouse was quoted in a magazine as saying, "I still love Blake and I want him to move into my new house with me—that was my plan all along ... I won't let him divorce me. He's the male version of me and we're perfect for each other." Nonetheless, an uncontested divorce was granted on 16 July 2009 and became final on 28 August 2009. Fielder-Civil received no money in the settlement.
She was in a relationship with a British writer and director of films, Reg Traviss, from early 2010 until she died. According to media reports and a biography written by Winehouse's father, Traviss and Winehouse had planned to marry and intended to have children.
After Winehouse's death, Pete Doherty said that he and Winehouse had been lovers at one point. However, in July 2008, when Rolling Stone reporter Claire Hoffman asked Winehouse about her relationship with Doherty, Winehouse replied: "We're just good friends", and added: "I asked Pete to do a concept EP, and he made this face, he looked at me like I'd pooed on the floor. He wouldn't do it. We're just really close".
Substance abuse and mental illness
Winehouse's battles with substance abuse were the subject of much media attention. In 2005, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, and weight loss. People who saw her during the end of that year and early 2006 reported a rebound that coincided with the writing of Back to Black. Her family believes that the mid-2006 death of her grandmother, who was a stabilising influence, set her off into addiction. In August 2007, Winehouse cancelled a number of shows in the UK and Europe, citing exhaustion and ill health. She was hospitalised during this period for what was reported as an overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol. In various interviews, she admitted to having problems with self-harm, depression, and eating disorders.
Winehouse told a magazine that the drugs were to blame for her hospitalisation and that "I really thought that it was over for me then." Soon afterwards, Winehouse's father commented that when he had made public statements regarding her problems he was using the media because it seemed the only way to get through to her. In an interview with The Album Chart Show on British television, Winehouse said she was manic depressive and not alcoholic, adding that that sounded like "an alcoholic in denial". A US reporter writes that Winehouse was a "victim of mental illness in a society that doesn't understand or respond to mental illness with great effectiveness."
In December 2007, Winehouse's spokesman reported that the singer was in a physician-supervised programme and was channelling her difficulties by writing a lot of music. The British tabloid The Sun posted a video of a woman, alleged to be Winehouse, apparently smoking crack cocaine and speaking of having taken ecstasy and valium. Winehouse's father moved in with her, and Island Records, her record label, announced the abandonment of plans for an American promotion campaign on her behalf. In late January 2008, Winehouse reportedly entered a rehabilitation facility for a two-week treatment program.
On 23 January 2008, the video was passed on to the Metropolitan Police, who questioned her on 5 February. No charges were brought. On 26 March 2008, Winehouse's spokesman said she was "doing well". Her record company reportedly believed that her recovery remained fragile. By late April 2008, her erratic behaviourincluding an allegation of assaultcaused fear that her drug rehabilitation efforts had been unsuccessful. Winehouse's father and manager then sought to have her detained under the Mental Health Act of 1983. Her dishevelled appearance during and after a scheduled club night in September 2008 prompted new rumours of a relapse. Photographers were quoted as saying she appeared to have cuts on her arms and legs.
According to her physician, Winehouse quit using illegal substances in 2008. In an October 2010 interview, speaking of her decision to quit drugs, Winehouse said, "I literally woke up one day and was like, 'I don't want to do this any more. However, alcohol emerged as a problem, with Winehouse abstaining for a few weeks and then lapsing into alcohol abuse. Her physician said that Winehouse was treated with Librium for alcohol withdrawal and anxiety and underwent psychological and psychiatric evaluations in 2010, but refused psychological therapy.
Violence and legal difficulties
In 2006, Winehouse admitted to punching a female fan in the face for criticising her having taken Blake Fielder-Civil as a husband. She then attacked her own spouse as he attempted to calm her down, kneeing him in the crotch. In October 2007, Winehouse and Fielder-Civil were arrested in Bergen, Norway, for possession of seven grams of cannabis. The couple were later released and fined 3850 kroner (around £350). Winehouse first appealed the fines, but later dropped the appeal.
On 26 April 2008, Winehouse was cautioned after she admitted to police she slapped a 38-year-old man in the face, a "common assault" offence, her first of two. She voluntarily turned herself in and was held overnight. Police said, at her arrival she was "in no fit state" to be interviewed. Ten days later, Winehouse was arrested on suspicion of possessing drugs after a video of her apparently smoking crack cocaine was passed to the police in January, but was released on bail a few hours later because they could not confirm, from the video, what she was smoking. The Crown Prosecution Service considered charging her, but cleared her when it could not establish that the substance in the video was a controlled drug. Some members of Parliament reacted negatively. Two London residents were subsequently charged with conspiracy to supply cocaine and ecstasy to Winehouse. One of the pair was sentenced to two years in prison on 13 December 2008, while the other received a two-year community order.
On 5 March 2009, Winehouse was arrested and charged with common assault following a claim by dancer Sherene Flash that Winehouse hit her in the eye at the September 2008 Prince's Trust charity ball. Winehouse's spokesperson announced the cancellation of the singer's US Coachella Festival appearance in light of the new legal issue, and Winehouse appeared in court on 17 March to enter her plea of not guilty. On 23 July, her trial began with prosecutor Lyall Thompson charging that Winehouse acted with "deliberate and unjustifiable violence" while appearing to be under the influence of alcohol or another substance. She testified that she did not punch Flash, but tried to push her away because she was scared of her; she cited her worry that Flash would sell her story to a tabloid, Flash's height advantage, and Flash's "rude" behaviour. On 24 July, District Judge Timothy Workman ruled that Winehouse was not guilty, citing the facts that all but two of the witnesses were intoxicated at the time of the incident and that medical evidence did not show "the sort of injury that often occurs when there is a forceful punch to the eye."
On 19 December 2009, Winehouse was arrested for a third time on charges of common assault, plus another charge of public order offence after assaulting the front-of-house manager of the Milton Keynes Theatre after he asked her to move from her seat. Winehouse pled guilty to the charges and was given a conditional discharge.
Paparazzi
With the paparazzi taking photographs of her wherever they could, Winehouse obtained an injunction against a leading paparazzi agency, Big Pictures, under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997; the resultant court order issued by the High Court in 2009 banned them from following her. Photographers were also banned from following her within 100 metres of her London home and photographing Winehouse in her home or the homes of her friends and relatives. According to a newspaper report, sources close to the singer said legal action was taken out of concern for the safety of Winehouse and those close to her.
Respiratory and other health problems
On 23 June 2008, Winehouse's publicist corrected earlier misstatements by Mitch Winehouse that his daughter had early stage emphysema, instead claiming she had signs of what could lead to early-stage emphysema. Mitch Winehouse had also stated that his daughter's lungs were operating at 70 percent capacity and that she had an irregular heartbeat. He said that these problems had been caused by her chain smoking crack cocaine. The singer's father also reported that doctors had warned Winehouse that, if she continued smoking crack cocaine, she would have to wear an oxygen mask and would eventually die. In a radio interview, Mitch Winehouse said the singer was responding "fabulously" to treatment, which included being covered with nicotine patches. British Lung Foundation spokesman Keith Prowse noted this type of condition could be managed with treatment. Prowse also said the condition was not normal for a person her age but "heavy smoking and inhaling other substances like drugs can age the lungs prematurely." Norman H. Edelman of the American Lung Association explained that if she stopped smoking, her lung functions would decline at the rate of a normal person, but continued smoking would lead to a more rapid decline in lung function.
Winehouse was released from the London Clinic 24 hours after returning from a temporary leave to perform at Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday and at a concert in Glastonbury, and continued receiving treatment as an outpatient. In July 2008, Winehouse stated that she had been diagnosed with "some areas of emphysema" and said she was getting herself together by "eating loads of healthy food, sleeping loads, playing my guitar, making music and writing letters to my husband every day." She also kept a vertical tanning bed in her flat. Winehouse began precautionary testing on her lungs and chest on 25 October 2008 at the London Clinic for what was reported as a chest infection. Winehouse was in and out of the facility and was granted permission to set her own schedule regarding home leave. She returned to the hospital on 23 November 2008 for a reported reaction to her medication.
Death
Winehouse's bodyguard said that he had arrived at her residence three days before her death and felt she had been somewhat intoxicated. He observed moderate drinking over the next few days, and said she had been "laughing, listening to music and watching TV at 2 a.m. the day of her death". At 10 a.m. BST on 23 July 2011, he observed her lying on her bed and tried unsuccessfully to rouse her. This did not raise much suspicion because she usually slept late after a night out. According to the bodyguard, shortly after 3p.m., he checked on her again and observed her lying in the same position as before, leading to a further check, in which he concluded that she was not breathing and had no pulse; he said he called emergency services. At 3:54p.m., two ambulances were called to Winehouse's home in Camden, London. Winehouse was pronounced dead at the scene, at the age of 27. Shortly afterwards, the Metropolitan Police confirmed that she had died.
After her death was announced, media and camera crews appeared, as crowds gathered near Winehouse's residence to pay their respects. Forensic investigators entered the flat as police cordoned off the street outside; they recovered one small and two large bottles of vodka from her room. After her death, the singer broke her second Guinness World Record: for the most songs by a woman to simultaneously appear on the UK singles chart, with eight.
A coroner's inquest reached a verdict of misadventure. The report released on 26 October 2011 explained that Winehouse's blood alcohol content was 416 per 100 (0.416%) at the time of her death, more than five times the legal drink-drive limit. According to the coroner, "The unintended consequences of such potentially fatal levels was her sudden death."
Winehouse's record label, Universal Republic, released a statement that read in part: "We are deeply saddened at the sudden loss of such a gifted musician, artist and performer." Many musical artists have since paid tribute to Winehouse including U2, M.I.A., Lady Gaga, Marianne Faithfull, Bruno Mars, Nicki Minaj, Keisha Buchanan, Rihanna, George Michael, Adele, Kelly Clarkson, Courtney Love, and the punk rock band Green Day, who wrote a song in her tribute titled "Amy". In her 2012 album Banga, singer Patti Smith released "This Is the Girl", written as an homage to Winehouse. Mark Ronson dedicated his UK number-one album Uptown Special to Winehouse, stating: "I'm always thinking of you and inspired by you." Winehouse did not leave a will; her estate was inherited by her parents. Winehouse's parents set up the Amy Winehouse Foundation to prevent harm from drug misuse among young people; her brother Alex is an employee.
On 17 December 2012, British authorities reopened the probe into Winehouse's death. On 8 January 2013, a second inquest confirmed that Winehouse died of accidental alcohol poisoning. In a June 2013 interview, Alex Winehouse revealed his belief that his sister's eating disorder, and the consequent physical weakness, was the primary cause of her death:
Funeral
Family and friends attended Winehouse's private funeral on 26 July 2011 at Edgwarebury Lane Cemetery in north London. Her mother and father, Janis and Mitch Winehouse, close friends Nick Grimshaw and Kelly Osbourne, producer Mark Ronson, goddaughter Dionne Bromfield and her boyfriend Reg Traviss were among those in attendance at the private service led by Rabbi Frank Hellner. Her father delivered the eulogy, saying "Goodnight, my angel, sleep tight. Mummy and Daddy love you ever so much." Carole King's "So Far Away" closed the service with mourners singing along. She was later cremated at Golders Green Crematorium. The family planned to sit a two-day shiva. On 16 September 2012, Winehouse's ashes were buried alongside her grandmother's, Cynthia Levy at Edgwarebury Lane Cemetery.
Posthumous retrospectives
Winehouse's parents have each written memoirs about their daughter and donated the proceeds from both books to the Amy Winehouse Foundation. In the introduction to Mitch Winehouse's biography, entitled Amy: My Daughter (2012), he explained: "Apart from being her father, I was also her friend, confidant and adviser—not that she always took my advice, but she always heard me out." Her mother Janis published Loving Amy: A Mother's Story, in 2014.
An exhibit of Winehouse's personal items, co-curated by her brother and sister-in-law, entitled Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait, was on display at the Jewish Museum London from 3 July 2013 until 15 September 2013, and later exhibited in San Francisco, 23 July 2015 to 1 November 2015. Display items, such as books and music, were featured together with captions written by Winehouse's brother.
In late 2011, there were reports that Winehouse's former boyfriend, Reg Traviss, was developing a film about her. Winehouse's father Mitch Winehouse, who owns the copyright to his daughter's music, said he would not authorise the use of her music for the film.
Winehouse is the subject of Amy (2015), a documentary directed by Asif Kapadia and produced by James Gay-Rees, Kapadia, and Universal Music. Kapadia and Gay-Rees introduced the project at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. The film debuted at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and won the 2016 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
In 2018, a documentary film based on Winehouse's album Back to Black, Amy Winehouse – Back to Black was released. It contains new interviews as well as archival footage. It was made by Eagle Vision and produced by Gil Cang. Released on DVD on 2 November 2018, the film features interviews by producers Ronson & Remi, who worked half and half on the album, along with the Dap Kings, Remi's music team, Ronnie Spector from the Ronettes and close ones to Winehouse, including Nick Shymansky, Juliette Ashby and Dionne Bromfield. The film is accompanied by An Intimate Evening in London, footage of a show Winehouse gave at Riverside Studios, London in 2008. In February 2019, Salaam Remi released a compilation album including the song "Find My Love" which is a posthumous collaboration between Winehouse and rapper Nas.
In 2020, an exhibition entitled Beyond Black – The Style of Amy Winehouse opened at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles. The exhibit mainly explores Winehouse's style and fashion, displaying her outfits such as her iconic dresses, shoes, hair accessories, her makeup bag as well as Winehouse's personal belongings including her Grammy awards from 2008, handwritten lyrics, records and unseen home videos. The exhibition went on display in the U.S. from 17 January 2020 until 13 April 2020. In November 2021, various of Winehouse's personal items and famous dresses would later be auctioned at Julien's Auctions in Los Angeles and made more than £3m, 30% going to the Amy Winehouse Foundation. A follow-up exhibition Amy: Beyond the Stage opened on 26 November 2021 at the Design Museum in Kensington, London which also presented some of Winehouse's personal belongings and focus on her fashion sense, as well as paying homage to her musical career.
In July 2021, a new documentary entitled Reclaiming Amy aired on BBC Two to mark the 10th anniversary of Winehouse's death. The film was primarily based on the perspective and narrated by her mother Janis Winehouse-Collins and included intimate stories of those who were close to Winehouse until the end of her life, including close friends Naomi Parry (Amy's stylist), Catriona Gourlay and Chantelle Dusette.
Discography
Frank (2003)
Back to Black (2006)
Lioness: Hidden Treasures (2011)
Filmography
Amy (2015)
Amy Winehouse: Back to Black (2018)
Reclaiming Amy (2021)
See also
List of deaths through alcohol
References
Sources
Further reading
External links
Amy Winehouse collected news and commentary at The New York Times
Amy Winehouse Foundation - Charity Commission for England and Wales
1983 births
2011 deaths
20th-century English singers
20th-century English women singers
21st-century English singers
21st-century English women singers
Alcohol-related deaths in England
Alumni of the Sylvia Young Theatre School
Brit Award winners
British women jazz singers
English contraltos
English jazz singers
English Jews
Belarusian Jews
English people convicted of assault
English people of Polish-Jewish descent
English people of Russian-Jewish descent
English rhythm and blues singers
English soul singers
English women guitarists
English guitarists
Golders Green Crematorium
Grammy Award winners
Ivor Novello Award winners
Jewish English musicians
Jewish jazz musicians
Jewish singers
Jewish songwriters
MTV Europe Music Award winners
National Youth Jazz Orchestra members
Neo soul singers
People educated at the BRIT School
People educated at Susi Earnshaw Theatre School
People from the London Borough of Camden
People from Southgate, London
People with bipolar disorder
Republic Records artists
Singers from London
World Music Awards winners
| true |
[
"Přírodní park Třebíčsko (before Oblast klidu Třebíčsko) is a natural park near Třebíč in the Czech Republic. There are many interesting plants. The park was founded in 1983.\n\nKobylinec and Ptáčovský kopeček\n\nKobylinec is a natural monument situated ca 0,5 km from the village of Trnava.\nThe area of this monument is 0,44 ha. Pulsatilla grandis can be found here and in the Ptáčovský kopeček park near Ptáčov near Třebíč. Both monuments are very popular for tourists.\n\nPonds\n\nIn the natural park there are some interesting ponds such as Velký Bor, Malý Bor, Buršík near Přeckov and a brook Březinka. Dams on the brook are examples of European beaver activity.\n\nSyenitové skály near Pocoucov\n\nSyenitové skály (rocks of syenit) near Pocoucov is one of famed locations. There are interesting granite boulders. The area of the reservation is 0,77 ha.\n\nExternal links\nParts of this article or all article was translated from Czech. The original article is :cs:Přírodní park Třebíčsko.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nNature near the village Trnava which is there\n\nTřebíč\nParks in the Czech Republic\nTourist attractions in the Vysočina Region",
"Damn Interesting is an independent website founded by Alan Bellows in 2005. The website presents true stories from science, history, and psychology, primarily as long-form articles, often illustrated with original artwork. Works are written by various authors, and published at irregular intervals. The website openly rejects advertising, relying on reader and listener donations to cover operating costs.\n\nAs of October 2012, each article is also published as a podcast under the same name. In November 2019, a second podcast was launched under the title Damn Interesting Week, featuring unscripted commentary on an assortment of news articles featured on the website's \"Curated Links\" section that week. In mid-2020, a third podcast called Damn Interesting Curio Cabinet began highlighting the website's periodic short-form articles in the same radioplay format as the original podcast.\n\nIn July 2009, Damn Interesting published the print book Alien Hand Syndrome through Workman Publishing. It contains some favorites from the site and some exclusive content.\n\nAwards and recognition \nIn August 2007, PC Magazine named Damn Interesting one of the \"Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites\".\nThe article \"The Zero-Armed Bandit\" by Alan Bellows won a 2015 Sidney Award from David Brooks in The New York Times.\nThe article \"Ghoulish Acts and Dastardly Deeds\" by Alan Bellows was cited as \"nonfiction journalism from 2017 that will stand the test of time\" by Conor Friedersdorf in The Atlantic.\nThe article \"Dupes and Duplicity\" by Jennifer Lee Noonan won a 2020 Sidney Award from David Brooks in the New York Times.\n\nAccusing The Dollop of plagiarism \n\nOn July 9, 2015, Bellows posted an open letter accusing The Dollop, a comedy podcast about history, of plagiarism due to their repeated use of verbatim text from Damn Interesting articles without permission or attribution. Dave Anthony, the writer of The Dollop, responded on reddit, admitting to using Damn Interesting content, but claiming that the use was protected by fair use, and that \"historical facts are not copyrightable.\" In an article about the controversy on Plagiarism Today, Jonathan Bailey concluded, \"Any way one looks at it, The Dollop failed its ethical obligations to all of the people, not just those writing for Damn Interesting, who put in the time, energy and expertise into writing the original content upon which their show is based.\"\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Official website\n\n2005 podcast debuts"
] |
[
"Amy Winehouse",
"Substance abuse and mental illness",
"What substance problems did Amy Winehouse have?",
"In 2005, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, and weight loss.",
"What did the press say about her drinking and drug use?",
"A US reporter writes that Winehouse was a \"victim of mental illness in a society that doesn't understand or respond to mental illness with great effectiveness.\"",
"What help did Winehouse get for her problems?",
"She was hospitalised during this period for what was reported as an overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol.",
"What did her family do at this time?",
"Winehouse's father commented that when he had made public statements regarding her problems he was using the media because it seemed the only way to get through to her.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"The Sun posted a video of a woman, alleged to be Winehouse, apparently smoking crack cocaine and speaking of having taken ecstasy and valium."
] |
C_efbf3039679a4232a67306f7dfb6f70c_1
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What happened as a result of the video from The Sun?
| 6 |
What happened as a result of the video from The Sun of a woman who was possibly Amy Winehouse talking about drug use?
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Amy Winehouse
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Winehouse's battles with substance abuse were the subject of much media attention. In 2005, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, and weight loss. People who saw her during the end of that year and early 2006 reported a rebound that coincided with the writing of Back to Black. Her family believes that the mid-2006 death of her grandmother, who was a stabilising influence, set her off into addiction. In August 2007, Winehouse cancelled a number of shows in the UK and Europe, citing exhaustion and ill health. She was hospitalised during this period for what was reported as an overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol. In various interviews, she admitted to having problems with self-harm, depression, and eating disorders. Winehouse told a magazine that the drugs were to blame for her hospitalisation and that "I really thought that it was over for me then." Soon afterward, Winehouse's father commented that when he had made public statements regarding her problems he was using the media because it seemed the only way to get through to her. In an interview with The Album Chart Show on British television, Winehouse said she was manic depressive and not alcoholic, adding that that sounded like "an alcoholic in denial." A US reporter writes that Winehouse was a "victim of mental illness in a society that doesn't understand or respond to mental illness with great effectiveness." In December 2007, Winehouse's spokesman reported that the singer was in a physician-supervised programme and was channelling her difficulties by writing a lot of music. The British tabloid The Sun posted a video of a woman, alleged to be Winehouse, apparently smoking crack cocaine and speaking of having taken ecstasy and valium. Winehouse's father moved in with her, and Island Records, her record label, announced the abandonment of plans for an American promotion campaign on her behalf. In late January 2008, Winehouse reportedly entered a rehabilitation facility for a two-week treatment program. On 23 January 2008, the video was passed on to the Metropolitan Police, who questioned her on 5 February. No charges were brought. On 26 March 2008, Winehouse's spokesman said she was "doing well." Her record company reportedly believed that her recovery remained fragile. By late April 2008, her erratic behaviour, including an allegation of assault, caused fear that her drug rehabilitation efforts had been unsuccessful, leading to efforts by Winehouse's father and manager to seek assistance in having her involuntarily committed. Her dishevelled appearance during and after a scheduled club night in September sparked new rumours of a relapse. Photographers were quoted as saying she appeared to have cuts on her legs and arms. According to her physician, Winehouse quit illegal substances in 2008. In an October 2010 interview, speaking of her decision to quit drugs, Winehouse said, "I literally woke up one day and was like, 'I don't want to do this any more'." Drinking alcohol emerged as a problem with Winehouse abstaining for a few weeks then lapsing. The physician said that Winehouse was treated with Librium for alcohol withdrawal and anxiety, and underwent psychological and psychiatric evaluations in 2010, but refused psychological therapy. CANNOTANSWER
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On 23 January 2008, the video was passed on to the Metropolitan Police, who questioned her on 5 February. No charges were brought.
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Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was a British singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz.
A member of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra during her youth, Winehouse signed to Simon Fuller's 19 Management in 2002 and soon recorded a number of songs before signing a publishing deal with EMI. She also formed a working relationship with producer Salaam Remi through these record publishers. Winehouse's debut album, Frank, was released in 2003. Many of the album's songs were influenced by jazz and, apart from two covers, were co-written by Winehouse. Frank was a critical success in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize. The song "Stronger Than Me" won her the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors.
Winehouse released her follow-up album, Back to Black, in 2006, which went on to become an international success and one of the best-selling albums in UK history. At the 2007 Brit Awards it was nominated for British Album of the Year, and she received the award for British Female Solo Artist. The song "Rehab" won her a second Ivor Novello Award. At the 50th Grammy Awards in 2008, she won five awards, tying the then record for the most wins by a female artist in a single night and becoming the first British woman to win five Grammys, including three of the General Field "Big Four" Grammy Awards: Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year (for "Rehab"), as well as Best Pop Vocal Album.
Winehouse was plagued by drug and alcohol addiction. She died of alcohol poisoning on 23 July 2011, at the age of 27. After her death, Back to Black temporarily became the UK's best-selling album of the 21st century. VH1 ranked Winehouse 26th on their list of the 100 Greatest Women in Music.
Early life
Amy Jade Winehouse was born on 14 September 1983 at Chase Farm Hospital in Gordon Hill, Enfield, to Jewish parents. Her father, Mitchell "Mitch" Winehouse, was a window panel installer and taxi driver; her mother, Janis Winehouse (née Seaton), was a pharmacist, who suffers from multiple sclerosis. The great-great-grandfather of Amy Harris Winehouse emigrated from Minsk, Belarus to London in 1891. She had an older brother, Alex (born 1979), and the family lived in London's Southgate area, where she attended Osidge Primary School. Winehouse attended a Jewish Sunday school while she was a child. During an interview following her rise to fame, she expressed her dismissal towards the school by saying that she used to beg her father to permit her not to go and that she learned nothing about being Jewish by going anyway. In the same interview, Winehouse said she only went to a synagogue once a year on Yom Kippur "out of respect".
Many of Winehouse's maternal uncles were professional jazz musicians. Amy's paternal grandmother, Cynthia, was a singer and dated the English jazz saxophonist Ronnie Scott. She and Amy's parents influenced Amy's interest in jazz. Her father, Mitch, often sang Frank Sinatra songs to her, and whenever she got chastised at school, she would sing "Fly Me to the Moon" before going up to the headmistress to be told off. Winehouse's parents separated when she was nine, and she lived with her mother and stayed with her father and his girlfriend in Hatfield Heath, Essex, on weekends.
In 1992, her grandmother Cynthia suggested that Amy attend the Susi Earnshaw Theatre School, where she went on Saturdays to further her vocal education and to learn to tap dance. She attended the school for four years and founded a short-lived rap group called Sweet 'n' Sour, with Juliette Ashby, her childhood friend, before seeking full-time training at Sylvia Young Theatre School. Several years later it was reported that Winehouse had been expelled at 14 for "not applying herself" and also for piercing her nose, but these claims were denied by Sylvia Young: "She changed schools at 15...I've heard it said she was expelled; she wasn't. I'd never have expelled Amy." Mitch Winehouse also denied the claims. She attended the Mount School, Mill Hill and the BRIT School in Selhurst, Croydon, dropping out at age 16.
After toying around with her brother Alex's guitar, Winehouse bought her own when she was 14 and began writing music shortly afterwards. Soon after she began working for a living, as an entertainment journalist for the World Entertainment News Network and also singing with local group the Bolsha Band. In July 2000, she became the featured female vocalist with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. She was influenced by Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington, the latter of whom she was already listening to at home. Winehouse's best friend, soul singer Tyler James, sent her demo tape to an A&R person.
Career
2002–2005: Career beginnings and Frank
Winehouse was signed to Simon Fuller's 19 Management in 2002 and was paid £250 a week against future earnings. While being developed by the management company, Winehouse was kept as a recording industry secret, although she was a regular jazz standards singer at the Cobden Club. Her future A&R representative at Island, Darcus Beese, heard of her by accident when the manager of The Lewinson Brothers showed him some productions of his clients, which featured Winehouse as key vocalist. When he asked who the singer was, the manager told him he was not allowed to say. Having decided that he wanted to sign her, it took several months of asking around for Beese to eventually discover who the singer was. However, Winehouse had already recorded a number of songs and signed a publishing deal with EMI by this time. Incidentally, she formed a working relationship with producer Salaam Remi through these record publishers.
Beese introduced Winehouse to his boss, Nick Gatfield; the Island head shared his enthusiasm in signing the young artist. Winehouse was signed to Island, as rival interest in her had started to build with representatives of EMI and Virgin starting to make moves. Beese told HitQuarters that he felt the excitement over an artist who was an atypical pop star for the time was due to a backlash against reality TV music shows, which included audiences starved for fresh, genuine young talent.
Winehouse's debut album, Frank, was released on 20 October 2003. Produced mainly by Salaam Remi, many songs were influenced by jazz and, apart from two covers, Winehouse co-wrote every song. The album received critical acclaim with compliments given to the "cool, critical gaze" in its lyrics. Winehouse's voice was compared with those of Sarah Vaughan and Macy Gray, among others.
The album entered the upper reaches of the UK album chart in 2004 when it was nominated for the Brit Awards in the categories of "British Female Solo Artist" and "British Urban Act." It went on to achieve platinum sales. Later in 2004, she and Remi won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song, for their first single together, "Stronger Than Me." The album was also shortlisted for the 2004 Mercury Music Prize. In the same year, she performed at the Glastonbury Festival – Jazzworld, the V Festival and the Montreal International Jazz Festival. After the release of the album, Winehouse commented that she was "only 80 percent behind [the] album" because Island Records had overruled her preferences for the songs and mixes to be included. The further singles from the album were "Take the Box," "In My Bed"/"You Sent Me Flying" and "Pumps"/"Help Yourself."
2006–2008: Back to Black and international success
After the release of her first jazz-influenced album, Winehouse's focus shifted to the girl groups of the 1950s and 1960s. Winehouse hired New York singer Sharon Jones's longtime band, the Dap-Kings, to back her up in the studio and on tour. Mitch Winehouse relates in Amy, My Daughter how fascinating watching her process was: her perfectionism in the studio and how she would put what she had sung on a CD and play it in his taxi outside to know how most people would hear her music. In May 2006, Winehouse's demo tracks such as "You Know I'm No Good" and "Rehab" appeared on Mark Ronson's New York radio show on East Village Radio. These were some of the first new songs played on the radio after the release of "Pumps" and both were slated to appear on her second album. The 11-track album, completed in five months, was produced entirely by Salaam Remi and Ronson, with the production credits being split between them. Ronson said in a 2010 interview that he liked working with Winehouse because she was blunt when she did not like his work. She in turn thought that when they first met, he was a sound engineer and that she was expecting an older man with a beard.
Promotion of Back to Black soon began and, in early October 2006 Winehouse's official website was relaunched with a new layout and clips of previously unreleased songs. Back to Black was released in the UK on 30 October 2006. It went to number one on the UK Albums Chart for two weeks in January 2007, dropping then climbing back for several weeks in February. In the US, it entered at number seven on the Billboard 200. It was the best-selling album in the UK of 2007, selling 1.85million copies over the course of the year. The first single released from the album was the Ronson-produced "Rehab." The song reached the top ten in the UK and the US. Time magazine named "Rehab" the Best Song of 2007. Writer Josh Tyrangiel praised Winehouse for her confidence, saying, "What she is is mouthy, funny, sultry, and quite possibly crazy" and "It's impossible not to be seduced by her originality. Combine it with production by Mark Ronson that references four decades worth of soul music without once ripping it off, and you've got the best song of 2007." The album's second single and lead single in the US, "You Know I'm No Good," was released in January 2007 with a remix featuring rap vocals by Ghostface Killah. It ultimately reached number 18 on the UK singles chart. The title track, "Back to Black," was released in the UK in April 2007 and peaked at number 25, but was more successful across mainland Europe. "Tears Dry on Their Own," "Love Is a Losing Game" were also released as singles, but failed to achieve the same level of success.
A deluxe edition of Back to Black was also released on 5 November 2007 in the UK. The bonus disc features B-sides, rare, and live tracks, as well as "Valerie." Winehouse's debut DVD I Told You I Was Trouble: Live in London was released the same day in the UK and 13 November in the US. It includes a live set recorded at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire and a 50-minute documentary charting the singer's career over the previous four years. Frank was released in the United States on 20 November 2007 to positive reviews. The album debuted at number 61 on the Billboard 200 chart. In addition to her own album, she collaborated with other artists on singles. Winehouse was a vocalist on the song "Valerie" on Ronson's solo album Version. The song peaked at number two in the UK, upon its October single release. "Valerie" was nominated for a 2008 Brit Award for "Best British Single." Her work with ex-Sugababe Mutya Buena, "B Boy Baby," was released on 17 December 2007. It served as the fourth single from Buena's debut album, Real Girl. Winehouse was also in talks of working with Missy Elliott for her album Block Party.
Winehouse promoted the release of Back to Black with headline performances in late 2006, including a Little Noise Sessions charity concert at the Union Chapel in Islington, London. On 31 December 2006, Winehouse appeared on Jools Holland's Annual Hootenanny and performed a cover of Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" along with Paul Weller and Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra. She also performed Toots and the Maytals' "Monkey Man". At his request, actor Bruce Willis introduced Winehouse before her performance of "Rehab" at the 2007 MTV Movie Awards in Universal City, California, on 3 June 2007. During the summer of 2007, she performed at various festivals, including Glastonbury Festival and Lollapalooza in Chicago.
The rest of her tour, however, did not go as well. In November 2007, the opening night of a 17-date tour was marred by booing and walkouts at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. A critic for the Birmingham Mail said it was "one of the saddest nights of my life...I saw a supremely talented artist reduced to tears, stumbling around the stage and, unforgivably, swearing at the audience." Other concerts ended similarly, with, for example, fans at her Hammersmith Apollo performance in London saying that she "looked highly intoxicated throughout," until she announced on 27 November 2007, that her performances and public appearances were cancelled for the remainder of the year, citing her doctor's advice to take a complete rest. A statement issued by concert promoter Live Nation blamed "the rigours involved in touring and the intense emotional strain that Amy has been under in recent weeks" for the decision. Mitch Winehouse wrote about her nervousness before public performances in his 2012 book, Amy, My Daughter. On 13 January 2008, Back to Black held the number-one position on the Billboard Pan European charts for the third consecutive week.
On 10 February 2008, Winehouse received five Grammy Awards, winning in the following categories: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the single "Rehab," and Best Pop Vocal Album. The singer also earned a Grammy as Best New Artist, earning her an entry in the 2009 edition of the Guinness Book of Records for Most Grammy Awards won by a British Female Act. Additionally, Back to Black was nominated for Album of the Year. Ronson's work with her won the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, in the non-classical category. She ended her acceptance speech for Record of the Year with, "This is for London because Camden town ain't burning down," in reference to the 2008 Camden Market fire. Performing "You Know I'm No Good" and "Rehab" via satellite from London's Riverside Studios at 3 a.m. UK time, she couldn't be at the ceremony in Los Angeles as her visa approval had not been processed in time.
After the Grammys, the album's sales increased, catapulting Back to Black to number two on the US Billboard 200, after it initially peaked in the seventh position. On 20 February 2008, Winehouse performed at the 2008 Brit Awards at Earls Court in London, performing "Valerie" with Mark Ronson, followed by "Love Is a Losing Game." She urged the crowd to "make some noise for my Blake." A special deluxe edition of Back to Black topped the UK album charts on 2 March 2008. Meanwhile, the original edition of the album was ranked at number 30 in its 68th week on the charts, while Frank charted at number 35.
In Paris, she performed what was described as a "well-executed 40-minute" set at the opening of a Fendi boutique in early March. By 12 March, the album had sold a total of 2,467,575 copies—318,350 copies had been sold in the previous 10 weeks—putting the album on the UK's top-10 best-selling albums of the 21st century for the first time. On 7 April, Back to Black was in the top position of the pan-European charts for the sixth consecutive and thirteenth aggregate week. Amy Winehouse – The Girl Done Good: A Documentary Review, a 78-minute DVD, was released on 14 April 2008. The documentary features interviews with those who knew her at a young age, people who helped her achieve success, jazz music experts, and music and pop-culture specialists.
At the 2008 Ivor Novello Awards in May, Winehouse became the first-ever artist to receive two nominations for the top award: Best Song Musically & Lyrically. She won the award for "Love Is a Losing Game" and was nominated for "You Know I'm No Good." "Rehab," a Novello winner for best contemporary song in 2006, also received a 2008 nomination for best-selling British song. Winehouse was also nominated for a 2008 MTV Europe Award in the "Act of the Year" category.
Although her father, manager and various members of her touring team reportedly tried to dissuade her, Winehouse performed at the Rock in Rio Lisboa festival in Portugal in May 2008. Although the set was plagued by a late arrival and problems with her voice, the crowd warmed to her. In addition to her own material she performed two Specials covers. Winehouse performed at Nelson Mandela's 90th Birthday Party concert at London's Hyde Park on 27 June 2008, and the next day at the Glastonbury Festival. On 12 July, at the Oxegen Festival in Ireland she performed a well-received 50-minute set which was followed the next day by a 14-song set at T in the Park.
On 16 August she played at the Staffordshire leg of the V Festival, and the following day played the Chelmsford leg of the festival. Organisers said that Winehouse attracted the biggest crowds of the festival. Audience reaction was reported as mixed. On 6 September, she was Bestival's Saturday headliner, where her performance was described as polished—terminated by a curfew as the show running overdue, after Winehouse started an hour late—and her storming off stage.
A clip of Winehouse's music was included in the "Roots and Influences" area that looked at connections between different artists at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex NYC, which opened in December 2008. One thread started with Billie Holiday, continued with Aretha Franklin and Mary J. Blige, and then finished with Winehouse.
Back to Black was the world's seventh-biggest-selling album of 2008. The album's sales meant that the market performance of Universal Music's recorded music division did not drop to levels experienced by the overall music market.
2009–2011: Final projects before death
In a 2009 poll of U.S. residents conducted for VisitBritain by Harris Interactive, one-fifth of the participants indicated they had listened to Winehouse's music during the previous year. She performed with Rhythms del Mundo on their cover of the Sam Cooke song, "Cupid", for an Artists Project Earth benefit album released in July that year.
Winehouse and Ronson contributed a cover of Lesley Gore's "It's My Party" to the Quincy Jones tribute album Q Soul Bossa Nostra, released in November 2010. She had agreed to form a group with Questlove of the Roots but her problems obtaining a visa delayed their working together. Salaam Remi had already created some material with Winehouse as part of the project. According to The Times, Universal Music pressed her for new material in 2008, but as of 2 September that year she had not been near a recording studio. In late October, Winehouse's spokesman was quoted as saying that Winehouse had not been given a deadline to complete her third album, for which she was learning to play drums.
In May 2009, Winehouse returned to performing at a jazz festival in St. Lucia amid torrential downpours and technical difficulties. During her set, it was reported she was unsteady on her feet and had trouble remembering lyrics. She apologised to the crowd for being "bored" and ended the set in the middle of a song. During her stay in St. Lucia, however, she worked on new music with Remi. On 23 August that year Winehouse sang with the Specials at the V Festival, on their songs "You're Wondering Now" and "Ghost Town".
Island claimed that a new album would be due for release in 2010. Island co-president Darcus Beese said, "I've heard a couple of song demos that have absolutely floored me." In July 2010, Winehouse was quoted as saying her next album would be released no later than January 2011, saying "It's going to be very much the same as my second album, where there's a lot of jukebox stuff and songs that are... just jukebox, really." Ronson, however, said at that time that he had not started to record the album. She performed "Valerie" with Ronson at a movie premiere but forgot some of the song's lyrics. In October, Winehouse performed a four-song set to promote her fashion line. In December 2010, she played a 40-minute concert at a Russian oligarch's party in Moscow, with the tycoon hand-selecting the songs.
In January 2011, Winehouse played five dates in Brazil, with opening acts of Janelle Monáe and Mayer Hawthorne. The following month she cut short a performance in Dubai following booing from the audience. Winehouse was reported to be tired, distracted and "tipsy" during the performance.
On 18 June 2011, Winehouse started her twelve-leg European tour in Belgrade. Local media described her performance as a scandal and disaster; she was booed off the stage due to her apparently being too drunk to perform. Serbian defence minister Dragan Sutanovac called Winehouse's performances "a huge shame and a disappointment". It was reported that she was unable to remember the city she was in, the lyrics of her songs or the names of the members of her band. The local press also claimed that Winehouse was forced to perform by her bodyguards, who did not allow her to leave the stage when she tried to do so. She then pulled out of performances in Istanbul and Athens, which had been scheduled for the following week. On 21 June, it was announced that she had cancelled all shows of her tour and would be given "as long as it takes" to sort herself out.
Winehouse's last public appearance took place at Camden's Roundhouse on 20 July 2011, when she made a surprise appearance on stage to support her goddaughter, Dionne Bromfield, who was singing "Mama Said" with the Wanted. Winehouse died three days later. Her last recording was a duet with American singer Tony Bennett for his album, Duets II, released on 20 September 2011. Their single from the album, "Body and Soul", was released on 14 September 2011 on MTV and VH1 to commemorate what would have been her 28th birthday.
Other ventures
Winehouse joined a campaign to stop a block of flats being built beside the George Tavern, a famous London East End music venue. Campaign supporters feared the residential development would end the spot's lucrative sideline as a film and photo location, on which it relies to survive. As part of a breast cancer awareness campaign, Winehouse appeared in a revealing photograph for the April 2008 issue of Easy Living magazine. Winehouse had an estimated £10m fortune, tying her for tenth place in the 2008 The Sunday Times listing of the wealth of musicians under age 30. The following year her fortune had dropped to an estimated £5m. Her finances are run by Mitch and Janis Winehouse. It was reported she earned about £1m singing at two private parties during Paris Fashion Week. as well as another £1m to perform at a Moscow Art Gallery for Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. Winehouse loaned a vintage dress used in her video for "Tears Dry on Their Own" as well as a DVD to the British Music Experience, a new museum dedicated to the history of British pop music. The museum, located at the O2 Arena in London, opened on 9 March 2009.
In January 2009, Winehouse announced that she was launching her own record label. The first act on her Lioness Records is Winehouse's 13-year-old goddaughter, Dionne Bromfield. Her first album, featuring covers of classic soul records, was released on 12 October 2009. Winehouse is the backing singer on several tracks on the album and she performed backing vocals for Bromfield on the BBC's television programme Strictly Come Dancing on 10 October.
Winehouse and her family are the subject of a 2009 documentary shot by Daphne Barak titled Saving Amy. Winehouse entered into a joint venture in 2009 with EMI to launch a range of wrapping paper and gift cards containing song lyrics from her album Back to Black. On 8 January 2010, a television documentary, My Daughter Amy, aired on Channel 4. Saving Amy was released as a paperback book in January 2010.
Winehouse collaborated on a 17 piece fashion collection with the Fred Perry label. It was released for sale in October 2010. According to Fred Perry's marketing director "We had three major design meetings where she was closely involved in product style selection and the application of fabric, colour and styling details," and gave "crucial input on proportion, colour and fit." The collection consists of "vintage-inspired looks including Capri pants, a bowling dress, a trench coat, pencil skirts, a longline argyle sweater and a pink-and-black checkerboard-printed collared shirt." At the behest of her family, three forthcoming collections up to and including autumn/winter 2012 that she had designed prior to her death will be released.
Awards and nominations
Among the awards and recognition for her debut album Frank, Winehouse earned an Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy of Songwriters for Best Contemporary Song ("Stronger Than Me"), a Brit Award nomination for Best British Female Solo Artist, and an inclusion in Robert Dimery's 2006 book, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Her second studio album, Back to Black, produced numerous nominations, including two Brit Awards (Best British Album, and won her Best British Female Solo Artist), six Grammy Awards (including five wins), four Ivor Novello Awards, four MTV Europe Music Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards, three World Music Awards, and it was nominated for the Mercury Prize (Album of the Year) and a MOBO Awards (Best UK Female). During her career, Winehouse received 23 awards from 60 nominations.
Critical appraisal
Winehouse was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, (sometimes labelled as blue-eyed soul and neo soul), rhythm and blues, and jazz. The BBC's Garry Mulholland called Winehouse "the pre-eminent vocal talent of her generation". According to AllMusic's Cyril Cordor, she was one of the UK's premier singers during the 2000s; "fans and critics alike embraced her rugged charm, brash sense of humor, and distinctively soulful and jazzy vocals". In The Guardian, Caroline Sullivan later wrote that "her idolisation of Dinah Washington and the Ronettes distinguished her from almost all newly minted pop singers of the early 2000s; her exceptionally-susceptible-to-heartbreak voice did the rest". Soon after Winehouse's death, a number of prominent critics assessed the singer's legacy: Maura Johnston from The Village Voice said, "When she was on, Winehouse had few peers—she wasn't an octave-jumper like other big divas of the moment, but her contralto had a snap to it that enriched even the simplest syllables with a full spectrum of emotion"; Sasha Frere-Jones of The New Yorker proclaimed, "Nobody can match Winehouse's unique transitions or her utterly weird phrasings. She sounded like an original sixties soul star, developed when the landscape had no rules. But now untrammeled traditionalism is in the lead and her beautiful footnote has been cut short. American soul—through visionaries like Erykah Badu and Janelle Monae and Jill Scott—had moved on. But Winehouse was a fine shepherd of the past."
By contrast, Robert Christgau dismissed Winehouse as "a self-aggrandizing self-abuser who's taken seriously because she makes a show of soul". In his opinion, the singer "simulated gravitas by running her suicidal tendencies through an amalgam of 20th-century African-American vocal stylings—the slides, growls, and melismatic outcries that for many matures are now the only reliable signifiers of pop substance".
On 13 February 2012, Winehouse was ranked 26 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women in Music list. In March 2017, singer-songwriter Bob Dylan said he was enjoying listening to Winehouse's last record (Back to Black), and called her "the last real individualist around."
Image
Winehouse's greatest love was 1960s girl groups. Her hairdresser, Alex Foden, borrowed her "instantly recognisable" beehive hairdo (a weave) and she borrowed her Cleopatra makeup from the Ronettes. Her imitation was so successful, as The Village Voice reports: "Ronnie Spector—who, it could be argued, all but invented Winehouse's style in the first place when she took the stage at the Brooklyn Fox Theater with her fellow Ronettes more than 40 years ago—was so taken aback at a picture of Winehouse in the New York Post that she exclaimed, "I don't know her, I never met her, and when I saw that pic, I thought, 'That's me!' But then I found out, no, it's Amy! I didn't have on my glasses."
The New York Times style reporter, Guy Trebay, discussed the multiplicity of influences on Winehouse's style after her death. Trebay noted, "her stylish husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, may have influenced her look." Additionally, Trebay observed:
Former Rolling Stone editor Joe Levy, who had put her on the magazine's cover, broke her look down this way:
Winehouse's use of bold red lipstick, thick eyebrows and heavy eyeliner came from Latinas she saw in Miami, on her trip there to work with Salaam Remi on Back to Black. Her look was repeatedly denigrated by the British press. At the same time that the NME Awards nominated Winehouse in the categories of "Best Solo Artist" and "Best Music DVD" in 2008, they awarded her "Worst Dressed Performer." Winehouse was also ranked number two on Richard Blackwell's 48th annual "Ten Worst Dressed Women" list, behind Victoria Beckham.
Criticism
Winehouse's dichotomous public image of critical and commercial success versus personal turmoil prompted significant media comment. The New Statesman called Winehouse "a filthy-mouthed, down-to-earth diva", while Newsweek called her "a perfect storm of sex kitten, raw talent and poor impulse control". Karen Heller with The Philadelphia Inquirer summarised the maelstrom this way:
By 2008, her drug problems threatened her career. As Nick Gatfield, the president of Island Records, toyed with the idea of releasing Winehouse "to deal with her problems", he said, "It's a reflection of her status [in the US] that when you flick through the TV coverage [of the Grammys] it's her image they use." Post-Grammys, some questioned whether Winehouse should have been honoured with the awards given her recent personal and drug problems, including Natalie Cole, who introduced Winehouse at the ceremony and who herself battled substance-abuse problems while winning a Grammy for Best New Artist in 1975. (Winehouse was prevented from travelling to and performing at the Grammy Awards ceremony in the US due to failing a drug test.) In a newspaper commentary, the executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, said that the alleged drug habits of Winehouse and other celebrities sent a bad message "to others who are vulnerable to addiction" and undermine the efforts of other celebrities trying to raise awareness of problems in Africa, now that more cocaine used in Europe passes through that continent. Winehouse's spokesperson noted that "Amy has never given a quote about drugs or flaunted it in any way. She's had some problems and is trying to get better. The U.N. should get its own house in order."
In January 2008, her record label stated it believed the extensive media coverage she had received increased record sales. In an April 2008 poll conducted by Sky News, Winehouse was named the second greatest "ultimate heroine" by the UK population at large, topping the voting for that category of those polled under 25 years old. Psychologist Donna Dawson commented that the results demonstrated that women like Winehouse who had "a certain sense of vulnerability or have had to fight against some adversity in their lives" received recognition.
In July 2008, BBC Radio Scotland's head, Jeff Zycinski, stated that the BBC, and media in general, were complicit in undermining celebrities, including Winehouse. He said that public interest in the singer's lifestyle did not make her lifestyle newsworthy. Rod McKenzie, editor of the BBC Radio One programme Newsbeat, replied: "If you play [Amy Winehouse's] music to a certain demographic, those same people want to know what's happening in her private life. If you don't cover it, you're insulting young licence fee payers." In The Scotsman, British singer and songwriter Lily Allen was quoted to have said – "I know Amy Winehouse very well. And she is very different to what people portray her as being. Yes, she does get out of her mind on drugs sometimes, but she is also a very clever, intelligent, witty, funny person who can hold it together. You just don't see that side."
Charity work
Throughout her life Winehouse donated her money, music and time to many charities, particularly those concerned with children. She was once named "the most charitable act" by Pop World. While this side of her personality was never well known to the general public, throughout both the arts community and the charity community she was known for her generosity.
In 2008, Winehouse appeared naked in an issue of Easy Living Magazine to raise awareness of breast cancer. In 2009, she appeared on a CD called Classics alongside musicians such as the Rolling Stones, the Killers and many Cuban musicians to raise awareness of climate change. In March 2011, Winehouse donated over £20,000 worth of clothes to a local charity shop in London.
A Caribbean man Julian Jean DeBaptiste revealed that Winehouse had paid for his urgent surgery costing £4,000 during her stay in Saint Lucia in 2009. "I had surgery on 1 July 2009... it cost a fortune and Amy paid for the whole thing. I tried to thank her but she just hugged me and told me not to say anything. Her generosity gave me my life back."
Legacy and honours
Artwork and tributes
London's Mall Galleries opened an exhibition in May 2008 that included a sculpture of Winehouse, titled Excess. The piece, created by Guy Portelli, had a miniature of the singer lying on top of a cracked champagne bottle, with a pool of spilled liquid underneath. The body was covered with what appeared to be tiny pills, while one outstretched hand held a glass. Another piece, a print titled Celebrity 1 by artist Charlotte Suckling, was shown in the same exhibition.
A wax sculpture of Winehouse went on display at the London Madame Tussauds on 23 July 2008. The singer did not attend the unveiling, although her parents did. A sculpture by Marco Perego, titled The Only Good Rock Star Is a Dead Rock Star, that depicts Winehouse lying in a pool of blood with an apple and a bullet hole in her head after being shot by American novelist and Beat poet William S. Burroughs (in a recreation of the accidental killing of his wife Joan Vollmer), was scheduled to go on display in New York's Half Gallery on 14 November 2008 with a sale price of US$100,000. Perego said of the sculpture: "Rock stars are the sacrificial animals of society." Winehouse's spokesperson stated: "It's a funny kind of tribute. The artist seems in thrall to a tabloid persona that is not the real Amy. People often use her image to sell their work."
In 2012, Winehouse was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork – the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover – to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life that he most admires.
On 14 September 2014 (which would have been Winehouse's 31st birthday), a statue was unveiled of her, which was created by sculptor Scott Eaton, at Stables Market in Camden Town, north London. Fans and relatives gathered for the unveiling in Camden's Stable Market, where it will be a permanent memorial to her. London-based Eaton, who sculpted the piece after being introduced to Winehouse's father Mitch, said the statue was meant to capture her "attitude and strength, but also give subtle hints of insecurity." Her father Mitch said of the statue: "Now Amy will oversee the comings and goings of her home town forever... Amy was in love with Camden and it is the place her fans from all over the world associate her with."
In March 2020, Winehouse's name on a stone was unveiled on the new Music Walk of Fame in Camden, with her parents Mitch and Janis in attendance at the ceremony.
Influence
Adele has credited Winehouse's success in making her and fellow British singer Duffy's journey to the United States "a bit smoother." Lady Gaga credited Winehouse with paving the way for her rise to the top of the charts, explaining that Winehouse made it easier for unconventional women to have mainstream pop success. Raphael Saadiq, Anthony Hamilton and John Legend said "Amy Winehouse was produced by people who wanted to create a marketing coup. The positive side is that it reacquainted an audience with this music and played an introductory role for others. This reinvigorated the genre by overcoming the vintage aspect."
Other artists that have credited Winehouse as an influence and/or for paving the way for them include Bruno Mars, Tove Lo, Jessie J, Emeli Sandé, Victoria Justice, Paloma Faith, Lana Del Rey, Sam Smith, Florence Welch, Halsey, Alessia Cara, Estelle, Daya, Jorja Smith, Lauren Jauregui and Billie Eilish.
After the release of Back to Black, record companies sought out female artists with a similar sound and fearless and experimental female musicians in general. Adele and Duffy were the second wave of artists with a sound similar to Winehouse's. A third wave of female musicians that has emerged since the album was released are led by V V Brown, Florence and the Machine, La Roux and Little Boots. In March 2011, the New York Daily News ran an article attributing the continuing wave of British female artists that have been successful in the United States to Winehouse and her absence. Spin magazine music editor Charles Aaron was quoted as saying "Amy Winehouse was the Nirvana moment for all these women," "They can all be traced back to her in terms of attitude, musical styles or fashion." According to Keith Caulfield, chart manager for Billboard, "Because of Amy, or the lack thereof, the marketplace was able to get singers like Adele, Estelle and Duffy," "Now those ladies have brought on the new ones, like Eliza Doolittle, Rumer and Ellie."
Amy Winehouse Foundation
After the singer's death by alcohol intoxication in July 2011, the Amy Winehouse Foundation was set up by Winehouse's family and launched on 14 September 2011 (which would have been Winehouse's 28th birthday). Its aim is to help young people and it works with other charitable organisations to provide frontline support. Its central office is in North London, but it also has an office in New York (operating under the name 'The Amy Winehouse Foundation US'). Both Jon Snow and Barbara Windsor are patrons for the charity, and ambassadors include Keira Chaplin and Mica Paris. In October 2015 Mark Ronson became a patron. Amy's brother Alex works full-time for the foundation, having given up his career as an online music journalist.
The charity itself works to prevent the effects of drug and alcohol misuse on young people and it also aims to support, inform and inspire vulnerable and disadvantaged young people to help them reach their full potential. On 12 March 2013, with the help of ex-addict Russell Brand, the Foundation launched the Amy Winehouse Foundation Resilience Programme For Schools across the UK which aims to provide effective education around drugs, alcohol and dealing with emotional issues.
Films
Documentary film
A documentary film, Amy (2015), directed by Asif Kapadia and produced by James Gay-Rees was released on 3 July 2015. The film covers Winehouse's life, her relationships, her struggles with substance abuse both before and after her career blossomed, and which eventually caused her death. The film received its première at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival on 16 May and has been reviewed as "a tragic masterpiece", "brilliant", "heartbreaking" and "unmissable". The soundtrack of the same name was released on 30 October 2015, along with the DVD that includes music featured in the documentary by film composer Antônio Pinto and classic and some unreleased tracks by Winehouse. The film was highly acclaimed and received various accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 2016 Oscars, Best Music Film at the 2016 Grammy Awards, the BAFTA for Best Documentary, the MTV Movie Award for Best Documentary, in addition to a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best British Film.
Biopic film
On 14 October 2018, it was announced that Winehouse's family had signed a deal with Monumental Pictures to make a biopic about her life, which will be directed by Alison Owen and produced by Debra Hayward. Winehouse's story will be adapted for the big screen by Geoff Deane, who has written comedy movies Kinky Boots (2005) and It's a Boy Girl Thing (2006). The project was scheduled to start filming in early 2019 and the funds are allegedly going towards the foundation.
Musical
On 9 October 2017, it was announced by Winehouse's father Mitch that a West End/Broadway musical on Amy is in the works. Mitch Winehouse revealed the news at the Amy Winehouse Foundation Gala event in London.
Personal life
Winehouse was raised Jewish and expressed pride in being Jewish, although she was not religious. During one interview, Winehouse said "being Jewish to me is about being together as a real family. It's not about lighting candles and saying a bracha." Winehouse also frequently performed with a large Star of David medallion.
In 2013, in memory of Winehouse the Jewish Museum London ran an exhibition titled "Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait". The museum researched about her paternal great-great-grandfather's arrival from Minsk in 1890, and how the family finally settled in London, starting out in working-class jobs before gradually moving to middle-class jobs.
Winehouse had 14 known tattoos, including "Daddy's Girl" on her left arm for her father and a pin-up girl with the name "Cynthia" on her right arm in memory of her Jewish grandmother.
Relationships
Winehouse dated chef-musician Alex Clare (sometimes referred to as Alex Claire) in 2006, while on a break from her on-off boyfriend and future husband, Blake Fielder-Civil. She and Clare lived together briefly, and in a pattern that Fielder-Civil would later repeat, Clare sold his story to the News of the World, which published it under the headline "Bondage Crazed Amy Just Can't Beehive in Bed."
Fielder-Civil, a former video production assistant, had dropped out of Bourne Grammar School and, aged 16, moved to London from his native Lincolnshire. He married Winehouse on 18 May 2007, in Miami Beach, Florida. In a June 2007 interview, Winehouse admitted she could sometimes be violent toward him after she had been drinking, saying: "If he says one thing I don't like, then I'll chin him." In August 2007, they were photographed, bloodied and bruised, in the streets of London after an alleged fight, although she contended her injuries were self-inflicted. Winehouse's parents and in-laws publicly reported their numerous concerns, the latter citing fears that the two might commit suicide. Fielder-Civil's father encouraged fans to boycott Winehouse's music, and Mitch Winehouse said this would not help. Fielder-Civil was quoted in a British tabloid as saying he introduced Winehouse to crack cocaine and heroin. During a visit with Mitch Winehouse at the prison in July 2008, Fielder-Civil reportedly said that he and Winehouse would cut themselves to ease the pain of withdrawal.
From 21 July 2008 to 25 February 2009, Fielder-Civil was imprisoned following his guilty plea on charges of trying to pervert the course of justice and of grievous bodily harm with intent. The incident, in July 2007, involved his assault of a pub landlord that broke the victim's cheek. According to the prosecution, the landlord accepted £200,000 as part of a deal to "effectively throw the [court] case and not turn up," and he testified that the money belonged to Winehouse, but she pulled out of a meeting with the men involved in the plot, to attend an awards ceremony. Mitch Winehouse, as manager of his daughter's money, has denied the payoff came from her.
When Winehouse was spotted with aspiring actor Josh Bowman on holiday in Saint Lucia, in early January 2009, she said she was "in love again, and I don't need drugs." She commented that her "whole marriage was based on doing drugs" and that "for the time being I've just forgotten I'm even married." On 12 January, Winehouse's spokesman confirmed that "papers have been received" for what Fielder-Civil's solicitor has said are divorce proceedings based on a claim of adultery. In March, Winehouse was quoted in a magazine as saying, "I still love Blake and I want him to move into my new house with me—that was my plan all along ... I won't let him divorce me. He's the male version of me and we're perfect for each other." Nonetheless, an uncontested divorce was granted on 16 July 2009 and became final on 28 August 2009. Fielder-Civil received no money in the settlement.
She was in a relationship with a British writer and director of films, Reg Traviss, from early 2010 until she died. According to media reports and a biography written by Winehouse's father, Traviss and Winehouse had planned to marry and intended to have children.
After Winehouse's death, Pete Doherty said that he and Winehouse had been lovers at one point. However, in July 2008, when Rolling Stone reporter Claire Hoffman asked Winehouse about her relationship with Doherty, Winehouse replied: "We're just good friends", and added: "I asked Pete to do a concept EP, and he made this face, he looked at me like I'd pooed on the floor. He wouldn't do it. We're just really close".
Substance abuse and mental illness
Winehouse's battles with substance abuse were the subject of much media attention. In 2005, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, and weight loss. People who saw her during the end of that year and early 2006 reported a rebound that coincided with the writing of Back to Black. Her family believes that the mid-2006 death of her grandmother, who was a stabilising influence, set her off into addiction. In August 2007, Winehouse cancelled a number of shows in the UK and Europe, citing exhaustion and ill health. She was hospitalised during this period for what was reported as an overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol. In various interviews, she admitted to having problems with self-harm, depression, and eating disorders.
Winehouse told a magazine that the drugs were to blame for her hospitalisation and that "I really thought that it was over for me then." Soon afterwards, Winehouse's father commented that when he had made public statements regarding her problems he was using the media because it seemed the only way to get through to her. In an interview with The Album Chart Show on British television, Winehouse said she was manic depressive and not alcoholic, adding that that sounded like "an alcoholic in denial". A US reporter writes that Winehouse was a "victim of mental illness in a society that doesn't understand or respond to mental illness with great effectiveness."
In December 2007, Winehouse's spokesman reported that the singer was in a physician-supervised programme and was channelling her difficulties by writing a lot of music. The British tabloid The Sun posted a video of a woman, alleged to be Winehouse, apparently smoking crack cocaine and speaking of having taken ecstasy and valium. Winehouse's father moved in with her, and Island Records, her record label, announced the abandonment of plans for an American promotion campaign on her behalf. In late January 2008, Winehouse reportedly entered a rehabilitation facility for a two-week treatment program.
On 23 January 2008, the video was passed on to the Metropolitan Police, who questioned her on 5 February. No charges were brought. On 26 March 2008, Winehouse's spokesman said she was "doing well". Her record company reportedly believed that her recovery remained fragile. By late April 2008, her erratic behaviourincluding an allegation of assaultcaused fear that her drug rehabilitation efforts had been unsuccessful. Winehouse's father and manager then sought to have her detained under the Mental Health Act of 1983. Her dishevelled appearance during and after a scheduled club night in September 2008 prompted new rumours of a relapse. Photographers were quoted as saying she appeared to have cuts on her arms and legs.
According to her physician, Winehouse quit using illegal substances in 2008. In an October 2010 interview, speaking of her decision to quit drugs, Winehouse said, "I literally woke up one day and was like, 'I don't want to do this any more. However, alcohol emerged as a problem, with Winehouse abstaining for a few weeks and then lapsing into alcohol abuse. Her physician said that Winehouse was treated with Librium for alcohol withdrawal and anxiety and underwent psychological and psychiatric evaluations in 2010, but refused psychological therapy.
Violence and legal difficulties
In 2006, Winehouse admitted to punching a female fan in the face for criticising her having taken Blake Fielder-Civil as a husband. She then attacked her own spouse as he attempted to calm her down, kneeing him in the crotch. In October 2007, Winehouse and Fielder-Civil were arrested in Bergen, Norway, for possession of seven grams of cannabis. The couple were later released and fined 3850 kroner (around £350). Winehouse first appealed the fines, but later dropped the appeal.
On 26 April 2008, Winehouse was cautioned after she admitted to police she slapped a 38-year-old man in the face, a "common assault" offence, her first of two. She voluntarily turned herself in and was held overnight. Police said, at her arrival she was "in no fit state" to be interviewed. Ten days later, Winehouse was arrested on suspicion of possessing drugs after a video of her apparently smoking crack cocaine was passed to the police in January, but was released on bail a few hours later because they could not confirm, from the video, what she was smoking. The Crown Prosecution Service considered charging her, but cleared her when it could not establish that the substance in the video was a controlled drug. Some members of Parliament reacted negatively. Two London residents were subsequently charged with conspiracy to supply cocaine and ecstasy to Winehouse. One of the pair was sentenced to two years in prison on 13 December 2008, while the other received a two-year community order.
On 5 March 2009, Winehouse was arrested and charged with common assault following a claim by dancer Sherene Flash that Winehouse hit her in the eye at the September 2008 Prince's Trust charity ball. Winehouse's spokesperson announced the cancellation of the singer's US Coachella Festival appearance in light of the new legal issue, and Winehouse appeared in court on 17 March to enter her plea of not guilty. On 23 July, her trial began with prosecutor Lyall Thompson charging that Winehouse acted with "deliberate and unjustifiable violence" while appearing to be under the influence of alcohol or another substance. She testified that she did not punch Flash, but tried to push her away because she was scared of her; she cited her worry that Flash would sell her story to a tabloid, Flash's height advantage, and Flash's "rude" behaviour. On 24 July, District Judge Timothy Workman ruled that Winehouse was not guilty, citing the facts that all but two of the witnesses were intoxicated at the time of the incident and that medical evidence did not show "the sort of injury that often occurs when there is a forceful punch to the eye."
On 19 December 2009, Winehouse was arrested for a third time on charges of common assault, plus another charge of public order offence after assaulting the front-of-house manager of the Milton Keynes Theatre after he asked her to move from her seat. Winehouse pled guilty to the charges and was given a conditional discharge.
Paparazzi
With the paparazzi taking photographs of her wherever they could, Winehouse obtained an injunction against a leading paparazzi agency, Big Pictures, under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997; the resultant court order issued by the High Court in 2009 banned them from following her. Photographers were also banned from following her within 100 metres of her London home and photographing Winehouse in her home or the homes of her friends and relatives. According to a newspaper report, sources close to the singer said legal action was taken out of concern for the safety of Winehouse and those close to her.
Respiratory and other health problems
On 23 June 2008, Winehouse's publicist corrected earlier misstatements by Mitch Winehouse that his daughter had early stage emphysema, instead claiming she had signs of what could lead to early-stage emphysema. Mitch Winehouse had also stated that his daughter's lungs were operating at 70 percent capacity and that she had an irregular heartbeat. He said that these problems had been caused by her chain smoking crack cocaine. The singer's father also reported that doctors had warned Winehouse that, if she continued smoking crack cocaine, she would have to wear an oxygen mask and would eventually die. In a radio interview, Mitch Winehouse said the singer was responding "fabulously" to treatment, which included being covered with nicotine patches. British Lung Foundation spokesman Keith Prowse noted this type of condition could be managed with treatment. Prowse also said the condition was not normal for a person her age but "heavy smoking and inhaling other substances like drugs can age the lungs prematurely." Norman H. Edelman of the American Lung Association explained that if she stopped smoking, her lung functions would decline at the rate of a normal person, but continued smoking would lead to a more rapid decline in lung function.
Winehouse was released from the London Clinic 24 hours after returning from a temporary leave to perform at Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday and at a concert in Glastonbury, and continued receiving treatment as an outpatient. In July 2008, Winehouse stated that she had been diagnosed with "some areas of emphysema" and said she was getting herself together by "eating loads of healthy food, sleeping loads, playing my guitar, making music and writing letters to my husband every day." She also kept a vertical tanning bed in her flat. Winehouse began precautionary testing on her lungs and chest on 25 October 2008 at the London Clinic for what was reported as a chest infection. Winehouse was in and out of the facility and was granted permission to set her own schedule regarding home leave. She returned to the hospital on 23 November 2008 for a reported reaction to her medication.
Death
Winehouse's bodyguard said that he had arrived at her residence three days before her death and felt she had been somewhat intoxicated. He observed moderate drinking over the next few days, and said she had been "laughing, listening to music and watching TV at 2 a.m. the day of her death". At 10 a.m. BST on 23 July 2011, he observed her lying on her bed and tried unsuccessfully to rouse her. This did not raise much suspicion because she usually slept late after a night out. According to the bodyguard, shortly after 3p.m., he checked on her again and observed her lying in the same position as before, leading to a further check, in which he concluded that she was not breathing and had no pulse; he said he called emergency services. At 3:54p.m., two ambulances were called to Winehouse's home in Camden, London. Winehouse was pronounced dead at the scene, at the age of 27. Shortly afterwards, the Metropolitan Police confirmed that she had died.
After her death was announced, media and camera crews appeared, as crowds gathered near Winehouse's residence to pay their respects. Forensic investigators entered the flat as police cordoned off the street outside; they recovered one small and two large bottles of vodka from her room. After her death, the singer broke her second Guinness World Record: for the most songs by a woman to simultaneously appear on the UK singles chart, with eight.
A coroner's inquest reached a verdict of misadventure. The report released on 26 October 2011 explained that Winehouse's blood alcohol content was 416 per 100 (0.416%) at the time of her death, more than five times the legal drink-drive limit. According to the coroner, "The unintended consequences of such potentially fatal levels was her sudden death."
Winehouse's record label, Universal Republic, released a statement that read in part: "We are deeply saddened at the sudden loss of such a gifted musician, artist and performer." Many musical artists have since paid tribute to Winehouse including U2, M.I.A., Lady Gaga, Marianne Faithfull, Bruno Mars, Nicki Minaj, Keisha Buchanan, Rihanna, George Michael, Adele, Kelly Clarkson, Courtney Love, and the punk rock band Green Day, who wrote a song in her tribute titled "Amy". In her 2012 album Banga, singer Patti Smith released "This Is the Girl", written as an homage to Winehouse. Mark Ronson dedicated his UK number-one album Uptown Special to Winehouse, stating: "I'm always thinking of you and inspired by you." Winehouse did not leave a will; her estate was inherited by her parents. Winehouse's parents set up the Amy Winehouse Foundation to prevent harm from drug misuse among young people; her brother Alex is an employee.
On 17 December 2012, British authorities reopened the probe into Winehouse's death. On 8 January 2013, a second inquest confirmed that Winehouse died of accidental alcohol poisoning. In a June 2013 interview, Alex Winehouse revealed his belief that his sister's eating disorder, and the consequent physical weakness, was the primary cause of her death:
Funeral
Family and friends attended Winehouse's private funeral on 26 July 2011 at Edgwarebury Lane Cemetery in north London. Her mother and father, Janis and Mitch Winehouse, close friends Nick Grimshaw and Kelly Osbourne, producer Mark Ronson, goddaughter Dionne Bromfield and her boyfriend Reg Traviss were among those in attendance at the private service led by Rabbi Frank Hellner. Her father delivered the eulogy, saying "Goodnight, my angel, sleep tight. Mummy and Daddy love you ever so much." Carole King's "So Far Away" closed the service with mourners singing along. She was later cremated at Golders Green Crematorium. The family planned to sit a two-day shiva. On 16 September 2012, Winehouse's ashes were buried alongside her grandmother's, Cynthia Levy at Edgwarebury Lane Cemetery.
Posthumous retrospectives
Winehouse's parents have each written memoirs about their daughter and donated the proceeds from both books to the Amy Winehouse Foundation. In the introduction to Mitch Winehouse's biography, entitled Amy: My Daughter (2012), he explained: "Apart from being her father, I was also her friend, confidant and adviser—not that she always took my advice, but she always heard me out." Her mother Janis published Loving Amy: A Mother's Story, in 2014.
An exhibit of Winehouse's personal items, co-curated by her brother and sister-in-law, entitled Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait, was on display at the Jewish Museum London from 3 July 2013 until 15 September 2013, and later exhibited in San Francisco, 23 July 2015 to 1 November 2015. Display items, such as books and music, were featured together with captions written by Winehouse's brother.
In late 2011, there were reports that Winehouse's former boyfriend, Reg Traviss, was developing a film about her. Winehouse's father Mitch Winehouse, who owns the copyright to his daughter's music, said he would not authorise the use of her music for the film.
Winehouse is the subject of Amy (2015), a documentary directed by Asif Kapadia and produced by James Gay-Rees, Kapadia, and Universal Music. Kapadia and Gay-Rees introduced the project at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. The film debuted at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and won the 2016 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
In 2018, a documentary film based on Winehouse's album Back to Black, Amy Winehouse – Back to Black was released. It contains new interviews as well as archival footage. It was made by Eagle Vision and produced by Gil Cang. Released on DVD on 2 November 2018, the film features interviews by producers Ronson & Remi, who worked half and half on the album, along with the Dap Kings, Remi's music team, Ronnie Spector from the Ronettes and close ones to Winehouse, including Nick Shymansky, Juliette Ashby and Dionne Bromfield. The film is accompanied by An Intimate Evening in London, footage of a show Winehouse gave at Riverside Studios, London in 2008. In February 2019, Salaam Remi released a compilation album including the song "Find My Love" which is a posthumous collaboration between Winehouse and rapper Nas.
In 2020, an exhibition entitled Beyond Black – The Style of Amy Winehouse opened at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles. The exhibit mainly explores Winehouse's style and fashion, displaying her outfits such as her iconic dresses, shoes, hair accessories, her makeup bag as well as Winehouse's personal belongings including her Grammy awards from 2008, handwritten lyrics, records and unseen home videos. The exhibition went on display in the U.S. from 17 January 2020 until 13 April 2020. In November 2021, various of Winehouse's personal items and famous dresses would later be auctioned at Julien's Auctions in Los Angeles and made more than £3m, 30% going to the Amy Winehouse Foundation. A follow-up exhibition Amy: Beyond the Stage opened on 26 November 2021 at the Design Museum in Kensington, London which also presented some of Winehouse's personal belongings and focus on her fashion sense, as well as paying homage to her musical career.
In July 2021, a new documentary entitled Reclaiming Amy aired on BBC Two to mark the 10th anniversary of Winehouse's death. The film was primarily based on the perspective and narrated by her mother Janis Winehouse-Collins and included intimate stories of those who were close to Winehouse until the end of her life, including close friends Naomi Parry (Amy's stylist), Catriona Gourlay and Chantelle Dusette.
Discography
Frank (2003)
Back to Black (2006)
Lioness: Hidden Treasures (2011)
Filmography
Amy (2015)
Amy Winehouse: Back to Black (2018)
Reclaiming Amy (2021)
See also
List of deaths through alcohol
References
Sources
Further reading
External links
Amy Winehouse collected news and commentary at The New York Times
Amy Winehouse Foundation - Charity Commission for England and Wales
1983 births
2011 deaths
20th-century English singers
20th-century English women singers
21st-century English singers
21st-century English women singers
Alcohol-related deaths in England
Alumni of the Sylvia Young Theatre School
Brit Award winners
British women jazz singers
English contraltos
English jazz singers
English Jews
Belarusian Jews
English people convicted of assault
English people of Polish-Jewish descent
English people of Russian-Jewish descent
English rhythm and blues singers
English soul singers
English women guitarists
English guitarists
Golders Green Crematorium
Grammy Award winners
Ivor Novello Award winners
Jewish English musicians
Jewish jazz musicians
Jewish singers
Jewish songwriters
MTV Europe Music Award winners
National Youth Jazz Orchestra members
Neo soul singers
People educated at the BRIT School
People educated at Susi Earnshaw Theatre School
People from the London Borough of Camden
People from Southgate, London
People with bipolar disorder
Republic Records artists
Singers from London
World Music Awards winners
| true |
[
"\"What Happened to Us\" is a song by Australian recording artist Jessica Mauboy, featuring English recording artist Jay Sean. It was written by Sean, Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim and Israel Cruz. \"What Happened to Us\" was leaked online in October 2010, and was released on 10 March 2011, as the third single from Mauboy's second studio album, Get 'Em Girls (2010). The song received positive reviews from critics.\n\nA remix of \"What Happened to Us\" made by production team OFM, was released on 11 April 2011. A different version of the song which features Stan Walker, was released on 29 May 2011. \"What Happened to Us\" charted on the ARIA Singles Chart at number 14 and was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). An accompanying music video was directed by Mark Alston, and reminisces on a former relationship between Mauboy and Sean.\n\nProduction and release\n\n\"What Happened to Us\" was written by Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim, Israel Cruz and Jay Sean. It was produced by Skaller, Cruz, Rohaim and Bobby Bass. The song uses C, D, and B minor chords in the chorus. \"What Happened to Us\" was sent to contemporary hit radio in Australia on 14 February 2011. The cover art for the song was revealed on 22 February on Mauboy's official Facebook page. A CD release was available for purchase via her official website on 10 March, for one week only. It was released digitally the following day.\n\nReception\nMajhid Heath from ABC Online Indigenous called the song a \"Jordin Sparks-esque duet\", and wrote that it \"has a nice innocence to it that rings true to the experience of losing a first love.\" Chris Urankar from Nine to Five wrote that it as a \"mid-tempo duet ballad\" which signifies Mauboy's strength as a global player. On 21 March 2011, \"What Happened to Us\" debuted at number 30 on the ARIA Singles Chart, and peaked at number 14 the following week. The song was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), for selling 70,000 copies. \"What Happened to Us\" spent a total of ten weeks in the ARIA top fifty.\n\nMusic video\n\nBackground\nThe music video for the song was shot in the Elizabeth Bay House in Sydney on 26 November 2010. The video was shot during Sean's visit to Australia for the Summerbeatz tour. During an interview with The Daily Telegraph while on the set of the video, Sean said \"the song is sick! ... Jessica's voice is amazing and we're shooting [the video] in this ridiculously beautiful mansion overlooking the harbour.\" The video was directed by Mark Alston, who had previously directed the video for Mauboy's single \"Let Me Be Me\" (2009). It premiered on YouTube on 10 February 2011.\n\nSynopsis and reception\nThe video begins showing Mauboy who appears to be sitting on a yellow antique couch in a mansion, wearing a purple dress. As the video progresses, scenes of memories are displayed of Mauboy and her love interest, played by Sean, spending time there previously. It then cuts to the scenes where Sean appears in the main entrance room of the mansion. The final scene shows Mauboy outdoors in a gold dress, surrounded by green grass and trees. She is later joined by Sean who appears in a black suit and a white shirt, and together they sing the chorus of the song to each other. David Lim of Feed Limmy wrote that the video is \"easily the best thing our R&B princess has committed to film – ever\" and praised the \"mansion and wondrous interior décor\". He also commended Mauboy for choosing Australian talent to direct the video instead of American directors, which she had used for her previous two music videos. Since its release, the video has received over two million views on Vevo.\n\nLive performances\nMauboy performed \"What Happened to Us\" live for the first time during her YouTube Live Sessions program on 4 December 2010. She also appeared on Adam Hills in Gordon Street Tonight on 23 February 2011 for an interview and later performed the song. On 15 March 2011, Mauboy performed \"What Happened to Us\" on Sunrise. She also performed the song with Stan Walker during the Australian leg of Chris Brown's F.A.M.E. Tour in April 2011. Mauboy and Walker later performed \"What Happened to Us\" on Dancing with the Stars Australia on 29 May 2011. From November 2013 to February 2014, \"What Happened to Us\" was part of the set list of the To the End of the Earth Tour, Mauboy's second headlining tour of Australia, with Nathaniel Willemse singing Sean's part.\n\nTrack listing\n\nDigital download\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean – 3:19\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Sgt Slick Remix) – 6:33\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Just Witness Remix) – 3:45\n\nCD single\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Album Version) – 3:19\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Sgt Slick Remix) – 6:33\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (OFM Remix) – 3:39\n\nDigital download – Remix\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (OFM Remix) – 3:38\n\nDigital download\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Stan Walker – 3:20\n\nPersonnel\nSongwriting – Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim, Israel Cruz, Jay Sean\nProduction – Jeremy Skaller, Bobby Bass\nAdditional production – Israel Cruz, Khaled Rohaim\nLead vocals – Jessica Mauboy, Jay Sean\nMixing – Phil Tan\nAdditional mixing – Damien Lewis\nMastering – Tom Coyne \nSource:\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly chart\n\nYear-end chart\n\nCertification\n\nRadio dates and release history\n\nReferences\n\n2010 songs\n2011 singles\nJessica Mauboy songs\nJay Sean songs\nSongs written by Billy Steinberg\nSongs written by Jay Sean\nSongs written by Josh Alexander\nSongs written by Israel Cruz\nVocal duets\nSony Music Australia singles\nSongs written by Khaled Rohaim",
"How To Avoid The Sun (), alternately referred to as Rain 2, is the second Korean-language studio album by South Korean pop and R&B singer Rain. Like its predecessor, the album sold well throughout Southeast Asia.\n\nSales \nFrom October 2003 to February 2004, the album sold 166,731 in South Korea.\n\nSingles\n\"How to Avoid the Sun\" was released as the first single. The single put Rain on the map in Korea, going to number one on the charts. At the time of the album's release, there were two versions of the song: the radio mix, credited as the guitar remix, and the original version. The song lyrics describe feeling a love so strong that it is impossible to run from. The music video was shot in Seoul. In it, you see Rain running from the sun throughout the city, trying his best to avoid it, but always failing.\n\nOn the May 10, 2007, episode of the Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert presented his audience with a parody of the \"Ways to Avoid the Sun\" music video. The parody featured Colbert singing in Korean and mimicking elements from the Rain video including running from the sun and dancing in a parking garage. The video was created in response to Rain topping Colbert in Times open online poll. In 2021, the song ranked at number 62 in Melon and newspaper Seoul Shinmuns list of top 100 K-pop songs of all-time.\n\n\"You Already Knew\" was released as a promotional single as a follow-up to \"How to Avoid the Sun\".\n\nAccolades\n\nTrack listing\n\nReferences\n\nRain (entertainer) albums\nJYP Entertainment albums\n2003 albums\nKorean-language albums"
] |
[
"Amy Winehouse",
"Substance abuse and mental illness",
"What substance problems did Amy Winehouse have?",
"In 2005, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, and weight loss.",
"What did the press say about her drinking and drug use?",
"A US reporter writes that Winehouse was a \"victim of mental illness in a society that doesn't understand or respond to mental illness with great effectiveness.\"",
"What help did Winehouse get for her problems?",
"She was hospitalised during this period for what was reported as an overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol.",
"What did her family do at this time?",
"Winehouse's father commented that when he had made public statements regarding her problems he was using the media because it seemed the only way to get through to her.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"The Sun posted a video of a woman, alleged to be Winehouse, apparently smoking crack cocaine and speaking of having taken ecstasy and valium.",
"What happened as a result of the video from The Sun?",
"On 23 January 2008, the video was passed on to the Metropolitan Police, who questioned her on 5 February. No charges were brought."
] |
C_efbf3039679a4232a67306f7dfb6f70c_1
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What problems with mental illness did she have?
| 7 |
What problems with mental illness did Amy Winehouse have?
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Amy Winehouse
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Winehouse's battles with substance abuse were the subject of much media attention. In 2005, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, and weight loss. People who saw her during the end of that year and early 2006 reported a rebound that coincided with the writing of Back to Black. Her family believes that the mid-2006 death of her grandmother, who was a stabilising influence, set her off into addiction. In August 2007, Winehouse cancelled a number of shows in the UK and Europe, citing exhaustion and ill health. She was hospitalised during this period for what was reported as an overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol. In various interviews, she admitted to having problems with self-harm, depression, and eating disorders. Winehouse told a magazine that the drugs were to blame for her hospitalisation and that "I really thought that it was over for me then." Soon afterward, Winehouse's father commented that when he had made public statements regarding her problems he was using the media because it seemed the only way to get through to her. In an interview with The Album Chart Show on British television, Winehouse said she was manic depressive and not alcoholic, adding that that sounded like "an alcoholic in denial." A US reporter writes that Winehouse was a "victim of mental illness in a society that doesn't understand or respond to mental illness with great effectiveness." In December 2007, Winehouse's spokesman reported that the singer was in a physician-supervised programme and was channelling her difficulties by writing a lot of music. The British tabloid The Sun posted a video of a woman, alleged to be Winehouse, apparently smoking crack cocaine and speaking of having taken ecstasy and valium. Winehouse's father moved in with her, and Island Records, her record label, announced the abandonment of plans for an American promotion campaign on her behalf. In late January 2008, Winehouse reportedly entered a rehabilitation facility for a two-week treatment program. On 23 January 2008, the video was passed on to the Metropolitan Police, who questioned her on 5 February. No charges were brought. On 26 March 2008, Winehouse's spokesman said she was "doing well." Her record company reportedly believed that her recovery remained fragile. By late April 2008, her erratic behaviour, including an allegation of assault, caused fear that her drug rehabilitation efforts had been unsuccessful, leading to efforts by Winehouse's father and manager to seek assistance in having her involuntarily committed. Her dishevelled appearance during and after a scheduled club night in September sparked new rumours of a relapse. Photographers were quoted as saying she appeared to have cuts on her legs and arms. According to her physician, Winehouse quit illegal substances in 2008. In an October 2010 interview, speaking of her decision to quit drugs, Winehouse said, "I literally woke up one day and was like, 'I don't want to do this any more'." Drinking alcohol emerged as a problem with Winehouse abstaining for a few weeks then lapsing. The physician said that Winehouse was treated with Librium for alcohol withdrawal and anxiety, and underwent psychological and psychiatric evaluations in 2010, but refused psychological therapy. CANNOTANSWER
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In an interview with The Album Chart Show on British television, Winehouse said she was manic depressive and not alcoholic,
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Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was a British singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz.
A member of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra during her youth, Winehouse signed to Simon Fuller's 19 Management in 2002 and soon recorded a number of songs before signing a publishing deal with EMI. She also formed a working relationship with producer Salaam Remi through these record publishers. Winehouse's debut album, Frank, was released in 2003. Many of the album's songs were influenced by jazz and, apart from two covers, were co-written by Winehouse. Frank was a critical success in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize. The song "Stronger Than Me" won her the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors.
Winehouse released her follow-up album, Back to Black, in 2006, which went on to become an international success and one of the best-selling albums in UK history. At the 2007 Brit Awards it was nominated for British Album of the Year, and she received the award for British Female Solo Artist. The song "Rehab" won her a second Ivor Novello Award. At the 50th Grammy Awards in 2008, she won five awards, tying the then record for the most wins by a female artist in a single night and becoming the first British woman to win five Grammys, including three of the General Field "Big Four" Grammy Awards: Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year (for "Rehab"), as well as Best Pop Vocal Album.
Winehouse was plagued by drug and alcohol addiction. She died of alcohol poisoning on 23 July 2011, at the age of 27. After her death, Back to Black temporarily became the UK's best-selling album of the 21st century. VH1 ranked Winehouse 26th on their list of the 100 Greatest Women in Music.
Early life
Amy Jade Winehouse was born on 14 September 1983 at Chase Farm Hospital in Gordon Hill, Enfield, to Jewish parents. Her father, Mitchell "Mitch" Winehouse, was a window panel installer and taxi driver; her mother, Janis Winehouse (née Seaton), was a pharmacist, who suffers from multiple sclerosis. The great-great-grandfather of Amy Harris Winehouse emigrated from Minsk, Belarus to London in 1891. She had an older brother, Alex (born 1979), and the family lived in London's Southgate area, where she attended Osidge Primary School. Winehouse attended a Jewish Sunday school while she was a child. During an interview following her rise to fame, she expressed her dismissal towards the school by saying that she used to beg her father to permit her not to go and that she learned nothing about being Jewish by going anyway. In the same interview, Winehouse said she only went to a synagogue once a year on Yom Kippur "out of respect".
Many of Winehouse's maternal uncles were professional jazz musicians. Amy's paternal grandmother, Cynthia, was a singer and dated the English jazz saxophonist Ronnie Scott. She and Amy's parents influenced Amy's interest in jazz. Her father, Mitch, often sang Frank Sinatra songs to her, and whenever she got chastised at school, she would sing "Fly Me to the Moon" before going up to the headmistress to be told off. Winehouse's parents separated when she was nine, and she lived with her mother and stayed with her father and his girlfriend in Hatfield Heath, Essex, on weekends.
In 1992, her grandmother Cynthia suggested that Amy attend the Susi Earnshaw Theatre School, where she went on Saturdays to further her vocal education and to learn to tap dance. She attended the school for four years and founded a short-lived rap group called Sweet 'n' Sour, with Juliette Ashby, her childhood friend, before seeking full-time training at Sylvia Young Theatre School. Several years later it was reported that Winehouse had been expelled at 14 for "not applying herself" and also for piercing her nose, but these claims were denied by Sylvia Young: "She changed schools at 15...I've heard it said she was expelled; she wasn't. I'd never have expelled Amy." Mitch Winehouse also denied the claims. She attended the Mount School, Mill Hill and the BRIT School in Selhurst, Croydon, dropping out at age 16.
After toying around with her brother Alex's guitar, Winehouse bought her own when she was 14 and began writing music shortly afterwards. Soon after she began working for a living, as an entertainment journalist for the World Entertainment News Network and also singing with local group the Bolsha Band. In July 2000, she became the featured female vocalist with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. She was influenced by Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington, the latter of whom she was already listening to at home. Winehouse's best friend, soul singer Tyler James, sent her demo tape to an A&R person.
Career
2002–2005: Career beginnings and Frank
Winehouse was signed to Simon Fuller's 19 Management in 2002 and was paid £250 a week against future earnings. While being developed by the management company, Winehouse was kept as a recording industry secret, although she was a regular jazz standards singer at the Cobden Club. Her future A&R representative at Island, Darcus Beese, heard of her by accident when the manager of The Lewinson Brothers showed him some productions of his clients, which featured Winehouse as key vocalist. When he asked who the singer was, the manager told him he was not allowed to say. Having decided that he wanted to sign her, it took several months of asking around for Beese to eventually discover who the singer was. However, Winehouse had already recorded a number of songs and signed a publishing deal with EMI by this time. Incidentally, she formed a working relationship with producer Salaam Remi through these record publishers.
Beese introduced Winehouse to his boss, Nick Gatfield; the Island head shared his enthusiasm in signing the young artist. Winehouse was signed to Island, as rival interest in her had started to build with representatives of EMI and Virgin starting to make moves. Beese told HitQuarters that he felt the excitement over an artist who was an atypical pop star for the time was due to a backlash against reality TV music shows, which included audiences starved for fresh, genuine young talent.
Winehouse's debut album, Frank, was released on 20 October 2003. Produced mainly by Salaam Remi, many songs were influenced by jazz and, apart from two covers, Winehouse co-wrote every song. The album received critical acclaim with compliments given to the "cool, critical gaze" in its lyrics. Winehouse's voice was compared with those of Sarah Vaughan and Macy Gray, among others.
The album entered the upper reaches of the UK album chart in 2004 when it was nominated for the Brit Awards in the categories of "British Female Solo Artist" and "British Urban Act." It went on to achieve platinum sales. Later in 2004, she and Remi won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song, for their first single together, "Stronger Than Me." The album was also shortlisted for the 2004 Mercury Music Prize. In the same year, she performed at the Glastonbury Festival – Jazzworld, the V Festival and the Montreal International Jazz Festival. After the release of the album, Winehouse commented that she was "only 80 percent behind [the] album" because Island Records had overruled her preferences for the songs and mixes to be included. The further singles from the album were "Take the Box," "In My Bed"/"You Sent Me Flying" and "Pumps"/"Help Yourself."
2006–2008: Back to Black and international success
After the release of her first jazz-influenced album, Winehouse's focus shifted to the girl groups of the 1950s and 1960s. Winehouse hired New York singer Sharon Jones's longtime band, the Dap-Kings, to back her up in the studio and on tour. Mitch Winehouse relates in Amy, My Daughter how fascinating watching her process was: her perfectionism in the studio and how she would put what she had sung on a CD and play it in his taxi outside to know how most people would hear her music. In May 2006, Winehouse's demo tracks such as "You Know I'm No Good" and "Rehab" appeared on Mark Ronson's New York radio show on East Village Radio. These were some of the first new songs played on the radio after the release of "Pumps" and both were slated to appear on her second album. The 11-track album, completed in five months, was produced entirely by Salaam Remi and Ronson, with the production credits being split between them. Ronson said in a 2010 interview that he liked working with Winehouse because she was blunt when she did not like his work. She in turn thought that when they first met, he was a sound engineer and that she was expecting an older man with a beard.
Promotion of Back to Black soon began and, in early October 2006 Winehouse's official website was relaunched with a new layout and clips of previously unreleased songs. Back to Black was released in the UK on 30 October 2006. It went to number one on the UK Albums Chart for two weeks in January 2007, dropping then climbing back for several weeks in February. In the US, it entered at number seven on the Billboard 200. It was the best-selling album in the UK of 2007, selling 1.85million copies over the course of the year. The first single released from the album was the Ronson-produced "Rehab." The song reached the top ten in the UK and the US. Time magazine named "Rehab" the Best Song of 2007. Writer Josh Tyrangiel praised Winehouse for her confidence, saying, "What she is is mouthy, funny, sultry, and quite possibly crazy" and "It's impossible not to be seduced by her originality. Combine it with production by Mark Ronson that references four decades worth of soul music without once ripping it off, and you've got the best song of 2007." The album's second single and lead single in the US, "You Know I'm No Good," was released in January 2007 with a remix featuring rap vocals by Ghostface Killah. It ultimately reached number 18 on the UK singles chart. The title track, "Back to Black," was released in the UK in April 2007 and peaked at number 25, but was more successful across mainland Europe. "Tears Dry on Their Own," "Love Is a Losing Game" were also released as singles, but failed to achieve the same level of success.
A deluxe edition of Back to Black was also released on 5 November 2007 in the UK. The bonus disc features B-sides, rare, and live tracks, as well as "Valerie." Winehouse's debut DVD I Told You I Was Trouble: Live in London was released the same day in the UK and 13 November in the US. It includes a live set recorded at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire and a 50-minute documentary charting the singer's career over the previous four years. Frank was released in the United States on 20 November 2007 to positive reviews. The album debuted at number 61 on the Billboard 200 chart. In addition to her own album, she collaborated with other artists on singles. Winehouse was a vocalist on the song "Valerie" on Ronson's solo album Version. The song peaked at number two in the UK, upon its October single release. "Valerie" was nominated for a 2008 Brit Award for "Best British Single." Her work with ex-Sugababe Mutya Buena, "B Boy Baby," was released on 17 December 2007. It served as the fourth single from Buena's debut album, Real Girl. Winehouse was also in talks of working with Missy Elliott for her album Block Party.
Winehouse promoted the release of Back to Black with headline performances in late 2006, including a Little Noise Sessions charity concert at the Union Chapel in Islington, London. On 31 December 2006, Winehouse appeared on Jools Holland's Annual Hootenanny and performed a cover of Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" along with Paul Weller and Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra. She also performed Toots and the Maytals' "Monkey Man". At his request, actor Bruce Willis introduced Winehouse before her performance of "Rehab" at the 2007 MTV Movie Awards in Universal City, California, on 3 June 2007. During the summer of 2007, she performed at various festivals, including Glastonbury Festival and Lollapalooza in Chicago.
The rest of her tour, however, did not go as well. In November 2007, the opening night of a 17-date tour was marred by booing and walkouts at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. A critic for the Birmingham Mail said it was "one of the saddest nights of my life...I saw a supremely talented artist reduced to tears, stumbling around the stage and, unforgivably, swearing at the audience." Other concerts ended similarly, with, for example, fans at her Hammersmith Apollo performance in London saying that she "looked highly intoxicated throughout," until she announced on 27 November 2007, that her performances and public appearances were cancelled for the remainder of the year, citing her doctor's advice to take a complete rest. A statement issued by concert promoter Live Nation blamed "the rigours involved in touring and the intense emotional strain that Amy has been under in recent weeks" for the decision. Mitch Winehouse wrote about her nervousness before public performances in his 2012 book, Amy, My Daughter. On 13 January 2008, Back to Black held the number-one position on the Billboard Pan European charts for the third consecutive week.
On 10 February 2008, Winehouse received five Grammy Awards, winning in the following categories: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the single "Rehab," and Best Pop Vocal Album. The singer also earned a Grammy as Best New Artist, earning her an entry in the 2009 edition of the Guinness Book of Records for Most Grammy Awards won by a British Female Act. Additionally, Back to Black was nominated for Album of the Year. Ronson's work with her won the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, in the non-classical category. She ended her acceptance speech for Record of the Year with, "This is for London because Camden town ain't burning down," in reference to the 2008 Camden Market fire. Performing "You Know I'm No Good" and "Rehab" via satellite from London's Riverside Studios at 3 a.m. UK time, she couldn't be at the ceremony in Los Angeles as her visa approval had not been processed in time.
After the Grammys, the album's sales increased, catapulting Back to Black to number two on the US Billboard 200, after it initially peaked in the seventh position. On 20 February 2008, Winehouse performed at the 2008 Brit Awards at Earls Court in London, performing "Valerie" with Mark Ronson, followed by "Love Is a Losing Game." She urged the crowd to "make some noise for my Blake." A special deluxe edition of Back to Black topped the UK album charts on 2 March 2008. Meanwhile, the original edition of the album was ranked at number 30 in its 68th week on the charts, while Frank charted at number 35.
In Paris, she performed what was described as a "well-executed 40-minute" set at the opening of a Fendi boutique in early March. By 12 March, the album had sold a total of 2,467,575 copies—318,350 copies had been sold in the previous 10 weeks—putting the album on the UK's top-10 best-selling albums of the 21st century for the first time. On 7 April, Back to Black was in the top position of the pan-European charts for the sixth consecutive and thirteenth aggregate week. Amy Winehouse – The Girl Done Good: A Documentary Review, a 78-minute DVD, was released on 14 April 2008. The documentary features interviews with those who knew her at a young age, people who helped her achieve success, jazz music experts, and music and pop-culture specialists.
At the 2008 Ivor Novello Awards in May, Winehouse became the first-ever artist to receive two nominations for the top award: Best Song Musically & Lyrically. She won the award for "Love Is a Losing Game" and was nominated for "You Know I'm No Good." "Rehab," a Novello winner for best contemporary song in 2006, also received a 2008 nomination for best-selling British song. Winehouse was also nominated for a 2008 MTV Europe Award in the "Act of the Year" category.
Although her father, manager and various members of her touring team reportedly tried to dissuade her, Winehouse performed at the Rock in Rio Lisboa festival in Portugal in May 2008. Although the set was plagued by a late arrival and problems with her voice, the crowd warmed to her. In addition to her own material she performed two Specials covers. Winehouse performed at Nelson Mandela's 90th Birthday Party concert at London's Hyde Park on 27 June 2008, and the next day at the Glastonbury Festival. On 12 July, at the Oxegen Festival in Ireland she performed a well-received 50-minute set which was followed the next day by a 14-song set at T in the Park.
On 16 August she played at the Staffordshire leg of the V Festival, and the following day played the Chelmsford leg of the festival. Organisers said that Winehouse attracted the biggest crowds of the festival. Audience reaction was reported as mixed. On 6 September, she was Bestival's Saturday headliner, where her performance was described as polished—terminated by a curfew as the show running overdue, after Winehouse started an hour late—and her storming off stage.
A clip of Winehouse's music was included in the "Roots and Influences" area that looked at connections between different artists at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex NYC, which opened in December 2008. One thread started with Billie Holiday, continued with Aretha Franklin and Mary J. Blige, and then finished with Winehouse.
Back to Black was the world's seventh-biggest-selling album of 2008. The album's sales meant that the market performance of Universal Music's recorded music division did not drop to levels experienced by the overall music market.
2009–2011: Final projects before death
In a 2009 poll of U.S. residents conducted for VisitBritain by Harris Interactive, one-fifth of the participants indicated they had listened to Winehouse's music during the previous year. She performed with Rhythms del Mundo on their cover of the Sam Cooke song, "Cupid", for an Artists Project Earth benefit album released in July that year.
Winehouse and Ronson contributed a cover of Lesley Gore's "It's My Party" to the Quincy Jones tribute album Q Soul Bossa Nostra, released in November 2010. She had agreed to form a group with Questlove of the Roots but her problems obtaining a visa delayed their working together. Salaam Remi had already created some material with Winehouse as part of the project. According to The Times, Universal Music pressed her for new material in 2008, but as of 2 September that year she had not been near a recording studio. In late October, Winehouse's spokesman was quoted as saying that Winehouse had not been given a deadline to complete her third album, for which she was learning to play drums.
In May 2009, Winehouse returned to performing at a jazz festival in St. Lucia amid torrential downpours and technical difficulties. During her set, it was reported she was unsteady on her feet and had trouble remembering lyrics. She apologised to the crowd for being "bored" and ended the set in the middle of a song. During her stay in St. Lucia, however, she worked on new music with Remi. On 23 August that year Winehouse sang with the Specials at the V Festival, on their songs "You're Wondering Now" and "Ghost Town".
Island claimed that a new album would be due for release in 2010. Island co-president Darcus Beese said, "I've heard a couple of song demos that have absolutely floored me." In July 2010, Winehouse was quoted as saying her next album would be released no later than January 2011, saying "It's going to be very much the same as my second album, where there's a lot of jukebox stuff and songs that are... just jukebox, really." Ronson, however, said at that time that he had not started to record the album. She performed "Valerie" with Ronson at a movie premiere but forgot some of the song's lyrics. In October, Winehouse performed a four-song set to promote her fashion line. In December 2010, she played a 40-minute concert at a Russian oligarch's party in Moscow, with the tycoon hand-selecting the songs.
In January 2011, Winehouse played five dates in Brazil, with opening acts of Janelle Monáe and Mayer Hawthorne. The following month she cut short a performance in Dubai following booing from the audience. Winehouse was reported to be tired, distracted and "tipsy" during the performance.
On 18 June 2011, Winehouse started her twelve-leg European tour in Belgrade. Local media described her performance as a scandal and disaster; she was booed off the stage due to her apparently being too drunk to perform. Serbian defence minister Dragan Sutanovac called Winehouse's performances "a huge shame and a disappointment". It was reported that she was unable to remember the city she was in, the lyrics of her songs or the names of the members of her band. The local press also claimed that Winehouse was forced to perform by her bodyguards, who did not allow her to leave the stage when she tried to do so. She then pulled out of performances in Istanbul and Athens, which had been scheduled for the following week. On 21 June, it was announced that she had cancelled all shows of her tour and would be given "as long as it takes" to sort herself out.
Winehouse's last public appearance took place at Camden's Roundhouse on 20 July 2011, when she made a surprise appearance on stage to support her goddaughter, Dionne Bromfield, who was singing "Mama Said" with the Wanted. Winehouse died three days later. Her last recording was a duet with American singer Tony Bennett for his album, Duets II, released on 20 September 2011. Their single from the album, "Body and Soul", was released on 14 September 2011 on MTV and VH1 to commemorate what would have been her 28th birthday.
Other ventures
Winehouse joined a campaign to stop a block of flats being built beside the George Tavern, a famous London East End music venue. Campaign supporters feared the residential development would end the spot's lucrative sideline as a film and photo location, on which it relies to survive. As part of a breast cancer awareness campaign, Winehouse appeared in a revealing photograph for the April 2008 issue of Easy Living magazine. Winehouse had an estimated £10m fortune, tying her for tenth place in the 2008 The Sunday Times listing of the wealth of musicians under age 30. The following year her fortune had dropped to an estimated £5m. Her finances are run by Mitch and Janis Winehouse. It was reported she earned about £1m singing at two private parties during Paris Fashion Week. as well as another £1m to perform at a Moscow Art Gallery for Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. Winehouse loaned a vintage dress used in her video for "Tears Dry on Their Own" as well as a DVD to the British Music Experience, a new museum dedicated to the history of British pop music. The museum, located at the O2 Arena in London, opened on 9 March 2009.
In January 2009, Winehouse announced that she was launching her own record label. The first act on her Lioness Records is Winehouse's 13-year-old goddaughter, Dionne Bromfield. Her first album, featuring covers of classic soul records, was released on 12 October 2009. Winehouse is the backing singer on several tracks on the album and she performed backing vocals for Bromfield on the BBC's television programme Strictly Come Dancing on 10 October.
Winehouse and her family are the subject of a 2009 documentary shot by Daphne Barak titled Saving Amy. Winehouse entered into a joint venture in 2009 with EMI to launch a range of wrapping paper and gift cards containing song lyrics from her album Back to Black. On 8 January 2010, a television documentary, My Daughter Amy, aired on Channel 4. Saving Amy was released as a paperback book in January 2010.
Winehouse collaborated on a 17 piece fashion collection with the Fred Perry label. It was released for sale in October 2010. According to Fred Perry's marketing director "We had three major design meetings where she was closely involved in product style selection and the application of fabric, colour and styling details," and gave "crucial input on proportion, colour and fit." The collection consists of "vintage-inspired looks including Capri pants, a bowling dress, a trench coat, pencil skirts, a longline argyle sweater and a pink-and-black checkerboard-printed collared shirt." At the behest of her family, three forthcoming collections up to and including autumn/winter 2012 that she had designed prior to her death will be released.
Awards and nominations
Among the awards and recognition for her debut album Frank, Winehouse earned an Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy of Songwriters for Best Contemporary Song ("Stronger Than Me"), a Brit Award nomination for Best British Female Solo Artist, and an inclusion in Robert Dimery's 2006 book, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Her second studio album, Back to Black, produced numerous nominations, including two Brit Awards (Best British Album, and won her Best British Female Solo Artist), six Grammy Awards (including five wins), four Ivor Novello Awards, four MTV Europe Music Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards, three World Music Awards, and it was nominated for the Mercury Prize (Album of the Year) and a MOBO Awards (Best UK Female). During her career, Winehouse received 23 awards from 60 nominations.
Critical appraisal
Winehouse was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, (sometimes labelled as blue-eyed soul and neo soul), rhythm and blues, and jazz. The BBC's Garry Mulholland called Winehouse "the pre-eminent vocal talent of her generation". According to AllMusic's Cyril Cordor, she was one of the UK's premier singers during the 2000s; "fans and critics alike embraced her rugged charm, brash sense of humor, and distinctively soulful and jazzy vocals". In The Guardian, Caroline Sullivan later wrote that "her idolisation of Dinah Washington and the Ronettes distinguished her from almost all newly minted pop singers of the early 2000s; her exceptionally-susceptible-to-heartbreak voice did the rest". Soon after Winehouse's death, a number of prominent critics assessed the singer's legacy: Maura Johnston from The Village Voice said, "When she was on, Winehouse had few peers—she wasn't an octave-jumper like other big divas of the moment, but her contralto had a snap to it that enriched even the simplest syllables with a full spectrum of emotion"; Sasha Frere-Jones of The New Yorker proclaimed, "Nobody can match Winehouse's unique transitions or her utterly weird phrasings. She sounded like an original sixties soul star, developed when the landscape had no rules. But now untrammeled traditionalism is in the lead and her beautiful footnote has been cut short. American soul—through visionaries like Erykah Badu and Janelle Monae and Jill Scott—had moved on. But Winehouse was a fine shepherd of the past."
By contrast, Robert Christgau dismissed Winehouse as "a self-aggrandizing self-abuser who's taken seriously because she makes a show of soul". In his opinion, the singer "simulated gravitas by running her suicidal tendencies through an amalgam of 20th-century African-American vocal stylings—the slides, growls, and melismatic outcries that for many matures are now the only reliable signifiers of pop substance".
On 13 February 2012, Winehouse was ranked 26 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women in Music list. In March 2017, singer-songwriter Bob Dylan said he was enjoying listening to Winehouse's last record (Back to Black), and called her "the last real individualist around."
Image
Winehouse's greatest love was 1960s girl groups. Her hairdresser, Alex Foden, borrowed her "instantly recognisable" beehive hairdo (a weave) and she borrowed her Cleopatra makeup from the Ronettes. Her imitation was so successful, as The Village Voice reports: "Ronnie Spector—who, it could be argued, all but invented Winehouse's style in the first place when she took the stage at the Brooklyn Fox Theater with her fellow Ronettes more than 40 years ago—was so taken aback at a picture of Winehouse in the New York Post that she exclaimed, "I don't know her, I never met her, and when I saw that pic, I thought, 'That's me!' But then I found out, no, it's Amy! I didn't have on my glasses."
The New York Times style reporter, Guy Trebay, discussed the multiplicity of influences on Winehouse's style after her death. Trebay noted, "her stylish husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, may have influenced her look." Additionally, Trebay observed:
Former Rolling Stone editor Joe Levy, who had put her on the magazine's cover, broke her look down this way:
Winehouse's use of bold red lipstick, thick eyebrows and heavy eyeliner came from Latinas she saw in Miami, on her trip there to work with Salaam Remi on Back to Black. Her look was repeatedly denigrated by the British press. At the same time that the NME Awards nominated Winehouse in the categories of "Best Solo Artist" and "Best Music DVD" in 2008, they awarded her "Worst Dressed Performer." Winehouse was also ranked number two on Richard Blackwell's 48th annual "Ten Worst Dressed Women" list, behind Victoria Beckham.
Criticism
Winehouse's dichotomous public image of critical and commercial success versus personal turmoil prompted significant media comment. The New Statesman called Winehouse "a filthy-mouthed, down-to-earth diva", while Newsweek called her "a perfect storm of sex kitten, raw talent and poor impulse control". Karen Heller with The Philadelphia Inquirer summarised the maelstrom this way:
By 2008, her drug problems threatened her career. As Nick Gatfield, the president of Island Records, toyed with the idea of releasing Winehouse "to deal with her problems", he said, "It's a reflection of her status [in the US] that when you flick through the TV coverage [of the Grammys] it's her image they use." Post-Grammys, some questioned whether Winehouse should have been honoured with the awards given her recent personal and drug problems, including Natalie Cole, who introduced Winehouse at the ceremony and who herself battled substance-abuse problems while winning a Grammy for Best New Artist in 1975. (Winehouse was prevented from travelling to and performing at the Grammy Awards ceremony in the US due to failing a drug test.) In a newspaper commentary, the executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, said that the alleged drug habits of Winehouse and other celebrities sent a bad message "to others who are vulnerable to addiction" and undermine the efforts of other celebrities trying to raise awareness of problems in Africa, now that more cocaine used in Europe passes through that continent. Winehouse's spokesperson noted that "Amy has never given a quote about drugs or flaunted it in any way. She's had some problems and is trying to get better. The U.N. should get its own house in order."
In January 2008, her record label stated it believed the extensive media coverage she had received increased record sales. In an April 2008 poll conducted by Sky News, Winehouse was named the second greatest "ultimate heroine" by the UK population at large, topping the voting for that category of those polled under 25 years old. Psychologist Donna Dawson commented that the results demonstrated that women like Winehouse who had "a certain sense of vulnerability or have had to fight against some adversity in their lives" received recognition.
In July 2008, BBC Radio Scotland's head, Jeff Zycinski, stated that the BBC, and media in general, were complicit in undermining celebrities, including Winehouse. He said that public interest in the singer's lifestyle did not make her lifestyle newsworthy. Rod McKenzie, editor of the BBC Radio One programme Newsbeat, replied: "If you play [Amy Winehouse's] music to a certain demographic, those same people want to know what's happening in her private life. If you don't cover it, you're insulting young licence fee payers." In The Scotsman, British singer and songwriter Lily Allen was quoted to have said – "I know Amy Winehouse very well. And she is very different to what people portray her as being. Yes, she does get out of her mind on drugs sometimes, but she is also a very clever, intelligent, witty, funny person who can hold it together. You just don't see that side."
Charity work
Throughout her life Winehouse donated her money, music and time to many charities, particularly those concerned with children. She was once named "the most charitable act" by Pop World. While this side of her personality was never well known to the general public, throughout both the arts community and the charity community she was known for her generosity.
In 2008, Winehouse appeared naked in an issue of Easy Living Magazine to raise awareness of breast cancer. In 2009, she appeared on a CD called Classics alongside musicians such as the Rolling Stones, the Killers and many Cuban musicians to raise awareness of climate change. In March 2011, Winehouse donated over £20,000 worth of clothes to a local charity shop in London.
A Caribbean man Julian Jean DeBaptiste revealed that Winehouse had paid for his urgent surgery costing £4,000 during her stay in Saint Lucia in 2009. "I had surgery on 1 July 2009... it cost a fortune and Amy paid for the whole thing. I tried to thank her but she just hugged me and told me not to say anything. Her generosity gave me my life back."
Legacy and honours
Artwork and tributes
London's Mall Galleries opened an exhibition in May 2008 that included a sculpture of Winehouse, titled Excess. The piece, created by Guy Portelli, had a miniature of the singer lying on top of a cracked champagne bottle, with a pool of spilled liquid underneath. The body was covered with what appeared to be tiny pills, while one outstretched hand held a glass. Another piece, a print titled Celebrity 1 by artist Charlotte Suckling, was shown in the same exhibition.
A wax sculpture of Winehouse went on display at the London Madame Tussauds on 23 July 2008. The singer did not attend the unveiling, although her parents did. A sculpture by Marco Perego, titled The Only Good Rock Star Is a Dead Rock Star, that depicts Winehouse lying in a pool of blood with an apple and a bullet hole in her head after being shot by American novelist and Beat poet William S. Burroughs (in a recreation of the accidental killing of his wife Joan Vollmer), was scheduled to go on display in New York's Half Gallery on 14 November 2008 with a sale price of US$100,000. Perego said of the sculpture: "Rock stars are the sacrificial animals of society." Winehouse's spokesperson stated: "It's a funny kind of tribute. The artist seems in thrall to a tabloid persona that is not the real Amy. People often use her image to sell their work."
In 2012, Winehouse was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork – the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover – to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life that he most admires.
On 14 September 2014 (which would have been Winehouse's 31st birthday), a statue was unveiled of her, which was created by sculptor Scott Eaton, at Stables Market in Camden Town, north London. Fans and relatives gathered for the unveiling in Camden's Stable Market, where it will be a permanent memorial to her. London-based Eaton, who sculpted the piece after being introduced to Winehouse's father Mitch, said the statue was meant to capture her "attitude and strength, but also give subtle hints of insecurity." Her father Mitch said of the statue: "Now Amy will oversee the comings and goings of her home town forever... Amy was in love with Camden and it is the place her fans from all over the world associate her with."
In March 2020, Winehouse's name on a stone was unveiled on the new Music Walk of Fame in Camden, with her parents Mitch and Janis in attendance at the ceremony.
Influence
Adele has credited Winehouse's success in making her and fellow British singer Duffy's journey to the United States "a bit smoother." Lady Gaga credited Winehouse with paving the way for her rise to the top of the charts, explaining that Winehouse made it easier for unconventional women to have mainstream pop success. Raphael Saadiq, Anthony Hamilton and John Legend said "Amy Winehouse was produced by people who wanted to create a marketing coup. The positive side is that it reacquainted an audience with this music and played an introductory role for others. This reinvigorated the genre by overcoming the vintage aspect."
Other artists that have credited Winehouse as an influence and/or for paving the way for them include Bruno Mars, Tove Lo, Jessie J, Emeli Sandé, Victoria Justice, Paloma Faith, Lana Del Rey, Sam Smith, Florence Welch, Halsey, Alessia Cara, Estelle, Daya, Jorja Smith, Lauren Jauregui and Billie Eilish.
After the release of Back to Black, record companies sought out female artists with a similar sound and fearless and experimental female musicians in general. Adele and Duffy were the second wave of artists with a sound similar to Winehouse's. A third wave of female musicians that has emerged since the album was released are led by V V Brown, Florence and the Machine, La Roux and Little Boots. In March 2011, the New York Daily News ran an article attributing the continuing wave of British female artists that have been successful in the United States to Winehouse and her absence. Spin magazine music editor Charles Aaron was quoted as saying "Amy Winehouse was the Nirvana moment for all these women," "They can all be traced back to her in terms of attitude, musical styles or fashion." According to Keith Caulfield, chart manager for Billboard, "Because of Amy, or the lack thereof, the marketplace was able to get singers like Adele, Estelle and Duffy," "Now those ladies have brought on the new ones, like Eliza Doolittle, Rumer and Ellie."
Amy Winehouse Foundation
After the singer's death by alcohol intoxication in July 2011, the Amy Winehouse Foundation was set up by Winehouse's family and launched on 14 September 2011 (which would have been Winehouse's 28th birthday). Its aim is to help young people and it works with other charitable organisations to provide frontline support. Its central office is in North London, but it also has an office in New York (operating under the name 'The Amy Winehouse Foundation US'). Both Jon Snow and Barbara Windsor are patrons for the charity, and ambassadors include Keira Chaplin and Mica Paris. In October 2015 Mark Ronson became a patron. Amy's brother Alex works full-time for the foundation, having given up his career as an online music journalist.
The charity itself works to prevent the effects of drug and alcohol misuse on young people and it also aims to support, inform and inspire vulnerable and disadvantaged young people to help them reach their full potential. On 12 March 2013, with the help of ex-addict Russell Brand, the Foundation launched the Amy Winehouse Foundation Resilience Programme For Schools across the UK which aims to provide effective education around drugs, alcohol and dealing with emotional issues.
Films
Documentary film
A documentary film, Amy (2015), directed by Asif Kapadia and produced by James Gay-Rees was released on 3 July 2015. The film covers Winehouse's life, her relationships, her struggles with substance abuse both before and after her career blossomed, and which eventually caused her death. The film received its première at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival on 16 May and has been reviewed as "a tragic masterpiece", "brilliant", "heartbreaking" and "unmissable". The soundtrack of the same name was released on 30 October 2015, along with the DVD that includes music featured in the documentary by film composer Antônio Pinto and classic and some unreleased tracks by Winehouse. The film was highly acclaimed and received various accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 2016 Oscars, Best Music Film at the 2016 Grammy Awards, the BAFTA for Best Documentary, the MTV Movie Award for Best Documentary, in addition to a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best British Film.
Biopic film
On 14 October 2018, it was announced that Winehouse's family had signed a deal with Monumental Pictures to make a biopic about her life, which will be directed by Alison Owen and produced by Debra Hayward. Winehouse's story will be adapted for the big screen by Geoff Deane, who has written comedy movies Kinky Boots (2005) and It's a Boy Girl Thing (2006). The project was scheduled to start filming in early 2019 and the funds are allegedly going towards the foundation.
Musical
On 9 October 2017, it was announced by Winehouse's father Mitch that a West End/Broadway musical on Amy is in the works. Mitch Winehouse revealed the news at the Amy Winehouse Foundation Gala event in London.
Personal life
Winehouse was raised Jewish and expressed pride in being Jewish, although she was not religious. During one interview, Winehouse said "being Jewish to me is about being together as a real family. It's not about lighting candles and saying a bracha." Winehouse also frequently performed with a large Star of David medallion.
In 2013, in memory of Winehouse the Jewish Museum London ran an exhibition titled "Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait". The museum researched about her paternal great-great-grandfather's arrival from Minsk in 1890, and how the family finally settled in London, starting out in working-class jobs before gradually moving to middle-class jobs.
Winehouse had 14 known tattoos, including "Daddy's Girl" on her left arm for her father and a pin-up girl with the name "Cynthia" on her right arm in memory of her Jewish grandmother.
Relationships
Winehouse dated chef-musician Alex Clare (sometimes referred to as Alex Claire) in 2006, while on a break from her on-off boyfriend and future husband, Blake Fielder-Civil. She and Clare lived together briefly, and in a pattern that Fielder-Civil would later repeat, Clare sold his story to the News of the World, which published it under the headline "Bondage Crazed Amy Just Can't Beehive in Bed."
Fielder-Civil, a former video production assistant, had dropped out of Bourne Grammar School and, aged 16, moved to London from his native Lincolnshire. He married Winehouse on 18 May 2007, in Miami Beach, Florida. In a June 2007 interview, Winehouse admitted she could sometimes be violent toward him after she had been drinking, saying: "If he says one thing I don't like, then I'll chin him." In August 2007, they were photographed, bloodied and bruised, in the streets of London after an alleged fight, although she contended her injuries were self-inflicted. Winehouse's parents and in-laws publicly reported their numerous concerns, the latter citing fears that the two might commit suicide. Fielder-Civil's father encouraged fans to boycott Winehouse's music, and Mitch Winehouse said this would not help. Fielder-Civil was quoted in a British tabloid as saying he introduced Winehouse to crack cocaine and heroin. During a visit with Mitch Winehouse at the prison in July 2008, Fielder-Civil reportedly said that he and Winehouse would cut themselves to ease the pain of withdrawal.
From 21 July 2008 to 25 February 2009, Fielder-Civil was imprisoned following his guilty plea on charges of trying to pervert the course of justice and of grievous bodily harm with intent. The incident, in July 2007, involved his assault of a pub landlord that broke the victim's cheek. According to the prosecution, the landlord accepted £200,000 as part of a deal to "effectively throw the [court] case and not turn up," and he testified that the money belonged to Winehouse, but she pulled out of a meeting with the men involved in the plot, to attend an awards ceremony. Mitch Winehouse, as manager of his daughter's money, has denied the payoff came from her.
When Winehouse was spotted with aspiring actor Josh Bowman on holiday in Saint Lucia, in early January 2009, she said she was "in love again, and I don't need drugs." She commented that her "whole marriage was based on doing drugs" and that "for the time being I've just forgotten I'm even married." On 12 January, Winehouse's spokesman confirmed that "papers have been received" for what Fielder-Civil's solicitor has said are divorce proceedings based on a claim of adultery. In March, Winehouse was quoted in a magazine as saying, "I still love Blake and I want him to move into my new house with me—that was my plan all along ... I won't let him divorce me. He's the male version of me and we're perfect for each other." Nonetheless, an uncontested divorce was granted on 16 July 2009 and became final on 28 August 2009. Fielder-Civil received no money in the settlement.
She was in a relationship with a British writer and director of films, Reg Traviss, from early 2010 until she died. According to media reports and a biography written by Winehouse's father, Traviss and Winehouse had planned to marry and intended to have children.
After Winehouse's death, Pete Doherty said that he and Winehouse had been lovers at one point. However, in July 2008, when Rolling Stone reporter Claire Hoffman asked Winehouse about her relationship with Doherty, Winehouse replied: "We're just good friends", and added: "I asked Pete to do a concept EP, and he made this face, he looked at me like I'd pooed on the floor. He wouldn't do it. We're just really close".
Substance abuse and mental illness
Winehouse's battles with substance abuse were the subject of much media attention. In 2005, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, and weight loss. People who saw her during the end of that year and early 2006 reported a rebound that coincided with the writing of Back to Black. Her family believes that the mid-2006 death of her grandmother, who was a stabilising influence, set her off into addiction. In August 2007, Winehouse cancelled a number of shows in the UK and Europe, citing exhaustion and ill health. She was hospitalised during this period for what was reported as an overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol. In various interviews, she admitted to having problems with self-harm, depression, and eating disorders.
Winehouse told a magazine that the drugs were to blame for her hospitalisation and that "I really thought that it was over for me then." Soon afterwards, Winehouse's father commented that when he had made public statements regarding her problems he was using the media because it seemed the only way to get through to her. In an interview with The Album Chart Show on British television, Winehouse said she was manic depressive and not alcoholic, adding that that sounded like "an alcoholic in denial". A US reporter writes that Winehouse was a "victim of mental illness in a society that doesn't understand or respond to mental illness with great effectiveness."
In December 2007, Winehouse's spokesman reported that the singer was in a physician-supervised programme and was channelling her difficulties by writing a lot of music. The British tabloid The Sun posted a video of a woman, alleged to be Winehouse, apparently smoking crack cocaine and speaking of having taken ecstasy and valium. Winehouse's father moved in with her, and Island Records, her record label, announced the abandonment of plans for an American promotion campaign on her behalf. In late January 2008, Winehouse reportedly entered a rehabilitation facility for a two-week treatment program.
On 23 January 2008, the video was passed on to the Metropolitan Police, who questioned her on 5 February. No charges were brought. On 26 March 2008, Winehouse's spokesman said she was "doing well". Her record company reportedly believed that her recovery remained fragile. By late April 2008, her erratic behaviourincluding an allegation of assaultcaused fear that her drug rehabilitation efforts had been unsuccessful. Winehouse's father and manager then sought to have her detained under the Mental Health Act of 1983. Her dishevelled appearance during and after a scheduled club night in September 2008 prompted new rumours of a relapse. Photographers were quoted as saying she appeared to have cuts on her arms and legs.
According to her physician, Winehouse quit using illegal substances in 2008. In an October 2010 interview, speaking of her decision to quit drugs, Winehouse said, "I literally woke up one day and was like, 'I don't want to do this any more. However, alcohol emerged as a problem, with Winehouse abstaining for a few weeks and then lapsing into alcohol abuse. Her physician said that Winehouse was treated with Librium for alcohol withdrawal and anxiety and underwent psychological and psychiatric evaluations in 2010, but refused psychological therapy.
Violence and legal difficulties
In 2006, Winehouse admitted to punching a female fan in the face for criticising her having taken Blake Fielder-Civil as a husband. She then attacked her own spouse as he attempted to calm her down, kneeing him in the crotch. In October 2007, Winehouse and Fielder-Civil were arrested in Bergen, Norway, for possession of seven grams of cannabis. The couple were later released and fined 3850 kroner (around £350). Winehouse first appealed the fines, but later dropped the appeal.
On 26 April 2008, Winehouse was cautioned after she admitted to police she slapped a 38-year-old man in the face, a "common assault" offence, her first of two. She voluntarily turned herself in and was held overnight. Police said, at her arrival she was "in no fit state" to be interviewed. Ten days later, Winehouse was arrested on suspicion of possessing drugs after a video of her apparently smoking crack cocaine was passed to the police in January, but was released on bail a few hours later because they could not confirm, from the video, what she was smoking. The Crown Prosecution Service considered charging her, but cleared her when it could not establish that the substance in the video was a controlled drug. Some members of Parliament reacted negatively. Two London residents were subsequently charged with conspiracy to supply cocaine and ecstasy to Winehouse. One of the pair was sentenced to two years in prison on 13 December 2008, while the other received a two-year community order.
On 5 March 2009, Winehouse was arrested and charged with common assault following a claim by dancer Sherene Flash that Winehouse hit her in the eye at the September 2008 Prince's Trust charity ball. Winehouse's spokesperson announced the cancellation of the singer's US Coachella Festival appearance in light of the new legal issue, and Winehouse appeared in court on 17 March to enter her plea of not guilty. On 23 July, her trial began with prosecutor Lyall Thompson charging that Winehouse acted with "deliberate and unjustifiable violence" while appearing to be under the influence of alcohol or another substance. She testified that she did not punch Flash, but tried to push her away because she was scared of her; she cited her worry that Flash would sell her story to a tabloid, Flash's height advantage, and Flash's "rude" behaviour. On 24 July, District Judge Timothy Workman ruled that Winehouse was not guilty, citing the facts that all but two of the witnesses were intoxicated at the time of the incident and that medical evidence did not show "the sort of injury that often occurs when there is a forceful punch to the eye."
On 19 December 2009, Winehouse was arrested for a third time on charges of common assault, plus another charge of public order offence after assaulting the front-of-house manager of the Milton Keynes Theatre after he asked her to move from her seat. Winehouse pled guilty to the charges and was given a conditional discharge.
Paparazzi
With the paparazzi taking photographs of her wherever they could, Winehouse obtained an injunction against a leading paparazzi agency, Big Pictures, under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997; the resultant court order issued by the High Court in 2009 banned them from following her. Photographers were also banned from following her within 100 metres of her London home and photographing Winehouse in her home or the homes of her friends and relatives. According to a newspaper report, sources close to the singer said legal action was taken out of concern for the safety of Winehouse and those close to her.
Respiratory and other health problems
On 23 June 2008, Winehouse's publicist corrected earlier misstatements by Mitch Winehouse that his daughter had early stage emphysema, instead claiming she had signs of what could lead to early-stage emphysema. Mitch Winehouse had also stated that his daughter's lungs were operating at 70 percent capacity and that she had an irregular heartbeat. He said that these problems had been caused by her chain smoking crack cocaine. The singer's father also reported that doctors had warned Winehouse that, if she continued smoking crack cocaine, she would have to wear an oxygen mask and would eventually die. In a radio interview, Mitch Winehouse said the singer was responding "fabulously" to treatment, which included being covered with nicotine patches. British Lung Foundation spokesman Keith Prowse noted this type of condition could be managed with treatment. Prowse also said the condition was not normal for a person her age but "heavy smoking and inhaling other substances like drugs can age the lungs prematurely." Norman H. Edelman of the American Lung Association explained that if she stopped smoking, her lung functions would decline at the rate of a normal person, but continued smoking would lead to a more rapid decline in lung function.
Winehouse was released from the London Clinic 24 hours after returning from a temporary leave to perform at Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday and at a concert in Glastonbury, and continued receiving treatment as an outpatient. In July 2008, Winehouse stated that she had been diagnosed with "some areas of emphysema" and said she was getting herself together by "eating loads of healthy food, sleeping loads, playing my guitar, making music and writing letters to my husband every day." She also kept a vertical tanning bed in her flat. Winehouse began precautionary testing on her lungs and chest on 25 October 2008 at the London Clinic for what was reported as a chest infection. Winehouse was in and out of the facility and was granted permission to set her own schedule regarding home leave. She returned to the hospital on 23 November 2008 for a reported reaction to her medication.
Death
Winehouse's bodyguard said that he had arrived at her residence three days before her death and felt she had been somewhat intoxicated. He observed moderate drinking over the next few days, and said she had been "laughing, listening to music and watching TV at 2 a.m. the day of her death". At 10 a.m. BST on 23 July 2011, he observed her lying on her bed and tried unsuccessfully to rouse her. This did not raise much suspicion because she usually slept late after a night out. According to the bodyguard, shortly after 3p.m., he checked on her again and observed her lying in the same position as before, leading to a further check, in which he concluded that she was not breathing and had no pulse; he said he called emergency services. At 3:54p.m., two ambulances were called to Winehouse's home in Camden, London. Winehouse was pronounced dead at the scene, at the age of 27. Shortly afterwards, the Metropolitan Police confirmed that she had died.
After her death was announced, media and camera crews appeared, as crowds gathered near Winehouse's residence to pay their respects. Forensic investigators entered the flat as police cordoned off the street outside; they recovered one small and two large bottles of vodka from her room. After her death, the singer broke her second Guinness World Record: for the most songs by a woman to simultaneously appear on the UK singles chart, with eight.
A coroner's inquest reached a verdict of misadventure. The report released on 26 October 2011 explained that Winehouse's blood alcohol content was 416 per 100 (0.416%) at the time of her death, more than five times the legal drink-drive limit. According to the coroner, "The unintended consequences of such potentially fatal levels was her sudden death."
Winehouse's record label, Universal Republic, released a statement that read in part: "We are deeply saddened at the sudden loss of such a gifted musician, artist and performer." Many musical artists have since paid tribute to Winehouse including U2, M.I.A., Lady Gaga, Marianne Faithfull, Bruno Mars, Nicki Minaj, Keisha Buchanan, Rihanna, George Michael, Adele, Kelly Clarkson, Courtney Love, and the punk rock band Green Day, who wrote a song in her tribute titled "Amy". In her 2012 album Banga, singer Patti Smith released "This Is the Girl", written as an homage to Winehouse. Mark Ronson dedicated his UK number-one album Uptown Special to Winehouse, stating: "I'm always thinking of you and inspired by you." Winehouse did not leave a will; her estate was inherited by her parents. Winehouse's parents set up the Amy Winehouse Foundation to prevent harm from drug misuse among young people; her brother Alex is an employee.
On 17 December 2012, British authorities reopened the probe into Winehouse's death. On 8 January 2013, a second inquest confirmed that Winehouse died of accidental alcohol poisoning. In a June 2013 interview, Alex Winehouse revealed his belief that his sister's eating disorder, and the consequent physical weakness, was the primary cause of her death:
Funeral
Family and friends attended Winehouse's private funeral on 26 July 2011 at Edgwarebury Lane Cemetery in north London. Her mother and father, Janis and Mitch Winehouse, close friends Nick Grimshaw and Kelly Osbourne, producer Mark Ronson, goddaughter Dionne Bromfield and her boyfriend Reg Traviss were among those in attendance at the private service led by Rabbi Frank Hellner. Her father delivered the eulogy, saying "Goodnight, my angel, sleep tight. Mummy and Daddy love you ever so much." Carole King's "So Far Away" closed the service with mourners singing along. She was later cremated at Golders Green Crematorium. The family planned to sit a two-day shiva. On 16 September 2012, Winehouse's ashes were buried alongside her grandmother's, Cynthia Levy at Edgwarebury Lane Cemetery.
Posthumous retrospectives
Winehouse's parents have each written memoirs about their daughter and donated the proceeds from both books to the Amy Winehouse Foundation. In the introduction to Mitch Winehouse's biography, entitled Amy: My Daughter (2012), he explained: "Apart from being her father, I was also her friend, confidant and adviser—not that she always took my advice, but she always heard me out." Her mother Janis published Loving Amy: A Mother's Story, in 2014.
An exhibit of Winehouse's personal items, co-curated by her brother and sister-in-law, entitled Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait, was on display at the Jewish Museum London from 3 July 2013 until 15 September 2013, and later exhibited in San Francisco, 23 July 2015 to 1 November 2015. Display items, such as books and music, were featured together with captions written by Winehouse's brother.
In late 2011, there were reports that Winehouse's former boyfriend, Reg Traviss, was developing a film about her. Winehouse's father Mitch Winehouse, who owns the copyright to his daughter's music, said he would not authorise the use of her music for the film.
Winehouse is the subject of Amy (2015), a documentary directed by Asif Kapadia and produced by James Gay-Rees, Kapadia, and Universal Music. Kapadia and Gay-Rees introduced the project at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. The film debuted at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and won the 2016 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
In 2018, a documentary film based on Winehouse's album Back to Black, Amy Winehouse – Back to Black was released. It contains new interviews as well as archival footage. It was made by Eagle Vision and produced by Gil Cang. Released on DVD on 2 November 2018, the film features interviews by producers Ronson & Remi, who worked half and half on the album, along with the Dap Kings, Remi's music team, Ronnie Spector from the Ronettes and close ones to Winehouse, including Nick Shymansky, Juliette Ashby and Dionne Bromfield. The film is accompanied by An Intimate Evening in London, footage of a show Winehouse gave at Riverside Studios, London in 2008. In February 2019, Salaam Remi released a compilation album including the song "Find My Love" which is a posthumous collaboration between Winehouse and rapper Nas.
In 2020, an exhibition entitled Beyond Black – The Style of Amy Winehouse opened at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles. The exhibit mainly explores Winehouse's style and fashion, displaying her outfits such as her iconic dresses, shoes, hair accessories, her makeup bag as well as Winehouse's personal belongings including her Grammy awards from 2008, handwritten lyrics, records and unseen home videos. The exhibition went on display in the U.S. from 17 January 2020 until 13 April 2020. In November 2021, various of Winehouse's personal items and famous dresses would later be auctioned at Julien's Auctions in Los Angeles and made more than £3m, 30% going to the Amy Winehouse Foundation. A follow-up exhibition Amy: Beyond the Stage opened on 26 November 2021 at the Design Museum in Kensington, London which also presented some of Winehouse's personal belongings and focus on her fashion sense, as well as paying homage to her musical career.
In July 2021, a new documentary entitled Reclaiming Amy aired on BBC Two to mark the 10th anniversary of Winehouse's death. The film was primarily based on the perspective and narrated by her mother Janis Winehouse-Collins and included intimate stories of those who were close to Winehouse until the end of her life, including close friends Naomi Parry (Amy's stylist), Catriona Gourlay and Chantelle Dusette.
Discography
Frank (2003)
Back to Black (2006)
Lioness: Hidden Treasures (2011)
Filmography
Amy (2015)
Amy Winehouse: Back to Black (2018)
Reclaiming Amy (2021)
See also
List of deaths through alcohol
References
Sources
Further reading
External links
Amy Winehouse collected news and commentary at The New York Times
Amy Winehouse Foundation - Charity Commission for England and Wales
1983 births
2011 deaths
20th-century English singers
20th-century English women singers
21st-century English singers
21st-century English women singers
Alcohol-related deaths in England
Alumni of the Sylvia Young Theatre School
Brit Award winners
British women jazz singers
English contraltos
English jazz singers
English Jews
Belarusian Jews
English people convicted of assault
English people of Polish-Jewish descent
English people of Russian-Jewish descent
English rhythm and blues singers
English soul singers
English women guitarists
English guitarists
Golders Green Crematorium
Grammy Award winners
Ivor Novello Award winners
Jewish English musicians
Jewish jazz musicians
Jewish singers
Jewish songwriters
MTV Europe Music Award winners
National Youth Jazz Orchestra members
Neo soul singers
People educated at the BRIT School
People educated at Susi Earnshaw Theatre School
People from the London Borough of Camden
People from Southgate, London
People with bipolar disorder
Republic Records artists
Singers from London
World Music Awards winners
| true |
[
"Drift hypothesis, concerning the relationship between mental illness and social class, is the argument that illness causes one to have a downward shift in social class. The circumstances of one's social class do not cause the onset of a mental disorder, but rather, an individual's deteriorating mental health occurs first, resulting in low social class attainment. The drift hypothesis is the opposing theory of the social causation thesis, which says being in a lower social class is a contributor to the development of a mental illness.\n\nSupport \nA study by E. M. Goldberg and S. L. Morrison looked at the relationship between schizophrenia and social class. They wanted to find out if men, before they had been admitted to a mental hospital, drifted down the occupational scale to unskilled jobs because of their developing illness, or if it was because they were born into families with a lower social class attainment, that they developed their mental illness. They looked at men who had their first admission in a mental hospital between the ages of 25–34. They also looked at their fathers' occupation, in order to see if the social class they grew up in played a role in the development of schizophrenia. They found the men had grown up in families whose social class was similar to the general population. So the social class they grew up in did not seem to be a contributor to the development of their schizophrenia.\n\nOpposition \nThe main opposition to the drift hypothesis is the social causation thesis, which says social class position is causally related to the probability of mental illness. John W. Fox, from the University of Northern Colorado, conducted a study in 1990 that looked at previous studies concerning the relationship between social class and mental illness. These studies he looked at supported the drift hypothesis, but when he examined them, he found their conclusions were \"based on assumptions and methods that lacked empirical support.\" Another statement in Fox's study was, in studies done on social class and mental illness, \"identify drift as an individual's downward intergenerational social mobility after the onset of mental illness, rather than as residential drift from higher to lower class status areas\". So depending on what one's definition of drift hypothesis is, there will be data either to support or refute the validity of it.\n\nFrom an economic perspective of social class and mental illness, the social causation thesis is the ruling theory. People who are unemployed have been shown to have an increased amount of distress; have more physical health problems, which are often seen to be contributors of depression; and experience more frequent and more uncontrollable life events, which studies have shown increase the risk of developing some form of mental illness.\n\nWhen looking at the gender differences in people who have mental illnesses, women are overly represented. Women are also the majority of people who are in poverty. Deborah Belle, a professor at Boston University, did a literature review on poverty and women's mental health and examined the psychological stressors that poor women and mothers experience. \"A number of community studies conducted in the 1970s reported that mothers who were in financially strained circumstances were more likely to develop depressive symptoms than other women.\n\nA person with mental illness, particularly if more severe, may suffer from loss of income. With this may come the need to accept public housing or food or utilities, if the person can find them.\n\nReferences \n\nSociological theories\nSocial classes\nSocial problems in medicine",
"Lindsay Riddoch (1993 – December 2017) was a Scottish mental health activist.\n\nBorn in Edinburgh, Riddoch was educated at Boroughmuir High School, United World College of the Atlantic in Wales, and at the University of London. She graduated from the University of London's School of African and Oriental Studies (SOAS) in 2014 with a first class honours degree in history, specialising in Islam and the Middle East. As a member of the digital activist group 38 Degrees, she campaigned for greater accountability among MPs. Riddoch suffered from long-term mental health problems and campaigned for better mental health services. While at Atlantic College, she launched the website \"1000 Voices\" to help teenagers with mental health problems. It was promoted on social media by the actor Stephen Fry. She also wrote and performed poetry which explored her struggles with mental illness.\n\nLindsay Riddoch took her own life in December 2017 at the age of 24. A mental health research fund, Words That Carry On, has been set up in her memory.\n\nReferences \n\nMental health activists\n1993 births\n2017 deaths\n2017 suicides\nAlumni of the University of London\nPeople from Edinburgh\nScottish women activists\n\nPeople educated at Atlantic College\nPeople educated at a United World College\nSuicides in the United Kingdom"
] |
[
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"Substance abuse and mental illness",
"What substance problems did Amy Winehouse have?",
"In 2005, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, and weight loss.",
"What did the press say about her drinking and drug use?",
"A US reporter writes that Winehouse was a \"victim of mental illness in a society that doesn't understand or respond to mental illness with great effectiveness.\"",
"What help did Winehouse get for her problems?",
"She was hospitalised during this period for what was reported as an overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol.",
"What did her family do at this time?",
"Winehouse's father commented that when he had made public statements regarding her problems he was using the media because it seemed the only way to get through to her.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"The Sun posted a video of a woman, alleged to be Winehouse, apparently smoking crack cocaine and speaking of having taken ecstasy and valium.",
"What happened as a result of the video from The Sun?",
"On 23 January 2008, the video was passed on to the Metropolitan Police, who questioned her on 5 February. No charges were brought.",
"What problems with mental illness did she have?",
"In an interview with The Album Chart Show on British television, Winehouse said she was manic depressive and not alcoholic,"
] |
C_efbf3039679a4232a67306f7dfb6f70c_1
|
Did she get treatment for her illness?
| 8 |
Did Amy Winehouse get treatment for her illness?
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Amy Winehouse
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Winehouse's battles with substance abuse were the subject of much media attention. In 2005, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, and weight loss. People who saw her during the end of that year and early 2006 reported a rebound that coincided with the writing of Back to Black. Her family believes that the mid-2006 death of her grandmother, who was a stabilising influence, set her off into addiction. In August 2007, Winehouse cancelled a number of shows in the UK and Europe, citing exhaustion and ill health. She was hospitalised during this period for what was reported as an overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol. In various interviews, she admitted to having problems with self-harm, depression, and eating disorders. Winehouse told a magazine that the drugs were to blame for her hospitalisation and that "I really thought that it was over for me then." Soon afterward, Winehouse's father commented that when he had made public statements regarding her problems he was using the media because it seemed the only way to get through to her. In an interview with The Album Chart Show on British television, Winehouse said she was manic depressive and not alcoholic, adding that that sounded like "an alcoholic in denial." A US reporter writes that Winehouse was a "victim of mental illness in a society that doesn't understand or respond to mental illness with great effectiveness." In December 2007, Winehouse's spokesman reported that the singer was in a physician-supervised programme and was channelling her difficulties by writing a lot of music. The British tabloid The Sun posted a video of a woman, alleged to be Winehouse, apparently smoking crack cocaine and speaking of having taken ecstasy and valium. Winehouse's father moved in with her, and Island Records, her record label, announced the abandonment of plans for an American promotion campaign on her behalf. In late January 2008, Winehouse reportedly entered a rehabilitation facility for a two-week treatment program. On 23 January 2008, the video was passed on to the Metropolitan Police, who questioned her on 5 February. No charges were brought. On 26 March 2008, Winehouse's spokesman said she was "doing well." Her record company reportedly believed that her recovery remained fragile. By late April 2008, her erratic behaviour, including an allegation of assault, caused fear that her drug rehabilitation efforts had been unsuccessful, leading to efforts by Winehouse's father and manager to seek assistance in having her involuntarily committed. Her dishevelled appearance during and after a scheduled club night in September sparked new rumours of a relapse. Photographers were quoted as saying she appeared to have cuts on her legs and arms. According to her physician, Winehouse quit illegal substances in 2008. In an October 2010 interview, speaking of her decision to quit drugs, Winehouse said, "I literally woke up one day and was like, 'I don't want to do this any more'." Drinking alcohol emerged as a problem with Winehouse abstaining for a few weeks then lapsing. The physician said that Winehouse was treated with Librium for alcohol withdrawal and anxiety, and underwent psychological and psychiatric evaluations in 2010, but refused psychological therapy. CANNOTANSWER
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In December 2007, Winehouse's spokesman reported that the singer was in a physician-supervised programme and was channelling her difficulties by writing a lot of music.
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Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was a British singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz.
A member of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra during her youth, Winehouse signed to Simon Fuller's 19 Management in 2002 and soon recorded a number of songs before signing a publishing deal with EMI. She also formed a working relationship with producer Salaam Remi through these record publishers. Winehouse's debut album, Frank, was released in 2003. Many of the album's songs were influenced by jazz and, apart from two covers, were co-written by Winehouse. Frank was a critical success in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize. The song "Stronger Than Me" won her the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors.
Winehouse released her follow-up album, Back to Black, in 2006, which went on to become an international success and one of the best-selling albums in UK history. At the 2007 Brit Awards it was nominated for British Album of the Year, and she received the award for British Female Solo Artist. The song "Rehab" won her a second Ivor Novello Award. At the 50th Grammy Awards in 2008, she won five awards, tying the then record for the most wins by a female artist in a single night and becoming the first British woman to win five Grammys, including three of the General Field "Big Four" Grammy Awards: Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year (for "Rehab"), as well as Best Pop Vocal Album.
Winehouse was plagued by drug and alcohol addiction. She died of alcohol poisoning on 23 July 2011, at the age of 27. After her death, Back to Black temporarily became the UK's best-selling album of the 21st century. VH1 ranked Winehouse 26th on their list of the 100 Greatest Women in Music.
Early life
Amy Jade Winehouse was born on 14 September 1983 at Chase Farm Hospital in Gordon Hill, Enfield, to Jewish parents. Her father, Mitchell "Mitch" Winehouse, was a window panel installer and taxi driver; her mother, Janis Winehouse (née Seaton), was a pharmacist, who suffers from multiple sclerosis. The great-great-grandfather of Amy Harris Winehouse emigrated from Minsk, Belarus to London in 1891. She had an older brother, Alex (born 1979), and the family lived in London's Southgate area, where she attended Osidge Primary School. Winehouse attended a Jewish Sunday school while she was a child. During an interview following her rise to fame, she expressed her dismissal towards the school by saying that she used to beg her father to permit her not to go and that she learned nothing about being Jewish by going anyway. In the same interview, Winehouse said she only went to a synagogue once a year on Yom Kippur "out of respect".
Many of Winehouse's maternal uncles were professional jazz musicians. Amy's paternal grandmother, Cynthia, was a singer and dated the English jazz saxophonist Ronnie Scott. She and Amy's parents influenced Amy's interest in jazz. Her father, Mitch, often sang Frank Sinatra songs to her, and whenever she got chastised at school, she would sing "Fly Me to the Moon" before going up to the headmistress to be told off. Winehouse's parents separated when she was nine, and she lived with her mother and stayed with her father and his girlfriend in Hatfield Heath, Essex, on weekends.
In 1992, her grandmother Cynthia suggested that Amy attend the Susi Earnshaw Theatre School, where she went on Saturdays to further her vocal education and to learn to tap dance. She attended the school for four years and founded a short-lived rap group called Sweet 'n' Sour, with Juliette Ashby, her childhood friend, before seeking full-time training at Sylvia Young Theatre School. Several years later it was reported that Winehouse had been expelled at 14 for "not applying herself" and also for piercing her nose, but these claims were denied by Sylvia Young: "She changed schools at 15...I've heard it said she was expelled; she wasn't. I'd never have expelled Amy." Mitch Winehouse also denied the claims. She attended the Mount School, Mill Hill and the BRIT School in Selhurst, Croydon, dropping out at age 16.
After toying around with her brother Alex's guitar, Winehouse bought her own when she was 14 and began writing music shortly afterwards. Soon after she began working for a living, as an entertainment journalist for the World Entertainment News Network and also singing with local group the Bolsha Band. In July 2000, she became the featured female vocalist with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. She was influenced by Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington, the latter of whom she was already listening to at home. Winehouse's best friend, soul singer Tyler James, sent her demo tape to an A&R person.
Career
2002–2005: Career beginnings and Frank
Winehouse was signed to Simon Fuller's 19 Management in 2002 and was paid £250 a week against future earnings. While being developed by the management company, Winehouse was kept as a recording industry secret, although she was a regular jazz standards singer at the Cobden Club. Her future A&R representative at Island, Darcus Beese, heard of her by accident when the manager of The Lewinson Brothers showed him some productions of his clients, which featured Winehouse as key vocalist. When he asked who the singer was, the manager told him he was not allowed to say. Having decided that he wanted to sign her, it took several months of asking around for Beese to eventually discover who the singer was. However, Winehouse had already recorded a number of songs and signed a publishing deal with EMI by this time. Incidentally, she formed a working relationship with producer Salaam Remi through these record publishers.
Beese introduced Winehouse to his boss, Nick Gatfield; the Island head shared his enthusiasm in signing the young artist. Winehouse was signed to Island, as rival interest in her had started to build with representatives of EMI and Virgin starting to make moves. Beese told HitQuarters that he felt the excitement over an artist who was an atypical pop star for the time was due to a backlash against reality TV music shows, which included audiences starved for fresh, genuine young talent.
Winehouse's debut album, Frank, was released on 20 October 2003. Produced mainly by Salaam Remi, many songs were influenced by jazz and, apart from two covers, Winehouse co-wrote every song. The album received critical acclaim with compliments given to the "cool, critical gaze" in its lyrics. Winehouse's voice was compared with those of Sarah Vaughan and Macy Gray, among others.
The album entered the upper reaches of the UK album chart in 2004 when it was nominated for the Brit Awards in the categories of "British Female Solo Artist" and "British Urban Act." It went on to achieve platinum sales. Later in 2004, she and Remi won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song, for their first single together, "Stronger Than Me." The album was also shortlisted for the 2004 Mercury Music Prize. In the same year, she performed at the Glastonbury Festival – Jazzworld, the V Festival and the Montreal International Jazz Festival. After the release of the album, Winehouse commented that she was "only 80 percent behind [the] album" because Island Records had overruled her preferences for the songs and mixes to be included. The further singles from the album were "Take the Box," "In My Bed"/"You Sent Me Flying" and "Pumps"/"Help Yourself."
2006–2008: Back to Black and international success
After the release of her first jazz-influenced album, Winehouse's focus shifted to the girl groups of the 1950s and 1960s. Winehouse hired New York singer Sharon Jones's longtime band, the Dap-Kings, to back her up in the studio and on tour. Mitch Winehouse relates in Amy, My Daughter how fascinating watching her process was: her perfectionism in the studio and how she would put what she had sung on a CD and play it in his taxi outside to know how most people would hear her music. In May 2006, Winehouse's demo tracks such as "You Know I'm No Good" and "Rehab" appeared on Mark Ronson's New York radio show on East Village Radio. These were some of the first new songs played on the radio after the release of "Pumps" and both were slated to appear on her second album. The 11-track album, completed in five months, was produced entirely by Salaam Remi and Ronson, with the production credits being split between them. Ronson said in a 2010 interview that he liked working with Winehouse because she was blunt when she did not like his work. She in turn thought that when they first met, he was a sound engineer and that she was expecting an older man with a beard.
Promotion of Back to Black soon began and, in early October 2006 Winehouse's official website was relaunched with a new layout and clips of previously unreleased songs. Back to Black was released in the UK on 30 October 2006. It went to number one on the UK Albums Chart for two weeks in January 2007, dropping then climbing back for several weeks in February. In the US, it entered at number seven on the Billboard 200. It was the best-selling album in the UK of 2007, selling 1.85million copies over the course of the year. The first single released from the album was the Ronson-produced "Rehab." The song reached the top ten in the UK and the US. Time magazine named "Rehab" the Best Song of 2007. Writer Josh Tyrangiel praised Winehouse for her confidence, saying, "What she is is mouthy, funny, sultry, and quite possibly crazy" and "It's impossible not to be seduced by her originality. Combine it with production by Mark Ronson that references four decades worth of soul music without once ripping it off, and you've got the best song of 2007." The album's second single and lead single in the US, "You Know I'm No Good," was released in January 2007 with a remix featuring rap vocals by Ghostface Killah. It ultimately reached number 18 on the UK singles chart. The title track, "Back to Black," was released in the UK in April 2007 and peaked at number 25, but was more successful across mainland Europe. "Tears Dry on Their Own," "Love Is a Losing Game" were also released as singles, but failed to achieve the same level of success.
A deluxe edition of Back to Black was also released on 5 November 2007 in the UK. The bonus disc features B-sides, rare, and live tracks, as well as "Valerie." Winehouse's debut DVD I Told You I Was Trouble: Live in London was released the same day in the UK and 13 November in the US. It includes a live set recorded at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire and a 50-minute documentary charting the singer's career over the previous four years. Frank was released in the United States on 20 November 2007 to positive reviews. The album debuted at number 61 on the Billboard 200 chart. In addition to her own album, she collaborated with other artists on singles. Winehouse was a vocalist on the song "Valerie" on Ronson's solo album Version. The song peaked at number two in the UK, upon its October single release. "Valerie" was nominated for a 2008 Brit Award for "Best British Single." Her work with ex-Sugababe Mutya Buena, "B Boy Baby," was released on 17 December 2007. It served as the fourth single from Buena's debut album, Real Girl. Winehouse was also in talks of working with Missy Elliott for her album Block Party.
Winehouse promoted the release of Back to Black with headline performances in late 2006, including a Little Noise Sessions charity concert at the Union Chapel in Islington, London. On 31 December 2006, Winehouse appeared on Jools Holland's Annual Hootenanny and performed a cover of Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" along with Paul Weller and Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra. She also performed Toots and the Maytals' "Monkey Man". At his request, actor Bruce Willis introduced Winehouse before her performance of "Rehab" at the 2007 MTV Movie Awards in Universal City, California, on 3 June 2007. During the summer of 2007, she performed at various festivals, including Glastonbury Festival and Lollapalooza in Chicago.
The rest of her tour, however, did not go as well. In November 2007, the opening night of a 17-date tour was marred by booing and walkouts at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. A critic for the Birmingham Mail said it was "one of the saddest nights of my life...I saw a supremely talented artist reduced to tears, stumbling around the stage and, unforgivably, swearing at the audience." Other concerts ended similarly, with, for example, fans at her Hammersmith Apollo performance in London saying that she "looked highly intoxicated throughout," until she announced on 27 November 2007, that her performances and public appearances were cancelled for the remainder of the year, citing her doctor's advice to take a complete rest. A statement issued by concert promoter Live Nation blamed "the rigours involved in touring and the intense emotional strain that Amy has been under in recent weeks" for the decision. Mitch Winehouse wrote about her nervousness before public performances in his 2012 book, Amy, My Daughter. On 13 January 2008, Back to Black held the number-one position on the Billboard Pan European charts for the third consecutive week.
On 10 February 2008, Winehouse received five Grammy Awards, winning in the following categories: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the single "Rehab," and Best Pop Vocal Album. The singer also earned a Grammy as Best New Artist, earning her an entry in the 2009 edition of the Guinness Book of Records for Most Grammy Awards won by a British Female Act. Additionally, Back to Black was nominated for Album of the Year. Ronson's work with her won the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, in the non-classical category. She ended her acceptance speech for Record of the Year with, "This is for London because Camden town ain't burning down," in reference to the 2008 Camden Market fire. Performing "You Know I'm No Good" and "Rehab" via satellite from London's Riverside Studios at 3 a.m. UK time, she couldn't be at the ceremony in Los Angeles as her visa approval had not been processed in time.
After the Grammys, the album's sales increased, catapulting Back to Black to number two on the US Billboard 200, after it initially peaked in the seventh position. On 20 February 2008, Winehouse performed at the 2008 Brit Awards at Earls Court in London, performing "Valerie" with Mark Ronson, followed by "Love Is a Losing Game." She urged the crowd to "make some noise for my Blake." A special deluxe edition of Back to Black topped the UK album charts on 2 March 2008. Meanwhile, the original edition of the album was ranked at number 30 in its 68th week on the charts, while Frank charted at number 35.
In Paris, she performed what was described as a "well-executed 40-minute" set at the opening of a Fendi boutique in early March. By 12 March, the album had sold a total of 2,467,575 copies—318,350 copies had been sold in the previous 10 weeks—putting the album on the UK's top-10 best-selling albums of the 21st century for the first time. On 7 April, Back to Black was in the top position of the pan-European charts for the sixth consecutive and thirteenth aggregate week. Amy Winehouse – The Girl Done Good: A Documentary Review, a 78-minute DVD, was released on 14 April 2008. The documentary features interviews with those who knew her at a young age, people who helped her achieve success, jazz music experts, and music and pop-culture specialists.
At the 2008 Ivor Novello Awards in May, Winehouse became the first-ever artist to receive two nominations for the top award: Best Song Musically & Lyrically. She won the award for "Love Is a Losing Game" and was nominated for "You Know I'm No Good." "Rehab," a Novello winner for best contemporary song in 2006, also received a 2008 nomination for best-selling British song. Winehouse was also nominated for a 2008 MTV Europe Award in the "Act of the Year" category.
Although her father, manager and various members of her touring team reportedly tried to dissuade her, Winehouse performed at the Rock in Rio Lisboa festival in Portugal in May 2008. Although the set was plagued by a late arrival and problems with her voice, the crowd warmed to her. In addition to her own material she performed two Specials covers. Winehouse performed at Nelson Mandela's 90th Birthday Party concert at London's Hyde Park on 27 June 2008, and the next day at the Glastonbury Festival. On 12 July, at the Oxegen Festival in Ireland she performed a well-received 50-minute set which was followed the next day by a 14-song set at T in the Park.
On 16 August she played at the Staffordshire leg of the V Festival, and the following day played the Chelmsford leg of the festival. Organisers said that Winehouse attracted the biggest crowds of the festival. Audience reaction was reported as mixed. On 6 September, she was Bestival's Saturday headliner, where her performance was described as polished—terminated by a curfew as the show running overdue, after Winehouse started an hour late—and her storming off stage.
A clip of Winehouse's music was included in the "Roots and Influences" area that looked at connections between different artists at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex NYC, which opened in December 2008. One thread started with Billie Holiday, continued with Aretha Franklin and Mary J. Blige, and then finished with Winehouse.
Back to Black was the world's seventh-biggest-selling album of 2008. The album's sales meant that the market performance of Universal Music's recorded music division did not drop to levels experienced by the overall music market.
2009–2011: Final projects before death
In a 2009 poll of U.S. residents conducted for VisitBritain by Harris Interactive, one-fifth of the participants indicated they had listened to Winehouse's music during the previous year. She performed with Rhythms del Mundo on their cover of the Sam Cooke song, "Cupid", for an Artists Project Earth benefit album released in July that year.
Winehouse and Ronson contributed a cover of Lesley Gore's "It's My Party" to the Quincy Jones tribute album Q Soul Bossa Nostra, released in November 2010. She had agreed to form a group with Questlove of the Roots but her problems obtaining a visa delayed their working together. Salaam Remi had already created some material with Winehouse as part of the project. According to The Times, Universal Music pressed her for new material in 2008, but as of 2 September that year she had not been near a recording studio. In late October, Winehouse's spokesman was quoted as saying that Winehouse had not been given a deadline to complete her third album, for which she was learning to play drums.
In May 2009, Winehouse returned to performing at a jazz festival in St. Lucia amid torrential downpours and technical difficulties. During her set, it was reported she was unsteady on her feet and had trouble remembering lyrics. She apologised to the crowd for being "bored" and ended the set in the middle of a song. During her stay in St. Lucia, however, she worked on new music with Remi. On 23 August that year Winehouse sang with the Specials at the V Festival, on their songs "You're Wondering Now" and "Ghost Town".
Island claimed that a new album would be due for release in 2010. Island co-president Darcus Beese said, "I've heard a couple of song demos that have absolutely floored me." In July 2010, Winehouse was quoted as saying her next album would be released no later than January 2011, saying "It's going to be very much the same as my second album, where there's a lot of jukebox stuff and songs that are... just jukebox, really." Ronson, however, said at that time that he had not started to record the album. She performed "Valerie" with Ronson at a movie premiere but forgot some of the song's lyrics. In October, Winehouse performed a four-song set to promote her fashion line. In December 2010, she played a 40-minute concert at a Russian oligarch's party in Moscow, with the tycoon hand-selecting the songs.
In January 2011, Winehouse played five dates in Brazil, with opening acts of Janelle Monáe and Mayer Hawthorne. The following month she cut short a performance in Dubai following booing from the audience. Winehouse was reported to be tired, distracted and "tipsy" during the performance.
On 18 June 2011, Winehouse started her twelve-leg European tour in Belgrade. Local media described her performance as a scandal and disaster; she was booed off the stage due to her apparently being too drunk to perform. Serbian defence minister Dragan Sutanovac called Winehouse's performances "a huge shame and a disappointment". It was reported that she was unable to remember the city she was in, the lyrics of her songs or the names of the members of her band. The local press also claimed that Winehouse was forced to perform by her bodyguards, who did not allow her to leave the stage when she tried to do so. She then pulled out of performances in Istanbul and Athens, which had been scheduled for the following week. On 21 June, it was announced that she had cancelled all shows of her tour and would be given "as long as it takes" to sort herself out.
Winehouse's last public appearance took place at Camden's Roundhouse on 20 July 2011, when she made a surprise appearance on stage to support her goddaughter, Dionne Bromfield, who was singing "Mama Said" with the Wanted. Winehouse died three days later. Her last recording was a duet with American singer Tony Bennett for his album, Duets II, released on 20 September 2011. Their single from the album, "Body and Soul", was released on 14 September 2011 on MTV and VH1 to commemorate what would have been her 28th birthday.
Other ventures
Winehouse joined a campaign to stop a block of flats being built beside the George Tavern, a famous London East End music venue. Campaign supporters feared the residential development would end the spot's lucrative sideline as a film and photo location, on which it relies to survive. As part of a breast cancer awareness campaign, Winehouse appeared in a revealing photograph for the April 2008 issue of Easy Living magazine. Winehouse had an estimated £10m fortune, tying her for tenth place in the 2008 The Sunday Times listing of the wealth of musicians under age 30. The following year her fortune had dropped to an estimated £5m. Her finances are run by Mitch and Janis Winehouse. It was reported she earned about £1m singing at two private parties during Paris Fashion Week. as well as another £1m to perform at a Moscow Art Gallery for Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. Winehouse loaned a vintage dress used in her video for "Tears Dry on Their Own" as well as a DVD to the British Music Experience, a new museum dedicated to the history of British pop music. The museum, located at the O2 Arena in London, opened on 9 March 2009.
In January 2009, Winehouse announced that she was launching her own record label. The first act on her Lioness Records is Winehouse's 13-year-old goddaughter, Dionne Bromfield. Her first album, featuring covers of classic soul records, was released on 12 October 2009. Winehouse is the backing singer on several tracks on the album and she performed backing vocals for Bromfield on the BBC's television programme Strictly Come Dancing on 10 October.
Winehouse and her family are the subject of a 2009 documentary shot by Daphne Barak titled Saving Amy. Winehouse entered into a joint venture in 2009 with EMI to launch a range of wrapping paper and gift cards containing song lyrics from her album Back to Black. On 8 January 2010, a television documentary, My Daughter Amy, aired on Channel 4. Saving Amy was released as a paperback book in January 2010.
Winehouse collaborated on a 17 piece fashion collection with the Fred Perry label. It was released for sale in October 2010. According to Fred Perry's marketing director "We had three major design meetings where she was closely involved in product style selection and the application of fabric, colour and styling details," and gave "crucial input on proportion, colour and fit." The collection consists of "vintage-inspired looks including Capri pants, a bowling dress, a trench coat, pencil skirts, a longline argyle sweater and a pink-and-black checkerboard-printed collared shirt." At the behest of her family, three forthcoming collections up to and including autumn/winter 2012 that she had designed prior to her death will be released.
Awards and nominations
Among the awards and recognition for her debut album Frank, Winehouse earned an Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy of Songwriters for Best Contemporary Song ("Stronger Than Me"), a Brit Award nomination for Best British Female Solo Artist, and an inclusion in Robert Dimery's 2006 book, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Her second studio album, Back to Black, produced numerous nominations, including two Brit Awards (Best British Album, and won her Best British Female Solo Artist), six Grammy Awards (including five wins), four Ivor Novello Awards, four MTV Europe Music Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards, three World Music Awards, and it was nominated for the Mercury Prize (Album of the Year) and a MOBO Awards (Best UK Female). During her career, Winehouse received 23 awards from 60 nominations.
Critical appraisal
Winehouse was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, (sometimes labelled as blue-eyed soul and neo soul), rhythm and blues, and jazz. The BBC's Garry Mulholland called Winehouse "the pre-eminent vocal talent of her generation". According to AllMusic's Cyril Cordor, she was one of the UK's premier singers during the 2000s; "fans and critics alike embraced her rugged charm, brash sense of humor, and distinctively soulful and jazzy vocals". In The Guardian, Caroline Sullivan later wrote that "her idolisation of Dinah Washington and the Ronettes distinguished her from almost all newly minted pop singers of the early 2000s; her exceptionally-susceptible-to-heartbreak voice did the rest". Soon after Winehouse's death, a number of prominent critics assessed the singer's legacy: Maura Johnston from The Village Voice said, "When she was on, Winehouse had few peers—she wasn't an octave-jumper like other big divas of the moment, but her contralto had a snap to it that enriched even the simplest syllables with a full spectrum of emotion"; Sasha Frere-Jones of The New Yorker proclaimed, "Nobody can match Winehouse's unique transitions or her utterly weird phrasings. She sounded like an original sixties soul star, developed when the landscape had no rules. But now untrammeled traditionalism is in the lead and her beautiful footnote has been cut short. American soul—through visionaries like Erykah Badu and Janelle Monae and Jill Scott—had moved on. But Winehouse was a fine shepherd of the past."
By contrast, Robert Christgau dismissed Winehouse as "a self-aggrandizing self-abuser who's taken seriously because she makes a show of soul". In his opinion, the singer "simulated gravitas by running her suicidal tendencies through an amalgam of 20th-century African-American vocal stylings—the slides, growls, and melismatic outcries that for many matures are now the only reliable signifiers of pop substance".
On 13 February 2012, Winehouse was ranked 26 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women in Music list. In March 2017, singer-songwriter Bob Dylan said he was enjoying listening to Winehouse's last record (Back to Black), and called her "the last real individualist around."
Image
Winehouse's greatest love was 1960s girl groups. Her hairdresser, Alex Foden, borrowed her "instantly recognisable" beehive hairdo (a weave) and she borrowed her Cleopatra makeup from the Ronettes. Her imitation was so successful, as The Village Voice reports: "Ronnie Spector—who, it could be argued, all but invented Winehouse's style in the first place when she took the stage at the Brooklyn Fox Theater with her fellow Ronettes more than 40 years ago—was so taken aback at a picture of Winehouse in the New York Post that she exclaimed, "I don't know her, I never met her, and when I saw that pic, I thought, 'That's me!' But then I found out, no, it's Amy! I didn't have on my glasses."
The New York Times style reporter, Guy Trebay, discussed the multiplicity of influences on Winehouse's style after her death. Trebay noted, "her stylish husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, may have influenced her look." Additionally, Trebay observed:
Former Rolling Stone editor Joe Levy, who had put her on the magazine's cover, broke her look down this way:
Winehouse's use of bold red lipstick, thick eyebrows and heavy eyeliner came from Latinas she saw in Miami, on her trip there to work with Salaam Remi on Back to Black. Her look was repeatedly denigrated by the British press. At the same time that the NME Awards nominated Winehouse in the categories of "Best Solo Artist" and "Best Music DVD" in 2008, they awarded her "Worst Dressed Performer." Winehouse was also ranked number two on Richard Blackwell's 48th annual "Ten Worst Dressed Women" list, behind Victoria Beckham.
Criticism
Winehouse's dichotomous public image of critical and commercial success versus personal turmoil prompted significant media comment. The New Statesman called Winehouse "a filthy-mouthed, down-to-earth diva", while Newsweek called her "a perfect storm of sex kitten, raw talent and poor impulse control". Karen Heller with The Philadelphia Inquirer summarised the maelstrom this way:
By 2008, her drug problems threatened her career. As Nick Gatfield, the president of Island Records, toyed with the idea of releasing Winehouse "to deal with her problems", he said, "It's a reflection of her status [in the US] that when you flick through the TV coverage [of the Grammys] it's her image they use." Post-Grammys, some questioned whether Winehouse should have been honoured with the awards given her recent personal and drug problems, including Natalie Cole, who introduced Winehouse at the ceremony and who herself battled substance-abuse problems while winning a Grammy for Best New Artist in 1975. (Winehouse was prevented from travelling to and performing at the Grammy Awards ceremony in the US due to failing a drug test.) In a newspaper commentary, the executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, said that the alleged drug habits of Winehouse and other celebrities sent a bad message "to others who are vulnerable to addiction" and undermine the efforts of other celebrities trying to raise awareness of problems in Africa, now that more cocaine used in Europe passes through that continent. Winehouse's spokesperson noted that "Amy has never given a quote about drugs or flaunted it in any way. She's had some problems and is trying to get better. The U.N. should get its own house in order."
In January 2008, her record label stated it believed the extensive media coverage she had received increased record sales. In an April 2008 poll conducted by Sky News, Winehouse was named the second greatest "ultimate heroine" by the UK population at large, topping the voting for that category of those polled under 25 years old. Psychologist Donna Dawson commented that the results demonstrated that women like Winehouse who had "a certain sense of vulnerability or have had to fight against some adversity in their lives" received recognition.
In July 2008, BBC Radio Scotland's head, Jeff Zycinski, stated that the BBC, and media in general, were complicit in undermining celebrities, including Winehouse. He said that public interest in the singer's lifestyle did not make her lifestyle newsworthy. Rod McKenzie, editor of the BBC Radio One programme Newsbeat, replied: "If you play [Amy Winehouse's] music to a certain demographic, those same people want to know what's happening in her private life. If you don't cover it, you're insulting young licence fee payers." In The Scotsman, British singer and songwriter Lily Allen was quoted to have said – "I know Amy Winehouse very well. And she is very different to what people portray her as being. Yes, she does get out of her mind on drugs sometimes, but she is also a very clever, intelligent, witty, funny person who can hold it together. You just don't see that side."
Charity work
Throughout her life Winehouse donated her money, music and time to many charities, particularly those concerned with children. She was once named "the most charitable act" by Pop World. While this side of her personality was never well known to the general public, throughout both the arts community and the charity community she was known for her generosity.
In 2008, Winehouse appeared naked in an issue of Easy Living Magazine to raise awareness of breast cancer. In 2009, she appeared on a CD called Classics alongside musicians such as the Rolling Stones, the Killers and many Cuban musicians to raise awareness of climate change. In March 2011, Winehouse donated over £20,000 worth of clothes to a local charity shop in London.
A Caribbean man Julian Jean DeBaptiste revealed that Winehouse had paid for his urgent surgery costing £4,000 during her stay in Saint Lucia in 2009. "I had surgery on 1 July 2009... it cost a fortune and Amy paid for the whole thing. I tried to thank her but she just hugged me and told me not to say anything. Her generosity gave me my life back."
Legacy and honours
Artwork and tributes
London's Mall Galleries opened an exhibition in May 2008 that included a sculpture of Winehouse, titled Excess. The piece, created by Guy Portelli, had a miniature of the singer lying on top of a cracked champagne bottle, with a pool of spilled liquid underneath. The body was covered with what appeared to be tiny pills, while one outstretched hand held a glass. Another piece, a print titled Celebrity 1 by artist Charlotte Suckling, was shown in the same exhibition.
A wax sculpture of Winehouse went on display at the London Madame Tussauds on 23 July 2008. The singer did not attend the unveiling, although her parents did. A sculpture by Marco Perego, titled The Only Good Rock Star Is a Dead Rock Star, that depicts Winehouse lying in a pool of blood with an apple and a bullet hole in her head after being shot by American novelist and Beat poet William S. Burroughs (in a recreation of the accidental killing of his wife Joan Vollmer), was scheduled to go on display in New York's Half Gallery on 14 November 2008 with a sale price of US$100,000. Perego said of the sculpture: "Rock stars are the sacrificial animals of society." Winehouse's spokesperson stated: "It's a funny kind of tribute. The artist seems in thrall to a tabloid persona that is not the real Amy. People often use her image to sell their work."
In 2012, Winehouse was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork – the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover – to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life that he most admires.
On 14 September 2014 (which would have been Winehouse's 31st birthday), a statue was unveiled of her, which was created by sculptor Scott Eaton, at Stables Market in Camden Town, north London. Fans and relatives gathered for the unveiling in Camden's Stable Market, where it will be a permanent memorial to her. London-based Eaton, who sculpted the piece after being introduced to Winehouse's father Mitch, said the statue was meant to capture her "attitude and strength, but also give subtle hints of insecurity." Her father Mitch said of the statue: "Now Amy will oversee the comings and goings of her home town forever... Amy was in love with Camden and it is the place her fans from all over the world associate her with."
In March 2020, Winehouse's name on a stone was unveiled on the new Music Walk of Fame in Camden, with her parents Mitch and Janis in attendance at the ceremony.
Influence
Adele has credited Winehouse's success in making her and fellow British singer Duffy's journey to the United States "a bit smoother." Lady Gaga credited Winehouse with paving the way for her rise to the top of the charts, explaining that Winehouse made it easier for unconventional women to have mainstream pop success. Raphael Saadiq, Anthony Hamilton and John Legend said "Amy Winehouse was produced by people who wanted to create a marketing coup. The positive side is that it reacquainted an audience with this music and played an introductory role for others. This reinvigorated the genre by overcoming the vintage aspect."
Other artists that have credited Winehouse as an influence and/or for paving the way for them include Bruno Mars, Tove Lo, Jessie J, Emeli Sandé, Victoria Justice, Paloma Faith, Lana Del Rey, Sam Smith, Florence Welch, Halsey, Alessia Cara, Estelle, Daya, Jorja Smith, Lauren Jauregui and Billie Eilish.
After the release of Back to Black, record companies sought out female artists with a similar sound and fearless and experimental female musicians in general. Adele and Duffy were the second wave of artists with a sound similar to Winehouse's. A third wave of female musicians that has emerged since the album was released are led by V V Brown, Florence and the Machine, La Roux and Little Boots. In March 2011, the New York Daily News ran an article attributing the continuing wave of British female artists that have been successful in the United States to Winehouse and her absence. Spin magazine music editor Charles Aaron was quoted as saying "Amy Winehouse was the Nirvana moment for all these women," "They can all be traced back to her in terms of attitude, musical styles or fashion." According to Keith Caulfield, chart manager for Billboard, "Because of Amy, or the lack thereof, the marketplace was able to get singers like Adele, Estelle and Duffy," "Now those ladies have brought on the new ones, like Eliza Doolittle, Rumer and Ellie."
Amy Winehouse Foundation
After the singer's death by alcohol intoxication in July 2011, the Amy Winehouse Foundation was set up by Winehouse's family and launched on 14 September 2011 (which would have been Winehouse's 28th birthday). Its aim is to help young people and it works with other charitable organisations to provide frontline support. Its central office is in North London, but it also has an office in New York (operating under the name 'The Amy Winehouse Foundation US'). Both Jon Snow and Barbara Windsor are patrons for the charity, and ambassadors include Keira Chaplin and Mica Paris. In October 2015 Mark Ronson became a patron. Amy's brother Alex works full-time for the foundation, having given up his career as an online music journalist.
The charity itself works to prevent the effects of drug and alcohol misuse on young people and it also aims to support, inform and inspire vulnerable and disadvantaged young people to help them reach their full potential. On 12 March 2013, with the help of ex-addict Russell Brand, the Foundation launched the Amy Winehouse Foundation Resilience Programme For Schools across the UK which aims to provide effective education around drugs, alcohol and dealing with emotional issues.
Films
Documentary film
A documentary film, Amy (2015), directed by Asif Kapadia and produced by James Gay-Rees was released on 3 July 2015. The film covers Winehouse's life, her relationships, her struggles with substance abuse both before and after her career blossomed, and which eventually caused her death. The film received its première at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival on 16 May and has been reviewed as "a tragic masterpiece", "brilliant", "heartbreaking" and "unmissable". The soundtrack of the same name was released on 30 October 2015, along with the DVD that includes music featured in the documentary by film composer Antônio Pinto and classic and some unreleased tracks by Winehouse. The film was highly acclaimed and received various accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 2016 Oscars, Best Music Film at the 2016 Grammy Awards, the BAFTA for Best Documentary, the MTV Movie Award for Best Documentary, in addition to a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best British Film.
Biopic film
On 14 October 2018, it was announced that Winehouse's family had signed a deal with Monumental Pictures to make a biopic about her life, which will be directed by Alison Owen and produced by Debra Hayward. Winehouse's story will be adapted for the big screen by Geoff Deane, who has written comedy movies Kinky Boots (2005) and It's a Boy Girl Thing (2006). The project was scheduled to start filming in early 2019 and the funds are allegedly going towards the foundation.
Musical
On 9 October 2017, it was announced by Winehouse's father Mitch that a West End/Broadway musical on Amy is in the works. Mitch Winehouse revealed the news at the Amy Winehouse Foundation Gala event in London.
Personal life
Winehouse was raised Jewish and expressed pride in being Jewish, although she was not religious. During one interview, Winehouse said "being Jewish to me is about being together as a real family. It's not about lighting candles and saying a bracha." Winehouse also frequently performed with a large Star of David medallion.
In 2013, in memory of Winehouse the Jewish Museum London ran an exhibition titled "Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait". The museum researched about her paternal great-great-grandfather's arrival from Minsk in 1890, and how the family finally settled in London, starting out in working-class jobs before gradually moving to middle-class jobs.
Winehouse had 14 known tattoos, including "Daddy's Girl" on her left arm for her father and a pin-up girl with the name "Cynthia" on her right arm in memory of her Jewish grandmother.
Relationships
Winehouse dated chef-musician Alex Clare (sometimes referred to as Alex Claire) in 2006, while on a break from her on-off boyfriend and future husband, Blake Fielder-Civil. She and Clare lived together briefly, and in a pattern that Fielder-Civil would later repeat, Clare sold his story to the News of the World, which published it under the headline "Bondage Crazed Amy Just Can't Beehive in Bed."
Fielder-Civil, a former video production assistant, had dropped out of Bourne Grammar School and, aged 16, moved to London from his native Lincolnshire. He married Winehouse on 18 May 2007, in Miami Beach, Florida. In a June 2007 interview, Winehouse admitted she could sometimes be violent toward him after she had been drinking, saying: "If he says one thing I don't like, then I'll chin him." In August 2007, they were photographed, bloodied and bruised, in the streets of London after an alleged fight, although she contended her injuries were self-inflicted. Winehouse's parents and in-laws publicly reported their numerous concerns, the latter citing fears that the two might commit suicide. Fielder-Civil's father encouraged fans to boycott Winehouse's music, and Mitch Winehouse said this would not help. Fielder-Civil was quoted in a British tabloid as saying he introduced Winehouse to crack cocaine and heroin. During a visit with Mitch Winehouse at the prison in July 2008, Fielder-Civil reportedly said that he and Winehouse would cut themselves to ease the pain of withdrawal.
From 21 July 2008 to 25 February 2009, Fielder-Civil was imprisoned following his guilty plea on charges of trying to pervert the course of justice and of grievous bodily harm with intent. The incident, in July 2007, involved his assault of a pub landlord that broke the victim's cheek. According to the prosecution, the landlord accepted £200,000 as part of a deal to "effectively throw the [court] case and not turn up," and he testified that the money belonged to Winehouse, but she pulled out of a meeting with the men involved in the plot, to attend an awards ceremony. Mitch Winehouse, as manager of his daughter's money, has denied the payoff came from her.
When Winehouse was spotted with aspiring actor Josh Bowman on holiday in Saint Lucia, in early January 2009, she said she was "in love again, and I don't need drugs." She commented that her "whole marriage was based on doing drugs" and that "for the time being I've just forgotten I'm even married." On 12 January, Winehouse's spokesman confirmed that "papers have been received" for what Fielder-Civil's solicitor has said are divorce proceedings based on a claim of adultery. In March, Winehouse was quoted in a magazine as saying, "I still love Blake and I want him to move into my new house with me—that was my plan all along ... I won't let him divorce me. He's the male version of me and we're perfect for each other." Nonetheless, an uncontested divorce was granted on 16 July 2009 and became final on 28 August 2009. Fielder-Civil received no money in the settlement.
She was in a relationship with a British writer and director of films, Reg Traviss, from early 2010 until she died. According to media reports and a biography written by Winehouse's father, Traviss and Winehouse had planned to marry and intended to have children.
After Winehouse's death, Pete Doherty said that he and Winehouse had been lovers at one point. However, in July 2008, when Rolling Stone reporter Claire Hoffman asked Winehouse about her relationship with Doherty, Winehouse replied: "We're just good friends", and added: "I asked Pete to do a concept EP, and he made this face, he looked at me like I'd pooed on the floor. He wouldn't do it. We're just really close".
Substance abuse and mental illness
Winehouse's battles with substance abuse were the subject of much media attention. In 2005, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, and weight loss. People who saw her during the end of that year and early 2006 reported a rebound that coincided with the writing of Back to Black. Her family believes that the mid-2006 death of her grandmother, who was a stabilising influence, set her off into addiction. In August 2007, Winehouse cancelled a number of shows in the UK and Europe, citing exhaustion and ill health. She was hospitalised during this period for what was reported as an overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol. In various interviews, she admitted to having problems with self-harm, depression, and eating disorders.
Winehouse told a magazine that the drugs were to blame for her hospitalisation and that "I really thought that it was over for me then." Soon afterwards, Winehouse's father commented that when he had made public statements regarding her problems he was using the media because it seemed the only way to get through to her. In an interview with The Album Chart Show on British television, Winehouse said she was manic depressive and not alcoholic, adding that that sounded like "an alcoholic in denial". A US reporter writes that Winehouse was a "victim of mental illness in a society that doesn't understand or respond to mental illness with great effectiveness."
In December 2007, Winehouse's spokesman reported that the singer was in a physician-supervised programme and was channelling her difficulties by writing a lot of music. The British tabloid The Sun posted a video of a woman, alleged to be Winehouse, apparently smoking crack cocaine and speaking of having taken ecstasy and valium. Winehouse's father moved in with her, and Island Records, her record label, announced the abandonment of plans for an American promotion campaign on her behalf. In late January 2008, Winehouse reportedly entered a rehabilitation facility for a two-week treatment program.
On 23 January 2008, the video was passed on to the Metropolitan Police, who questioned her on 5 February. No charges were brought. On 26 March 2008, Winehouse's spokesman said she was "doing well". Her record company reportedly believed that her recovery remained fragile. By late April 2008, her erratic behaviourincluding an allegation of assaultcaused fear that her drug rehabilitation efforts had been unsuccessful. Winehouse's father and manager then sought to have her detained under the Mental Health Act of 1983. Her dishevelled appearance during and after a scheduled club night in September 2008 prompted new rumours of a relapse. Photographers were quoted as saying she appeared to have cuts on her arms and legs.
According to her physician, Winehouse quit using illegal substances in 2008. In an October 2010 interview, speaking of her decision to quit drugs, Winehouse said, "I literally woke up one day and was like, 'I don't want to do this any more. However, alcohol emerged as a problem, with Winehouse abstaining for a few weeks and then lapsing into alcohol abuse. Her physician said that Winehouse was treated with Librium for alcohol withdrawal and anxiety and underwent psychological and psychiatric evaluations in 2010, but refused psychological therapy.
Violence and legal difficulties
In 2006, Winehouse admitted to punching a female fan in the face for criticising her having taken Blake Fielder-Civil as a husband. She then attacked her own spouse as he attempted to calm her down, kneeing him in the crotch. In October 2007, Winehouse and Fielder-Civil were arrested in Bergen, Norway, for possession of seven grams of cannabis. The couple were later released and fined 3850 kroner (around £350). Winehouse first appealed the fines, but later dropped the appeal.
On 26 April 2008, Winehouse was cautioned after she admitted to police she slapped a 38-year-old man in the face, a "common assault" offence, her first of two. She voluntarily turned herself in and was held overnight. Police said, at her arrival she was "in no fit state" to be interviewed. Ten days later, Winehouse was arrested on suspicion of possessing drugs after a video of her apparently smoking crack cocaine was passed to the police in January, but was released on bail a few hours later because they could not confirm, from the video, what she was smoking. The Crown Prosecution Service considered charging her, but cleared her when it could not establish that the substance in the video was a controlled drug. Some members of Parliament reacted negatively. Two London residents were subsequently charged with conspiracy to supply cocaine and ecstasy to Winehouse. One of the pair was sentenced to two years in prison on 13 December 2008, while the other received a two-year community order.
On 5 March 2009, Winehouse was arrested and charged with common assault following a claim by dancer Sherene Flash that Winehouse hit her in the eye at the September 2008 Prince's Trust charity ball. Winehouse's spokesperson announced the cancellation of the singer's US Coachella Festival appearance in light of the new legal issue, and Winehouse appeared in court on 17 March to enter her plea of not guilty. On 23 July, her trial began with prosecutor Lyall Thompson charging that Winehouse acted with "deliberate and unjustifiable violence" while appearing to be under the influence of alcohol or another substance. She testified that she did not punch Flash, but tried to push her away because she was scared of her; she cited her worry that Flash would sell her story to a tabloid, Flash's height advantage, and Flash's "rude" behaviour. On 24 July, District Judge Timothy Workman ruled that Winehouse was not guilty, citing the facts that all but two of the witnesses were intoxicated at the time of the incident and that medical evidence did not show "the sort of injury that often occurs when there is a forceful punch to the eye."
On 19 December 2009, Winehouse was arrested for a third time on charges of common assault, plus another charge of public order offence after assaulting the front-of-house manager of the Milton Keynes Theatre after he asked her to move from her seat. Winehouse pled guilty to the charges and was given a conditional discharge.
Paparazzi
With the paparazzi taking photographs of her wherever they could, Winehouse obtained an injunction against a leading paparazzi agency, Big Pictures, under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997; the resultant court order issued by the High Court in 2009 banned them from following her. Photographers were also banned from following her within 100 metres of her London home and photographing Winehouse in her home or the homes of her friends and relatives. According to a newspaper report, sources close to the singer said legal action was taken out of concern for the safety of Winehouse and those close to her.
Respiratory and other health problems
On 23 June 2008, Winehouse's publicist corrected earlier misstatements by Mitch Winehouse that his daughter had early stage emphysema, instead claiming she had signs of what could lead to early-stage emphysema. Mitch Winehouse had also stated that his daughter's lungs were operating at 70 percent capacity and that she had an irregular heartbeat. He said that these problems had been caused by her chain smoking crack cocaine. The singer's father also reported that doctors had warned Winehouse that, if she continued smoking crack cocaine, she would have to wear an oxygen mask and would eventually die. In a radio interview, Mitch Winehouse said the singer was responding "fabulously" to treatment, which included being covered with nicotine patches. British Lung Foundation spokesman Keith Prowse noted this type of condition could be managed with treatment. Prowse also said the condition was not normal for a person her age but "heavy smoking and inhaling other substances like drugs can age the lungs prematurely." Norman H. Edelman of the American Lung Association explained that if she stopped smoking, her lung functions would decline at the rate of a normal person, but continued smoking would lead to a more rapid decline in lung function.
Winehouse was released from the London Clinic 24 hours after returning from a temporary leave to perform at Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday and at a concert in Glastonbury, and continued receiving treatment as an outpatient. In July 2008, Winehouse stated that she had been diagnosed with "some areas of emphysema" and said she was getting herself together by "eating loads of healthy food, sleeping loads, playing my guitar, making music and writing letters to my husband every day." She also kept a vertical tanning bed in her flat. Winehouse began precautionary testing on her lungs and chest on 25 October 2008 at the London Clinic for what was reported as a chest infection. Winehouse was in and out of the facility and was granted permission to set her own schedule regarding home leave. She returned to the hospital on 23 November 2008 for a reported reaction to her medication.
Death
Winehouse's bodyguard said that he had arrived at her residence three days before her death and felt she had been somewhat intoxicated. He observed moderate drinking over the next few days, and said she had been "laughing, listening to music and watching TV at 2 a.m. the day of her death". At 10 a.m. BST on 23 July 2011, he observed her lying on her bed and tried unsuccessfully to rouse her. This did not raise much suspicion because she usually slept late after a night out. According to the bodyguard, shortly after 3p.m., he checked on her again and observed her lying in the same position as before, leading to a further check, in which he concluded that she was not breathing and had no pulse; he said he called emergency services. At 3:54p.m., two ambulances were called to Winehouse's home in Camden, London. Winehouse was pronounced dead at the scene, at the age of 27. Shortly afterwards, the Metropolitan Police confirmed that she had died.
After her death was announced, media and camera crews appeared, as crowds gathered near Winehouse's residence to pay their respects. Forensic investigators entered the flat as police cordoned off the street outside; they recovered one small and two large bottles of vodka from her room. After her death, the singer broke her second Guinness World Record: for the most songs by a woman to simultaneously appear on the UK singles chart, with eight.
A coroner's inquest reached a verdict of misadventure. The report released on 26 October 2011 explained that Winehouse's blood alcohol content was 416 per 100 (0.416%) at the time of her death, more than five times the legal drink-drive limit. According to the coroner, "The unintended consequences of such potentially fatal levels was her sudden death."
Winehouse's record label, Universal Republic, released a statement that read in part: "We are deeply saddened at the sudden loss of such a gifted musician, artist and performer." Many musical artists have since paid tribute to Winehouse including U2, M.I.A., Lady Gaga, Marianne Faithfull, Bruno Mars, Nicki Minaj, Keisha Buchanan, Rihanna, George Michael, Adele, Kelly Clarkson, Courtney Love, and the punk rock band Green Day, who wrote a song in her tribute titled "Amy". In her 2012 album Banga, singer Patti Smith released "This Is the Girl", written as an homage to Winehouse. Mark Ronson dedicated his UK number-one album Uptown Special to Winehouse, stating: "I'm always thinking of you and inspired by you." Winehouse did not leave a will; her estate was inherited by her parents. Winehouse's parents set up the Amy Winehouse Foundation to prevent harm from drug misuse among young people; her brother Alex is an employee.
On 17 December 2012, British authorities reopened the probe into Winehouse's death. On 8 January 2013, a second inquest confirmed that Winehouse died of accidental alcohol poisoning. In a June 2013 interview, Alex Winehouse revealed his belief that his sister's eating disorder, and the consequent physical weakness, was the primary cause of her death:
Funeral
Family and friends attended Winehouse's private funeral on 26 July 2011 at Edgwarebury Lane Cemetery in north London. Her mother and father, Janis and Mitch Winehouse, close friends Nick Grimshaw and Kelly Osbourne, producer Mark Ronson, goddaughter Dionne Bromfield and her boyfriend Reg Traviss were among those in attendance at the private service led by Rabbi Frank Hellner. Her father delivered the eulogy, saying "Goodnight, my angel, sleep tight. Mummy and Daddy love you ever so much." Carole King's "So Far Away" closed the service with mourners singing along. She was later cremated at Golders Green Crematorium. The family planned to sit a two-day shiva. On 16 September 2012, Winehouse's ashes were buried alongside her grandmother's, Cynthia Levy at Edgwarebury Lane Cemetery.
Posthumous retrospectives
Winehouse's parents have each written memoirs about their daughter and donated the proceeds from both books to the Amy Winehouse Foundation. In the introduction to Mitch Winehouse's biography, entitled Amy: My Daughter (2012), he explained: "Apart from being her father, I was also her friend, confidant and adviser—not that she always took my advice, but she always heard me out." Her mother Janis published Loving Amy: A Mother's Story, in 2014.
An exhibit of Winehouse's personal items, co-curated by her brother and sister-in-law, entitled Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait, was on display at the Jewish Museum London from 3 July 2013 until 15 September 2013, and later exhibited in San Francisco, 23 July 2015 to 1 November 2015. Display items, such as books and music, were featured together with captions written by Winehouse's brother.
In late 2011, there were reports that Winehouse's former boyfriend, Reg Traviss, was developing a film about her. Winehouse's father Mitch Winehouse, who owns the copyright to his daughter's music, said he would not authorise the use of her music for the film.
Winehouse is the subject of Amy (2015), a documentary directed by Asif Kapadia and produced by James Gay-Rees, Kapadia, and Universal Music. Kapadia and Gay-Rees introduced the project at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. The film debuted at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and won the 2016 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
In 2018, a documentary film based on Winehouse's album Back to Black, Amy Winehouse – Back to Black was released. It contains new interviews as well as archival footage. It was made by Eagle Vision and produced by Gil Cang. Released on DVD on 2 November 2018, the film features interviews by producers Ronson & Remi, who worked half and half on the album, along with the Dap Kings, Remi's music team, Ronnie Spector from the Ronettes and close ones to Winehouse, including Nick Shymansky, Juliette Ashby and Dionne Bromfield. The film is accompanied by An Intimate Evening in London, footage of a show Winehouse gave at Riverside Studios, London in 2008. In February 2019, Salaam Remi released a compilation album including the song "Find My Love" which is a posthumous collaboration between Winehouse and rapper Nas.
In 2020, an exhibition entitled Beyond Black – The Style of Amy Winehouse opened at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles. The exhibit mainly explores Winehouse's style and fashion, displaying her outfits such as her iconic dresses, shoes, hair accessories, her makeup bag as well as Winehouse's personal belongings including her Grammy awards from 2008, handwritten lyrics, records and unseen home videos. The exhibition went on display in the U.S. from 17 January 2020 until 13 April 2020. In November 2021, various of Winehouse's personal items and famous dresses would later be auctioned at Julien's Auctions in Los Angeles and made more than £3m, 30% going to the Amy Winehouse Foundation. A follow-up exhibition Amy: Beyond the Stage opened on 26 November 2021 at the Design Museum in Kensington, London which also presented some of Winehouse's personal belongings and focus on her fashion sense, as well as paying homage to her musical career.
In July 2021, a new documentary entitled Reclaiming Amy aired on BBC Two to mark the 10th anniversary of Winehouse's death. The film was primarily based on the perspective and narrated by her mother Janis Winehouse-Collins and included intimate stories of those who were close to Winehouse until the end of her life, including close friends Naomi Parry (Amy's stylist), Catriona Gourlay and Chantelle Dusette.
Discography
Frank (2003)
Back to Black (2006)
Lioness: Hidden Treasures (2011)
Filmography
Amy (2015)
Amy Winehouse: Back to Black (2018)
Reclaiming Amy (2021)
See also
List of deaths through alcohol
References
Sources
Further reading
External links
Amy Winehouse collected news and commentary at The New York Times
Amy Winehouse Foundation - Charity Commission for England and Wales
1983 births
2011 deaths
20th-century English singers
20th-century English women singers
21st-century English singers
21st-century English women singers
Alcohol-related deaths in England
Alumni of the Sylvia Young Theatre School
Brit Award winners
British women jazz singers
English contraltos
English jazz singers
English Jews
Belarusian Jews
English people convicted of assault
English people of Polish-Jewish descent
English people of Russian-Jewish descent
English rhythm and blues singers
English soul singers
English women guitarists
English guitarists
Golders Green Crematorium
Grammy Award winners
Ivor Novello Award winners
Jewish English musicians
Jewish jazz musicians
Jewish singers
Jewish songwriters
MTV Europe Music Award winners
National Youth Jazz Orchestra members
Neo soul singers
People educated at the BRIT School
People educated at Susi Earnshaw Theatre School
People from the London Borough of Camden
People from Southgate, London
People with bipolar disorder
Republic Records artists
Singers from London
World Music Awards winners
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[
"Sabrin Burshid (; June 11 1985 – July 22 2019) was a Bahraini actress and broadcaster.\n\nBiography\nBurshid was born in Manama, Bahrain, to Saudi parents. She studied media and public relations, but left school in 2008 to work at the Bahrain Radio and Television Corporation. She made her television hosting debut in the summer of 2009. She presented a reality show for Ramadan 2010, winning the \"Most Beautiful Arab Broadcaster\" award, and was one of the hosts of the Kuwaiti show Ali Al-Seif on Al-Adalah TV.\n\nHer first acting role was in the 2012 Eid al-Fitr play Misbah Zain; her friend Shaila Sabt helped her to obtain the role. In 2018, she moved to Kuwait for work-related reasons.\n\nIllness and death\nIn April 2019, Burshid's family revealed that she was sleeping excessively and did not remember her friends’ names. Tests conducted at the Bahrain Defence Force Hospital revealed three lymphomas in the left hemisphere of her brain. This required immediate surgery and her father appealed to the King of Bahrain for aid in obtaining quick treatment, a plea that gained support from activists and artists across the Gulf.\n\nThe Royal Court agreed to send her abroad for treatment, and the Health Ministry arranged for her travel to Germany. However, her condition did not improve, and she died in Turkey on July 22, 2019.\n\nWorks\n\nTelevision series\n\nTheatre\n\nBroadcasting\n\nExternal links\n El Cinema page\n\nReferences\n\n1985 births\n2019 deaths\nDeaths from cancer in Turkey\nBahraini expatriates in Kuwait\nBahraini television actresses\nBahraini television personalities\nPeople of Saudi Arabian descent",
"Nozipho Bhengu (1974 – 19 May 2006) was a South African woman whose death from an AIDS-related illness intensified the controversy about how AIDS is treated in South Africa. Nozipho was well known in South Africa for her openness about her illness as well as her refusal to take conventional medical treatment for AIDS in favour of alternative and controversial natural treatment.\n\nDiagnosed as HIV positive in 1998, Nozipho Bhengu underwent treatment using antiretroviral drugs until 2001. At that point she was persuaded by health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang and nutritionalist Tine van der Maas that standard pharmaceutical drugs have dangerous side effects and it would be more beneficial to her condition to try a controversial lemon and garlic diet. The health minister was quoted in saying \"I do not know of any side effects of eating proper food\".\nBhengu's mother, Ruth Bhengu, as an African National Congress legislator spoke of her daughter's beliefs in a speech in Parliament. After the speech Nozipho Bhengu's efforts to treat her illness became common knowledge in South Africa.\n\nBhengu died on the 19th of May, 2006. At the time of her death she was working on a book, From Victim to Victor, which detailed her experience that was left unfinished. Upon her death the Treatment Action Campaign praised her openness about her illness while at the same time calling her death \"unnecessary\".\n\nManto Tshabalala-Msimang was invited to her funeral on 24 May. She sent a representative who was subsequently booed by some of the funeral's attendees.\n\nReferences\n The Economist, June 10, 2006, p101\nBhengu family upset by 'insensitive' TAC 25 May 2006\nTAC statement on the death of Nozipho Bhengu 24 May 2006\n\n1974 births\n2006 deaths\nSouth African women\nAIDS-related deaths in South Africa"
] |
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"What substance problems did Amy Winehouse have?",
"In 2005, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, and weight loss.",
"What did the press say about her drinking and drug use?",
"A US reporter writes that Winehouse was a \"victim of mental illness in a society that doesn't understand or respond to mental illness with great effectiveness.\"",
"What help did Winehouse get for her problems?",
"She was hospitalised during this period for what was reported as an overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol.",
"What did her family do at this time?",
"Winehouse's father commented that when he had made public statements regarding her problems he was using the media because it seemed the only way to get through to her.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"The Sun posted a video of a woman, alleged to be Winehouse, apparently smoking crack cocaine and speaking of having taken ecstasy and valium.",
"What happened as a result of the video from The Sun?",
"On 23 January 2008, the video was passed on to the Metropolitan Police, who questioned her on 5 February. No charges were brought.",
"What problems with mental illness did she have?",
"In an interview with The Album Chart Show on British television, Winehouse said she was manic depressive and not alcoholic,",
"Did she get treatment for her illness?",
"In December 2007, Winehouse's spokesman reported that the singer was in a physician-supervised programme and was channelling her difficulties by writing a lot of music."
] |
C_efbf3039679a4232a67306f7dfb6f70c_1
|
Did she record any music then?
| 9 |
Did Amy Winehouse record any music during her physician-supervised program?
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Amy Winehouse
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Winehouse's battles with substance abuse were the subject of much media attention. In 2005, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, and weight loss. People who saw her during the end of that year and early 2006 reported a rebound that coincided with the writing of Back to Black. Her family believes that the mid-2006 death of her grandmother, who was a stabilising influence, set her off into addiction. In August 2007, Winehouse cancelled a number of shows in the UK and Europe, citing exhaustion and ill health. She was hospitalised during this period for what was reported as an overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol. In various interviews, she admitted to having problems with self-harm, depression, and eating disorders. Winehouse told a magazine that the drugs were to blame for her hospitalisation and that "I really thought that it was over for me then." Soon afterward, Winehouse's father commented that when he had made public statements regarding her problems he was using the media because it seemed the only way to get through to her. In an interview with The Album Chart Show on British television, Winehouse said she was manic depressive and not alcoholic, adding that that sounded like "an alcoholic in denial." A US reporter writes that Winehouse was a "victim of mental illness in a society that doesn't understand or respond to mental illness with great effectiveness." In December 2007, Winehouse's spokesman reported that the singer was in a physician-supervised programme and was channelling her difficulties by writing a lot of music. The British tabloid The Sun posted a video of a woman, alleged to be Winehouse, apparently smoking crack cocaine and speaking of having taken ecstasy and valium. Winehouse's father moved in with her, and Island Records, her record label, announced the abandonment of plans for an American promotion campaign on her behalf. In late January 2008, Winehouse reportedly entered a rehabilitation facility for a two-week treatment program. On 23 January 2008, the video was passed on to the Metropolitan Police, who questioned her on 5 February. No charges were brought. On 26 March 2008, Winehouse's spokesman said she was "doing well." Her record company reportedly believed that her recovery remained fragile. By late April 2008, her erratic behaviour, including an allegation of assault, caused fear that her drug rehabilitation efforts had been unsuccessful, leading to efforts by Winehouse's father and manager to seek assistance in having her involuntarily committed. Her dishevelled appearance during and after a scheduled club night in September sparked new rumours of a relapse. Photographers were quoted as saying she appeared to have cuts on her legs and arms. According to her physician, Winehouse quit illegal substances in 2008. In an October 2010 interview, speaking of her decision to quit drugs, Winehouse said, "I literally woke up one day and was like, 'I don't want to do this any more'." Drinking alcohol emerged as a problem with Winehouse abstaining for a few weeks then lapsing. The physician said that Winehouse was treated with Librium for alcohol withdrawal and anxiety, and underwent psychological and psychiatric evaluations in 2010, but refused psychological therapy. CANNOTANSWER
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People who saw her during the end of that year and early 2006 reported a rebound that coincided with the writing of Back to Black.
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Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was a British singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz.
A member of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra during her youth, Winehouse signed to Simon Fuller's 19 Management in 2002 and soon recorded a number of songs before signing a publishing deal with EMI. She also formed a working relationship with producer Salaam Remi through these record publishers. Winehouse's debut album, Frank, was released in 2003. Many of the album's songs were influenced by jazz and, apart from two covers, were co-written by Winehouse. Frank was a critical success in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize. The song "Stronger Than Me" won her the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors.
Winehouse released her follow-up album, Back to Black, in 2006, which went on to become an international success and one of the best-selling albums in UK history. At the 2007 Brit Awards it was nominated for British Album of the Year, and she received the award for British Female Solo Artist. The song "Rehab" won her a second Ivor Novello Award. At the 50th Grammy Awards in 2008, she won five awards, tying the then record for the most wins by a female artist in a single night and becoming the first British woman to win five Grammys, including three of the General Field "Big Four" Grammy Awards: Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year (for "Rehab"), as well as Best Pop Vocal Album.
Winehouse was plagued by drug and alcohol addiction. She died of alcohol poisoning on 23 July 2011, at the age of 27. After her death, Back to Black temporarily became the UK's best-selling album of the 21st century. VH1 ranked Winehouse 26th on their list of the 100 Greatest Women in Music.
Early life
Amy Jade Winehouse was born on 14 September 1983 at Chase Farm Hospital in Gordon Hill, Enfield, to Jewish parents. Her father, Mitchell "Mitch" Winehouse, was a window panel installer and taxi driver; her mother, Janis Winehouse (née Seaton), was a pharmacist, who suffers from multiple sclerosis. The great-great-grandfather of Amy Harris Winehouse emigrated from Minsk, Belarus to London in 1891. She had an older brother, Alex (born 1979), and the family lived in London's Southgate area, where she attended Osidge Primary School. Winehouse attended a Jewish Sunday school while she was a child. During an interview following her rise to fame, she expressed her dismissal towards the school by saying that she used to beg her father to permit her not to go and that she learned nothing about being Jewish by going anyway. In the same interview, Winehouse said she only went to a synagogue once a year on Yom Kippur "out of respect".
Many of Winehouse's maternal uncles were professional jazz musicians. Amy's paternal grandmother, Cynthia, was a singer and dated the English jazz saxophonist Ronnie Scott. She and Amy's parents influenced Amy's interest in jazz. Her father, Mitch, often sang Frank Sinatra songs to her, and whenever she got chastised at school, she would sing "Fly Me to the Moon" before going up to the headmistress to be told off. Winehouse's parents separated when she was nine, and she lived with her mother and stayed with her father and his girlfriend in Hatfield Heath, Essex, on weekends.
In 1992, her grandmother Cynthia suggested that Amy attend the Susi Earnshaw Theatre School, where she went on Saturdays to further her vocal education and to learn to tap dance. She attended the school for four years and founded a short-lived rap group called Sweet 'n' Sour, with Juliette Ashby, her childhood friend, before seeking full-time training at Sylvia Young Theatre School. Several years later it was reported that Winehouse had been expelled at 14 for "not applying herself" and also for piercing her nose, but these claims were denied by Sylvia Young: "She changed schools at 15...I've heard it said she was expelled; she wasn't. I'd never have expelled Amy." Mitch Winehouse also denied the claims. She attended the Mount School, Mill Hill and the BRIT School in Selhurst, Croydon, dropping out at age 16.
After toying around with her brother Alex's guitar, Winehouse bought her own when she was 14 and began writing music shortly afterwards. Soon after she began working for a living, as an entertainment journalist for the World Entertainment News Network and also singing with local group the Bolsha Band. In July 2000, she became the featured female vocalist with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. She was influenced by Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington, the latter of whom she was already listening to at home. Winehouse's best friend, soul singer Tyler James, sent her demo tape to an A&R person.
Career
2002–2005: Career beginnings and Frank
Winehouse was signed to Simon Fuller's 19 Management in 2002 and was paid £250 a week against future earnings. While being developed by the management company, Winehouse was kept as a recording industry secret, although she was a regular jazz standards singer at the Cobden Club. Her future A&R representative at Island, Darcus Beese, heard of her by accident when the manager of The Lewinson Brothers showed him some productions of his clients, which featured Winehouse as key vocalist. When he asked who the singer was, the manager told him he was not allowed to say. Having decided that he wanted to sign her, it took several months of asking around for Beese to eventually discover who the singer was. However, Winehouse had already recorded a number of songs and signed a publishing deal with EMI by this time. Incidentally, she formed a working relationship with producer Salaam Remi through these record publishers.
Beese introduced Winehouse to his boss, Nick Gatfield; the Island head shared his enthusiasm in signing the young artist. Winehouse was signed to Island, as rival interest in her had started to build with representatives of EMI and Virgin starting to make moves. Beese told HitQuarters that he felt the excitement over an artist who was an atypical pop star for the time was due to a backlash against reality TV music shows, which included audiences starved for fresh, genuine young talent.
Winehouse's debut album, Frank, was released on 20 October 2003. Produced mainly by Salaam Remi, many songs were influenced by jazz and, apart from two covers, Winehouse co-wrote every song. The album received critical acclaim with compliments given to the "cool, critical gaze" in its lyrics. Winehouse's voice was compared with those of Sarah Vaughan and Macy Gray, among others.
The album entered the upper reaches of the UK album chart in 2004 when it was nominated for the Brit Awards in the categories of "British Female Solo Artist" and "British Urban Act." It went on to achieve platinum sales. Later in 2004, she and Remi won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song, for their first single together, "Stronger Than Me." The album was also shortlisted for the 2004 Mercury Music Prize. In the same year, she performed at the Glastonbury Festival – Jazzworld, the V Festival and the Montreal International Jazz Festival. After the release of the album, Winehouse commented that she was "only 80 percent behind [the] album" because Island Records had overruled her preferences for the songs and mixes to be included. The further singles from the album were "Take the Box," "In My Bed"/"You Sent Me Flying" and "Pumps"/"Help Yourself."
2006–2008: Back to Black and international success
After the release of her first jazz-influenced album, Winehouse's focus shifted to the girl groups of the 1950s and 1960s. Winehouse hired New York singer Sharon Jones's longtime band, the Dap-Kings, to back her up in the studio and on tour. Mitch Winehouse relates in Amy, My Daughter how fascinating watching her process was: her perfectionism in the studio and how she would put what she had sung on a CD and play it in his taxi outside to know how most people would hear her music. In May 2006, Winehouse's demo tracks such as "You Know I'm No Good" and "Rehab" appeared on Mark Ronson's New York radio show on East Village Radio. These were some of the first new songs played on the radio after the release of "Pumps" and both were slated to appear on her second album. The 11-track album, completed in five months, was produced entirely by Salaam Remi and Ronson, with the production credits being split between them. Ronson said in a 2010 interview that he liked working with Winehouse because she was blunt when she did not like his work. She in turn thought that when they first met, he was a sound engineer and that she was expecting an older man with a beard.
Promotion of Back to Black soon began and, in early October 2006 Winehouse's official website was relaunched with a new layout and clips of previously unreleased songs. Back to Black was released in the UK on 30 October 2006. It went to number one on the UK Albums Chart for two weeks in January 2007, dropping then climbing back for several weeks in February. In the US, it entered at number seven on the Billboard 200. It was the best-selling album in the UK of 2007, selling 1.85million copies over the course of the year. The first single released from the album was the Ronson-produced "Rehab." The song reached the top ten in the UK and the US. Time magazine named "Rehab" the Best Song of 2007. Writer Josh Tyrangiel praised Winehouse for her confidence, saying, "What she is is mouthy, funny, sultry, and quite possibly crazy" and "It's impossible not to be seduced by her originality. Combine it with production by Mark Ronson that references four decades worth of soul music without once ripping it off, and you've got the best song of 2007." The album's second single and lead single in the US, "You Know I'm No Good," was released in January 2007 with a remix featuring rap vocals by Ghostface Killah. It ultimately reached number 18 on the UK singles chart. The title track, "Back to Black," was released in the UK in April 2007 and peaked at number 25, but was more successful across mainland Europe. "Tears Dry on Their Own," "Love Is a Losing Game" were also released as singles, but failed to achieve the same level of success.
A deluxe edition of Back to Black was also released on 5 November 2007 in the UK. The bonus disc features B-sides, rare, and live tracks, as well as "Valerie." Winehouse's debut DVD I Told You I Was Trouble: Live in London was released the same day in the UK and 13 November in the US. It includes a live set recorded at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire and a 50-minute documentary charting the singer's career over the previous four years. Frank was released in the United States on 20 November 2007 to positive reviews. The album debuted at number 61 on the Billboard 200 chart. In addition to her own album, she collaborated with other artists on singles. Winehouse was a vocalist on the song "Valerie" on Ronson's solo album Version. The song peaked at number two in the UK, upon its October single release. "Valerie" was nominated for a 2008 Brit Award for "Best British Single." Her work with ex-Sugababe Mutya Buena, "B Boy Baby," was released on 17 December 2007. It served as the fourth single from Buena's debut album, Real Girl. Winehouse was also in talks of working with Missy Elliott for her album Block Party.
Winehouse promoted the release of Back to Black with headline performances in late 2006, including a Little Noise Sessions charity concert at the Union Chapel in Islington, London. On 31 December 2006, Winehouse appeared on Jools Holland's Annual Hootenanny and performed a cover of Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" along with Paul Weller and Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra. She also performed Toots and the Maytals' "Monkey Man". At his request, actor Bruce Willis introduced Winehouse before her performance of "Rehab" at the 2007 MTV Movie Awards in Universal City, California, on 3 June 2007. During the summer of 2007, she performed at various festivals, including Glastonbury Festival and Lollapalooza in Chicago.
The rest of her tour, however, did not go as well. In November 2007, the opening night of a 17-date tour was marred by booing and walkouts at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. A critic for the Birmingham Mail said it was "one of the saddest nights of my life...I saw a supremely talented artist reduced to tears, stumbling around the stage and, unforgivably, swearing at the audience." Other concerts ended similarly, with, for example, fans at her Hammersmith Apollo performance in London saying that she "looked highly intoxicated throughout," until she announced on 27 November 2007, that her performances and public appearances were cancelled for the remainder of the year, citing her doctor's advice to take a complete rest. A statement issued by concert promoter Live Nation blamed "the rigours involved in touring and the intense emotional strain that Amy has been under in recent weeks" for the decision. Mitch Winehouse wrote about her nervousness before public performances in his 2012 book, Amy, My Daughter. On 13 January 2008, Back to Black held the number-one position on the Billboard Pan European charts for the third consecutive week.
On 10 February 2008, Winehouse received five Grammy Awards, winning in the following categories: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the single "Rehab," and Best Pop Vocal Album. The singer also earned a Grammy as Best New Artist, earning her an entry in the 2009 edition of the Guinness Book of Records for Most Grammy Awards won by a British Female Act. Additionally, Back to Black was nominated for Album of the Year. Ronson's work with her won the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, in the non-classical category. She ended her acceptance speech for Record of the Year with, "This is for London because Camden town ain't burning down," in reference to the 2008 Camden Market fire. Performing "You Know I'm No Good" and "Rehab" via satellite from London's Riverside Studios at 3 a.m. UK time, she couldn't be at the ceremony in Los Angeles as her visa approval had not been processed in time.
After the Grammys, the album's sales increased, catapulting Back to Black to number two on the US Billboard 200, after it initially peaked in the seventh position. On 20 February 2008, Winehouse performed at the 2008 Brit Awards at Earls Court in London, performing "Valerie" with Mark Ronson, followed by "Love Is a Losing Game." She urged the crowd to "make some noise for my Blake." A special deluxe edition of Back to Black topped the UK album charts on 2 March 2008. Meanwhile, the original edition of the album was ranked at number 30 in its 68th week on the charts, while Frank charted at number 35.
In Paris, she performed what was described as a "well-executed 40-minute" set at the opening of a Fendi boutique in early March. By 12 March, the album had sold a total of 2,467,575 copies—318,350 copies had been sold in the previous 10 weeks—putting the album on the UK's top-10 best-selling albums of the 21st century for the first time. On 7 April, Back to Black was in the top position of the pan-European charts for the sixth consecutive and thirteenth aggregate week. Amy Winehouse – The Girl Done Good: A Documentary Review, a 78-minute DVD, was released on 14 April 2008. The documentary features interviews with those who knew her at a young age, people who helped her achieve success, jazz music experts, and music and pop-culture specialists.
At the 2008 Ivor Novello Awards in May, Winehouse became the first-ever artist to receive two nominations for the top award: Best Song Musically & Lyrically. She won the award for "Love Is a Losing Game" and was nominated for "You Know I'm No Good." "Rehab," a Novello winner for best contemporary song in 2006, also received a 2008 nomination for best-selling British song. Winehouse was also nominated for a 2008 MTV Europe Award in the "Act of the Year" category.
Although her father, manager and various members of her touring team reportedly tried to dissuade her, Winehouse performed at the Rock in Rio Lisboa festival in Portugal in May 2008. Although the set was plagued by a late arrival and problems with her voice, the crowd warmed to her. In addition to her own material she performed two Specials covers. Winehouse performed at Nelson Mandela's 90th Birthday Party concert at London's Hyde Park on 27 June 2008, and the next day at the Glastonbury Festival. On 12 July, at the Oxegen Festival in Ireland she performed a well-received 50-minute set which was followed the next day by a 14-song set at T in the Park.
On 16 August she played at the Staffordshire leg of the V Festival, and the following day played the Chelmsford leg of the festival. Organisers said that Winehouse attracted the biggest crowds of the festival. Audience reaction was reported as mixed. On 6 September, she was Bestival's Saturday headliner, where her performance was described as polished—terminated by a curfew as the show running overdue, after Winehouse started an hour late—and her storming off stage.
A clip of Winehouse's music was included in the "Roots and Influences" area that looked at connections between different artists at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex NYC, which opened in December 2008. One thread started with Billie Holiday, continued with Aretha Franklin and Mary J. Blige, and then finished with Winehouse.
Back to Black was the world's seventh-biggest-selling album of 2008. The album's sales meant that the market performance of Universal Music's recorded music division did not drop to levels experienced by the overall music market.
2009–2011: Final projects before death
In a 2009 poll of U.S. residents conducted for VisitBritain by Harris Interactive, one-fifth of the participants indicated they had listened to Winehouse's music during the previous year. She performed with Rhythms del Mundo on their cover of the Sam Cooke song, "Cupid", for an Artists Project Earth benefit album released in July that year.
Winehouse and Ronson contributed a cover of Lesley Gore's "It's My Party" to the Quincy Jones tribute album Q Soul Bossa Nostra, released in November 2010. She had agreed to form a group with Questlove of the Roots but her problems obtaining a visa delayed their working together. Salaam Remi had already created some material with Winehouse as part of the project. According to The Times, Universal Music pressed her for new material in 2008, but as of 2 September that year she had not been near a recording studio. In late October, Winehouse's spokesman was quoted as saying that Winehouse had not been given a deadline to complete her third album, for which she was learning to play drums.
In May 2009, Winehouse returned to performing at a jazz festival in St. Lucia amid torrential downpours and technical difficulties. During her set, it was reported she was unsteady on her feet and had trouble remembering lyrics. She apologised to the crowd for being "bored" and ended the set in the middle of a song. During her stay in St. Lucia, however, she worked on new music with Remi. On 23 August that year Winehouse sang with the Specials at the V Festival, on their songs "You're Wondering Now" and "Ghost Town".
Island claimed that a new album would be due for release in 2010. Island co-president Darcus Beese said, "I've heard a couple of song demos that have absolutely floored me." In July 2010, Winehouse was quoted as saying her next album would be released no later than January 2011, saying "It's going to be very much the same as my second album, where there's a lot of jukebox stuff and songs that are... just jukebox, really." Ronson, however, said at that time that he had not started to record the album. She performed "Valerie" with Ronson at a movie premiere but forgot some of the song's lyrics. In October, Winehouse performed a four-song set to promote her fashion line. In December 2010, she played a 40-minute concert at a Russian oligarch's party in Moscow, with the tycoon hand-selecting the songs.
In January 2011, Winehouse played five dates in Brazil, with opening acts of Janelle Monáe and Mayer Hawthorne. The following month she cut short a performance in Dubai following booing from the audience. Winehouse was reported to be tired, distracted and "tipsy" during the performance.
On 18 June 2011, Winehouse started her twelve-leg European tour in Belgrade. Local media described her performance as a scandal and disaster; she was booed off the stage due to her apparently being too drunk to perform. Serbian defence minister Dragan Sutanovac called Winehouse's performances "a huge shame and a disappointment". It was reported that she was unable to remember the city she was in, the lyrics of her songs or the names of the members of her band. The local press also claimed that Winehouse was forced to perform by her bodyguards, who did not allow her to leave the stage when she tried to do so. She then pulled out of performances in Istanbul and Athens, which had been scheduled for the following week. On 21 June, it was announced that she had cancelled all shows of her tour and would be given "as long as it takes" to sort herself out.
Winehouse's last public appearance took place at Camden's Roundhouse on 20 July 2011, when she made a surprise appearance on stage to support her goddaughter, Dionne Bromfield, who was singing "Mama Said" with the Wanted. Winehouse died three days later. Her last recording was a duet with American singer Tony Bennett for his album, Duets II, released on 20 September 2011. Their single from the album, "Body and Soul", was released on 14 September 2011 on MTV and VH1 to commemorate what would have been her 28th birthday.
Other ventures
Winehouse joined a campaign to stop a block of flats being built beside the George Tavern, a famous London East End music venue. Campaign supporters feared the residential development would end the spot's lucrative sideline as a film and photo location, on which it relies to survive. As part of a breast cancer awareness campaign, Winehouse appeared in a revealing photograph for the April 2008 issue of Easy Living magazine. Winehouse had an estimated £10m fortune, tying her for tenth place in the 2008 The Sunday Times listing of the wealth of musicians under age 30. The following year her fortune had dropped to an estimated £5m. Her finances are run by Mitch and Janis Winehouse. It was reported she earned about £1m singing at two private parties during Paris Fashion Week. as well as another £1m to perform at a Moscow Art Gallery for Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. Winehouse loaned a vintage dress used in her video for "Tears Dry on Their Own" as well as a DVD to the British Music Experience, a new museum dedicated to the history of British pop music. The museum, located at the O2 Arena in London, opened on 9 March 2009.
In January 2009, Winehouse announced that she was launching her own record label. The first act on her Lioness Records is Winehouse's 13-year-old goddaughter, Dionne Bromfield. Her first album, featuring covers of classic soul records, was released on 12 October 2009. Winehouse is the backing singer on several tracks on the album and she performed backing vocals for Bromfield on the BBC's television programme Strictly Come Dancing on 10 October.
Winehouse and her family are the subject of a 2009 documentary shot by Daphne Barak titled Saving Amy. Winehouse entered into a joint venture in 2009 with EMI to launch a range of wrapping paper and gift cards containing song lyrics from her album Back to Black. On 8 January 2010, a television documentary, My Daughter Amy, aired on Channel 4. Saving Amy was released as a paperback book in January 2010.
Winehouse collaborated on a 17 piece fashion collection with the Fred Perry label. It was released for sale in October 2010. According to Fred Perry's marketing director "We had three major design meetings where she was closely involved in product style selection and the application of fabric, colour and styling details," and gave "crucial input on proportion, colour and fit." The collection consists of "vintage-inspired looks including Capri pants, a bowling dress, a trench coat, pencil skirts, a longline argyle sweater and a pink-and-black checkerboard-printed collared shirt." At the behest of her family, three forthcoming collections up to and including autumn/winter 2012 that she had designed prior to her death will be released.
Awards and nominations
Among the awards and recognition for her debut album Frank, Winehouse earned an Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy of Songwriters for Best Contemporary Song ("Stronger Than Me"), a Brit Award nomination for Best British Female Solo Artist, and an inclusion in Robert Dimery's 2006 book, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Her second studio album, Back to Black, produced numerous nominations, including two Brit Awards (Best British Album, and won her Best British Female Solo Artist), six Grammy Awards (including five wins), four Ivor Novello Awards, four MTV Europe Music Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards, three World Music Awards, and it was nominated for the Mercury Prize (Album of the Year) and a MOBO Awards (Best UK Female). During her career, Winehouse received 23 awards from 60 nominations.
Critical appraisal
Winehouse was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, (sometimes labelled as blue-eyed soul and neo soul), rhythm and blues, and jazz. The BBC's Garry Mulholland called Winehouse "the pre-eminent vocal talent of her generation". According to AllMusic's Cyril Cordor, she was one of the UK's premier singers during the 2000s; "fans and critics alike embraced her rugged charm, brash sense of humor, and distinctively soulful and jazzy vocals". In The Guardian, Caroline Sullivan later wrote that "her idolisation of Dinah Washington and the Ronettes distinguished her from almost all newly minted pop singers of the early 2000s; her exceptionally-susceptible-to-heartbreak voice did the rest". Soon after Winehouse's death, a number of prominent critics assessed the singer's legacy: Maura Johnston from The Village Voice said, "When she was on, Winehouse had few peers—she wasn't an octave-jumper like other big divas of the moment, but her contralto had a snap to it that enriched even the simplest syllables with a full spectrum of emotion"; Sasha Frere-Jones of The New Yorker proclaimed, "Nobody can match Winehouse's unique transitions or her utterly weird phrasings. She sounded like an original sixties soul star, developed when the landscape had no rules. But now untrammeled traditionalism is in the lead and her beautiful footnote has been cut short. American soul—through visionaries like Erykah Badu and Janelle Monae and Jill Scott—had moved on. But Winehouse was a fine shepherd of the past."
By contrast, Robert Christgau dismissed Winehouse as "a self-aggrandizing self-abuser who's taken seriously because she makes a show of soul". In his opinion, the singer "simulated gravitas by running her suicidal tendencies through an amalgam of 20th-century African-American vocal stylings—the slides, growls, and melismatic outcries that for many matures are now the only reliable signifiers of pop substance".
On 13 February 2012, Winehouse was ranked 26 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women in Music list. In March 2017, singer-songwriter Bob Dylan said he was enjoying listening to Winehouse's last record (Back to Black), and called her "the last real individualist around."
Image
Winehouse's greatest love was 1960s girl groups. Her hairdresser, Alex Foden, borrowed her "instantly recognisable" beehive hairdo (a weave) and she borrowed her Cleopatra makeup from the Ronettes. Her imitation was so successful, as The Village Voice reports: "Ronnie Spector—who, it could be argued, all but invented Winehouse's style in the first place when she took the stage at the Brooklyn Fox Theater with her fellow Ronettes more than 40 years ago—was so taken aback at a picture of Winehouse in the New York Post that she exclaimed, "I don't know her, I never met her, and when I saw that pic, I thought, 'That's me!' But then I found out, no, it's Amy! I didn't have on my glasses."
The New York Times style reporter, Guy Trebay, discussed the multiplicity of influences on Winehouse's style after her death. Trebay noted, "her stylish husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, may have influenced her look." Additionally, Trebay observed:
Former Rolling Stone editor Joe Levy, who had put her on the magazine's cover, broke her look down this way:
Winehouse's use of bold red lipstick, thick eyebrows and heavy eyeliner came from Latinas she saw in Miami, on her trip there to work with Salaam Remi on Back to Black. Her look was repeatedly denigrated by the British press. At the same time that the NME Awards nominated Winehouse in the categories of "Best Solo Artist" and "Best Music DVD" in 2008, they awarded her "Worst Dressed Performer." Winehouse was also ranked number two on Richard Blackwell's 48th annual "Ten Worst Dressed Women" list, behind Victoria Beckham.
Criticism
Winehouse's dichotomous public image of critical and commercial success versus personal turmoil prompted significant media comment. The New Statesman called Winehouse "a filthy-mouthed, down-to-earth diva", while Newsweek called her "a perfect storm of sex kitten, raw talent and poor impulse control". Karen Heller with The Philadelphia Inquirer summarised the maelstrom this way:
By 2008, her drug problems threatened her career. As Nick Gatfield, the president of Island Records, toyed with the idea of releasing Winehouse "to deal with her problems", he said, "It's a reflection of her status [in the US] that when you flick through the TV coverage [of the Grammys] it's her image they use." Post-Grammys, some questioned whether Winehouse should have been honoured with the awards given her recent personal and drug problems, including Natalie Cole, who introduced Winehouse at the ceremony and who herself battled substance-abuse problems while winning a Grammy for Best New Artist in 1975. (Winehouse was prevented from travelling to and performing at the Grammy Awards ceremony in the US due to failing a drug test.) In a newspaper commentary, the executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, said that the alleged drug habits of Winehouse and other celebrities sent a bad message "to others who are vulnerable to addiction" and undermine the efforts of other celebrities trying to raise awareness of problems in Africa, now that more cocaine used in Europe passes through that continent. Winehouse's spokesperson noted that "Amy has never given a quote about drugs or flaunted it in any way. She's had some problems and is trying to get better. The U.N. should get its own house in order."
In January 2008, her record label stated it believed the extensive media coverage she had received increased record sales. In an April 2008 poll conducted by Sky News, Winehouse was named the second greatest "ultimate heroine" by the UK population at large, topping the voting for that category of those polled under 25 years old. Psychologist Donna Dawson commented that the results demonstrated that women like Winehouse who had "a certain sense of vulnerability or have had to fight against some adversity in their lives" received recognition.
In July 2008, BBC Radio Scotland's head, Jeff Zycinski, stated that the BBC, and media in general, were complicit in undermining celebrities, including Winehouse. He said that public interest in the singer's lifestyle did not make her lifestyle newsworthy. Rod McKenzie, editor of the BBC Radio One programme Newsbeat, replied: "If you play [Amy Winehouse's] music to a certain demographic, those same people want to know what's happening in her private life. If you don't cover it, you're insulting young licence fee payers." In The Scotsman, British singer and songwriter Lily Allen was quoted to have said – "I know Amy Winehouse very well. And she is very different to what people portray her as being. Yes, she does get out of her mind on drugs sometimes, but she is also a very clever, intelligent, witty, funny person who can hold it together. You just don't see that side."
Charity work
Throughout her life Winehouse donated her money, music and time to many charities, particularly those concerned with children. She was once named "the most charitable act" by Pop World. While this side of her personality was never well known to the general public, throughout both the arts community and the charity community she was known for her generosity.
In 2008, Winehouse appeared naked in an issue of Easy Living Magazine to raise awareness of breast cancer. In 2009, she appeared on a CD called Classics alongside musicians such as the Rolling Stones, the Killers and many Cuban musicians to raise awareness of climate change. In March 2011, Winehouse donated over £20,000 worth of clothes to a local charity shop in London.
A Caribbean man Julian Jean DeBaptiste revealed that Winehouse had paid for his urgent surgery costing £4,000 during her stay in Saint Lucia in 2009. "I had surgery on 1 July 2009... it cost a fortune and Amy paid for the whole thing. I tried to thank her but she just hugged me and told me not to say anything. Her generosity gave me my life back."
Legacy and honours
Artwork and tributes
London's Mall Galleries opened an exhibition in May 2008 that included a sculpture of Winehouse, titled Excess. The piece, created by Guy Portelli, had a miniature of the singer lying on top of a cracked champagne bottle, with a pool of spilled liquid underneath. The body was covered with what appeared to be tiny pills, while one outstretched hand held a glass. Another piece, a print titled Celebrity 1 by artist Charlotte Suckling, was shown in the same exhibition.
A wax sculpture of Winehouse went on display at the London Madame Tussauds on 23 July 2008. The singer did not attend the unveiling, although her parents did. A sculpture by Marco Perego, titled The Only Good Rock Star Is a Dead Rock Star, that depicts Winehouse lying in a pool of blood with an apple and a bullet hole in her head after being shot by American novelist and Beat poet William S. Burroughs (in a recreation of the accidental killing of his wife Joan Vollmer), was scheduled to go on display in New York's Half Gallery on 14 November 2008 with a sale price of US$100,000. Perego said of the sculpture: "Rock stars are the sacrificial animals of society." Winehouse's spokesperson stated: "It's a funny kind of tribute. The artist seems in thrall to a tabloid persona that is not the real Amy. People often use her image to sell their work."
In 2012, Winehouse was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork – the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover – to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life that he most admires.
On 14 September 2014 (which would have been Winehouse's 31st birthday), a statue was unveiled of her, which was created by sculptor Scott Eaton, at Stables Market in Camden Town, north London. Fans and relatives gathered for the unveiling in Camden's Stable Market, where it will be a permanent memorial to her. London-based Eaton, who sculpted the piece after being introduced to Winehouse's father Mitch, said the statue was meant to capture her "attitude and strength, but also give subtle hints of insecurity." Her father Mitch said of the statue: "Now Amy will oversee the comings and goings of her home town forever... Amy was in love with Camden and it is the place her fans from all over the world associate her with."
In March 2020, Winehouse's name on a stone was unveiled on the new Music Walk of Fame in Camden, with her parents Mitch and Janis in attendance at the ceremony.
Influence
Adele has credited Winehouse's success in making her and fellow British singer Duffy's journey to the United States "a bit smoother." Lady Gaga credited Winehouse with paving the way for her rise to the top of the charts, explaining that Winehouse made it easier for unconventional women to have mainstream pop success. Raphael Saadiq, Anthony Hamilton and John Legend said "Amy Winehouse was produced by people who wanted to create a marketing coup. The positive side is that it reacquainted an audience with this music and played an introductory role for others. This reinvigorated the genre by overcoming the vintage aspect."
Other artists that have credited Winehouse as an influence and/or for paving the way for them include Bruno Mars, Tove Lo, Jessie J, Emeli Sandé, Victoria Justice, Paloma Faith, Lana Del Rey, Sam Smith, Florence Welch, Halsey, Alessia Cara, Estelle, Daya, Jorja Smith, Lauren Jauregui and Billie Eilish.
After the release of Back to Black, record companies sought out female artists with a similar sound and fearless and experimental female musicians in general. Adele and Duffy were the second wave of artists with a sound similar to Winehouse's. A third wave of female musicians that has emerged since the album was released are led by V V Brown, Florence and the Machine, La Roux and Little Boots. In March 2011, the New York Daily News ran an article attributing the continuing wave of British female artists that have been successful in the United States to Winehouse and her absence. Spin magazine music editor Charles Aaron was quoted as saying "Amy Winehouse was the Nirvana moment for all these women," "They can all be traced back to her in terms of attitude, musical styles or fashion." According to Keith Caulfield, chart manager for Billboard, "Because of Amy, or the lack thereof, the marketplace was able to get singers like Adele, Estelle and Duffy," "Now those ladies have brought on the new ones, like Eliza Doolittle, Rumer and Ellie."
Amy Winehouse Foundation
After the singer's death by alcohol intoxication in July 2011, the Amy Winehouse Foundation was set up by Winehouse's family and launched on 14 September 2011 (which would have been Winehouse's 28th birthday). Its aim is to help young people and it works with other charitable organisations to provide frontline support. Its central office is in North London, but it also has an office in New York (operating under the name 'The Amy Winehouse Foundation US'). Both Jon Snow and Barbara Windsor are patrons for the charity, and ambassadors include Keira Chaplin and Mica Paris. In October 2015 Mark Ronson became a patron. Amy's brother Alex works full-time for the foundation, having given up his career as an online music journalist.
The charity itself works to prevent the effects of drug and alcohol misuse on young people and it also aims to support, inform and inspire vulnerable and disadvantaged young people to help them reach their full potential. On 12 March 2013, with the help of ex-addict Russell Brand, the Foundation launched the Amy Winehouse Foundation Resilience Programme For Schools across the UK which aims to provide effective education around drugs, alcohol and dealing with emotional issues.
Films
Documentary film
A documentary film, Amy (2015), directed by Asif Kapadia and produced by James Gay-Rees was released on 3 July 2015. The film covers Winehouse's life, her relationships, her struggles with substance abuse both before and after her career blossomed, and which eventually caused her death. The film received its première at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival on 16 May and has been reviewed as "a tragic masterpiece", "brilliant", "heartbreaking" and "unmissable". The soundtrack of the same name was released on 30 October 2015, along with the DVD that includes music featured in the documentary by film composer Antônio Pinto and classic and some unreleased tracks by Winehouse. The film was highly acclaimed and received various accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 2016 Oscars, Best Music Film at the 2016 Grammy Awards, the BAFTA for Best Documentary, the MTV Movie Award for Best Documentary, in addition to a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best British Film.
Biopic film
On 14 October 2018, it was announced that Winehouse's family had signed a deal with Monumental Pictures to make a biopic about her life, which will be directed by Alison Owen and produced by Debra Hayward. Winehouse's story will be adapted for the big screen by Geoff Deane, who has written comedy movies Kinky Boots (2005) and It's a Boy Girl Thing (2006). The project was scheduled to start filming in early 2019 and the funds are allegedly going towards the foundation.
Musical
On 9 October 2017, it was announced by Winehouse's father Mitch that a West End/Broadway musical on Amy is in the works. Mitch Winehouse revealed the news at the Amy Winehouse Foundation Gala event in London.
Personal life
Winehouse was raised Jewish and expressed pride in being Jewish, although she was not religious. During one interview, Winehouse said "being Jewish to me is about being together as a real family. It's not about lighting candles and saying a bracha." Winehouse also frequently performed with a large Star of David medallion.
In 2013, in memory of Winehouse the Jewish Museum London ran an exhibition titled "Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait". The museum researched about her paternal great-great-grandfather's arrival from Minsk in 1890, and how the family finally settled in London, starting out in working-class jobs before gradually moving to middle-class jobs.
Winehouse had 14 known tattoos, including "Daddy's Girl" on her left arm for her father and a pin-up girl with the name "Cynthia" on her right arm in memory of her Jewish grandmother.
Relationships
Winehouse dated chef-musician Alex Clare (sometimes referred to as Alex Claire) in 2006, while on a break from her on-off boyfriend and future husband, Blake Fielder-Civil. She and Clare lived together briefly, and in a pattern that Fielder-Civil would later repeat, Clare sold his story to the News of the World, which published it under the headline "Bondage Crazed Amy Just Can't Beehive in Bed."
Fielder-Civil, a former video production assistant, had dropped out of Bourne Grammar School and, aged 16, moved to London from his native Lincolnshire. He married Winehouse on 18 May 2007, in Miami Beach, Florida. In a June 2007 interview, Winehouse admitted she could sometimes be violent toward him after she had been drinking, saying: "If he says one thing I don't like, then I'll chin him." In August 2007, they were photographed, bloodied and bruised, in the streets of London after an alleged fight, although she contended her injuries were self-inflicted. Winehouse's parents and in-laws publicly reported their numerous concerns, the latter citing fears that the two might commit suicide. Fielder-Civil's father encouraged fans to boycott Winehouse's music, and Mitch Winehouse said this would not help. Fielder-Civil was quoted in a British tabloid as saying he introduced Winehouse to crack cocaine and heroin. During a visit with Mitch Winehouse at the prison in July 2008, Fielder-Civil reportedly said that he and Winehouse would cut themselves to ease the pain of withdrawal.
From 21 July 2008 to 25 February 2009, Fielder-Civil was imprisoned following his guilty plea on charges of trying to pervert the course of justice and of grievous bodily harm with intent. The incident, in July 2007, involved his assault of a pub landlord that broke the victim's cheek. According to the prosecution, the landlord accepted £200,000 as part of a deal to "effectively throw the [court] case and not turn up," and he testified that the money belonged to Winehouse, but she pulled out of a meeting with the men involved in the plot, to attend an awards ceremony. Mitch Winehouse, as manager of his daughter's money, has denied the payoff came from her.
When Winehouse was spotted with aspiring actor Josh Bowman on holiday in Saint Lucia, in early January 2009, she said she was "in love again, and I don't need drugs." She commented that her "whole marriage was based on doing drugs" and that "for the time being I've just forgotten I'm even married." On 12 January, Winehouse's spokesman confirmed that "papers have been received" for what Fielder-Civil's solicitor has said are divorce proceedings based on a claim of adultery. In March, Winehouse was quoted in a magazine as saying, "I still love Blake and I want him to move into my new house with me—that was my plan all along ... I won't let him divorce me. He's the male version of me and we're perfect for each other." Nonetheless, an uncontested divorce was granted on 16 July 2009 and became final on 28 August 2009. Fielder-Civil received no money in the settlement.
She was in a relationship with a British writer and director of films, Reg Traviss, from early 2010 until she died. According to media reports and a biography written by Winehouse's father, Traviss and Winehouse had planned to marry and intended to have children.
After Winehouse's death, Pete Doherty said that he and Winehouse had been lovers at one point. However, in July 2008, when Rolling Stone reporter Claire Hoffman asked Winehouse about her relationship with Doherty, Winehouse replied: "We're just good friends", and added: "I asked Pete to do a concept EP, and he made this face, he looked at me like I'd pooed on the floor. He wouldn't do it. We're just really close".
Substance abuse and mental illness
Winehouse's battles with substance abuse were the subject of much media attention. In 2005, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, and weight loss. People who saw her during the end of that year and early 2006 reported a rebound that coincided with the writing of Back to Black. Her family believes that the mid-2006 death of her grandmother, who was a stabilising influence, set her off into addiction. In August 2007, Winehouse cancelled a number of shows in the UK and Europe, citing exhaustion and ill health. She was hospitalised during this period for what was reported as an overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol. In various interviews, she admitted to having problems with self-harm, depression, and eating disorders.
Winehouse told a magazine that the drugs were to blame for her hospitalisation and that "I really thought that it was over for me then." Soon afterwards, Winehouse's father commented that when he had made public statements regarding her problems he was using the media because it seemed the only way to get through to her. In an interview with The Album Chart Show on British television, Winehouse said she was manic depressive and not alcoholic, adding that that sounded like "an alcoholic in denial". A US reporter writes that Winehouse was a "victim of mental illness in a society that doesn't understand or respond to mental illness with great effectiveness."
In December 2007, Winehouse's spokesman reported that the singer was in a physician-supervised programme and was channelling her difficulties by writing a lot of music. The British tabloid The Sun posted a video of a woman, alleged to be Winehouse, apparently smoking crack cocaine and speaking of having taken ecstasy and valium. Winehouse's father moved in with her, and Island Records, her record label, announced the abandonment of plans for an American promotion campaign on her behalf. In late January 2008, Winehouse reportedly entered a rehabilitation facility for a two-week treatment program.
On 23 January 2008, the video was passed on to the Metropolitan Police, who questioned her on 5 February. No charges were brought. On 26 March 2008, Winehouse's spokesman said she was "doing well". Her record company reportedly believed that her recovery remained fragile. By late April 2008, her erratic behaviourincluding an allegation of assaultcaused fear that her drug rehabilitation efforts had been unsuccessful. Winehouse's father and manager then sought to have her detained under the Mental Health Act of 1983. Her dishevelled appearance during and after a scheduled club night in September 2008 prompted new rumours of a relapse. Photographers were quoted as saying she appeared to have cuts on her arms and legs.
According to her physician, Winehouse quit using illegal substances in 2008. In an October 2010 interview, speaking of her decision to quit drugs, Winehouse said, "I literally woke up one day and was like, 'I don't want to do this any more. However, alcohol emerged as a problem, with Winehouse abstaining for a few weeks and then lapsing into alcohol abuse. Her physician said that Winehouse was treated with Librium for alcohol withdrawal and anxiety and underwent psychological and psychiatric evaluations in 2010, but refused psychological therapy.
Violence and legal difficulties
In 2006, Winehouse admitted to punching a female fan in the face for criticising her having taken Blake Fielder-Civil as a husband. She then attacked her own spouse as he attempted to calm her down, kneeing him in the crotch. In October 2007, Winehouse and Fielder-Civil were arrested in Bergen, Norway, for possession of seven grams of cannabis. The couple were later released and fined 3850 kroner (around £350). Winehouse first appealed the fines, but later dropped the appeal.
On 26 April 2008, Winehouse was cautioned after she admitted to police she slapped a 38-year-old man in the face, a "common assault" offence, her first of two. She voluntarily turned herself in and was held overnight. Police said, at her arrival she was "in no fit state" to be interviewed. Ten days later, Winehouse was arrested on suspicion of possessing drugs after a video of her apparently smoking crack cocaine was passed to the police in January, but was released on bail a few hours later because they could not confirm, from the video, what she was smoking. The Crown Prosecution Service considered charging her, but cleared her when it could not establish that the substance in the video was a controlled drug. Some members of Parliament reacted negatively. Two London residents were subsequently charged with conspiracy to supply cocaine and ecstasy to Winehouse. One of the pair was sentenced to two years in prison on 13 December 2008, while the other received a two-year community order.
On 5 March 2009, Winehouse was arrested and charged with common assault following a claim by dancer Sherene Flash that Winehouse hit her in the eye at the September 2008 Prince's Trust charity ball. Winehouse's spokesperson announced the cancellation of the singer's US Coachella Festival appearance in light of the new legal issue, and Winehouse appeared in court on 17 March to enter her plea of not guilty. On 23 July, her trial began with prosecutor Lyall Thompson charging that Winehouse acted with "deliberate and unjustifiable violence" while appearing to be under the influence of alcohol or another substance. She testified that she did not punch Flash, but tried to push her away because she was scared of her; she cited her worry that Flash would sell her story to a tabloid, Flash's height advantage, and Flash's "rude" behaviour. On 24 July, District Judge Timothy Workman ruled that Winehouse was not guilty, citing the facts that all but two of the witnesses were intoxicated at the time of the incident and that medical evidence did not show "the sort of injury that often occurs when there is a forceful punch to the eye."
On 19 December 2009, Winehouse was arrested for a third time on charges of common assault, plus another charge of public order offence after assaulting the front-of-house manager of the Milton Keynes Theatre after he asked her to move from her seat. Winehouse pled guilty to the charges and was given a conditional discharge.
Paparazzi
With the paparazzi taking photographs of her wherever they could, Winehouse obtained an injunction against a leading paparazzi agency, Big Pictures, under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997; the resultant court order issued by the High Court in 2009 banned them from following her. Photographers were also banned from following her within 100 metres of her London home and photographing Winehouse in her home or the homes of her friends and relatives. According to a newspaper report, sources close to the singer said legal action was taken out of concern for the safety of Winehouse and those close to her.
Respiratory and other health problems
On 23 June 2008, Winehouse's publicist corrected earlier misstatements by Mitch Winehouse that his daughter had early stage emphysema, instead claiming she had signs of what could lead to early-stage emphysema. Mitch Winehouse had also stated that his daughter's lungs were operating at 70 percent capacity and that she had an irregular heartbeat. He said that these problems had been caused by her chain smoking crack cocaine. The singer's father also reported that doctors had warned Winehouse that, if she continued smoking crack cocaine, she would have to wear an oxygen mask and would eventually die. In a radio interview, Mitch Winehouse said the singer was responding "fabulously" to treatment, which included being covered with nicotine patches. British Lung Foundation spokesman Keith Prowse noted this type of condition could be managed with treatment. Prowse also said the condition was not normal for a person her age but "heavy smoking and inhaling other substances like drugs can age the lungs prematurely." Norman H. Edelman of the American Lung Association explained that if she stopped smoking, her lung functions would decline at the rate of a normal person, but continued smoking would lead to a more rapid decline in lung function.
Winehouse was released from the London Clinic 24 hours after returning from a temporary leave to perform at Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday and at a concert in Glastonbury, and continued receiving treatment as an outpatient. In July 2008, Winehouse stated that she had been diagnosed with "some areas of emphysema" and said she was getting herself together by "eating loads of healthy food, sleeping loads, playing my guitar, making music and writing letters to my husband every day." She also kept a vertical tanning bed in her flat. Winehouse began precautionary testing on her lungs and chest on 25 October 2008 at the London Clinic for what was reported as a chest infection. Winehouse was in and out of the facility and was granted permission to set her own schedule regarding home leave. She returned to the hospital on 23 November 2008 for a reported reaction to her medication.
Death
Winehouse's bodyguard said that he had arrived at her residence three days before her death and felt she had been somewhat intoxicated. He observed moderate drinking over the next few days, and said she had been "laughing, listening to music and watching TV at 2 a.m. the day of her death". At 10 a.m. BST on 23 July 2011, he observed her lying on her bed and tried unsuccessfully to rouse her. This did not raise much suspicion because she usually slept late after a night out. According to the bodyguard, shortly after 3p.m., he checked on her again and observed her lying in the same position as before, leading to a further check, in which he concluded that she was not breathing and had no pulse; he said he called emergency services. At 3:54p.m., two ambulances were called to Winehouse's home in Camden, London. Winehouse was pronounced dead at the scene, at the age of 27. Shortly afterwards, the Metropolitan Police confirmed that she had died.
After her death was announced, media and camera crews appeared, as crowds gathered near Winehouse's residence to pay their respects. Forensic investigators entered the flat as police cordoned off the street outside; they recovered one small and two large bottles of vodka from her room. After her death, the singer broke her second Guinness World Record: for the most songs by a woman to simultaneously appear on the UK singles chart, with eight.
A coroner's inquest reached a verdict of misadventure. The report released on 26 October 2011 explained that Winehouse's blood alcohol content was 416 per 100 (0.416%) at the time of her death, more than five times the legal drink-drive limit. According to the coroner, "The unintended consequences of such potentially fatal levels was her sudden death."
Winehouse's record label, Universal Republic, released a statement that read in part: "We are deeply saddened at the sudden loss of such a gifted musician, artist and performer." Many musical artists have since paid tribute to Winehouse including U2, M.I.A., Lady Gaga, Marianne Faithfull, Bruno Mars, Nicki Minaj, Keisha Buchanan, Rihanna, George Michael, Adele, Kelly Clarkson, Courtney Love, and the punk rock band Green Day, who wrote a song in her tribute titled "Amy". In her 2012 album Banga, singer Patti Smith released "This Is the Girl", written as an homage to Winehouse. Mark Ronson dedicated his UK number-one album Uptown Special to Winehouse, stating: "I'm always thinking of you and inspired by you." Winehouse did not leave a will; her estate was inherited by her parents. Winehouse's parents set up the Amy Winehouse Foundation to prevent harm from drug misuse among young people; her brother Alex is an employee.
On 17 December 2012, British authorities reopened the probe into Winehouse's death. On 8 January 2013, a second inquest confirmed that Winehouse died of accidental alcohol poisoning. In a June 2013 interview, Alex Winehouse revealed his belief that his sister's eating disorder, and the consequent physical weakness, was the primary cause of her death:
Funeral
Family and friends attended Winehouse's private funeral on 26 July 2011 at Edgwarebury Lane Cemetery in north London. Her mother and father, Janis and Mitch Winehouse, close friends Nick Grimshaw and Kelly Osbourne, producer Mark Ronson, goddaughter Dionne Bromfield and her boyfriend Reg Traviss were among those in attendance at the private service led by Rabbi Frank Hellner. Her father delivered the eulogy, saying "Goodnight, my angel, sleep tight. Mummy and Daddy love you ever so much." Carole King's "So Far Away" closed the service with mourners singing along. She was later cremated at Golders Green Crematorium. The family planned to sit a two-day shiva. On 16 September 2012, Winehouse's ashes were buried alongside her grandmother's, Cynthia Levy at Edgwarebury Lane Cemetery.
Posthumous retrospectives
Winehouse's parents have each written memoirs about their daughter and donated the proceeds from both books to the Amy Winehouse Foundation. In the introduction to Mitch Winehouse's biography, entitled Amy: My Daughter (2012), he explained: "Apart from being her father, I was also her friend, confidant and adviser—not that she always took my advice, but she always heard me out." Her mother Janis published Loving Amy: A Mother's Story, in 2014.
An exhibit of Winehouse's personal items, co-curated by her brother and sister-in-law, entitled Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait, was on display at the Jewish Museum London from 3 July 2013 until 15 September 2013, and later exhibited in San Francisco, 23 July 2015 to 1 November 2015. Display items, such as books and music, were featured together with captions written by Winehouse's brother.
In late 2011, there were reports that Winehouse's former boyfriend, Reg Traviss, was developing a film about her. Winehouse's father Mitch Winehouse, who owns the copyright to his daughter's music, said he would not authorise the use of her music for the film.
Winehouse is the subject of Amy (2015), a documentary directed by Asif Kapadia and produced by James Gay-Rees, Kapadia, and Universal Music. Kapadia and Gay-Rees introduced the project at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. The film debuted at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and won the 2016 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
In 2018, a documentary film based on Winehouse's album Back to Black, Amy Winehouse – Back to Black was released. It contains new interviews as well as archival footage. It was made by Eagle Vision and produced by Gil Cang. Released on DVD on 2 November 2018, the film features interviews by producers Ronson & Remi, who worked half and half on the album, along with the Dap Kings, Remi's music team, Ronnie Spector from the Ronettes and close ones to Winehouse, including Nick Shymansky, Juliette Ashby and Dionne Bromfield. The film is accompanied by An Intimate Evening in London, footage of a show Winehouse gave at Riverside Studios, London in 2008. In February 2019, Salaam Remi released a compilation album including the song "Find My Love" which is a posthumous collaboration between Winehouse and rapper Nas.
In 2020, an exhibition entitled Beyond Black – The Style of Amy Winehouse opened at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles. The exhibit mainly explores Winehouse's style and fashion, displaying her outfits such as her iconic dresses, shoes, hair accessories, her makeup bag as well as Winehouse's personal belongings including her Grammy awards from 2008, handwritten lyrics, records and unseen home videos. The exhibition went on display in the U.S. from 17 January 2020 until 13 April 2020. In November 2021, various of Winehouse's personal items and famous dresses would later be auctioned at Julien's Auctions in Los Angeles and made more than £3m, 30% going to the Amy Winehouse Foundation. A follow-up exhibition Amy: Beyond the Stage opened on 26 November 2021 at the Design Museum in Kensington, London which also presented some of Winehouse's personal belongings and focus on her fashion sense, as well as paying homage to her musical career.
In July 2021, a new documentary entitled Reclaiming Amy aired on BBC Two to mark the 10th anniversary of Winehouse's death. The film was primarily based on the perspective and narrated by her mother Janis Winehouse-Collins and included intimate stories of those who were close to Winehouse until the end of her life, including close friends Naomi Parry (Amy's stylist), Catriona Gourlay and Chantelle Dusette.
Discography
Frank (2003)
Back to Black (2006)
Lioness: Hidden Treasures (2011)
Filmography
Amy (2015)
Amy Winehouse: Back to Black (2018)
Reclaiming Amy (2021)
See also
List of deaths through alcohol
References
Sources
Further reading
External links
Amy Winehouse collected news and commentary at The New York Times
Amy Winehouse Foundation - Charity Commission for England and Wales
1983 births
2011 deaths
20th-century English singers
20th-century English women singers
21st-century English singers
21st-century English women singers
Alcohol-related deaths in England
Alumni of the Sylvia Young Theatre School
Brit Award winners
British women jazz singers
English contraltos
English jazz singers
English Jews
Belarusian Jews
English people convicted of assault
English people of Polish-Jewish descent
English people of Russian-Jewish descent
English rhythm and blues singers
English soul singers
English women guitarists
English guitarists
Golders Green Crematorium
Grammy Award winners
Ivor Novello Award winners
Jewish English musicians
Jewish jazz musicians
Jewish singers
Jewish songwriters
MTV Europe Music Award winners
National Youth Jazz Orchestra members
Neo soul singers
People educated at the BRIT School
People educated at Susi Earnshaw Theatre School
People from the London Borough of Camden
People from Southgate, London
People with bipolar disorder
Republic Records artists
Singers from London
World Music Awards winners
| true |
[
"is a former Japanese enka singer within Hello! Project. She started her career under the enka record label Teichiku in 2000 with her debut single \"Naki Usagi\", but did not have any charting singles in Japan until she signed with Up-Front Works and their label Zetima in 2003. In mid-2004 she was transferred to another Up-Front Works' label, Rice Music.\n\nDiscography \nThe following CDs are released by Teichiku, Zetima, and Rice Music.\n\nSingles\n\nAlbums\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Official Hello! Project profile\n\n1979 births\nLiving people\nEnka singers\nJapanese idols\nHello! Project solo singers\nSalt5 members\nPeople from Kōchi Prefecture\nMusicians from Kōchi Prefecture",
"The Sound of Country Music is a studio album by American country music artist Dottie West and her band, \"The Heartaches\". It was released in February 1967 on RCA Camden Records. The sessions were co-produced by Chet Atkins and Ethel Gabriel. The project was West's fifth studio effort and first for the RCA Camden label. The album did not produce any singles nor reach peak positions on national charts. It was instead a collection of cover songs previously recorded by others.\n\nBackground, content and release\nThe Sound of Country Music was part of a series of albums released by the RCA Camden label to promote country artists already signed to RCA Victor. West had been signed to the latter label since 1963 and had issued four albums since then. The sessions for the album took place in November 1966 at the RCA Studio in Nashville, Tennessee. The recording sessions were co-produced by Chet Atkins and Ethel Gabriel. It was West's first experience working with Gabriel as she had previously been under the supervision of Atkins.\n\nThe album consisted of ten tracks. RCA Camden was a considered a budget record label, which meant it would include previously-released material. However, The Sound of Country Music consisted of entirely new recordings, all of which were cover versions of songs. Among the tracks West covered was \"You Ain't Woman Enough\" by Loretta Lynn, \"Together Again\" by Buck Owens and \"Crazy Arms\" by Ray Price.\n\nThe Sound of Country Music was released in February 1967 on RCA Camden, becoming her fifth studio recording. On the record's release, her backing band (The Heartaches) received equal billing. It was issued as a vinyl LP, consisting of five songs on each side of the record. The album did not reach any peak positions on national publication charts, notably Billboard. It also did not spawn any singles to radio.\n\nTrack listing\n\nPersonnel\nAll credits are adapted from the liner notes of The Sound of Country Music.\n\nMusical personnel\n Harold Bradley – guitar\n Ray Edenton – guitar\n Buddy Harman – drums\n Roy Huskey – bass\n Tommy Jackson – fiddle\n Grady Martin – guitar\n Hargus \"Pig\" Robbins – piano\n Dottie West – lead vocals\n Bill West – steel guitar\n\nTechnical personnel\n Chet Atkins – producer \n Ethel Gabriel – producer\n Bill Vandevort – engineering\n\nRelease history\n\nReferences\n\n1967 albums\nAlbums produced by Chet Atkins\nDottie West albums\nRCA Camden albums"
] |
[
"Amy Winehouse",
"Substance abuse and mental illness",
"What substance problems did Amy Winehouse have?",
"In 2005, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, and weight loss.",
"What did the press say about her drinking and drug use?",
"A US reporter writes that Winehouse was a \"victim of mental illness in a society that doesn't understand or respond to mental illness with great effectiveness.\"",
"What help did Winehouse get for her problems?",
"She was hospitalised during this period for what was reported as an overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol.",
"What did her family do at this time?",
"Winehouse's father commented that when he had made public statements regarding her problems he was using the media because it seemed the only way to get through to her.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"The Sun posted a video of a woman, alleged to be Winehouse, apparently smoking crack cocaine and speaking of having taken ecstasy and valium.",
"What happened as a result of the video from The Sun?",
"On 23 January 2008, the video was passed on to the Metropolitan Police, who questioned her on 5 February. No charges were brought.",
"What problems with mental illness did she have?",
"In an interview with The Album Chart Show on British television, Winehouse said she was manic depressive and not alcoholic,",
"Did she get treatment for her illness?",
"In December 2007, Winehouse's spokesman reported that the singer was in a physician-supervised programme and was channelling her difficulties by writing a lot of music.",
"Did she record any music then?",
"People who saw her during the end of that year and early 2006 reported a rebound that coincided with the writing of Back to Black."
] |
C_efbf3039679a4232a67306f7dfb6f70c_1
|
Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?
| 10 |
Besides Amy Winehouse's rebound coinciding with the writing of Back to Black, are there any other interesting aspects about this article?
|
Amy Winehouse
|
Winehouse's battles with substance abuse were the subject of much media attention. In 2005, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, and weight loss. People who saw her during the end of that year and early 2006 reported a rebound that coincided with the writing of Back to Black. Her family believes that the mid-2006 death of her grandmother, who was a stabilising influence, set her off into addiction. In August 2007, Winehouse cancelled a number of shows in the UK and Europe, citing exhaustion and ill health. She was hospitalised during this period for what was reported as an overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol. In various interviews, she admitted to having problems with self-harm, depression, and eating disorders. Winehouse told a magazine that the drugs were to blame for her hospitalisation and that "I really thought that it was over for me then." Soon afterward, Winehouse's father commented that when he had made public statements regarding her problems he was using the media because it seemed the only way to get through to her. In an interview with The Album Chart Show on British television, Winehouse said she was manic depressive and not alcoholic, adding that that sounded like "an alcoholic in denial." A US reporter writes that Winehouse was a "victim of mental illness in a society that doesn't understand or respond to mental illness with great effectiveness." In December 2007, Winehouse's spokesman reported that the singer was in a physician-supervised programme and was channelling her difficulties by writing a lot of music. The British tabloid The Sun posted a video of a woman, alleged to be Winehouse, apparently smoking crack cocaine and speaking of having taken ecstasy and valium. Winehouse's father moved in with her, and Island Records, her record label, announced the abandonment of plans for an American promotion campaign on her behalf. In late January 2008, Winehouse reportedly entered a rehabilitation facility for a two-week treatment program. On 23 January 2008, the video was passed on to the Metropolitan Police, who questioned her on 5 February. No charges were brought. On 26 March 2008, Winehouse's spokesman said she was "doing well." Her record company reportedly believed that her recovery remained fragile. By late April 2008, her erratic behaviour, including an allegation of assault, caused fear that her drug rehabilitation efforts had been unsuccessful, leading to efforts by Winehouse's father and manager to seek assistance in having her involuntarily committed. Her dishevelled appearance during and after a scheduled club night in September sparked new rumours of a relapse. Photographers were quoted as saying she appeared to have cuts on her legs and arms. According to her physician, Winehouse quit illegal substances in 2008. In an October 2010 interview, speaking of her decision to quit drugs, Winehouse said, "I literally woke up one day and was like, 'I don't want to do this any more'." Drinking alcohol emerged as a problem with Winehouse abstaining for a few weeks then lapsing. The physician said that Winehouse was treated with Librium for alcohol withdrawal and anxiety, and underwent psychological and psychiatric evaluations in 2010, but refused psychological therapy. CANNOTANSWER
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The Sun posted a video of a woman, alleged to be Winehouse, apparently smoking crack cocaine and speaking of having taken ecstasy and valium.
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Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was a British singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz.
A member of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra during her youth, Winehouse signed to Simon Fuller's 19 Management in 2002 and soon recorded a number of songs before signing a publishing deal with EMI. She also formed a working relationship with producer Salaam Remi through these record publishers. Winehouse's debut album, Frank, was released in 2003. Many of the album's songs were influenced by jazz and, apart from two covers, were co-written by Winehouse. Frank was a critical success in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize. The song "Stronger Than Me" won her the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors.
Winehouse released her follow-up album, Back to Black, in 2006, which went on to become an international success and one of the best-selling albums in UK history. At the 2007 Brit Awards it was nominated for British Album of the Year, and she received the award for British Female Solo Artist. The song "Rehab" won her a second Ivor Novello Award. At the 50th Grammy Awards in 2008, she won five awards, tying the then record for the most wins by a female artist in a single night and becoming the first British woman to win five Grammys, including three of the General Field "Big Four" Grammy Awards: Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year (for "Rehab"), as well as Best Pop Vocal Album.
Winehouse was plagued by drug and alcohol addiction. She died of alcohol poisoning on 23 July 2011, at the age of 27. After her death, Back to Black temporarily became the UK's best-selling album of the 21st century. VH1 ranked Winehouse 26th on their list of the 100 Greatest Women in Music.
Early life
Amy Jade Winehouse was born on 14 September 1983 at Chase Farm Hospital in Gordon Hill, Enfield, to Jewish parents. Her father, Mitchell "Mitch" Winehouse, was a window panel installer and taxi driver; her mother, Janis Winehouse (née Seaton), was a pharmacist, who suffers from multiple sclerosis. The great-great-grandfather of Amy Harris Winehouse emigrated from Minsk, Belarus to London in 1891. She had an older brother, Alex (born 1979), and the family lived in London's Southgate area, where she attended Osidge Primary School. Winehouse attended a Jewish Sunday school while she was a child. During an interview following her rise to fame, she expressed her dismissal towards the school by saying that she used to beg her father to permit her not to go and that she learned nothing about being Jewish by going anyway. In the same interview, Winehouse said she only went to a synagogue once a year on Yom Kippur "out of respect".
Many of Winehouse's maternal uncles were professional jazz musicians. Amy's paternal grandmother, Cynthia, was a singer and dated the English jazz saxophonist Ronnie Scott. She and Amy's parents influenced Amy's interest in jazz. Her father, Mitch, often sang Frank Sinatra songs to her, and whenever she got chastised at school, she would sing "Fly Me to the Moon" before going up to the headmistress to be told off. Winehouse's parents separated when she was nine, and she lived with her mother and stayed with her father and his girlfriend in Hatfield Heath, Essex, on weekends.
In 1992, her grandmother Cynthia suggested that Amy attend the Susi Earnshaw Theatre School, where she went on Saturdays to further her vocal education and to learn to tap dance. She attended the school for four years and founded a short-lived rap group called Sweet 'n' Sour, with Juliette Ashby, her childhood friend, before seeking full-time training at Sylvia Young Theatre School. Several years later it was reported that Winehouse had been expelled at 14 for "not applying herself" and also for piercing her nose, but these claims were denied by Sylvia Young: "She changed schools at 15...I've heard it said she was expelled; she wasn't. I'd never have expelled Amy." Mitch Winehouse also denied the claims. She attended the Mount School, Mill Hill and the BRIT School in Selhurst, Croydon, dropping out at age 16.
After toying around with her brother Alex's guitar, Winehouse bought her own when she was 14 and began writing music shortly afterwards. Soon after she began working for a living, as an entertainment journalist for the World Entertainment News Network and also singing with local group the Bolsha Band. In July 2000, she became the featured female vocalist with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. She was influenced by Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington, the latter of whom she was already listening to at home. Winehouse's best friend, soul singer Tyler James, sent her demo tape to an A&R person.
Career
2002–2005: Career beginnings and Frank
Winehouse was signed to Simon Fuller's 19 Management in 2002 and was paid £250 a week against future earnings. While being developed by the management company, Winehouse was kept as a recording industry secret, although she was a regular jazz standards singer at the Cobden Club. Her future A&R representative at Island, Darcus Beese, heard of her by accident when the manager of The Lewinson Brothers showed him some productions of his clients, which featured Winehouse as key vocalist. When he asked who the singer was, the manager told him he was not allowed to say. Having decided that he wanted to sign her, it took several months of asking around for Beese to eventually discover who the singer was. However, Winehouse had already recorded a number of songs and signed a publishing deal with EMI by this time. Incidentally, she formed a working relationship with producer Salaam Remi through these record publishers.
Beese introduced Winehouse to his boss, Nick Gatfield; the Island head shared his enthusiasm in signing the young artist. Winehouse was signed to Island, as rival interest in her had started to build with representatives of EMI and Virgin starting to make moves. Beese told HitQuarters that he felt the excitement over an artist who was an atypical pop star for the time was due to a backlash against reality TV music shows, which included audiences starved for fresh, genuine young talent.
Winehouse's debut album, Frank, was released on 20 October 2003. Produced mainly by Salaam Remi, many songs were influenced by jazz and, apart from two covers, Winehouse co-wrote every song. The album received critical acclaim with compliments given to the "cool, critical gaze" in its lyrics. Winehouse's voice was compared with those of Sarah Vaughan and Macy Gray, among others.
The album entered the upper reaches of the UK album chart in 2004 when it was nominated for the Brit Awards in the categories of "British Female Solo Artist" and "British Urban Act." It went on to achieve platinum sales. Later in 2004, she and Remi won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song, for their first single together, "Stronger Than Me." The album was also shortlisted for the 2004 Mercury Music Prize. In the same year, she performed at the Glastonbury Festival – Jazzworld, the V Festival and the Montreal International Jazz Festival. After the release of the album, Winehouse commented that she was "only 80 percent behind [the] album" because Island Records had overruled her preferences for the songs and mixes to be included. The further singles from the album were "Take the Box," "In My Bed"/"You Sent Me Flying" and "Pumps"/"Help Yourself."
2006–2008: Back to Black and international success
After the release of her first jazz-influenced album, Winehouse's focus shifted to the girl groups of the 1950s and 1960s. Winehouse hired New York singer Sharon Jones's longtime band, the Dap-Kings, to back her up in the studio and on tour. Mitch Winehouse relates in Amy, My Daughter how fascinating watching her process was: her perfectionism in the studio and how she would put what she had sung on a CD and play it in his taxi outside to know how most people would hear her music. In May 2006, Winehouse's demo tracks such as "You Know I'm No Good" and "Rehab" appeared on Mark Ronson's New York radio show on East Village Radio. These were some of the first new songs played on the radio after the release of "Pumps" and both were slated to appear on her second album. The 11-track album, completed in five months, was produced entirely by Salaam Remi and Ronson, with the production credits being split between them. Ronson said in a 2010 interview that he liked working with Winehouse because she was blunt when she did not like his work. She in turn thought that when they first met, he was a sound engineer and that she was expecting an older man with a beard.
Promotion of Back to Black soon began and, in early October 2006 Winehouse's official website was relaunched with a new layout and clips of previously unreleased songs. Back to Black was released in the UK on 30 October 2006. It went to number one on the UK Albums Chart for two weeks in January 2007, dropping then climbing back for several weeks in February. In the US, it entered at number seven on the Billboard 200. It was the best-selling album in the UK of 2007, selling 1.85million copies over the course of the year. The first single released from the album was the Ronson-produced "Rehab." The song reached the top ten in the UK and the US. Time magazine named "Rehab" the Best Song of 2007. Writer Josh Tyrangiel praised Winehouse for her confidence, saying, "What she is is mouthy, funny, sultry, and quite possibly crazy" and "It's impossible not to be seduced by her originality. Combine it with production by Mark Ronson that references four decades worth of soul music without once ripping it off, and you've got the best song of 2007." The album's second single and lead single in the US, "You Know I'm No Good," was released in January 2007 with a remix featuring rap vocals by Ghostface Killah. It ultimately reached number 18 on the UK singles chart. The title track, "Back to Black," was released in the UK in April 2007 and peaked at number 25, but was more successful across mainland Europe. "Tears Dry on Their Own," "Love Is a Losing Game" were also released as singles, but failed to achieve the same level of success.
A deluxe edition of Back to Black was also released on 5 November 2007 in the UK. The bonus disc features B-sides, rare, and live tracks, as well as "Valerie." Winehouse's debut DVD I Told You I Was Trouble: Live in London was released the same day in the UK and 13 November in the US. It includes a live set recorded at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire and a 50-minute documentary charting the singer's career over the previous four years. Frank was released in the United States on 20 November 2007 to positive reviews. The album debuted at number 61 on the Billboard 200 chart. In addition to her own album, she collaborated with other artists on singles. Winehouse was a vocalist on the song "Valerie" on Ronson's solo album Version. The song peaked at number two in the UK, upon its October single release. "Valerie" was nominated for a 2008 Brit Award for "Best British Single." Her work with ex-Sugababe Mutya Buena, "B Boy Baby," was released on 17 December 2007. It served as the fourth single from Buena's debut album, Real Girl. Winehouse was also in talks of working with Missy Elliott for her album Block Party.
Winehouse promoted the release of Back to Black with headline performances in late 2006, including a Little Noise Sessions charity concert at the Union Chapel in Islington, London. On 31 December 2006, Winehouse appeared on Jools Holland's Annual Hootenanny and performed a cover of Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" along with Paul Weller and Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra. She also performed Toots and the Maytals' "Monkey Man". At his request, actor Bruce Willis introduced Winehouse before her performance of "Rehab" at the 2007 MTV Movie Awards in Universal City, California, on 3 June 2007. During the summer of 2007, she performed at various festivals, including Glastonbury Festival and Lollapalooza in Chicago.
The rest of her tour, however, did not go as well. In November 2007, the opening night of a 17-date tour was marred by booing and walkouts at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. A critic for the Birmingham Mail said it was "one of the saddest nights of my life...I saw a supremely talented artist reduced to tears, stumbling around the stage and, unforgivably, swearing at the audience." Other concerts ended similarly, with, for example, fans at her Hammersmith Apollo performance in London saying that she "looked highly intoxicated throughout," until she announced on 27 November 2007, that her performances and public appearances were cancelled for the remainder of the year, citing her doctor's advice to take a complete rest. A statement issued by concert promoter Live Nation blamed "the rigours involved in touring and the intense emotional strain that Amy has been under in recent weeks" for the decision. Mitch Winehouse wrote about her nervousness before public performances in his 2012 book, Amy, My Daughter. On 13 January 2008, Back to Black held the number-one position on the Billboard Pan European charts for the third consecutive week.
On 10 February 2008, Winehouse received five Grammy Awards, winning in the following categories: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the single "Rehab," and Best Pop Vocal Album. The singer also earned a Grammy as Best New Artist, earning her an entry in the 2009 edition of the Guinness Book of Records for Most Grammy Awards won by a British Female Act. Additionally, Back to Black was nominated for Album of the Year. Ronson's work with her won the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, in the non-classical category. She ended her acceptance speech for Record of the Year with, "This is for London because Camden town ain't burning down," in reference to the 2008 Camden Market fire. Performing "You Know I'm No Good" and "Rehab" via satellite from London's Riverside Studios at 3 a.m. UK time, she couldn't be at the ceremony in Los Angeles as her visa approval had not been processed in time.
After the Grammys, the album's sales increased, catapulting Back to Black to number two on the US Billboard 200, after it initially peaked in the seventh position. On 20 February 2008, Winehouse performed at the 2008 Brit Awards at Earls Court in London, performing "Valerie" with Mark Ronson, followed by "Love Is a Losing Game." She urged the crowd to "make some noise for my Blake." A special deluxe edition of Back to Black topped the UK album charts on 2 March 2008. Meanwhile, the original edition of the album was ranked at number 30 in its 68th week on the charts, while Frank charted at number 35.
In Paris, she performed what was described as a "well-executed 40-minute" set at the opening of a Fendi boutique in early March. By 12 March, the album had sold a total of 2,467,575 copies—318,350 copies had been sold in the previous 10 weeks—putting the album on the UK's top-10 best-selling albums of the 21st century for the first time. On 7 April, Back to Black was in the top position of the pan-European charts for the sixth consecutive and thirteenth aggregate week. Amy Winehouse – The Girl Done Good: A Documentary Review, a 78-minute DVD, was released on 14 April 2008. The documentary features interviews with those who knew her at a young age, people who helped her achieve success, jazz music experts, and music and pop-culture specialists.
At the 2008 Ivor Novello Awards in May, Winehouse became the first-ever artist to receive two nominations for the top award: Best Song Musically & Lyrically. She won the award for "Love Is a Losing Game" and was nominated for "You Know I'm No Good." "Rehab," a Novello winner for best contemporary song in 2006, also received a 2008 nomination for best-selling British song. Winehouse was also nominated for a 2008 MTV Europe Award in the "Act of the Year" category.
Although her father, manager and various members of her touring team reportedly tried to dissuade her, Winehouse performed at the Rock in Rio Lisboa festival in Portugal in May 2008. Although the set was plagued by a late arrival and problems with her voice, the crowd warmed to her. In addition to her own material she performed two Specials covers. Winehouse performed at Nelson Mandela's 90th Birthday Party concert at London's Hyde Park on 27 June 2008, and the next day at the Glastonbury Festival. On 12 July, at the Oxegen Festival in Ireland she performed a well-received 50-minute set which was followed the next day by a 14-song set at T in the Park.
On 16 August she played at the Staffordshire leg of the V Festival, and the following day played the Chelmsford leg of the festival. Organisers said that Winehouse attracted the biggest crowds of the festival. Audience reaction was reported as mixed. On 6 September, she was Bestival's Saturday headliner, where her performance was described as polished—terminated by a curfew as the show running overdue, after Winehouse started an hour late—and her storming off stage.
A clip of Winehouse's music was included in the "Roots and Influences" area that looked at connections between different artists at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex NYC, which opened in December 2008. One thread started with Billie Holiday, continued with Aretha Franklin and Mary J. Blige, and then finished with Winehouse.
Back to Black was the world's seventh-biggest-selling album of 2008. The album's sales meant that the market performance of Universal Music's recorded music division did not drop to levels experienced by the overall music market.
2009–2011: Final projects before death
In a 2009 poll of U.S. residents conducted for VisitBritain by Harris Interactive, one-fifth of the participants indicated they had listened to Winehouse's music during the previous year. She performed with Rhythms del Mundo on their cover of the Sam Cooke song, "Cupid", for an Artists Project Earth benefit album released in July that year.
Winehouse and Ronson contributed a cover of Lesley Gore's "It's My Party" to the Quincy Jones tribute album Q Soul Bossa Nostra, released in November 2010. She had agreed to form a group with Questlove of the Roots but her problems obtaining a visa delayed their working together. Salaam Remi had already created some material with Winehouse as part of the project. According to The Times, Universal Music pressed her for new material in 2008, but as of 2 September that year she had not been near a recording studio. In late October, Winehouse's spokesman was quoted as saying that Winehouse had not been given a deadline to complete her third album, for which she was learning to play drums.
In May 2009, Winehouse returned to performing at a jazz festival in St. Lucia amid torrential downpours and technical difficulties. During her set, it was reported she was unsteady on her feet and had trouble remembering lyrics. She apologised to the crowd for being "bored" and ended the set in the middle of a song. During her stay in St. Lucia, however, she worked on new music with Remi. On 23 August that year Winehouse sang with the Specials at the V Festival, on their songs "You're Wondering Now" and "Ghost Town".
Island claimed that a new album would be due for release in 2010. Island co-president Darcus Beese said, "I've heard a couple of song demos that have absolutely floored me." In July 2010, Winehouse was quoted as saying her next album would be released no later than January 2011, saying "It's going to be very much the same as my second album, where there's a lot of jukebox stuff and songs that are... just jukebox, really." Ronson, however, said at that time that he had not started to record the album. She performed "Valerie" with Ronson at a movie premiere but forgot some of the song's lyrics. In October, Winehouse performed a four-song set to promote her fashion line. In December 2010, she played a 40-minute concert at a Russian oligarch's party in Moscow, with the tycoon hand-selecting the songs.
In January 2011, Winehouse played five dates in Brazil, with opening acts of Janelle Monáe and Mayer Hawthorne. The following month she cut short a performance in Dubai following booing from the audience. Winehouse was reported to be tired, distracted and "tipsy" during the performance.
On 18 June 2011, Winehouse started her twelve-leg European tour in Belgrade. Local media described her performance as a scandal and disaster; she was booed off the stage due to her apparently being too drunk to perform. Serbian defence minister Dragan Sutanovac called Winehouse's performances "a huge shame and a disappointment". It was reported that she was unable to remember the city she was in, the lyrics of her songs or the names of the members of her band. The local press also claimed that Winehouse was forced to perform by her bodyguards, who did not allow her to leave the stage when she tried to do so. She then pulled out of performances in Istanbul and Athens, which had been scheduled for the following week. On 21 June, it was announced that she had cancelled all shows of her tour and would be given "as long as it takes" to sort herself out.
Winehouse's last public appearance took place at Camden's Roundhouse on 20 July 2011, when she made a surprise appearance on stage to support her goddaughter, Dionne Bromfield, who was singing "Mama Said" with the Wanted. Winehouse died three days later. Her last recording was a duet with American singer Tony Bennett for his album, Duets II, released on 20 September 2011. Their single from the album, "Body and Soul", was released on 14 September 2011 on MTV and VH1 to commemorate what would have been her 28th birthday.
Other ventures
Winehouse joined a campaign to stop a block of flats being built beside the George Tavern, a famous London East End music venue. Campaign supporters feared the residential development would end the spot's lucrative sideline as a film and photo location, on which it relies to survive. As part of a breast cancer awareness campaign, Winehouse appeared in a revealing photograph for the April 2008 issue of Easy Living magazine. Winehouse had an estimated £10m fortune, tying her for tenth place in the 2008 The Sunday Times listing of the wealth of musicians under age 30. The following year her fortune had dropped to an estimated £5m. Her finances are run by Mitch and Janis Winehouse. It was reported she earned about £1m singing at two private parties during Paris Fashion Week. as well as another £1m to perform at a Moscow Art Gallery for Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. Winehouse loaned a vintage dress used in her video for "Tears Dry on Their Own" as well as a DVD to the British Music Experience, a new museum dedicated to the history of British pop music. The museum, located at the O2 Arena in London, opened on 9 March 2009.
In January 2009, Winehouse announced that she was launching her own record label. The first act on her Lioness Records is Winehouse's 13-year-old goddaughter, Dionne Bromfield. Her first album, featuring covers of classic soul records, was released on 12 October 2009. Winehouse is the backing singer on several tracks on the album and she performed backing vocals for Bromfield on the BBC's television programme Strictly Come Dancing on 10 October.
Winehouse and her family are the subject of a 2009 documentary shot by Daphne Barak titled Saving Amy. Winehouse entered into a joint venture in 2009 with EMI to launch a range of wrapping paper and gift cards containing song lyrics from her album Back to Black. On 8 January 2010, a television documentary, My Daughter Amy, aired on Channel 4. Saving Amy was released as a paperback book in January 2010.
Winehouse collaborated on a 17 piece fashion collection with the Fred Perry label. It was released for sale in October 2010. According to Fred Perry's marketing director "We had three major design meetings where she was closely involved in product style selection and the application of fabric, colour and styling details," and gave "crucial input on proportion, colour and fit." The collection consists of "vintage-inspired looks including Capri pants, a bowling dress, a trench coat, pencil skirts, a longline argyle sweater and a pink-and-black checkerboard-printed collared shirt." At the behest of her family, three forthcoming collections up to and including autumn/winter 2012 that she had designed prior to her death will be released.
Awards and nominations
Among the awards and recognition for her debut album Frank, Winehouse earned an Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy of Songwriters for Best Contemporary Song ("Stronger Than Me"), a Brit Award nomination for Best British Female Solo Artist, and an inclusion in Robert Dimery's 2006 book, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Her second studio album, Back to Black, produced numerous nominations, including two Brit Awards (Best British Album, and won her Best British Female Solo Artist), six Grammy Awards (including five wins), four Ivor Novello Awards, four MTV Europe Music Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards, three World Music Awards, and it was nominated for the Mercury Prize (Album of the Year) and a MOBO Awards (Best UK Female). During her career, Winehouse received 23 awards from 60 nominations.
Critical appraisal
Winehouse was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, (sometimes labelled as blue-eyed soul and neo soul), rhythm and blues, and jazz. The BBC's Garry Mulholland called Winehouse "the pre-eminent vocal talent of her generation". According to AllMusic's Cyril Cordor, she was one of the UK's premier singers during the 2000s; "fans and critics alike embraced her rugged charm, brash sense of humor, and distinctively soulful and jazzy vocals". In The Guardian, Caroline Sullivan later wrote that "her idolisation of Dinah Washington and the Ronettes distinguished her from almost all newly minted pop singers of the early 2000s; her exceptionally-susceptible-to-heartbreak voice did the rest". Soon after Winehouse's death, a number of prominent critics assessed the singer's legacy: Maura Johnston from The Village Voice said, "When she was on, Winehouse had few peers—she wasn't an octave-jumper like other big divas of the moment, but her contralto had a snap to it that enriched even the simplest syllables with a full spectrum of emotion"; Sasha Frere-Jones of The New Yorker proclaimed, "Nobody can match Winehouse's unique transitions or her utterly weird phrasings. She sounded like an original sixties soul star, developed when the landscape had no rules. But now untrammeled traditionalism is in the lead and her beautiful footnote has been cut short. American soul—through visionaries like Erykah Badu and Janelle Monae and Jill Scott—had moved on. But Winehouse was a fine shepherd of the past."
By contrast, Robert Christgau dismissed Winehouse as "a self-aggrandizing self-abuser who's taken seriously because she makes a show of soul". In his opinion, the singer "simulated gravitas by running her suicidal tendencies through an amalgam of 20th-century African-American vocal stylings—the slides, growls, and melismatic outcries that for many matures are now the only reliable signifiers of pop substance".
On 13 February 2012, Winehouse was ranked 26 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women in Music list. In March 2017, singer-songwriter Bob Dylan said he was enjoying listening to Winehouse's last record (Back to Black), and called her "the last real individualist around."
Image
Winehouse's greatest love was 1960s girl groups. Her hairdresser, Alex Foden, borrowed her "instantly recognisable" beehive hairdo (a weave) and she borrowed her Cleopatra makeup from the Ronettes. Her imitation was so successful, as The Village Voice reports: "Ronnie Spector—who, it could be argued, all but invented Winehouse's style in the first place when she took the stage at the Brooklyn Fox Theater with her fellow Ronettes more than 40 years ago—was so taken aback at a picture of Winehouse in the New York Post that she exclaimed, "I don't know her, I never met her, and when I saw that pic, I thought, 'That's me!' But then I found out, no, it's Amy! I didn't have on my glasses."
The New York Times style reporter, Guy Trebay, discussed the multiplicity of influences on Winehouse's style after her death. Trebay noted, "her stylish husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, may have influenced her look." Additionally, Trebay observed:
Former Rolling Stone editor Joe Levy, who had put her on the magazine's cover, broke her look down this way:
Winehouse's use of bold red lipstick, thick eyebrows and heavy eyeliner came from Latinas she saw in Miami, on her trip there to work with Salaam Remi on Back to Black. Her look was repeatedly denigrated by the British press. At the same time that the NME Awards nominated Winehouse in the categories of "Best Solo Artist" and "Best Music DVD" in 2008, they awarded her "Worst Dressed Performer." Winehouse was also ranked number two on Richard Blackwell's 48th annual "Ten Worst Dressed Women" list, behind Victoria Beckham.
Criticism
Winehouse's dichotomous public image of critical and commercial success versus personal turmoil prompted significant media comment. The New Statesman called Winehouse "a filthy-mouthed, down-to-earth diva", while Newsweek called her "a perfect storm of sex kitten, raw talent and poor impulse control". Karen Heller with The Philadelphia Inquirer summarised the maelstrom this way:
By 2008, her drug problems threatened her career. As Nick Gatfield, the president of Island Records, toyed with the idea of releasing Winehouse "to deal with her problems", he said, "It's a reflection of her status [in the US] that when you flick through the TV coverage [of the Grammys] it's her image they use." Post-Grammys, some questioned whether Winehouse should have been honoured with the awards given her recent personal and drug problems, including Natalie Cole, who introduced Winehouse at the ceremony and who herself battled substance-abuse problems while winning a Grammy for Best New Artist in 1975. (Winehouse was prevented from travelling to and performing at the Grammy Awards ceremony in the US due to failing a drug test.) In a newspaper commentary, the executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, said that the alleged drug habits of Winehouse and other celebrities sent a bad message "to others who are vulnerable to addiction" and undermine the efforts of other celebrities trying to raise awareness of problems in Africa, now that more cocaine used in Europe passes through that continent. Winehouse's spokesperson noted that "Amy has never given a quote about drugs or flaunted it in any way. She's had some problems and is trying to get better. The U.N. should get its own house in order."
In January 2008, her record label stated it believed the extensive media coverage she had received increased record sales. In an April 2008 poll conducted by Sky News, Winehouse was named the second greatest "ultimate heroine" by the UK population at large, topping the voting for that category of those polled under 25 years old. Psychologist Donna Dawson commented that the results demonstrated that women like Winehouse who had "a certain sense of vulnerability or have had to fight against some adversity in their lives" received recognition.
In July 2008, BBC Radio Scotland's head, Jeff Zycinski, stated that the BBC, and media in general, were complicit in undermining celebrities, including Winehouse. He said that public interest in the singer's lifestyle did not make her lifestyle newsworthy. Rod McKenzie, editor of the BBC Radio One programme Newsbeat, replied: "If you play [Amy Winehouse's] music to a certain demographic, those same people want to know what's happening in her private life. If you don't cover it, you're insulting young licence fee payers." In The Scotsman, British singer and songwriter Lily Allen was quoted to have said – "I know Amy Winehouse very well. And she is very different to what people portray her as being. Yes, she does get out of her mind on drugs sometimes, but she is also a very clever, intelligent, witty, funny person who can hold it together. You just don't see that side."
Charity work
Throughout her life Winehouse donated her money, music and time to many charities, particularly those concerned with children. She was once named "the most charitable act" by Pop World. While this side of her personality was never well known to the general public, throughout both the arts community and the charity community she was known for her generosity.
In 2008, Winehouse appeared naked in an issue of Easy Living Magazine to raise awareness of breast cancer. In 2009, she appeared on a CD called Classics alongside musicians such as the Rolling Stones, the Killers and many Cuban musicians to raise awareness of climate change. In March 2011, Winehouse donated over £20,000 worth of clothes to a local charity shop in London.
A Caribbean man Julian Jean DeBaptiste revealed that Winehouse had paid for his urgent surgery costing £4,000 during her stay in Saint Lucia in 2009. "I had surgery on 1 July 2009... it cost a fortune and Amy paid for the whole thing. I tried to thank her but she just hugged me and told me not to say anything. Her generosity gave me my life back."
Legacy and honours
Artwork and tributes
London's Mall Galleries opened an exhibition in May 2008 that included a sculpture of Winehouse, titled Excess. The piece, created by Guy Portelli, had a miniature of the singer lying on top of a cracked champagne bottle, with a pool of spilled liquid underneath. The body was covered with what appeared to be tiny pills, while one outstretched hand held a glass. Another piece, a print titled Celebrity 1 by artist Charlotte Suckling, was shown in the same exhibition.
A wax sculpture of Winehouse went on display at the London Madame Tussauds on 23 July 2008. The singer did not attend the unveiling, although her parents did. A sculpture by Marco Perego, titled The Only Good Rock Star Is a Dead Rock Star, that depicts Winehouse lying in a pool of blood with an apple and a bullet hole in her head after being shot by American novelist and Beat poet William S. Burroughs (in a recreation of the accidental killing of his wife Joan Vollmer), was scheduled to go on display in New York's Half Gallery on 14 November 2008 with a sale price of US$100,000. Perego said of the sculpture: "Rock stars are the sacrificial animals of society." Winehouse's spokesperson stated: "It's a funny kind of tribute. The artist seems in thrall to a tabloid persona that is not the real Amy. People often use her image to sell their work."
In 2012, Winehouse was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork – the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover – to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life that he most admires.
On 14 September 2014 (which would have been Winehouse's 31st birthday), a statue was unveiled of her, which was created by sculptor Scott Eaton, at Stables Market in Camden Town, north London. Fans and relatives gathered for the unveiling in Camden's Stable Market, where it will be a permanent memorial to her. London-based Eaton, who sculpted the piece after being introduced to Winehouse's father Mitch, said the statue was meant to capture her "attitude and strength, but also give subtle hints of insecurity." Her father Mitch said of the statue: "Now Amy will oversee the comings and goings of her home town forever... Amy was in love with Camden and it is the place her fans from all over the world associate her with."
In March 2020, Winehouse's name on a stone was unveiled on the new Music Walk of Fame in Camden, with her parents Mitch and Janis in attendance at the ceremony.
Influence
Adele has credited Winehouse's success in making her and fellow British singer Duffy's journey to the United States "a bit smoother." Lady Gaga credited Winehouse with paving the way for her rise to the top of the charts, explaining that Winehouse made it easier for unconventional women to have mainstream pop success. Raphael Saadiq, Anthony Hamilton and John Legend said "Amy Winehouse was produced by people who wanted to create a marketing coup. The positive side is that it reacquainted an audience with this music and played an introductory role for others. This reinvigorated the genre by overcoming the vintage aspect."
Other artists that have credited Winehouse as an influence and/or for paving the way for them include Bruno Mars, Tove Lo, Jessie J, Emeli Sandé, Victoria Justice, Paloma Faith, Lana Del Rey, Sam Smith, Florence Welch, Halsey, Alessia Cara, Estelle, Daya, Jorja Smith, Lauren Jauregui and Billie Eilish.
After the release of Back to Black, record companies sought out female artists with a similar sound and fearless and experimental female musicians in general. Adele and Duffy were the second wave of artists with a sound similar to Winehouse's. A third wave of female musicians that has emerged since the album was released are led by V V Brown, Florence and the Machine, La Roux and Little Boots. In March 2011, the New York Daily News ran an article attributing the continuing wave of British female artists that have been successful in the United States to Winehouse and her absence. Spin magazine music editor Charles Aaron was quoted as saying "Amy Winehouse was the Nirvana moment for all these women," "They can all be traced back to her in terms of attitude, musical styles or fashion." According to Keith Caulfield, chart manager for Billboard, "Because of Amy, or the lack thereof, the marketplace was able to get singers like Adele, Estelle and Duffy," "Now those ladies have brought on the new ones, like Eliza Doolittle, Rumer and Ellie."
Amy Winehouse Foundation
After the singer's death by alcohol intoxication in July 2011, the Amy Winehouse Foundation was set up by Winehouse's family and launched on 14 September 2011 (which would have been Winehouse's 28th birthday). Its aim is to help young people and it works with other charitable organisations to provide frontline support. Its central office is in North London, but it also has an office in New York (operating under the name 'The Amy Winehouse Foundation US'). Both Jon Snow and Barbara Windsor are patrons for the charity, and ambassadors include Keira Chaplin and Mica Paris. In October 2015 Mark Ronson became a patron. Amy's brother Alex works full-time for the foundation, having given up his career as an online music journalist.
The charity itself works to prevent the effects of drug and alcohol misuse on young people and it also aims to support, inform and inspire vulnerable and disadvantaged young people to help them reach their full potential. On 12 March 2013, with the help of ex-addict Russell Brand, the Foundation launched the Amy Winehouse Foundation Resilience Programme For Schools across the UK which aims to provide effective education around drugs, alcohol and dealing with emotional issues.
Films
Documentary film
A documentary film, Amy (2015), directed by Asif Kapadia and produced by James Gay-Rees was released on 3 July 2015. The film covers Winehouse's life, her relationships, her struggles with substance abuse both before and after her career blossomed, and which eventually caused her death. The film received its première at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival on 16 May and has been reviewed as "a tragic masterpiece", "brilliant", "heartbreaking" and "unmissable". The soundtrack of the same name was released on 30 October 2015, along with the DVD that includes music featured in the documentary by film composer Antônio Pinto and classic and some unreleased tracks by Winehouse. The film was highly acclaimed and received various accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 2016 Oscars, Best Music Film at the 2016 Grammy Awards, the BAFTA for Best Documentary, the MTV Movie Award for Best Documentary, in addition to a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best British Film.
Biopic film
On 14 October 2018, it was announced that Winehouse's family had signed a deal with Monumental Pictures to make a biopic about her life, which will be directed by Alison Owen and produced by Debra Hayward. Winehouse's story will be adapted for the big screen by Geoff Deane, who has written comedy movies Kinky Boots (2005) and It's a Boy Girl Thing (2006). The project was scheduled to start filming in early 2019 and the funds are allegedly going towards the foundation.
Musical
On 9 October 2017, it was announced by Winehouse's father Mitch that a West End/Broadway musical on Amy is in the works. Mitch Winehouse revealed the news at the Amy Winehouse Foundation Gala event in London.
Personal life
Winehouse was raised Jewish and expressed pride in being Jewish, although she was not religious. During one interview, Winehouse said "being Jewish to me is about being together as a real family. It's not about lighting candles and saying a bracha." Winehouse also frequently performed with a large Star of David medallion.
In 2013, in memory of Winehouse the Jewish Museum London ran an exhibition titled "Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait". The museum researched about her paternal great-great-grandfather's arrival from Minsk in 1890, and how the family finally settled in London, starting out in working-class jobs before gradually moving to middle-class jobs.
Winehouse had 14 known tattoos, including "Daddy's Girl" on her left arm for her father and a pin-up girl with the name "Cynthia" on her right arm in memory of her Jewish grandmother.
Relationships
Winehouse dated chef-musician Alex Clare (sometimes referred to as Alex Claire) in 2006, while on a break from her on-off boyfriend and future husband, Blake Fielder-Civil. She and Clare lived together briefly, and in a pattern that Fielder-Civil would later repeat, Clare sold his story to the News of the World, which published it under the headline "Bondage Crazed Amy Just Can't Beehive in Bed."
Fielder-Civil, a former video production assistant, had dropped out of Bourne Grammar School and, aged 16, moved to London from his native Lincolnshire. He married Winehouse on 18 May 2007, in Miami Beach, Florida. In a June 2007 interview, Winehouse admitted she could sometimes be violent toward him after she had been drinking, saying: "If he says one thing I don't like, then I'll chin him." In August 2007, they were photographed, bloodied and bruised, in the streets of London after an alleged fight, although she contended her injuries were self-inflicted. Winehouse's parents and in-laws publicly reported their numerous concerns, the latter citing fears that the two might commit suicide. Fielder-Civil's father encouraged fans to boycott Winehouse's music, and Mitch Winehouse said this would not help. Fielder-Civil was quoted in a British tabloid as saying he introduced Winehouse to crack cocaine and heroin. During a visit with Mitch Winehouse at the prison in July 2008, Fielder-Civil reportedly said that he and Winehouse would cut themselves to ease the pain of withdrawal.
From 21 July 2008 to 25 February 2009, Fielder-Civil was imprisoned following his guilty plea on charges of trying to pervert the course of justice and of grievous bodily harm with intent. The incident, in July 2007, involved his assault of a pub landlord that broke the victim's cheek. According to the prosecution, the landlord accepted £200,000 as part of a deal to "effectively throw the [court] case and not turn up," and he testified that the money belonged to Winehouse, but she pulled out of a meeting with the men involved in the plot, to attend an awards ceremony. Mitch Winehouse, as manager of his daughter's money, has denied the payoff came from her.
When Winehouse was spotted with aspiring actor Josh Bowman on holiday in Saint Lucia, in early January 2009, she said she was "in love again, and I don't need drugs." She commented that her "whole marriage was based on doing drugs" and that "for the time being I've just forgotten I'm even married." On 12 January, Winehouse's spokesman confirmed that "papers have been received" for what Fielder-Civil's solicitor has said are divorce proceedings based on a claim of adultery. In March, Winehouse was quoted in a magazine as saying, "I still love Blake and I want him to move into my new house with me—that was my plan all along ... I won't let him divorce me. He's the male version of me and we're perfect for each other." Nonetheless, an uncontested divorce was granted on 16 July 2009 and became final on 28 August 2009. Fielder-Civil received no money in the settlement.
She was in a relationship with a British writer and director of films, Reg Traviss, from early 2010 until she died. According to media reports and a biography written by Winehouse's father, Traviss and Winehouse had planned to marry and intended to have children.
After Winehouse's death, Pete Doherty said that he and Winehouse had been lovers at one point. However, in July 2008, when Rolling Stone reporter Claire Hoffman asked Winehouse about her relationship with Doherty, Winehouse replied: "We're just good friends", and added: "I asked Pete to do a concept EP, and he made this face, he looked at me like I'd pooed on the floor. He wouldn't do it. We're just really close".
Substance abuse and mental illness
Winehouse's battles with substance abuse were the subject of much media attention. In 2005, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, and weight loss. People who saw her during the end of that year and early 2006 reported a rebound that coincided with the writing of Back to Black. Her family believes that the mid-2006 death of her grandmother, who was a stabilising influence, set her off into addiction. In August 2007, Winehouse cancelled a number of shows in the UK and Europe, citing exhaustion and ill health. She was hospitalised during this period for what was reported as an overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol. In various interviews, she admitted to having problems with self-harm, depression, and eating disorders.
Winehouse told a magazine that the drugs were to blame for her hospitalisation and that "I really thought that it was over for me then." Soon afterwards, Winehouse's father commented that when he had made public statements regarding her problems he was using the media because it seemed the only way to get through to her. In an interview with The Album Chart Show on British television, Winehouse said she was manic depressive and not alcoholic, adding that that sounded like "an alcoholic in denial". A US reporter writes that Winehouse was a "victim of mental illness in a society that doesn't understand or respond to mental illness with great effectiveness."
In December 2007, Winehouse's spokesman reported that the singer was in a physician-supervised programme and was channelling her difficulties by writing a lot of music. The British tabloid The Sun posted a video of a woman, alleged to be Winehouse, apparently smoking crack cocaine and speaking of having taken ecstasy and valium. Winehouse's father moved in with her, and Island Records, her record label, announced the abandonment of plans for an American promotion campaign on her behalf. In late January 2008, Winehouse reportedly entered a rehabilitation facility for a two-week treatment program.
On 23 January 2008, the video was passed on to the Metropolitan Police, who questioned her on 5 February. No charges were brought. On 26 March 2008, Winehouse's spokesman said she was "doing well". Her record company reportedly believed that her recovery remained fragile. By late April 2008, her erratic behaviourincluding an allegation of assaultcaused fear that her drug rehabilitation efforts had been unsuccessful. Winehouse's father and manager then sought to have her detained under the Mental Health Act of 1983. Her dishevelled appearance during and after a scheduled club night in September 2008 prompted new rumours of a relapse. Photographers were quoted as saying she appeared to have cuts on her arms and legs.
According to her physician, Winehouse quit using illegal substances in 2008. In an October 2010 interview, speaking of her decision to quit drugs, Winehouse said, "I literally woke up one day and was like, 'I don't want to do this any more. However, alcohol emerged as a problem, with Winehouse abstaining for a few weeks and then lapsing into alcohol abuse. Her physician said that Winehouse was treated with Librium for alcohol withdrawal and anxiety and underwent psychological and psychiatric evaluations in 2010, but refused psychological therapy.
Violence and legal difficulties
In 2006, Winehouse admitted to punching a female fan in the face for criticising her having taken Blake Fielder-Civil as a husband. She then attacked her own spouse as he attempted to calm her down, kneeing him in the crotch. In October 2007, Winehouse and Fielder-Civil were arrested in Bergen, Norway, for possession of seven grams of cannabis. The couple were later released and fined 3850 kroner (around £350). Winehouse first appealed the fines, but later dropped the appeal.
On 26 April 2008, Winehouse was cautioned after she admitted to police she slapped a 38-year-old man in the face, a "common assault" offence, her first of two. She voluntarily turned herself in and was held overnight. Police said, at her arrival she was "in no fit state" to be interviewed. Ten days later, Winehouse was arrested on suspicion of possessing drugs after a video of her apparently smoking crack cocaine was passed to the police in January, but was released on bail a few hours later because they could not confirm, from the video, what she was smoking. The Crown Prosecution Service considered charging her, but cleared her when it could not establish that the substance in the video was a controlled drug. Some members of Parliament reacted negatively. Two London residents were subsequently charged with conspiracy to supply cocaine and ecstasy to Winehouse. One of the pair was sentenced to two years in prison on 13 December 2008, while the other received a two-year community order.
On 5 March 2009, Winehouse was arrested and charged with common assault following a claim by dancer Sherene Flash that Winehouse hit her in the eye at the September 2008 Prince's Trust charity ball. Winehouse's spokesperson announced the cancellation of the singer's US Coachella Festival appearance in light of the new legal issue, and Winehouse appeared in court on 17 March to enter her plea of not guilty. On 23 July, her trial began with prosecutor Lyall Thompson charging that Winehouse acted with "deliberate and unjustifiable violence" while appearing to be under the influence of alcohol or another substance. She testified that she did not punch Flash, but tried to push her away because she was scared of her; she cited her worry that Flash would sell her story to a tabloid, Flash's height advantage, and Flash's "rude" behaviour. On 24 July, District Judge Timothy Workman ruled that Winehouse was not guilty, citing the facts that all but two of the witnesses were intoxicated at the time of the incident and that medical evidence did not show "the sort of injury that often occurs when there is a forceful punch to the eye."
On 19 December 2009, Winehouse was arrested for a third time on charges of common assault, plus another charge of public order offence after assaulting the front-of-house manager of the Milton Keynes Theatre after he asked her to move from her seat. Winehouse pled guilty to the charges and was given a conditional discharge.
Paparazzi
With the paparazzi taking photographs of her wherever they could, Winehouse obtained an injunction against a leading paparazzi agency, Big Pictures, under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997; the resultant court order issued by the High Court in 2009 banned them from following her. Photographers were also banned from following her within 100 metres of her London home and photographing Winehouse in her home or the homes of her friends and relatives. According to a newspaper report, sources close to the singer said legal action was taken out of concern for the safety of Winehouse and those close to her.
Respiratory and other health problems
On 23 June 2008, Winehouse's publicist corrected earlier misstatements by Mitch Winehouse that his daughter had early stage emphysema, instead claiming she had signs of what could lead to early-stage emphysema. Mitch Winehouse had also stated that his daughter's lungs were operating at 70 percent capacity and that she had an irregular heartbeat. He said that these problems had been caused by her chain smoking crack cocaine. The singer's father also reported that doctors had warned Winehouse that, if she continued smoking crack cocaine, she would have to wear an oxygen mask and would eventually die. In a radio interview, Mitch Winehouse said the singer was responding "fabulously" to treatment, which included being covered with nicotine patches. British Lung Foundation spokesman Keith Prowse noted this type of condition could be managed with treatment. Prowse also said the condition was not normal for a person her age but "heavy smoking and inhaling other substances like drugs can age the lungs prematurely." Norman H. Edelman of the American Lung Association explained that if she stopped smoking, her lung functions would decline at the rate of a normal person, but continued smoking would lead to a more rapid decline in lung function.
Winehouse was released from the London Clinic 24 hours after returning from a temporary leave to perform at Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday and at a concert in Glastonbury, and continued receiving treatment as an outpatient. In July 2008, Winehouse stated that she had been diagnosed with "some areas of emphysema" and said she was getting herself together by "eating loads of healthy food, sleeping loads, playing my guitar, making music and writing letters to my husband every day." She also kept a vertical tanning bed in her flat. Winehouse began precautionary testing on her lungs and chest on 25 October 2008 at the London Clinic for what was reported as a chest infection. Winehouse was in and out of the facility and was granted permission to set her own schedule regarding home leave. She returned to the hospital on 23 November 2008 for a reported reaction to her medication.
Death
Winehouse's bodyguard said that he had arrived at her residence three days before her death and felt she had been somewhat intoxicated. He observed moderate drinking over the next few days, and said she had been "laughing, listening to music and watching TV at 2 a.m. the day of her death". At 10 a.m. BST on 23 July 2011, he observed her lying on her bed and tried unsuccessfully to rouse her. This did not raise much suspicion because she usually slept late after a night out. According to the bodyguard, shortly after 3p.m., he checked on her again and observed her lying in the same position as before, leading to a further check, in which he concluded that she was not breathing and had no pulse; he said he called emergency services. At 3:54p.m., two ambulances were called to Winehouse's home in Camden, London. Winehouse was pronounced dead at the scene, at the age of 27. Shortly afterwards, the Metropolitan Police confirmed that she had died.
After her death was announced, media and camera crews appeared, as crowds gathered near Winehouse's residence to pay their respects. Forensic investigators entered the flat as police cordoned off the street outside; they recovered one small and two large bottles of vodka from her room. After her death, the singer broke her second Guinness World Record: for the most songs by a woman to simultaneously appear on the UK singles chart, with eight.
A coroner's inquest reached a verdict of misadventure. The report released on 26 October 2011 explained that Winehouse's blood alcohol content was 416 per 100 (0.416%) at the time of her death, more than five times the legal drink-drive limit. According to the coroner, "The unintended consequences of such potentially fatal levels was her sudden death."
Winehouse's record label, Universal Republic, released a statement that read in part: "We are deeply saddened at the sudden loss of such a gifted musician, artist and performer." Many musical artists have since paid tribute to Winehouse including U2, M.I.A., Lady Gaga, Marianne Faithfull, Bruno Mars, Nicki Minaj, Keisha Buchanan, Rihanna, George Michael, Adele, Kelly Clarkson, Courtney Love, and the punk rock band Green Day, who wrote a song in her tribute titled "Amy". In her 2012 album Banga, singer Patti Smith released "This Is the Girl", written as an homage to Winehouse. Mark Ronson dedicated his UK number-one album Uptown Special to Winehouse, stating: "I'm always thinking of you and inspired by you." Winehouse did not leave a will; her estate was inherited by her parents. Winehouse's parents set up the Amy Winehouse Foundation to prevent harm from drug misuse among young people; her brother Alex is an employee.
On 17 December 2012, British authorities reopened the probe into Winehouse's death. On 8 January 2013, a second inquest confirmed that Winehouse died of accidental alcohol poisoning. In a June 2013 interview, Alex Winehouse revealed his belief that his sister's eating disorder, and the consequent physical weakness, was the primary cause of her death:
Funeral
Family and friends attended Winehouse's private funeral on 26 July 2011 at Edgwarebury Lane Cemetery in north London. Her mother and father, Janis and Mitch Winehouse, close friends Nick Grimshaw and Kelly Osbourne, producer Mark Ronson, goddaughter Dionne Bromfield and her boyfriend Reg Traviss were among those in attendance at the private service led by Rabbi Frank Hellner. Her father delivered the eulogy, saying "Goodnight, my angel, sleep tight. Mummy and Daddy love you ever so much." Carole King's "So Far Away" closed the service with mourners singing along. She was later cremated at Golders Green Crematorium. The family planned to sit a two-day shiva. On 16 September 2012, Winehouse's ashes were buried alongside her grandmother's, Cynthia Levy at Edgwarebury Lane Cemetery.
Posthumous retrospectives
Winehouse's parents have each written memoirs about their daughter and donated the proceeds from both books to the Amy Winehouse Foundation. In the introduction to Mitch Winehouse's biography, entitled Amy: My Daughter (2012), he explained: "Apart from being her father, I was also her friend, confidant and adviser—not that she always took my advice, but she always heard me out." Her mother Janis published Loving Amy: A Mother's Story, in 2014.
An exhibit of Winehouse's personal items, co-curated by her brother and sister-in-law, entitled Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait, was on display at the Jewish Museum London from 3 July 2013 until 15 September 2013, and later exhibited in San Francisco, 23 July 2015 to 1 November 2015. Display items, such as books and music, were featured together with captions written by Winehouse's brother.
In late 2011, there were reports that Winehouse's former boyfriend, Reg Traviss, was developing a film about her. Winehouse's father Mitch Winehouse, who owns the copyright to his daughter's music, said he would not authorise the use of her music for the film.
Winehouse is the subject of Amy (2015), a documentary directed by Asif Kapadia and produced by James Gay-Rees, Kapadia, and Universal Music. Kapadia and Gay-Rees introduced the project at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. The film debuted at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and won the 2016 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
In 2018, a documentary film based on Winehouse's album Back to Black, Amy Winehouse – Back to Black was released. It contains new interviews as well as archival footage. It was made by Eagle Vision and produced by Gil Cang. Released on DVD on 2 November 2018, the film features interviews by producers Ronson & Remi, who worked half and half on the album, along with the Dap Kings, Remi's music team, Ronnie Spector from the Ronettes and close ones to Winehouse, including Nick Shymansky, Juliette Ashby and Dionne Bromfield. The film is accompanied by An Intimate Evening in London, footage of a show Winehouse gave at Riverside Studios, London in 2008. In February 2019, Salaam Remi released a compilation album including the song "Find My Love" which is a posthumous collaboration between Winehouse and rapper Nas.
In 2020, an exhibition entitled Beyond Black – The Style of Amy Winehouse opened at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles. The exhibit mainly explores Winehouse's style and fashion, displaying her outfits such as her iconic dresses, shoes, hair accessories, her makeup bag as well as Winehouse's personal belongings including her Grammy awards from 2008, handwritten lyrics, records and unseen home videos. The exhibition went on display in the U.S. from 17 January 2020 until 13 April 2020. In November 2021, various of Winehouse's personal items and famous dresses would later be auctioned at Julien's Auctions in Los Angeles and made more than £3m, 30% going to the Amy Winehouse Foundation. A follow-up exhibition Amy: Beyond the Stage opened on 26 November 2021 at the Design Museum in Kensington, London which also presented some of Winehouse's personal belongings and focus on her fashion sense, as well as paying homage to her musical career.
In July 2021, a new documentary entitled Reclaiming Amy aired on BBC Two to mark the 10th anniversary of Winehouse's death. The film was primarily based on the perspective and narrated by her mother Janis Winehouse-Collins and included intimate stories of those who were close to Winehouse until the end of her life, including close friends Naomi Parry (Amy's stylist), Catriona Gourlay and Chantelle Dusette.
Discography
Frank (2003)
Back to Black (2006)
Lioness: Hidden Treasures (2011)
Filmography
Amy (2015)
Amy Winehouse: Back to Black (2018)
Reclaiming Amy (2021)
See also
List of deaths through alcohol
References
Sources
Further reading
External links
Amy Winehouse collected news and commentary at The New York Times
Amy Winehouse Foundation - Charity Commission for England and Wales
1983 births
2011 deaths
20th-century English singers
20th-century English women singers
21st-century English singers
21st-century English women singers
Alcohol-related deaths in England
Alumni of the Sylvia Young Theatre School
Brit Award winners
British women jazz singers
English contraltos
English jazz singers
English Jews
Belarusian Jews
English people convicted of assault
English people of Polish-Jewish descent
English people of Russian-Jewish descent
English rhythm and blues singers
English soul singers
English women guitarists
English guitarists
Golders Green Crematorium
Grammy Award winners
Ivor Novello Award winners
Jewish English musicians
Jewish jazz musicians
Jewish singers
Jewish songwriters
MTV Europe Music Award winners
National Youth Jazz Orchestra members
Neo soul singers
People educated at the BRIT School
People educated at Susi Earnshaw Theatre School
People from the London Borough of Camden
People from Southgate, London
People with bipolar disorder
Republic Records artists
Singers from London
World Music Awards winners
| true |
[
"Přírodní park Třebíčsko (before Oblast klidu Třebíčsko) is a natural park near Třebíč in the Czech Republic. There are many interesting plants. The park was founded in 1983.\n\nKobylinec and Ptáčovský kopeček\n\nKobylinec is a natural monument situated ca 0,5 km from the village of Trnava.\nThe area of this monument is 0,44 ha. Pulsatilla grandis can be found here and in the Ptáčovský kopeček park near Ptáčov near Třebíč. Both monuments are very popular for tourists.\n\nPonds\n\nIn the natural park there are some interesting ponds such as Velký Bor, Malý Bor, Buršík near Přeckov and a brook Březinka. Dams on the brook are examples of European beaver activity.\n\nSyenitové skály near Pocoucov\n\nSyenitové skály (rocks of syenit) near Pocoucov is one of famed locations. There are interesting granite boulders. The area of the reservation is 0,77 ha.\n\nExternal links\nParts of this article or all article was translated from Czech. The original article is :cs:Přírodní park Třebíčsko.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nNature near the village Trnava which is there\n\nTřebíč\nParks in the Czech Republic\nTourist attractions in the Vysočina Region",
"Damn Interesting is an independent website founded by Alan Bellows in 2005. The website presents true stories from science, history, and psychology, primarily as long-form articles, often illustrated with original artwork. Works are written by various authors, and published at irregular intervals. The website openly rejects advertising, relying on reader and listener donations to cover operating costs.\n\nAs of October 2012, each article is also published as a podcast under the same name. In November 2019, a second podcast was launched under the title Damn Interesting Week, featuring unscripted commentary on an assortment of news articles featured on the website's \"Curated Links\" section that week. In mid-2020, a third podcast called Damn Interesting Curio Cabinet began highlighting the website's periodic short-form articles in the same radioplay format as the original podcast.\n\nIn July 2009, Damn Interesting published the print book Alien Hand Syndrome through Workman Publishing. It contains some favorites from the site and some exclusive content.\n\nAwards and recognition \nIn August 2007, PC Magazine named Damn Interesting one of the \"Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites\".\nThe article \"The Zero-Armed Bandit\" by Alan Bellows won a 2015 Sidney Award from David Brooks in The New York Times.\nThe article \"Ghoulish Acts and Dastardly Deeds\" by Alan Bellows was cited as \"nonfiction journalism from 2017 that will stand the test of time\" by Conor Friedersdorf in The Atlantic.\nThe article \"Dupes and Duplicity\" by Jennifer Lee Noonan won a 2020 Sidney Award from David Brooks in the New York Times.\n\nAccusing The Dollop of plagiarism \n\nOn July 9, 2015, Bellows posted an open letter accusing The Dollop, a comedy podcast about history, of plagiarism due to their repeated use of verbatim text from Damn Interesting articles without permission or attribution. Dave Anthony, the writer of The Dollop, responded on reddit, admitting to using Damn Interesting content, but claiming that the use was protected by fair use, and that \"historical facts are not copyrightable.\" In an article about the controversy on Plagiarism Today, Jonathan Bailey concluded, \"Any way one looks at it, The Dollop failed its ethical obligations to all of the people, not just those writing for Damn Interesting, who put in the time, energy and expertise into writing the original content upon which their show is based.\"\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Official website\n\n2005 podcast debuts"
] |
[
"Amy Winehouse",
"Substance abuse and mental illness",
"What substance problems did Amy Winehouse have?",
"In 2005, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, and weight loss.",
"What did the press say about her drinking and drug use?",
"A US reporter writes that Winehouse was a \"victim of mental illness in a society that doesn't understand or respond to mental illness with great effectiveness.\"",
"What help did Winehouse get for her problems?",
"She was hospitalised during this period for what was reported as an overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol.",
"What did her family do at this time?",
"Winehouse's father commented that when he had made public statements regarding her problems he was using the media because it seemed the only way to get through to her.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"The Sun posted a video of a woman, alleged to be Winehouse, apparently smoking crack cocaine and speaking of having taken ecstasy and valium.",
"What happened as a result of the video from The Sun?",
"On 23 January 2008, the video was passed on to the Metropolitan Police, who questioned her on 5 February. No charges were brought.",
"What problems with mental illness did she have?",
"In an interview with The Album Chart Show on British television, Winehouse said she was manic depressive and not alcoholic,",
"Did she get treatment for her illness?",
"In December 2007, Winehouse's spokesman reported that the singer was in a physician-supervised programme and was channelling her difficulties by writing a lot of music.",
"Did she record any music then?",
"People who saw her during the end of that year and early 2006 reported a rebound that coincided with the writing of Back to Black.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"According to her physician, Winehouse quit illegal substances in 2008."
] |
C_efbf3039679a4232a67306f7dfb6f70c_1
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How did she die?
| 11 |
How did Amy Winehouse die?
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Amy Winehouse
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Winehouse's battles with substance abuse were the subject of much media attention. In 2005, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, and weight loss. People who saw her during the end of that year and early 2006 reported a rebound that coincided with the writing of Back to Black. Her family believes that the mid-2006 death of her grandmother, who was a stabilising influence, set her off into addiction. In August 2007, Winehouse cancelled a number of shows in the UK and Europe, citing exhaustion and ill health. She was hospitalised during this period for what was reported as an overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol. In various interviews, she admitted to having problems with self-harm, depression, and eating disorders. Winehouse told a magazine that the drugs were to blame for her hospitalisation and that "I really thought that it was over for me then." Soon afterward, Winehouse's father commented that when he had made public statements regarding her problems he was using the media because it seemed the only way to get through to her. In an interview with The Album Chart Show on British television, Winehouse said she was manic depressive and not alcoholic, adding that that sounded like "an alcoholic in denial." A US reporter writes that Winehouse was a "victim of mental illness in a society that doesn't understand or respond to mental illness with great effectiveness." In December 2007, Winehouse's spokesman reported that the singer was in a physician-supervised programme and was channelling her difficulties by writing a lot of music. The British tabloid The Sun posted a video of a woman, alleged to be Winehouse, apparently smoking crack cocaine and speaking of having taken ecstasy and valium. Winehouse's father moved in with her, and Island Records, her record label, announced the abandonment of plans for an American promotion campaign on her behalf. In late January 2008, Winehouse reportedly entered a rehabilitation facility for a two-week treatment program. On 23 January 2008, the video was passed on to the Metropolitan Police, who questioned her on 5 February. No charges were brought. On 26 March 2008, Winehouse's spokesman said she was "doing well." Her record company reportedly believed that her recovery remained fragile. By late April 2008, her erratic behaviour, including an allegation of assault, caused fear that her drug rehabilitation efforts had been unsuccessful, leading to efforts by Winehouse's father and manager to seek assistance in having her involuntarily committed. Her dishevelled appearance during and after a scheduled club night in September sparked new rumours of a relapse. Photographers were quoted as saying she appeared to have cuts on her legs and arms. According to her physician, Winehouse quit illegal substances in 2008. In an October 2010 interview, speaking of her decision to quit drugs, Winehouse said, "I literally woke up one day and was like, 'I don't want to do this any more'." Drinking alcohol emerged as a problem with Winehouse abstaining for a few weeks then lapsing. The physician said that Winehouse was treated with Librium for alcohol withdrawal and anxiety, and underwent psychological and psychiatric evaluations in 2010, but refused psychological therapy. CANNOTANSWER
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CANNOTANSWER
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Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was a British singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz.
A member of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra during her youth, Winehouse signed to Simon Fuller's 19 Management in 2002 and soon recorded a number of songs before signing a publishing deal with EMI. She also formed a working relationship with producer Salaam Remi through these record publishers. Winehouse's debut album, Frank, was released in 2003. Many of the album's songs were influenced by jazz and, apart from two covers, were co-written by Winehouse. Frank was a critical success in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize. The song "Stronger Than Me" won her the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors.
Winehouse released her follow-up album, Back to Black, in 2006, which went on to become an international success and one of the best-selling albums in UK history. At the 2007 Brit Awards it was nominated for British Album of the Year, and she received the award for British Female Solo Artist. The song "Rehab" won her a second Ivor Novello Award. At the 50th Grammy Awards in 2008, she won five awards, tying the then record for the most wins by a female artist in a single night and becoming the first British woman to win five Grammys, including three of the General Field "Big Four" Grammy Awards: Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year (for "Rehab"), as well as Best Pop Vocal Album.
Winehouse was plagued by drug and alcohol addiction. She died of alcohol poisoning on 23 July 2011, at the age of 27. After her death, Back to Black temporarily became the UK's best-selling album of the 21st century. VH1 ranked Winehouse 26th on their list of the 100 Greatest Women in Music.
Early life
Amy Jade Winehouse was born on 14 September 1983 at Chase Farm Hospital in Gordon Hill, Enfield, to Jewish parents. Her father, Mitchell "Mitch" Winehouse, was a window panel installer and taxi driver; her mother, Janis Winehouse (née Seaton), was a pharmacist, who suffers from multiple sclerosis. The great-great-grandfather of Amy Harris Winehouse emigrated from Minsk, Belarus to London in 1891. She had an older brother, Alex (born 1979), and the family lived in London's Southgate area, where she attended Osidge Primary School. Winehouse attended a Jewish Sunday school while she was a child. During an interview following her rise to fame, she expressed her dismissal towards the school by saying that she used to beg her father to permit her not to go and that she learned nothing about being Jewish by going anyway. In the same interview, Winehouse said she only went to a synagogue once a year on Yom Kippur "out of respect".
Many of Winehouse's maternal uncles were professional jazz musicians. Amy's paternal grandmother, Cynthia, was a singer and dated the English jazz saxophonist Ronnie Scott. She and Amy's parents influenced Amy's interest in jazz. Her father, Mitch, often sang Frank Sinatra songs to her, and whenever she got chastised at school, she would sing "Fly Me to the Moon" before going up to the headmistress to be told off. Winehouse's parents separated when she was nine, and she lived with her mother and stayed with her father and his girlfriend in Hatfield Heath, Essex, on weekends.
In 1992, her grandmother Cynthia suggested that Amy attend the Susi Earnshaw Theatre School, where she went on Saturdays to further her vocal education and to learn to tap dance. She attended the school for four years and founded a short-lived rap group called Sweet 'n' Sour, with Juliette Ashby, her childhood friend, before seeking full-time training at Sylvia Young Theatre School. Several years later it was reported that Winehouse had been expelled at 14 for "not applying herself" and also for piercing her nose, but these claims were denied by Sylvia Young: "She changed schools at 15...I've heard it said she was expelled; she wasn't. I'd never have expelled Amy." Mitch Winehouse also denied the claims. She attended the Mount School, Mill Hill and the BRIT School in Selhurst, Croydon, dropping out at age 16.
After toying around with her brother Alex's guitar, Winehouse bought her own when she was 14 and began writing music shortly afterwards. Soon after she began working for a living, as an entertainment journalist for the World Entertainment News Network and also singing with local group the Bolsha Band. In July 2000, she became the featured female vocalist with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. She was influenced by Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington, the latter of whom she was already listening to at home. Winehouse's best friend, soul singer Tyler James, sent her demo tape to an A&R person.
Career
2002–2005: Career beginnings and Frank
Winehouse was signed to Simon Fuller's 19 Management in 2002 and was paid £250 a week against future earnings. While being developed by the management company, Winehouse was kept as a recording industry secret, although she was a regular jazz standards singer at the Cobden Club. Her future A&R representative at Island, Darcus Beese, heard of her by accident when the manager of The Lewinson Brothers showed him some productions of his clients, which featured Winehouse as key vocalist. When he asked who the singer was, the manager told him he was not allowed to say. Having decided that he wanted to sign her, it took several months of asking around for Beese to eventually discover who the singer was. However, Winehouse had already recorded a number of songs and signed a publishing deal with EMI by this time. Incidentally, she formed a working relationship with producer Salaam Remi through these record publishers.
Beese introduced Winehouse to his boss, Nick Gatfield; the Island head shared his enthusiasm in signing the young artist. Winehouse was signed to Island, as rival interest in her had started to build with representatives of EMI and Virgin starting to make moves. Beese told HitQuarters that he felt the excitement over an artist who was an atypical pop star for the time was due to a backlash against reality TV music shows, which included audiences starved for fresh, genuine young talent.
Winehouse's debut album, Frank, was released on 20 October 2003. Produced mainly by Salaam Remi, many songs were influenced by jazz and, apart from two covers, Winehouse co-wrote every song. The album received critical acclaim with compliments given to the "cool, critical gaze" in its lyrics. Winehouse's voice was compared with those of Sarah Vaughan and Macy Gray, among others.
The album entered the upper reaches of the UK album chart in 2004 when it was nominated for the Brit Awards in the categories of "British Female Solo Artist" and "British Urban Act." It went on to achieve platinum sales. Later in 2004, she and Remi won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song, for their first single together, "Stronger Than Me." The album was also shortlisted for the 2004 Mercury Music Prize. In the same year, she performed at the Glastonbury Festival – Jazzworld, the V Festival and the Montreal International Jazz Festival. After the release of the album, Winehouse commented that she was "only 80 percent behind [the] album" because Island Records had overruled her preferences for the songs and mixes to be included. The further singles from the album were "Take the Box," "In My Bed"/"You Sent Me Flying" and "Pumps"/"Help Yourself."
2006–2008: Back to Black and international success
After the release of her first jazz-influenced album, Winehouse's focus shifted to the girl groups of the 1950s and 1960s. Winehouse hired New York singer Sharon Jones's longtime band, the Dap-Kings, to back her up in the studio and on tour. Mitch Winehouse relates in Amy, My Daughter how fascinating watching her process was: her perfectionism in the studio and how she would put what she had sung on a CD and play it in his taxi outside to know how most people would hear her music. In May 2006, Winehouse's demo tracks such as "You Know I'm No Good" and "Rehab" appeared on Mark Ronson's New York radio show on East Village Radio. These were some of the first new songs played on the radio after the release of "Pumps" and both were slated to appear on her second album. The 11-track album, completed in five months, was produced entirely by Salaam Remi and Ronson, with the production credits being split between them. Ronson said in a 2010 interview that he liked working with Winehouse because she was blunt when she did not like his work. She in turn thought that when they first met, he was a sound engineer and that she was expecting an older man with a beard.
Promotion of Back to Black soon began and, in early October 2006 Winehouse's official website was relaunched with a new layout and clips of previously unreleased songs. Back to Black was released in the UK on 30 October 2006. It went to number one on the UK Albums Chart for two weeks in January 2007, dropping then climbing back for several weeks in February. In the US, it entered at number seven on the Billboard 200. It was the best-selling album in the UK of 2007, selling 1.85million copies over the course of the year. The first single released from the album was the Ronson-produced "Rehab." The song reached the top ten in the UK and the US. Time magazine named "Rehab" the Best Song of 2007. Writer Josh Tyrangiel praised Winehouse for her confidence, saying, "What she is is mouthy, funny, sultry, and quite possibly crazy" and "It's impossible not to be seduced by her originality. Combine it with production by Mark Ronson that references four decades worth of soul music without once ripping it off, and you've got the best song of 2007." The album's second single and lead single in the US, "You Know I'm No Good," was released in January 2007 with a remix featuring rap vocals by Ghostface Killah. It ultimately reached number 18 on the UK singles chart. The title track, "Back to Black," was released in the UK in April 2007 and peaked at number 25, but was more successful across mainland Europe. "Tears Dry on Their Own," "Love Is a Losing Game" were also released as singles, but failed to achieve the same level of success.
A deluxe edition of Back to Black was also released on 5 November 2007 in the UK. The bonus disc features B-sides, rare, and live tracks, as well as "Valerie." Winehouse's debut DVD I Told You I Was Trouble: Live in London was released the same day in the UK and 13 November in the US. It includes a live set recorded at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire and a 50-minute documentary charting the singer's career over the previous four years. Frank was released in the United States on 20 November 2007 to positive reviews. The album debuted at number 61 on the Billboard 200 chart. In addition to her own album, she collaborated with other artists on singles. Winehouse was a vocalist on the song "Valerie" on Ronson's solo album Version. The song peaked at number two in the UK, upon its October single release. "Valerie" was nominated for a 2008 Brit Award for "Best British Single." Her work with ex-Sugababe Mutya Buena, "B Boy Baby," was released on 17 December 2007. It served as the fourth single from Buena's debut album, Real Girl. Winehouse was also in talks of working with Missy Elliott for her album Block Party.
Winehouse promoted the release of Back to Black with headline performances in late 2006, including a Little Noise Sessions charity concert at the Union Chapel in Islington, London. On 31 December 2006, Winehouse appeared on Jools Holland's Annual Hootenanny and performed a cover of Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" along with Paul Weller and Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra. She also performed Toots and the Maytals' "Monkey Man". At his request, actor Bruce Willis introduced Winehouse before her performance of "Rehab" at the 2007 MTV Movie Awards in Universal City, California, on 3 June 2007. During the summer of 2007, she performed at various festivals, including Glastonbury Festival and Lollapalooza in Chicago.
The rest of her tour, however, did not go as well. In November 2007, the opening night of a 17-date tour was marred by booing and walkouts at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. A critic for the Birmingham Mail said it was "one of the saddest nights of my life...I saw a supremely talented artist reduced to tears, stumbling around the stage and, unforgivably, swearing at the audience." Other concerts ended similarly, with, for example, fans at her Hammersmith Apollo performance in London saying that she "looked highly intoxicated throughout," until she announced on 27 November 2007, that her performances and public appearances were cancelled for the remainder of the year, citing her doctor's advice to take a complete rest. A statement issued by concert promoter Live Nation blamed "the rigours involved in touring and the intense emotional strain that Amy has been under in recent weeks" for the decision. Mitch Winehouse wrote about her nervousness before public performances in his 2012 book, Amy, My Daughter. On 13 January 2008, Back to Black held the number-one position on the Billboard Pan European charts for the third consecutive week.
On 10 February 2008, Winehouse received five Grammy Awards, winning in the following categories: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the single "Rehab," and Best Pop Vocal Album. The singer also earned a Grammy as Best New Artist, earning her an entry in the 2009 edition of the Guinness Book of Records for Most Grammy Awards won by a British Female Act. Additionally, Back to Black was nominated for Album of the Year. Ronson's work with her won the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, in the non-classical category. She ended her acceptance speech for Record of the Year with, "This is for London because Camden town ain't burning down," in reference to the 2008 Camden Market fire. Performing "You Know I'm No Good" and "Rehab" via satellite from London's Riverside Studios at 3 a.m. UK time, she couldn't be at the ceremony in Los Angeles as her visa approval had not been processed in time.
After the Grammys, the album's sales increased, catapulting Back to Black to number two on the US Billboard 200, after it initially peaked in the seventh position. On 20 February 2008, Winehouse performed at the 2008 Brit Awards at Earls Court in London, performing "Valerie" with Mark Ronson, followed by "Love Is a Losing Game." She urged the crowd to "make some noise for my Blake." A special deluxe edition of Back to Black topped the UK album charts on 2 March 2008. Meanwhile, the original edition of the album was ranked at number 30 in its 68th week on the charts, while Frank charted at number 35.
In Paris, she performed what was described as a "well-executed 40-minute" set at the opening of a Fendi boutique in early March. By 12 March, the album had sold a total of 2,467,575 copies—318,350 copies had been sold in the previous 10 weeks—putting the album on the UK's top-10 best-selling albums of the 21st century for the first time. On 7 April, Back to Black was in the top position of the pan-European charts for the sixth consecutive and thirteenth aggregate week. Amy Winehouse – The Girl Done Good: A Documentary Review, a 78-minute DVD, was released on 14 April 2008. The documentary features interviews with those who knew her at a young age, people who helped her achieve success, jazz music experts, and music and pop-culture specialists.
At the 2008 Ivor Novello Awards in May, Winehouse became the first-ever artist to receive two nominations for the top award: Best Song Musically & Lyrically. She won the award for "Love Is a Losing Game" and was nominated for "You Know I'm No Good." "Rehab," a Novello winner for best contemporary song in 2006, also received a 2008 nomination for best-selling British song. Winehouse was also nominated for a 2008 MTV Europe Award in the "Act of the Year" category.
Although her father, manager and various members of her touring team reportedly tried to dissuade her, Winehouse performed at the Rock in Rio Lisboa festival in Portugal in May 2008. Although the set was plagued by a late arrival and problems with her voice, the crowd warmed to her. In addition to her own material she performed two Specials covers. Winehouse performed at Nelson Mandela's 90th Birthday Party concert at London's Hyde Park on 27 June 2008, and the next day at the Glastonbury Festival. On 12 July, at the Oxegen Festival in Ireland she performed a well-received 50-minute set which was followed the next day by a 14-song set at T in the Park.
On 16 August she played at the Staffordshire leg of the V Festival, and the following day played the Chelmsford leg of the festival. Organisers said that Winehouse attracted the biggest crowds of the festival. Audience reaction was reported as mixed. On 6 September, she was Bestival's Saturday headliner, where her performance was described as polished—terminated by a curfew as the show running overdue, after Winehouse started an hour late—and her storming off stage.
A clip of Winehouse's music was included in the "Roots and Influences" area that looked at connections between different artists at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex NYC, which opened in December 2008. One thread started with Billie Holiday, continued with Aretha Franklin and Mary J. Blige, and then finished with Winehouse.
Back to Black was the world's seventh-biggest-selling album of 2008. The album's sales meant that the market performance of Universal Music's recorded music division did not drop to levels experienced by the overall music market.
2009–2011: Final projects before death
In a 2009 poll of U.S. residents conducted for VisitBritain by Harris Interactive, one-fifth of the participants indicated they had listened to Winehouse's music during the previous year. She performed with Rhythms del Mundo on their cover of the Sam Cooke song, "Cupid", for an Artists Project Earth benefit album released in July that year.
Winehouse and Ronson contributed a cover of Lesley Gore's "It's My Party" to the Quincy Jones tribute album Q Soul Bossa Nostra, released in November 2010. She had agreed to form a group with Questlove of the Roots but her problems obtaining a visa delayed their working together. Salaam Remi had already created some material with Winehouse as part of the project. According to The Times, Universal Music pressed her for new material in 2008, but as of 2 September that year she had not been near a recording studio. In late October, Winehouse's spokesman was quoted as saying that Winehouse had not been given a deadline to complete her third album, for which she was learning to play drums.
In May 2009, Winehouse returned to performing at a jazz festival in St. Lucia amid torrential downpours and technical difficulties. During her set, it was reported she was unsteady on her feet and had trouble remembering lyrics. She apologised to the crowd for being "bored" and ended the set in the middle of a song. During her stay in St. Lucia, however, she worked on new music with Remi. On 23 August that year Winehouse sang with the Specials at the V Festival, on their songs "You're Wondering Now" and "Ghost Town".
Island claimed that a new album would be due for release in 2010. Island co-president Darcus Beese said, "I've heard a couple of song demos that have absolutely floored me." In July 2010, Winehouse was quoted as saying her next album would be released no later than January 2011, saying "It's going to be very much the same as my second album, where there's a lot of jukebox stuff and songs that are... just jukebox, really." Ronson, however, said at that time that he had not started to record the album. She performed "Valerie" with Ronson at a movie premiere but forgot some of the song's lyrics. In October, Winehouse performed a four-song set to promote her fashion line. In December 2010, she played a 40-minute concert at a Russian oligarch's party in Moscow, with the tycoon hand-selecting the songs.
In January 2011, Winehouse played five dates in Brazil, with opening acts of Janelle Monáe and Mayer Hawthorne. The following month she cut short a performance in Dubai following booing from the audience. Winehouse was reported to be tired, distracted and "tipsy" during the performance.
On 18 June 2011, Winehouse started her twelve-leg European tour in Belgrade. Local media described her performance as a scandal and disaster; she was booed off the stage due to her apparently being too drunk to perform. Serbian defence minister Dragan Sutanovac called Winehouse's performances "a huge shame and a disappointment". It was reported that she was unable to remember the city she was in, the lyrics of her songs or the names of the members of her band. The local press also claimed that Winehouse was forced to perform by her bodyguards, who did not allow her to leave the stage when she tried to do so. She then pulled out of performances in Istanbul and Athens, which had been scheduled for the following week. On 21 June, it was announced that she had cancelled all shows of her tour and would be given "as long as it takes" to sort herself out.
Winehouse's last public appearance took place at Camden's Roundhouse on 20 July 2011, when she made a surprise appearance on stage to support her goddaughter, Dionne Bromfield, who was singing "Mama Said" with the Wanted. Winehouse died three days later. Her last recording was a duet with American singer Tony Bennett for his album, Duets II, released on 20 September 2011. Their single from the album, "Body and Soul", was released on 14 September 2011 on MTV and VH1 to commemorate what would have been her 28th birthday.
Other ventures
Winehouse joined a campaign to stop a block of flats being built beside the George Tavern, a famous London East End music venue. Campaign supporters feared the residential development would end the spot's lucrative sideline as a film and photo location, on which it relies to survive. As part of a breast cancer awareness campaign, Winehouse appeared in a revealing photograph for the April 2008 issue of Easy Living magazine. Winehouse had an estimated £10m fortune, tying her for tenth place in the 2008 The Sunday Times listing of the wealth of musicians under age 30. The following year her fortune had dropped to an estimated £5m. Her finances are run by Mitch and Janis Winehouse. It was reported she earned about £1m singing at two private parties during Paris Fashion Week. as well as another £1m to perform at a Moscow Art Gallery for Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. Winehouse loaned a vintage dress used in her video for "Tears Dry on Their Own" as well as a DVD to the British Music Experience, a new museum dedicated to the history of British pop music. The museum, located at the O2 Arena in London, opened on 9 March 2009.
In January 2009, Winehouse announced that she was launching her own record label. The first act on her Lioness Records is Winehouse's 13-year-old goddaughter, Dionne Bromfield. Her first album, featuring covers of classic soul records, was released on 12 October 2009. Winehouse is the backing singer on several tracks on the album and she performed backing vocals for Bromfield on the BBC's television programme Strictly Come Dancing on 10 October.
Winehouse and her family are the subject of a 2009 documentary shot by Daphne Barak titled Saving Amy. Winehouse entered into a joint venture in 2009 with EMI to launch a range of wrapping paper and gift cards containing song lyrics from her album Back to Black. On 8 January 2010, a television documentary, My Daughter Amy, aired on Channel 4. Saving Amy was released as a paperback book in January 2010.
Winehouse collaborated on a 17 piece fashion collection with the Fred Perry label. It was released for sale in October 2010. According to Fred Perry's marketing director "We had three major design meetings where she was closely involved in product style selection and the application of fabric, colour and styling details," and gave "crucial input on proportion, colour and fit." The collection consists of "vintage-inspired looks including Capri pants, a bowling dress, a trench coat, pencil skirts, a longline argyle sweater and a pink-and-black checkerboard-printed collared shirt." At the behest of her family, three forthcoming collections up to and including autumn/winter 2012 that she had designed prior to her death will be released.
Awards and nominations
Among the awards and recognition for her debut album Frank, Winehouse earned an Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy of Songwriters for Best Contemporary Song ("Stronger Than Me"), a Brit Award nomination for Best British Female Solo Artist, and an inclusion in Robert Dimery's 2006 book, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Her second studio album, Back to Black, produced numerous nominations, including two Brit Awards (Best British Album, and won her Best British Female Solo Artist), six Grammy Awards (including five wins), four Ivor Novello Awards, four MTV Europe Music Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards, three World Music Awards, and it was nominated for the Mercury Prize (Album of the Year) and a MOBO Awards (Best UK Female). During her career, Winehouse received 23 awards from 60 nominations.
Critical appraisal
Winehouse was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, (sometimes labelled as blue-eyed soul and neo soul), rhythm and blues, and jazz. The BBC's Garry Mulholland called Winehouse "the pre-eminent vocal talent of her generation". According to AllMusic's Cyril Cordor, she was one of the UK's premier singers during the 2000s; "fans and critics alike embraced her rugged charm, brash sense of humor, and distinctively soulful and jazzy vocals". In The Guardian, Caroline Sullivan later wrote that "her idolisation of Dinah Washington and the Ronettes distinguished her from almost all newly minted pop singers of the early 2000s; her exceptionally-susceptible-to-heartbreak voice did the rest". Soon after Winehouse's death, a number of prominent critics assessed the singer's legacy: Maura Johnston from The Village Voice said, "When she was on, Winehouse had few peers—she wasn't an octave-jumper like other big divas of the moment, but her contralto had a snap to it that enriched even the simplest syllables with a full spectrum of emotion"; Sasha Frere-Jones of The New Yorker proclaimed, "Nobody can match Winehouse's unique transitions or her utterly weird phrasings. She sounded like an original sixties soul star, developed when the landscape had no rules. But now untrammeled traditionalism is in the lead and her beautiful footnote has been cut short. American soul—through visionaries like Erykah Badu and Janelle Monae and Jill Scott—had moved on. But Winehouse was a fine shepherd of the past."
By contrast, Robert Christgau dismissed Winehouse as "a self-aggrandizing self-abuser who's taken seriously because she makes a show of soul". In his opinion, the singer "simulated gravitas by running her suicidal tendencies through an amalgam of 20th-century African-American vocal stylings—the slides, growls, and melismatic outcries that for many matures are now the only reliable signifiers of pop substance".
On 13 February 2012, Winehouse was ranked 26 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women in Music list. In March 2017, singer-songwriter Bob Dylan said he was enjoying listening to Winehouse's last record (Back to Black), and called her "the last real individualist around."
Image
Winehouse's greatest love was 1960s girl groups. Her hairdresser, Alex Foden, borrowed her "instantly recognisable" beehive hairdo (a weave) and she borrowed her Cleopatra makeup from the Ronettes. Her imitation was so successful, as The Village Voice reports: "Ronnie Spector—who, it could be argued, all but invented Winehouse's style in the first place when she took the stage at the Brooklyn Fox Theater with her fellow Ronettes more than 40 years ago—was so taken aback at a picture of Winehouse in the New York Post that she exclaimed, "I don't know her, I never met her, and when I saw that pic, I thought, 'That's me!' But then I found out, no, it's Amy! I didn't have on my glasses."
The New York Times style reporter, Guy Trebay, discussed the multiplicity of influences on Winehouse's style after her death. Trebay noted, "her stylish husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, may have influenced her look." Additionally, Trebay observed:
Former Rolling Stone editor Joe Levy, who had put her on the magazine's cover, broke her look down this way:
Winehouse's use of bold red lipstick, thick eyebrows and heavy eyeliner came from Latinas she saw in Miami, on her trip there to work with Salaam Remi on Back to Black. Her look was repeatedly denigrated by the British press. At the same time that the NME Awards nominated Winehouse in the categories of "Best Solo Artist" and "Best Music DVD" in 2008, they awarded her "Worst Dressed Performer." Winehouse was also ranked number two on Richard Blackwell's 48th annual "Ten Worst Dressed Women" list, behind Victoria Beckham.
Criticism
Winehouse's dichotomous public image of critical and commercial success versus personal turmoil prompted significant media comment. The New Statesman called Winehouse "a filthy-mouthed, down-to-earth diva", while Newsweek called her "a perfect storm of sex kitten, raw talent and poor impulse control". Karen Heller with The Philadelphia Inquirer summarised the maelstrom this way:
By 2008, her drug problems threatened her career. As Nick Gatfield, the president of Island Records, toyed with the idea of releasing Winehouse "to deal with her problems", he said, "It's a reflection of her status [in the US] that when you flick through the TV coverage [of the Grammys] it's her image they use." Post-Grammys, some questioned whether Winehouse should have been honoured with the awards given her recent personal and drug problems, including Natalie Cole, who introduced Winehouse at the ceremony and who herself battled substance-abuse problems while winning a Grammy for Best New Artist in 1975. (Winehouse was prevented from travelling to and performing at the Grammy Awards ceremony in the US due to failing a drug test.) In a newspaper commentary, the executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, said that the alleged drug habits of Winehouse and other celebrities sent a bad message "to others who are vulnerable to addiction" and undermine the efforts of other celebrities trying to raise awareness of problems in Africa, now that more cocaine used in Europe passes through that continent. Winehouse's spokesperson noted that "Amy has never given a quote about drugs or flaunted it in any way. She's had some problems and is trying to get better. The U.N. should get its own house in order."
In January 2008, her record label stated it believed the extensive media coverage she had received increased record sales. In an April 2008 poll conducted by Sky News, Winehouse was named the second greatest "ultimate heroine" by the UK population at large, topping the voting for that category of those polled under 25 years old. Psychologist Donna Dawson commented that the results demonstrated that women like Winehouse who had "a certain sense of vulnerability or have had to fight against some adversity in their lives" received recognition.
In July 2008, BBC Radio Scotland's head, Jeff Zycinski, stated that the BBC, and media in general, were complicit in undermining celebrities, including Winehouse. He said that public interest in the singer's lifestyle did not make her lifestyle newsworthy. Rod McKenzie, editor of the BBC Radio One programme Newsbeat, replied: "If you play [Amy Winehouse's] music to a certain demographic, those same people want to know what's happening in her private life. If you don't cover it, you're insulting young licence fee payers." In The Scotsman, British singer and songwriter Lily Allen was quoted to have said – "I know Amy Winehouse very well. And she is very different to what people portray her as being. Yes, she does get out of her mind on drugs sometimes, but she is also a very clever, intelligent, witty, funny person who can hold it together. You just don't see that side."
Charity work
Throughout her life Winehouse donated her money, music and time to many charities, particularly those concerned with children. She was once named "the most charitable act" by Pop World. While this side of her personality was never well known to the general public, throughout both the arts community and the charity community she was known for her generosity.
In 2008, Winehouse appeared naked in an issue of Easy Living Magazine to raise awareness of breast cancer. In 2009, she appeared on a CD called Classics alongside musicians such as the Rolling Stones, the Killers and many Cuban musicians to raise awareness of climate change. In March 2011, Winehouse donated over £20,000 worth of clothes to a local charity shop in London.
A Caribbean man Julian Jean DeBaptiste revealed that Winehouse had paid for his urgent surgery costing £4,000 during her stay in Saint Lucia in 2009. "I had surgery on 1 July 2009... it cost a fortune and Amy paid for the whole thing. I tried to thank her but she just hugged me and told me not to say anything. Her generosity gave me my life back."
Legacy and honours
Artwork and tributes
London's Mall Galleries opened an exhibition in May 2008 that included a sculpture of Winehouse, titled Excess. The piece, created by Guy Portelli, had a miniature of the singer lying on top of a cracked champagne bottle, with a pool of spilled liquid underneath. The body was covered with what appeared to be tiny pills, while one outstretched hand held a glass. Another piece, a print titled Celebrity 1 by artist Charlotte Suckling, was shown in the same exhibition.
A wax sculpture of Winehouse went on display at the London Madame Tussauds on 23 July 2008. The singer did not attend the unveiling, although her parents did. A sculpture by Marco Perego, titled The Only Good Rock Star Is a Dead Rock Star, that depicts Winehouse lying in a pool of blood with an apple and a bullet hole in her head after being shot by American novelist and Beat poet William S. Burroughs (in a recreation of the accidental killing of his wife Joan Vollmer), was scheduled to go on display in New York's Half Gallery on 14 November 2008 with a sale price of US$100,000. Perego said of the sculpture: "Rock stars are the sacrificial animals of society." Winehouse's spokesperson stated: "It's a funny kind of tribute. The artist seems in thrall to a tabloid persona that is not the real Amy. People often use her image to sell their work."
In 2012, Winehouse was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork – the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover – to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life that he most admires.
On 14 September 2014 (which would have been Winehouse's 31st birthday), a statue was unveiled of her, which was created by sculptor Scott Eaton, at Stables Market in Camden Town, north London. Fans and relatives gathered for the unveiling in Camden's Stable Market, where it will be a permanent memorial to her. London-based Eaton, who sculpted the piece after being introduced to Winehouse's father Mitch, said the statue was meant to capture her "attitude and strength, but also give subtle hints of insecurity." Her father Mitch said of the statue: "Now Amy will oversee the comings and goings of her home town forever... Amy was in love with Camden and it is the place her fans from all over the world associate her with."
In March 2020, Winehouse's name on a stone was unveiled on the new Music Walk of Fame in Camden, with her parents Mitch and Janis in attendance at the ceremony.
Influence
Adele has credited Winehouse's success in making her and fellow British singer Duffy's journey to the United States "a bit smoother." Lady Gaga credited Winehouse with paving the way for her rise to the top of the charts, explaining that Winehouse made it easier for unconventional women to have mainstream pop success. Raphael Saadiq, Anthony Hamilton and John Legend said "Amy Winehouse was produced by people who wanted to create a marketing coup. The positive side is that it reacquainted an audience with this music and played an introductory role for others. This reinvigorated the genre by overcoming the vintage aspect."
Other artists that have credited Winehouse as an influence and/or for paving the way for them include Bruno Mars, Tove Lo, Jessie J, Emeli Sandé, Victoria Justice, Paloma Faith, Lana Del Rey, Sam Smith, Florence Welch, Halsey, Alessia Cara, Estelle, Daya, Jorja Smith, Lauren Jauregui and Billie Eilish.
After the release of Back to Black, record companies sought out female artists with a similar sound and fearless and experimental female musicians in general. Adele and Duffy were the second wave of artists with a sound similar to Winehouse's. A third wave of female musicians that has emerged since the album was released are led by V V Brown, Florence and the Machine, La Roux and Little Boots. In March 2011, the New York Daily News ran an article attributing the continuing wave of British female artists that have been successful in the United States to Winehouse and her absence. Spin magazine music editor Charles Aaron was quoted as saying "Amy Winehouse was the Nirvana moment for all these women," "They can all be traced back to her in terms of attitude, musical styles or fashion." According to Keith Caulfield, chart manager for Billboard, "Because of Amy, or the lack thereof, the marketplace was able to get singers like Adele, Estelle and Duffy," "Now those ladies have brought on the new ones, like Eliza Doolittle, Rumer and Ellie."
Amy Winehouse Foundation
After the singer's death by alcohol intoxication in July 2011, the Amy Winehouse Foundation was set up by Winehouse's family and launched on 14 September 2011 (which would have been Winehouse's 28th birthday). Its aim is to help young people and it works with other charitable organisations to provide frontline support. Its central office is in North London, but it also has an office in New York (operating under the name 'The Amy Winehouse Foundation US'). Both Jon Snow and Barbara Windsor are patrons for the charity, and ambassadors include Keira Chaplin and Mica Paris. In October 2015 Mark Ronson became a patron. Amy's brother Alex works full-time for the foundation, having given up his career as an online music journalist.
The charity itself works to prevent the effects of drug and alcohol misuse on young people and it also aims to support, inform and inspire vulnerable and disadvantaged young people to help them reach their full potential. On 12 March 2013, with the help of ex-addict Russell Brand, the Foundation launched the Amy Winehouse Foundation Resilience Programme For Schools across the UK which aims to provide effective education around drugs, alcohol and dealing with emotional issues.
Films
Documentary film
A documentary film, Amy (2015), directed by Asif Kapadia and produced by James Gay-Rees was released on 3 July 2015. The film covers Winehouse's life, her relationships, her struggles with substance abuse both before and after her career blossomed, and which eventually caused her death. The film received its première at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival on 16 May and has been reviewed as "a tragic masterpiece", "brilliant", "heartbreaking" and "unmissable". The soundtrack of the same name was released on 30 October 2015, along with the DVD that includes music featured in the documentary by film composer Antônio Pinto and classic and some unreleased tracks by Winehouse. The film was highly acclaimed and received various accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 2016 Oscars, Best Music Film at the 2016 Grammy Awards, the BAFTA for Best Documentary, the MTV Movie Award for Best Documentary, in addition to a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best British Film.
Biopic film
On 14 October 2018, it was announced that Winehouse's family had signed a deal with Monumental Pictures to make a biopic about her life, which will be directed by Alison Owen and produced by Debra Hayward. Winehouse's story will be adapted for the big screen by Geoff Deane, who has written comedy movies Kinky Boots (2005) and It's a Boy Girl Thing (2006). The project was scheduled to start filming in early 2019 and the funds are allegedly going towards the foundation.
Musical
On 9 October 2017, it was announced by Winehouse's father Mitch that a West End/Broadway musical on Amy is in the works. Mitch Winehouse revealed the news at the Amy Winehouse Foundation Gala event in London.
Personal life
Winehouse was raised Jewish and expressed pride in being Jewish, although she was not religious. During one interview, Winehouse said "being Jewish to me is about being together as a real family. It's not about lighting candles and saying a bracha." Winehouse also frequently performed with a large Star of David medallion.
In 2013, in memory of Winehouse the Jewish Museum London ran an exhibition titled "Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait". The museum researched about her paternal great-great-grandfather's arrival from Minsk in 1890, and how the family finally settled in London, starting out in working-class jobs before gradually moving to middle-class jobs.
Winehouse had 14 known tattoos, including "Daddy's Girl" on her left arm for her father and a pin-up girl with the name "Cynthia" on her right arm in memory of her Jewish grandmother.
Relationships
Winehouse dated chef-musician Alex Clare (sometimes referred to as Alex Claire) in 2006, while on a break from her on-off boyfriend and future husband, Blake Fielder-Civil. She and Clare lived together briefly, and in a pattern that Fielder-Civil would later repeat, Clare sold his story to the News of the World, which published it under the headline "Bondage Crazed Amy Just Can't Beehive in Bed."
Fielder-Civil, a former video production assistant, had dropped out of Bourne Grammar School and, aged 16, moved to London from his native Lincolnshire. He married Winehouse on 18 May 2007, in Miami Beach, Florida. In a June 2007 interview, Winehouse admitted she could sometimes be violent toward him after she had been drinking, saying: "If he says one thing I don't like, then I'll chin him." In August 2007, they were photographed, bloodied and bruised, in the streets of London after an alleged fight, although she contended her injuries were self-inflicted. Winehouse's parents and in-laws publicly reported their numerous concerns, the latter citing fears that the two might commit suicide. Fielder-Civil's father encouraged fans to boycott Winehouse's music, and Mitch Winehouse said this would not help. Fielder-Civil was quoted in a British tabloid as saying he introduced Winehouse to crack cocaine and heroin. During a visit with Mitch Winehouse at the prison in July 2008, Fielder-Civil reportedly said that he and Winehouse would cut themselves to ease the pain of withdrawal.
From 21 July 2008 to 25 February 2009, Fielder-Civil was imprisoned following his guilty plea on charges of trying to pervert the course of justice and of grievous bodily harm with intent. The incident, in July 2007, involved his assault of a pub landlord that broke the victim's cheek. According to the prosecution, the landlord accepted £200,000 as part of a deal to "effectively throw the [court] case and not turn up," and he testified that the money belonged to Winehouse, but she pulled out of a meeting with the men involved in the plot, to attend an awards ceremony. Mitch Winehouse, as manager of his daughter's money, has denied the payoff came from her.
When Winehouse was spotted with aspiring actor Josh Bowman on holiday in Saint Lucia, in early January 2009, she said she was "in love again, and I don't need drugs." She commented that her "whole marriage was based on doing drugs" and that "for the time being I've just forgotten I'm even married." On 12 January, Winehouse's spokesman confirmed that "papers have been received" for what Fielder-Civil's solicitor has said are divorce proceedings based on a claim of adultery. In March, Winehouse was quoted in a magazine as saying, "I still love Blake and I want him to move into my new house with me—that was my plan all along ... I won't let him divorce me. He's the male version of me and we're perfect for each other." Nonetheless, an uncontested divorce was granted on 16 July 2009 and became final on 28 August 2009. Fielder-Civil received no money in the settlement.
She was in a relationship with a British writer and director of films, Reg Traviss, from early 2010 until she died. According to media reports and a biography written by Winehouse's father, Traviss and Winehouse had planned to marry and intended to have children.
After Winehouse's death, Pete Doherty said that he and Winehouse had been lovers at one point. However, in July 2008, when Rolling Stone reporter Claire Hoffman asked Winehouse about her relationship with Doherty, Winehouse replied: "We're just good friends", and added: "I asked Pete to do a concept EP, and he made this face, he looked at me like I'd pooed on the floor. He wouldn't do it. We're just really close".
Substance abuse and mental illness
Winehouse's battles with substance abuse were the subject of much media attention. In 2005, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, and weight loss. People who saw her during the end of that year and early 2006 reported a rebound that coincided with the writing of Back to Black. Her family believes that the mid-2006 death of her grandmother, who was a stabilising influence, set her off into addiction. In August 2007, Winehouse cancelled a number of shows in the UK and Europe, citing exhaustion and ill health. She was hospitalised during this period for what was reported as an overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol. In various interviews, she admitted to having problems with self-harm, depression, and eating disorders.
Winehouse told a magazine that the drugs were to blame for her hospitalisation and that "I really thought that it was over for me then." Soon afterwards, Winehouse's father commented that when he had made public statements regarding her problems he was using the media because it seemed the only way to get through to her. In an interview with The Album Chart Show on British television, Winehouse said she was manic depressive and not alcoholic, adding that that sounded like "an alcoholic in denial". A US reporter writes that Winehouse was a "victim of mental illness in a society that doesn't understand or respond to mental illness with great effectiveness."
In December 2007, Winehouse's spokesman reported that the singer was in a physician-supervised programme and was channelling her difficulties by writing a lot of music. The British tabloid The Sun posted a video of a woman, alleged to be Winehouse, apparently smoking crack cocaine and speaking of having taken ecstasy and valium. Winehouse's father moved in with her, and Island Records, her record label, announced the abandonment of plans for an American promotion campaign on her behalf. In late January 2008, Winehouse reportedly entered a rehabilitation facility for a two-week treatment program.
On 23 January 2008, the video was passed on to the Metropolitan Police, who questioned her on 5 February. No charges were brought. On 26 March 2008, Winehouse's spokesman said she was "doing well". Her record company reportedly believed that her recovery remained fragile. By late April 2008, her erratic behaviourincluding an allegation of assaultcaused fear that her drug rehabilitation efforts had been unsuccessful. Winehouse's father and manager then sought to have her detained under the Mental Health Act of 1983. Her dishevelled appearance during and after a scheduled club night in September 2008 prompted new rumours of a relapse. Photographers were quoted as saying she appeared to have cuts on her arms and legs.
According to her physician, Winehouse quit using illegal substances in 2008. In an October 2010 interview, speaking of her decision to quit drugs, Winehouse said, "I literally woke up one day and was like, 'I don't want to do this any more. However, alcohol emerged as a problem, with Winehouse abstaining for a few weeks and then lapsing into alcohol abuse. Her physician said that Winehouse was treated with Librium for alcohol withdrawal and anxiety and underwent psychological and psychiatric evaluations in 2010, but refused psychological therapy.
Violence and legal difficulties
In 2006, Winehouse admitted to punching a female fan in the face for criticising her having taken Blake Fielder-Civil as a husband. She then attacked her own spouse as he attempted to calm her down, kneeing him in the crotch. In October 2007, Winehouse and Fielder-Civil were arrested in Bergen, Norway, for possession of seven grams of cannabis. The couple were later released and fined 3850 kroner (around £350). Winehouse first appealed the fines, but later dropped the appeal.
On 26 April 2008, Winehouse was cautioned after she admitted to police she slapped a 38-year-old man in the face, a "common assault" offence, her first of two. She voluntarily turned herself in and was held overnight. Police said, at her arrival she was "in no fit state" to be interviewed. Ten days later, Winehouse was arrested on suspicion of possessing drugs after a video of her apparently smoking crack cocaine was passed to the police in January, but was released on bail a few hours later because they could not confirm, from the video, what she was smoking. The Crown Prosecution Service considered charging her, but cleared her when it could not establish that the substance in the video was a controlled drug. Some members of Parliament reacted negatively. Two London residents were subsequently charged with conspiracy to supply cocaine and ecstasy to Winehouse. One of the pair was sentenced to two years in prison on 13 December 2008, while the other received a two-year community order.
On 5 March 2009, Winehouse was arrested and charged with common assault following a claim by dancer Sherene Flash that Winehouse hit her in the eye at the September 2008 Prince's Trust charity ball. Winehouse's spokesperson announced the cancellation of the singer's US Coachella Festival appearance in light of the new legal issue, and Winehouse appeared in court on 17 March to enter her plea of not guilty. On 23 July, her trial began with prosecutor Lyall Thompson charging that Winehouse acted with "deliberate and unjustifiable violence" while appearing to be under the influence of alcohol or another substance. She testified that she did not punch Flash, but tried to push her away because she was scared of her; she cited her worry that Flash would sell her story to a tabloid, Flash's height advantage, and Flash's "rude" behaviour. On 24 July, District Judge Timothy Workman ruled that Winehouse was not guilty, citing the facts that all but two of the witnesses were intoxicated at the time of the incident and that medical evidence did not show "the sort of injury that often occurs when there is a forceful punch to the eye."
On 19 December 2009, Winehouse was arrested for a third time on charges of common assault, plus another charge of public order offence after assaulting the front-of-house manager of the Milton Keynes Theatre after he asked her to move from her seat. Winehouse pled guilty to the charges and was given a conditional discharge.
Paparazzi
With the paparazzi taking photographs of her wherever they could, Winehouse obtained an injunction against a leading paparazzi agency, Big Pictures, under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997; the resultant court order issued by the High Court in 2009 banned them from following her. Photographers were also banned from following her within 100 metres of her London home and photographing Winehouse in her home or the homes of her friends and relatives. According to a newspaper report, sources close to the singer said legal action was taken out of concern for the safety of Winehouse and those close to her.
Respiratory and other health problems
On 23 June 2008, Winehouse's publicist corrected earlier misstatements by Mitch Winehouse that his daughter had early stage emphysema, instead claiming she had signs of what could lead to early-stage emphysema. Mitch Winehouse had also stated that his daughter's lungs were operating at 70 percent capacity and that she had an irregular heartbeat. He said that these problems had been caused by her chain smoking crack cocaine. The singer's father also reported that doctors had warned Winehouse that, if she continued smoking crack cocaine, she would have to wear an oxygen mask and would eventually die. In a radio interview, Mitch Winehouse said the singer was responding "fabulously" to treatment, which included being covered with nicotine patches. British Lung Foundation spokesman Keith Prowse noted this type of condition could be managed with treatment. Prowse also said the condition was not normal for a person her age but "heavy smoking and inhaling other substances like drugs can age the lungs prematurely." Norman H. Edelman of the American Lung Association explained that if she stopped smoking, her lung functions would decline at the rate of a normal person, but continued smoking would lead to a more rapid decline in lung function.
Winehouse was released from the London Clinic 24 hours after returning from a temporary leave to perform at Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday and at a concert in Glastonbury, and continued receiving treatment as an outpatient. In July 2008, Winehouse stated that she had been diagnosed with "some areas of emphysema" and said she was getting herself together by "eating loads of healthy food, sleeping loads, playing my guitar, making music and writing letters to my husband every day." She also kept a vertical tanning bed in her flat. Winehouse began precautionary testing on her lungs and chest on 25 October 2008 at the London Clinic for what was reported as a chest infection. Winehouse was in and out of the facility and was granted permission to set her own schedule regarding home leave. She returned to the hospital on 23 November 2008 for a reported reaction to her medication.
Death
Winehouse's bodyguard said that he had arrived at her residence three days before her death and felt she had been somewhat intoxicated. He observed moderate drinking over the next few days, and said she had been "laughing, listening to music and watching TV at 2 a.m. the day of her death". At 10 a.m. BST on 23 July 2011, he observed her lying on her bed and tried unsuccessfully to rouse her. This did not raise much suspicion because she usually slept late after a night out. According to the bodyguard, shortly after 3p.m., he checked on her again and observed her lying in the same position as before, leading to a further check, in which he concluded that she was not breathing and had no pulse; he said he called emergency services. At 3:54p.m., two ambulances were called to Winehouse's home in Camden, London. Winehouse was pronounced dead at the scene, at the age of 27. Shortly afterwards, the Metropolitan Police confirmed that she had died.
After her death was announced, media and camera crews appeared, as crowds gathered near Winehouse's residence to pay their respects. Forensic investigators entered the flat as police cordoned off the street outside; they recovered one small and two large bottles of vodka from her room. After her death, the singer broke her second Guinness World Record: for the most songs by a woman to simultaneously appear on the UK singles chart, with eight.
A coroner's inquest reached a verdict of misadventure. The report released on 26 October 2011 explained that Winehouse's blood alcohol content was 416 per 100 (0.416%) at the time of her death, more than five times the legal drink-drive limit. According to the coroner, "The unintended consequences of such potentially fatal levels was her sudden death."
Winehouse's record label, Universal Republic, released a statement that read in part: "We are deeply saddened at the sudden loss of such a gifted musician, artist and performer." Many musical artists have since paid tribute to Winehouse including U2, M.I.A., Lady Gaga, Marianne Faithfull, Bruno Mars, Nicki Minaj, Keisha Buchanan, Rihanna, George Michael, Adele, Kelly Clarkson, Courtney Love, and the punk rock band Green Day, who wrote a song in her tribute titled "Amy". In her 2012 album Banga, singer Patti Smith released "This Is the Girl", written as an homage to Winehouse. Mark Ronson dedicated his UK number-one album Uptown Special to Winehouse, stating: "I'm always thinking of you and inspired by you." Winehouse did not leave a will; her estate was inherited by her parents. Winehouse's parents set up the Amy Winehouse Foundation to prevent harm from drug misuse among young people; her brother Alex is an employee.
On 17 December 2012, British authorities reopened the probe into Winehouse's death. On 8 January 2013, a second inquest confirmed that Winehouse died of accidental alcohol poisoning. In a June 2013 interview, Alex Winehouse revealed his belief that his sister's eating disorder, and the consequent physical weakness, was the primary cause of her death:
Funeral
Family and friends attended Winehouse's private funeral on 26 July 2011 at Edgwarebury Lane Cemetery in north London. Her mother and father, Janis and Mitch Winehouse, close friends Nick Grimshaw and Kelly Osbourne, producer Mark Ronson, goddaughter Dionne Bromfield and her boyfriend Reg Traviss were among those in attendance at the private service led by Rabbi Frank Hellner. Her father delivered the eulogy, saying "Goodnight, my angel, sleep tight. Mummy and Daddy love you ever so much." Carole King's "So Far Away" closed the service with mourners singing along. She was later cremated at Golders Green Crematorium. The family planned to sit a two-day shiva. On 16 September 2012, Winehouse's ashes were buried alongside her grandmother's, Cynthia Levy at Edgwarebury Lane Cemetery.
Posthumous retrospectives
Winehouse's parents have each written memoirs about their daughter and donated the proceeds from both books to the Amy Winehouse Foundation. In the introduction to Mitch Winehouse's biography, entitled Amy: My Daughter (2012), he explained: "Apart from being her father, I was also her friend, confidant and adviser—not that she always took my advice, but she always heard me out." Her mother Janis published Loving Amy: A Mother's Story, in 2014.
An exhibit of Winehouse's personal items, co-curated by her brother and sister-in-law, entitled Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait, was on display at the Jewish Museum London from 3 July 2013 until 15 September 2013, and later exhibited in San Francisco, 23 July 2015 to 1 November 2015. Display items, such as books and music, were featured together with captions written by Winehouse's brother.
In late 2011, there were reports that Winehouse's former boyfriend, Reg Traviss, was developing a film about her. Winehouse's father Mitch Winehouse, who owns the copyright to his daughter's music, said he would not authorise the use of her music for the film.
Winehouse is the subject of Amy (2015), a documentary directed by Asif Kapadia and produced by James Gay-Rees, Kapadia, and Universal Music. Kapadia and Gay-Rees introduced the project at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. The film debuted at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and won the 2016 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
In 2018, a documentary film based on Winehouse's album Back to Black, Amy Winehouse – Back to Black was released. It contains new interviews as well as archival footage. It was made by Eagle Vision and produced by Gil Cang. Released on DVD on 2 November 2018, the film features interviews by producers Ronson & Remi, who worked half and half on the album, along with the Dap Kings, Remi's music team, Ronnie Spector from the Ronettes and close ones to Winehouse, including Nick Shymansky, Juliette Ashby and Dionne Bromfield. The film is accompanied by An Intimate Evening in London, footage of a show Winehouse gave at Riverside Studios, London in 2008. In February 2019, Salaam Remi released a compilation album including the song "Find My Love" which is a posthumous collaboration between Winehouse and rapper Nas.
In 2020, an exhibition entitled Beyond Black – The Style of Amy Winehouse opened at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles. The exhibit mainly explores Winehouse's style and fashion, displaying her outfits such as her iconic dresses, shoes, hair accessories, her makeup bag as well as Winehouse's personal belongings including her Grammy awards from 2008, handwritten lyrics, records and unseen home videos. The exhibition went on display in the U.S. from 17 January 2020 until 13 April 2020. In November 2021, various of Winehouse's personal items and famous dresses would later be auctioned at Julien's Auctions in Los Angeles and made more than £3m, 30% going to the Amy Winehouse Foundation. A follow-up exhibition Amy: Beyond the Stage opened on 26 November 2021 at the Design Museum in Kensington, London which also presented some of Winehouse's personal belongings and focus on her fashion sense, as well as paying homage to her musical career.
In July 2021, a new documentary entitled Reclaiming Amy aired on BBC Two to mark the 10th anniversary of Winehouse's death. The film was primarily based on the perspective and narrated by her mother Janis Winehouse-Collins and included intimate stories of those who were close to Winehouse until the end of her life, including close friends Naomi Parry (Amy's stylist), Catriona Gourlay and Chantelle Dusette.
Discography
Frank (2003)
Back to Black (2006)
Lioness: Hidden Treasures (2011)
Filmography
Amy (2015)
Amy Winehouse: Back to Black (2018)
Reclaiming Amy (2021)
See also
List of deaths through alcohol
References
Sources
Further reading
External links
Amy Winehouse collected news and commentary at The New York Times
Amy Winehouse Foundation - Charity Commission for England and Wales
1983 births
2011 deaths
20th-century English singers
20th-century English women singers
21st-century English singers
21st-century English women singers
Alcohol-related deaths in England
Alumni of the Sylvia Young Theatre School
Brit Award winners
British women jazz singers
English contraltos
English jazz singers
English Jews
Belarusian Jews
English people convicted of assault
English people of Polish-Jewish descent
English people of Russian-Jewish descent
English rhythm and blues singers
English soul singers
English women guitarists
English guitarists
Golders Green Crematorium
Grammy Award winners
Ivor Novello Award winners
Jewish English musicians
Jewish jazz musicians
Jewish singers
Jewish songwriters
MTV Europe Music Award winners
National Youth Jazz Orchestra members
Neo soul singers
People educated at the BRIT School
People educated at Susi Earnshaw Theatre School
People from the London Borough of Camden
People from Southgate, London
People with bipolar disorder
Republic Records artists
Singers from London
World Music Awards winners
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[
"The 2008 North Korean Census was the second North Korea national census. The reference day used for the census was October 1, 2008. The census was taken by house-to-house interviews by enumerators using a census questionnaire. Roughly 35,000 enumerators were trained to help with the census. The population of North Korea was counted as 24,052,231 a 13.38% increase from the 1993 Census.\n\nThe results of the census are thought of as plausible by foreign observers.\n\nThe census was widely advertised in propaganda. This resulted in a detailed survey.\n\nThe 2008 census is the latest census of North Korea. The next census was scheduled for 2018.\n\nIntroduction \nNorth Korea completed its first census in 1993. In October 2006, a declaration was enacted to complete a second census in 2008. In order to test procedures, in October 2007, there was a pilot census completed across each of the provinces where roughly 50,000 households were counted. The actual census took place from October 1 – October 15, 2008 using October 1, 2008 at 1:00 AM as a reference point.\n\nQuestionnaire \nThere were several questions asked on the census broken into three modules:\n\nThe first module was titled Household and dwelling unit information. There were 14 questions in this module pertaining to the persons' housing unit. If the respondent lived in an institutional living quarter, then the rest of the section was skipped. All of the questions are listed below:\n\n How many are the members of this household?\n Type of Household\n What is the class of labor of head of this household?\n What is the previous class of labor of head of this household?\n What type of dwelling does this household occupy?\n Does this household have the first right to occupancy of this dwelling unit?\n What is the total floor area of this dwelling unit?\n How many rooms are there in this dwelling unit? (Exclude sitting room, Kitchen)\n Is there a water tap in this dwelling unit?\n What is the source of water supply for your household? \n What kind of toilet facility does your household have access to?\n What heating system is established in your household?\n What heating system is used by your household?\n Which fuel is used for cooking?\n\nThe second module was titled personal information and had the most questions of any of the modules. There was a total of 29 questions to be asked including sex, nationality, school level, marital status, and employment.\n\nThe third module was titled mortality. The first question was \"Did any member of this household die during the period 1 Oct. 2007 to 30 Sept. 2008?\" If the answer was no, the rest of this section was skipped. If the answer was yes, then five additional questions were asked. If the deceased person was a female between 15 and 49, five more additional questions were asked. All ten additional questions are listed below.\n\n What was/were the name(s) of the household member(s) who died?\n Sex\n When was _ born?\n When did _die?\n How old was __ when he/she died?\n Was pregnant at the time of her death?\n Did ___ die while having abortion or miscarriage or within 42 days of having abortion/miscarriage?\n Did _ die while giving birth or within 42 days of giving birth?\n Where did _die? (Home, Hospital, or Other)\n Did she have a live birth anytime between 1 0ct. 2007 and the time of death? If \"Yes\", How many male and female children did she give birth at that time?\n\nRankings\n\nSee also\n\n Demographics of North Korea\n\nNotes\n\nReferences \n \n\nCensuses in North Korea\nNorth Korea\nCensus",
"How To Kill is the first EP by the Canadian rock band Die Mannequin, released on September 25, 2006. Produced by electronic music group MSTRKRFT, How To Kill was the group's first release and because Care Failure had yet to put together a full-time band she performed the vocals, guitar and bass herself with the drums being handled by Jesse F. Keeler of MSTRKRFT and Death from Above 1979 fame.\n\nTrack listing\nAll songs written by Care Failure, except \"Fatherpunk\" by Care Failure and Michael T. Fox.\n\n\"Autumn Cannibalist\" – 3:23\n\"Near The End\" – 2:47\n\"Fatherpunk\" – 3:13\n\"Donut Kill Self\" – 4:31\n\nPersonnel\nDie Mannequin\nCare Failure – lead vocals, guitar, bass\nJesse F. Keeler – drums, percussion\n\nTechnical staff and artwork\nRecorded & Produced by MSTRKRFT.\nArt by Care Failure / Marc P.\n\nSee also\nDie Mannequin\n\nExternal links\nOfficial website\nMyspace\n\n2006 EPs"
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"My Happiness (Powderfinger song)",
"Production and content"
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C_3b5f24445aa248aaa4fe3c82fbf944a0_1
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Who was the producer for the song ?
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Who was the producer for My Happiness?
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My Happiness (Powderfinger song)
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If you can't cop a bit of emotional stuff then you should go and get the lamp shade extracted from your arse. If you don't think there is enough rock in your life then let me know and I will personally come around to your house and chuck stones at you. --Bernard FanningIn response to "My Happiness" being described by fans as "like Lauryn Hill, bland and boring Top 40 bullshit". The lyrics for "My Happiness" were written by Bernard Fanning, Powderfinger's lead singer and songwriter. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track. The song describes feelings of love and separation; Sain's Pennie Dennison said it described "the pining feeling you experience when you spend time away from the one you love". Fanning called it "a sad story of touring and the absence loneliness that comes with it". The extensive time spent touring took its toll on the band, and it was on the back of this that Fanning wrote "My Happiness". Thus, he expressed confusion at its being considered a romantic song. "My Happiness" was attacked by some fans as being "like Lauryn Hill, bland and boring Top 40 bullshit"; guitarist Ian Haug rebutted by pointing out that the song was an example of the new emotional level on which Powderfinger made music, while Fanning was more aggressive in his defence of the song. In response to being dubbed "Mr Miserable" by The Sun-Herald's Peter Holmes for the lyrics of "My Happiness" and "These Days", Fanning pointed out that the songs could be construed either as melancholy, or as part of "the most hopeful record ... in a long time". Much of Fanning's writing is inspired by non-rock music, and "My Happiness" is no exception. Gospel and soul music that is "unashamedly about love and how good it makes you feel" was common during the Odyssey Number Five recording sessions. Powderfinger worked hard in those sessions to ensure a more polished work than Internationalist; guitarist Darren Middleton concluded that "My Happiness", "The Metre", and "Up & Down & Back Again" were more "complete" because of the band's efforts. The lighter elements of "My Happiness" in comparison to some of the band's earlier work saw Fanning reveal his passion for several other musicians, such as James Taylor--something that "five years ago ... would have been an embarrassing thing to say". CANNOTANSWER
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The lyrics for "My Happiness" were written by Bernard Fanning, Powderfinger's lead singer and songwriter. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track.
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"My Happiness" is a song by Australian rock band Powderfinger. It was released via record label Universal Music Australia on 21 August 2000 as the first single from the band's fourth album, Odyssey Number Five. Powderfinger frontman Bernard Fanning wrote the lyrics for "My Happiness" as a reflection on the time the band spent touring to promote their work, and the loneliness that came as a result. It was inspired by his love of gospel and soul music. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track. Despite its melancholy mood, "My Happiness" is considered by many to be a love song, a suggestion Fanning regards as mystifying.
The single is Powderfinger's most successful; it peaked at number four on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, number seven on the New Zealand Singles Chart, and number 23 on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart—the first Powderfinger song to do so. In June 2020, the song was certified 5x Platinum in Australia. It won an ARIA Award and an APRA Award and topped the Triple J Hottest 100 in 2000 as well as coming 27th in the Triple J Hottest 100 of All Time in 2009. "My Happiness" was highly praised by critics, with even negative reviews of Odyssey Number Five noting it as a highlight, especially for its catchy chorus. One of the highlights of Powderfinger's United States tour with Coldplay was a performance of "My Happiness" on the Late Show with David Letterman; they were only the fourth Australian act to appear on the show.
In January 2018, as part of Triple M's "Ozzest 100", the 'most Australian' songs of all time, "My Happiness" was ranked number 31.
Production and content
The lyrics for "My Happiness" were written by Bernard Fanning, Powderfinger's lead singer and songwriter. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track. The song describes feelings of love and separation; Sains Pennie Dennison said it described "the pining feeling you experience when you spend time away from the one you love". Fanning called it "a sad story of touring and the absence loneliness that comes with it". The extensive time spent touring took its toll on the band, and it was on the back of this that Fanning wrote "My Happiness". Thus, he expressed confusion at its being considered a romantic song.
"My Happiness" was attacked by some fans as being "like Lauryn Hill, bland and boring Top 40 bullshit"; guitarist Ian Haug rebutted by pointing out that the song was an example of the new emotional level on which Powderfinger made music, while Fanning was more aggressive in his defence of the song. In response to being dubbed "Mr Miserable" by The Sun-Heralds Peter Holmes for the lyrics of "My Happiness" and "These Days", Fanning pointed out that the songs could be construed either as melancholy, or as part of "the most hopeful record ... in a long time".
Much of Fanning's writing is inspired by non-rock music, and "My Happiness" is no exception. Gospel and soul music that is "unashamedly about love and how good it makes you feel" was common during the Odyssey Number Five recording sessions. Powderfinger worked hard in those sessions to ensure a more polished work than Internationalist; guitarist Darren Middleton concluded that "My Happiness", "The Metre", and "Up & Down & Back Again" were more "complete" because of the band's efforts. The lighter elements of "My Happiness" in comparison to some of the band's earlier work saw Fanning reveal his passion for several other musicians, such as James Taylor—something that "five years ago ... would have been an embarrassing thing to say".
Touring and promotion
"My Happiness" was put on heavy rotation by Los Angeles radio station KROQ-FM two months prior to its United States release, and Powderfinger signed a contract with United States label Republic as a result of the song's early success. Beat journalist Jayson Argall joked the song had received "a bit" of airplay. Although "My Happiness" was subsequently dropped from KROQ's roster, other radio stations continued to give the song high priority.
"My Happiness" peaked at number 23 on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks, making it the first Powderfinger song to appear on a Billboard chart. According to Susan Groves of WHRL, part of the song's success came about because very few people knew of Powderfinger, but were drawn towards "My Happiness" because it was "melodic, [and] pretty"—a change from what she described as "middle of the road rock" popular in the United States. Meanwhile, Australians were "starting to get sick of My Happiness"—Cameron Adams argued in The Hobart Mercury that this was one of the reasons Powderfinger decided to focus on the offshore market.
Powderfinger performed "My Happiness" live on the Late Show with David Letterman while touring North America with British rock group Coldplay. They were the fourth Australian act (after The Living End, Silverchair, and Nick Cave) to play on the show. The band also did free promotional shows leading up to the release of the single. In Europe, "My Happiness" received approximately four weeks of airplay on German music video program Viva II, and the band sold out for three nights in a row in London, partly due to the success of the single.
Release and commercial success
"My Happiness" was released as a single in Australia on 21 August 2000. When asked how they chose the release date, Fanning jokingly said "the release date is timed to coincide with the Olympics, when all the visitors are here ... they can go into HMV and pick it up." At the time of the single's release, the band's previous album, Internationalist, was still in the top 50 on the ARIA Albums Chart, 95 weeks after entering. The single featured B-side "My Kind of Scene", which had already received strong airplay due to its appearance on the Mission: Impossible 2 soundtrack. "My Happiness" appeared on a Triple M compilation entitled Triple M's New Stuff, and on a Kerrang! compilation, Kerrang!2 The Album.
"My Happiness" entered the ARIA singles chart at number four—making it Powderfinger's highest-charting single in Australia—and spent 24 weeks on the chart. It reached number two on the Queensland singles chart, and peaked at number seven on the New Zealand singles chart, on which it spent 23 weeks. In the US, "My Happiness" was serviced to alternative radio on 13 February 2001; it was Powderfinger's first single to chart in the US, reaching number 23 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.
The song won the "Single of the Year" award at the ARIA Awards of 2001, and the 2001 "Song of the Year" APRA Award. Furthermore, "My Happiness" topped the Triple J Hottest 100 chart in 2000, and appeared on that year's CD release. Rolling Stone Australia named "My Happiness" "Song of the Year" in a reader poll. "My Happiness" was the eighth most-played song on Australian radio in 2001.
Critical reception
"My Happiness" was critically acclaimed. Cameron Adams of the Herald Sun wrote that "My Happiness" did not disappoint in the trend of excellent first singles from Powderfinger, citing "Pick You Up" and "The Day You Come" as examples. He praised the song's structure, stating that "the verses almost crash into the chorus". Adams also expressed surprise that "My Kind of Scene" was only released as a B-side. The Newcastle Heralds Chad Watson described a mixture of acoustic and electric guitar and "a restrained yet warmly infectious chorus". Despite praising it as a "Big Rock Anthem™", Richard Jinman of The Sydney Morning Herald complained that "My Happiness" was not as "hummable" as past singles "Passenger" or "These Days". Devon Powers of PopMatters described it, and "Waiting for the Sun", as sounding bored. The Evening Mail agreed; it argued the "rock-lite" song, while sounding lush, failed to "make you really sit up and take notice".
Despite being highly critical of Odyssey Number Five, Allmusic's Dean Carlson labelled it, alongside "Odyssey #5", as one of the album's best songs, for the riff Powderfinger executed "better than most bands of their stature". Adams also enjoyed the song's "wobbly guitar", and Sains Christie Eliszer approved of the "acoustic strumalong", but The Advertisers Michael Duffy said the song was "a familiar piece of yearning guitar indie that is polished but pedestrian"; he reserved his praise for "My Kind of Scene", which he described as akin to the best of Internationalist. Darren Bunting wrote in the Hull Daily Mail that "My Happiness" was the best song on Odyssey Number Five, praising "soaring vocals, heartfelt lyrics and chiming guitar". Entertainment Weeklys Marc Weingarten said that on "My Happiness", "Fanning's heavy heart is tattered by scratching and clawing guitars".
Music video
The music video for "My Happiness" starts at a railway station (Roma Street in Brisbane) with a boy and girl stepping off a train. As the pair leave the train, the boy turns and tries to reach for something, but the girl pulls him back. It is shown that he was reaching for a sentient slinky. The slinky leaves the train, and passes Middleton busking in the train station. The slinky ventures to find the boy, facing a range of challenges along the way; these include avoiding fruit falling on it and riding a skateboard. In the middle of the music clip, the slinky is shown making its way through a music room in which Powderfinger are performing "My Happiness". It rests on the bar and the band finishes playing, while the background music continues. As Powderfinger leaves, the slinky is picked up by Haug. He gets into a car and places the slinky on the car's dashboard, but it falls out the window as the car turns a tight corner. It lands outside the gate of a house and is picked up and brought inside to the boy.
The video was created by Fifty Fifty Films, who created numerous other Powderfinger music videos. It was directed by Chris Applebaum and produced by Keeley Gould of A Band Apart, with editing by Jeff Selis. Cameron Adams of The Courier Mail reported that following the music video's release, slinky sales increased dramatically.
Awards and accolades
Track listings
Australian CD single
"My Happiness" – 4:36
"My Kind of Scene" – 4:37
"Nature Boy" – 3:12
"Odyssey #1" (demo) – 4:09
European CD single
"My Happiness" (edit) – 4:11
"Nature Boy" – 3:38
Personnel
Powderfinger
Bernard Fanning – vocals and tambourine
Darren Middleton – guitars and backing vocals
Ian Haug – guitars
John Collins – bass guitars
Jon Coghill – drums and percussion
Production
Nick DiDia – Producer, engineer and mixer
Matt Voigt – Assistant engineer
Anton Hagop – Assistant engineer
Alex Pertout – Percussion
Stewart Whitmore – Digital editing
Stephen Marcussen – Mastering
Anton Hagop – Assistant producer
Kevin Wilkins – Art direction and photography
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
Powderfinger songs
2000 singles
2000 songs
APRA Award winners
ARIA Award-winning songs
Polydor Records singles
Songs written by Bernard Fanning
Songs written by Jon Coghill
Songs written by John Collins (Australian musician)
Songs written by Ian Haug
Songs written by Darren Middleton
Universal Music Australia singles
| true |
[
"\"Drip Too Hard\" is a song by American rappers Lil Baby and Gunna, released by YSL Records, Quality Control Music, Motown and Capitol Records on September 12, 2018 as the lead single from their collaborative album Drip Harder (2018). It peaked at number four on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming the highest-charting song for Gunna and the third highest-charting song for Lil Baby. The song was nominated for a Grammy at the 2020 Grammy Awards for Best Rap/Sung Performance.\n\nProduction\n\"Drip Too Hard\" was produced by American record producer Turbo, who also served as the executive producer on the duo's mixtape Drip Harder. It features a manipulated loop of a royalty-free guitar sample by Israeli producer J.Views.\n\nMusic video\nThe music video was released on YouTube on October 5, 2018. The video was directed by Spike Jordan.\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nCertifications\n\nReferences\n\n2018 singles\n2018 songs\nGunna (rapper) songs\nLil Baby songs\nSongs written by Lil Baby\nSongs written by Gunna (rapper)\nSongs written by Turbo (record producer)\nSong recordings produced by Turbo (record producer)\nMotown singles\nCapitol Records singles\nTrap music songs",
"\"No Time for Tears\" is a song by English DJ and producer Nathan Dawe and British girl group Little Mix. It was released as a single on 25 November 2020 by Atlantic Records UK and Warner Music UK. The song peaked at number nineteen on the UK Singles Chart, and number fifteen in Ireland and Malta. The song later was included on the expanded edition of Little Mix's sixth studio album Confetti (2020). It was later certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). The song was the last single that Little Mix released as a quartet, before Jesy Nelson’s departure from the group in December 2020.\n\nBackground and composition\nThe song was announced on 23 November 2020 on both Dawe's and Little Mix's social media accounts. The song was written by Jade Thirlwall, Nathan Dawe, Tre Jean-Marie and MNEK.\n\nMusic video\nThe music video was announced on 13 January.\nThe video was released on 15 January.\n\nPromotion\nA lyric video for the song was released on 28 November 2020 on Dawe's official YouTube channel. Physical copies of the song went available for pre-order on 17 December 2020 on Nathan Dawe's official wesite and were released on 22 January 2021. A remix of the song by HUGEL was released on 31 December 2020. The next day, 1 January 2021, an acoustic version was released. On 22 January, a remix of the song by Mark Knight was released. A VIP remix was released on 5 February 2021, and a remix featuring British rapper Lady Leshurr was released on 4 March 2021.\n\nTrack listing \nDigital single\n\"No Time for Tears\" – 3:16\n\nDigital download/streaming\n\"No Time for Tears\" (HUGEL remix) – 3:08\n\nDigital download/streaming\n\"No Time for Tears\" (acoustic) – 3:25\n\nDigital download/streaming\n\"No Time for Tears\" (Mark Knight remix) – 3:25\n\nDigital download/streaming\n\"No Time for Tears\" (VIP remix) – 3:06\n\nDigital download/streaming\n\"No Time for Tears\" (Lady Leshurr remix) – 3:16\n\nMaxi single (CD single/cassette single) \n\"No Time for Tears\" – 3:20\n\"No Time for Tears\" (acoustic) – 3:25\n\"No Time for Tears\" (HUGEL remix) – 3:08\n\nCredits and personnel\nCredits adapted from Tidal and maxi single liners.\n\nRecording locations\n\nRAK Studios, London (UK)\nMetropolis, London (UK)\nStardelta Audio Mastering, Devon (UK)\n\nPersonnel\n\n Nathan Dawe – producer\n Little Mix – vocals\n Tre Jean-Marie – producer, bass, drums, mixer, piano, programmer, strings, synthesizer, vocal producer\n Uzoechi Emenike – vocal producer\n Niamh Murphy – backing vocals\n Paul Norris – vocal engineer\n Lewis Hopkin – mastering\n\nCharts\n\nCertifications\n\nRelease history\n\nReferences\n\n2020 singles\n2020 songs\nNathan Dawe songs\nLittle Mix songs\nSongs written by MNEK\nSongs written by Tre Jean-Marie"
] |
[
"My Happiness (Powderfinger song)",
"Production and content",
"Who was the producer for the song ?",
"The lyrics for \"My Happiness\" were written by Bernard Fanning, Powderfinger's lead singer and songwriter. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track."
] |
C_3b5f24445aa248aaa4fe3c82fbf944a0_1
|
What was the inspiration for the song ?
| 2 |
What was the inspiration for My Happiness?
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My Happiness (Powderfinger song)
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If you can't cop a bit of emotional stuff then you should go and get the lamp shade extracted from your arse. If you don't think there is enough rock in your life then let me know and I will personally come around to your house and chuck stones at you. --Bernard FanningIn response to "My Happiness" being described by fans as "like Lauryn Hill, bland and boring Top 40 bullshit". The lyrics for "My Happiness" were written by Bernard Fanning, Powderfinger's lead singer and songwriter. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track. The song describes feelings of love and separation; Sain's Pennie Dennison said it described "the pining feeling you experience when you spend time away from the one you love". Fanning called it "a sad story of touring and the absence loneliness that comes with it". The extensive time spent touring took its toll on the band, and it was on the back of this that Fanning wrote "My Happiness". Thus, he expressed confusion at its being considered a romantic song. "My Happiness" was attacked by some fans as being "like Lauryn Hill, bland and boring Top 40 bullshit"; guitarist Ian Haug rebutted by pointing out that the song was an example of the new emotional level on which Powderfinger made music, while Fanning was more aggressive in his defence of the song. In response to being dubbed "Mr Miserable" by The Sun-Herald's Peter Holmes for the lyrics of "My Happiness" and "These Days", Fanning pointed out that the songs could be construed either as melancholy, or as part of "the most hopeful record ... in a long time". Much of Fanning's writing is inspired by non-rock music, and "My Happiness" is no exception. Gospel and soul music that is "unashamedly about love and how good it makes you feel" was common during the Odyssey Number Five recording sessions. Powderfinger worked hard in those sessions to ensure a more polished work than Internationalist; guitarist Darren Middleton concluded that "My Happiness", "The Metre", and "Up & Down & Back Again" were more "complete" because of the band's efforts. The lighter elements of "My Happiness" in comparison to some of the band's earlier work saw Fanning reveal his passion for several other musicians, such as James Taylor--something that "five years ago ... would have been an embarrassing thing to say". CANNOTANSWER
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The song describes feelings of love and separation;
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"My Happiness" is a song by Australian rock band Powderfinger. It was released via record label Universal Music Australia on 21 August 2000 as the first single from the band's fourth album, Odyssey Number Five. Powderfinger frontman Bernard Fanning wrote the lyrics for "My Happiness" as a reflection on the time the band spent touring to promote their work, and the loneliness that came as a result. It was inspired by his love of gospel and soul music. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track. Despite its melancholy mood, "My Happiness" is considered by many to be a love song, a suggestion Fanning regards as mystifying.
The single is Powderfinger's most successful; it peaked at number four on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, number seven on the New Zealand Singles Chart, and number 23 on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart—the first Powderfinger song to do so. In June 2020, the song was certified 5x Platinum in Australia. It won an ARIA Award and an APRA Award and topped the Triple J Hottest 100 in 2000 as well as coming 27th in the Triple J Hottest 100 of All Time in 2009. "My Happiness" was highly praised by critics, with even negative reviews of Odyssey Number Five noting it as a highlight, especially for its catchy chorus. One of the highlights of Powderfinger's United States tour with Coldplay was a performance of "My Happiness" on the Late Show with David Letterman; they were only the fourth Australian act to appear on the show.
In January 2018, as part of Triple M's "Ozzest 100", the 'most Australian' songs of all time, "My Happiness" was ranked number 31.
Production and content
The lyrics for "My Happiness" were written by Bernard Fanning, Powderfinger's lead singer and songwriter. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track. The song describes feelings of love and separation; Sains Pennie Dennison said it described "the pining feeling you experience when you spend time away from the one you love". Fanning called it "a sad story of touring and the absence loneliness that comes with it". The extensive time spent touring took its toll on the band, and it was on the back of this that Fanning wrote "My Happiness". Thus, he expressed confusion at its being considered a romantic song.
"My Happiness" was attacked by some fans as being "like Lauryn Hill, bland and boring Top 40 bullshit"; guitarist Ian Haug rebutted by pointing out that the song was an example of the new emotional level on which Powderfinger made music, while Fanning was more aggressive in his defence of the song. In response to being dubbed "Mr Miserable" by The Sun-Heralds Peter Holmes for the lyrics of "My Happiness" and "These Days", Fanning pointed out that the songs could be construed either as melancholy, or as part of "the most hopeful record ... in a long time".
Much of Fanning's writing is inspired by non-rock music, and "My Happiness" is no exception. Gospel and soul music that is "unashamedly about love and how good it makes you feel" was common during the Odyssey Number Five recording sessions. Powderfinger worked hard in those sessions to ensure a more polished work than Internationalist; guitarist Darren Middleton concluded that "My Happiness", "The Metre", and "Up & Down & Back Again" were more "complete" because of the band's efforts. The lighter elements of "My Happiness" in comparison to some of the band's earlier work saw Fanning reveal his passion for several other musicians, such as James Taylor—something that "five years ago ... would have been an embarrassing thing to say".
Touring and promotion
"My Happiness" was put on heavy rotation by Los Angeles radio station KROQ-FM two months prior to its United States release, and Powderfinger signed a contract with United States label Republic as a result of the song's early success. Beat journalist Jayson Argall joked the song had received "a bit" of airplay. Although "My Happiness" was subsequently dropped from KROQ's roster, other radio stations continued to give the song high priority.
"My Happiness" peaked at number 23 on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks, making it the first Powderfinger song to appear on a Billboard chart. According to Susan Groves of WHRL, part of the song's success came about because very few people knew of Powderfinger, but were drawn towards "My Happiness" because it was "melodic, [and] pretty"—a change from what she described as "middle of the road rock" popular in the United States. Meanwhile, Australians were "starting to get sick of My Happiness"—Cameron Adams argued in The Hobart Mercury that this was one of the reasons Powderfinger decided to focus on the offshore market.
Powderfinger performed "My Happiness" live on the Late Show with David Letterman while touring North America with British rock group Coldplay. They were the fourth Australian act (after The Living End, Silverchair, and Nick Cave) to play on the show. The band also did free promotional shows leading up to the release of the single. In Europe, "My Happiness" received approximately four weeks of airplay on German music video program Viva II, and the band sold out for three nights in a row in London, partly due to the success of the single.
Release and commercial success
"My Happiness" was released as a single in Australia on 21 August 2000. When asked how they chose the release date, Fanning jokingly said "the release date is timed to coincide with the Olympics, when all the visitors are here ... they can go into HMV and pick it up." At the time of the single's release, the band's previous album, Internationalist, was still in the top 50 on the ARIA Albums Chart, 95 weeks after entering. The single featured B-side "My Kind of Scene", which had already received strong airplay due to its appearance on the Mission: Impossible 2 soundtrack. "My Happiness" appeared on a Triple M compilation entitled Triple M's New Stuff, and on a Kerrang! compilation, Kerrang!2 The Album.
"My Happiness" entered the ARIA singles chart at number four—making it Powderfinger's highest-charting single in Australia—and spent 24 weeks on the chart. It reached number two on the Queensland singles chart, and peaked at number seven on the New Zealand singles chart, on which it spent 23 weeks. In the US, "My Happiness" was serviced to alternative radio on 13 February 2001; it was Powderfinger's first single to chart in the US, reaching number 23 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.
The song won the "Single of the Year" award at the ARIA Awards of 2001, and the 2001 "Song of the Year" APRA Award. Furthermore, "My Happiness" topped the Triple J Hottest 100 chart in 2000, and appeared on that year's CD release. Rolling Stone Australia named "My Happiness" "Song of the Year" in a reader poll. "My Happiness" was the eighth most-played song on Australian radio in 2001.
Critical reception
"My Happiness" was critically acclaimed. Cameron Adams of the Herald Sun wrote that "My Happiness" did not disappoint in the trend of excellent first singles from Powderfinger, citing "Pick You Up" and "The Day You Come" as examples. He praised the song's structure, stating that "the verses almost crash into the chorus". Adams also expressed surprise that "My Kind of Scene" was only released as a B-side. The Newcastle Heralds Chad Watson described a mixture of acoustic and electric guitar and "a restrained yet warmly infectious chorus". Despite praising it as a "Big Rock Anthem™", Richard Jinman of The Sydney Morning Herald complained that "My Happiness" was not as "hummable" as past singles "Passenger" or "These Days". Devon Powers of PopMatters described it, and "Waiting for the Sun", as sounding bored. The Evening Mail agreed; it argued the "rock-lite" song, while sounding lush, failed to "make you really sit up and take notice".
Despite being highly critical of Odyssey Number Five, Allmusic's Dean Carlson labelled it, alongside "Odyssey #5", as one of the album's best songs, for the riff Powderfinger executed "better than most bands of their stature". Adams also enjoyed the song's "wobbly guitar", and Sains Christie Eliszer approved of the "acoustic strumalong", but The Advertisers Michael Duffy said the song was "a familiar piece of yearning guitar indie that is polished but pedestrian"; he reserved his praise for "My Kind of Scene", which he described as akin to the best of Internationalist. Darren Bunting wrote in the Hull Daily Mail that "My Happiness" was the best song on Odyssey Number Five, praising "soaring vocals, heartfelt lyrics and chiming guitar". Entertainment Weeklys Marc Weingarten said that on "My Happiness", "Fanning's heavy heart is tattered by scratching and clawing guitars".
Music video
The music video for "My Happiness" starts at a railway station (Roma Street in Brisbane) with a boy and girl stepping off a train. As the pair leave the train, the boy turns and tries to reach for something, but the girl pulls him back. It is shown that he was reaching for a sentient slinky. The slinky leaves the train, and passes Middleton busking in the train station. The slinky ventures to find the boy, facing a range of challenges along the way; these include avoiding fruit falling on it and riding a skateboard. In the middle of the music clip, the slinky is shown making its way through a music room in which Powderfinger are performing "My Happiness". It rests on the bar and the band finishes playing, while the background music continues. As Powderfinger leaves, the slinky is picked up by Haug. He gets into a car and places the slinky on the car's dashboard, but it falls out the window as the car turns a tight corner. It lands outside the gate of a house and is picked up and brought inside to the boy.
The video was created by Fifty Fifty Films, who created numerous other Powderfinger music videos. It was directed by Chris Applebaum and produced by Keeley Gould of A Band Apart, with editing by Jeff Selis. Cameron Adams of The Courier Mail reported that following the music video's release, slinky sales increased dramatically.
Awards and accolades
Track listings
Australian CD single
"My Happiness" – 4:36
"My Kind of Scene" – 4:37
"Nature Boy" – 3:12
"Odyssey #1" (demo) – 4:09
European CD single
"My Happiness" (edit) – 4:11
"Nature Boy" – 3:38
Personnel
Powderfinger
Bernard Fanning – vocals and tambourine
Darren Middleton – guitars and backing vocals
Ian Haug – guitars
John Collins – bass guitars
Jon Coghill – drums and percussion
Production
Nick DiDia – Producer, engineer and mixer
Matt Voigt – Assistant engineer
Anton Hagop – Assistant engineer
Alex Pertout – Percussion
Stewart Whitmore – Digital editing
Stephen Marcussen – Mastering
Anton Hagop – Assistant producer
Kevin Wilkins – Art direction and photography
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
Powderfinger songs
2000 singles
2000 songs
APRA Award winners
ARIA Award-winning songs
Polydor Records singles
Songs written by Bernard Fanning
Songs written by Jon Coghill
Songs written by John Collins (Australian musician)
Songs written by Ian Haug
Songs written by Darren Middleton
Universal Music Australia singles
| true |
[
"Sweet Inspiration is the title of a Dan Penn/ Spooner Oldham composition written for and first recorded in 1967 by the Sweet Inspirations for whom it had afforded a Top 20 hit reaching #18 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the spring of 1968: a live version by Barbra Streisand - in medley with \"Where You Lead\" - would also become a Top 40 hit.\n\nBackground\nThe song was recorded in April 1967 at American Sound Studio in Memphis in the sessions for the Sweet Inspiration's self-titled debut album produced by Tommy Cogbill and Tom Dowd. Spooner Oldham and Dan Penn had observed the recording session for two tracks intended for The Sweet Inspirations album, which moved Oldham to suggest to Penn that they two could write a stronger song for the group - (Oldham quote:) \"As we walked [from the studio] up the steps to [the company's] offices, Dan said: 'You got any ideas?' I said: 'What's wrong with 'Sweet Inspiration'?\" Working with a single guitar Oldham and Penn wrote \"Sweet Inspiration\" in between an hour to ninety minutes upstairs, then returned to the studio and ran through the song for the Sweet Inspirations and the other session personnel, Penn singing the song to Oldham's guitar accompaniment. Although Tom Dowd called for a lunch break (Dan Penn quote:) \"Spooner had [the opening rolling guitar] lick down so good the musicians wouldn't go eat...They knew by what was happening we could [immediately] cut [the track]\" which was completed in a single take: Dowd and his coterie on returning to the studio from their lunch break were played the completed track of \"Sweet Inspiration\" - (Oldham quote:) \"We basically gave 'em a gift. It was fun to see a creative idea come to fruition in about three hours time.\"\n\nIssued as the fourth single from The Sweet Inspirations album, \"Sweet Inspiration\" reached a Billboard Hot 100 peak of #18 in the spring of 1968 also ranking as high as #5 on Billboard'''s R&B chart.\n\nBarbra Streisand versionMain article:Sweet Inspiration/ Where You Lead live medley \nBarbra Streisand would reach #37 on the Billboard Hot 100 with her 1972 single \"Sweet Inspiration/ Where You Lead\" a medley of \"Sweet Inspiration\" with \"Where You Lead\" which was the advance single from Streisand's live album Live Concert at the Forum.\n\nOther versions\nThe first evident recorded \"cover\" of \"Sweet Inspiration\" was that by Diana Ross and The Supremes in collaboration with The Temptations on Diana Ross and The Supremes Join The Temptations a collaborative album by the two groups released November 1968 for which \"Sweet Inspiration\" was recorded with Diana Ross and Eddie Kendricks as lead vocalists.\n\nKing Curtis recorded the song on his 1968 album Sweet Soul\n\nWilson Pickett recorded \"Sweet Inspiration\" for his March 1970 album release Right On, Picket having recorded \"Sweet Inspiration\" in a 29 August 1969 session at Criteria Studios (Miami) produced by Dave Crawford, which yielded five album tracks. \n\nIn the autumn and winter of 1975-76 the Yandall Sisters would have a Top 40 hit in New Zealand with their remake of \"Sweet Inspiration\" which would peak at #8 on 31 October 1975.\n\nRita Coolidge recorded \"Sweet Inspiration\" for her May 1978 album release Love Me Again.\n\nIn 1989 Dutch female quartet Sisters would have reach #58 on the Nederlands Single Top 100 with their remake of \"Sweet Inspiration\" taken from the group's album Near Me.\n\nVonda Shepard recorded \"Sweet Inspiration\" for her 9 November 1999 album release Heart and Soul: New Songs from Ally McBeal.\n\nJackie DeShannon recorded \"Sweet Inspiration\" in a 2 December 1970 session at Capitol Recording Studio (Hollywood): the track was first issued as a bonus track on the 2006 CD release of DeShannon's 1971 album Songs''. \n\nThe Derek Trucks Band on their 2009 release, Already Free, did a cover of Sweet Inspiration, creating a blues version of the song.\n\nThe song has been sampled by Ice Cube in his 1992 track \"Check Yo Self\" and by Salt-n-Pepa on 1993's \"Shoop\".\n\nReferences\n\n1967 songs\nSongs written by Dan Penn\nSongs written by Spooner Oldham\nSweet Inspirations songs",
"\"I Will Wait\" is a song by American singer and songwriter Nick Carter. The song was released in U.S and Canada as a digital download on September 12, 2015. It was the first single from his third solo album All American.\n\nBackground\n\"When I wrote the song, I think we wrote it with the intention going back to what the Backstreet Boys and what we were known for, which is love songs. As a writer and an artist, sometimes as your career goes on, you try to make points, and you try to be overly creative.\" Nick Carter said, \"I just wanted to go back to the basics, and tap into what our fans knew us for.\" He also claimed this song was inspired by Ed Sheeran's songwriting.\n\nMusic video\nThe music video for \"I Will Wait\" was filmed and released on YouTube and Vevo on September 22, 2015. Nick stated that the inspiration of the video was based on The Notebook.\n\nLive performance\nOn November 24, Carter first performed the song on the finale of Dancing with the Stars, where he was one of the four finalists. After the promotion, the song climbed to Top 100 on iTunes but dropped out of the chart sooner.\n\nTrack listing\n\nCharts\n\nRelease history\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n \n \n\n2015 singles\n2015 songs\nSongs written by Nick Carter (musician)\nSongs written by Dan Muckala"
] |
[
"My Happiness (Powderfinger song)",
"Production and content",
"Who was the producer for the song ?",
"The lyrics for \"My Happiness\" were written by Bernard Fanning, Powderfinger's lead singer and songwriter. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track.",
"What was the inspiration for the song ?",
"The song describes feelings of love and separation;"
] |
C_3b5f24445aa248aaa4fe3c82fbf944a0_1
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What is related to a specific event ?
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What in My Happiness is related to a specific event ?
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My Happiness (Powderfinger song)
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If you can't cop a bit of emotional stuff then you should go and get the lamp shade extracted from your arse. If you don't think there is enough rock in your life then let me know and I will personally come around to your house and chuck stones at you. --Bernard FanningIn response to "My Happiness" being described by fans as "like Lauryn Hill, bland and boring Top 40 bullshit". The lyrics for "My Happiness" were written by Bernard Fanning, Powderfinger's lead singer and songwriter. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track. The song describes feelings of love and separation; Sain's Pennie Dennison said it described "the pining feeling you experience when you spend time away from the one you love". Fanning called it "a sad story of touring and the absence loneliness that comes with it". The extensive time spent touring took its toll on the band, and it was on the back of this that Fanning wrote "My Happiness". Thus, he expressed confusion at its being considered a romantic song. "My Happiness" was attacked by some fans as being "like Lauryn Hill, bland and boring Top 40 bullshit"; guitarist Ian Haug rebutted by pointing out that the song was an example of the new emotional level on which Powderfinger made music, while Fanning was more aggressive in his defence of the song. In response to being dubbed "Mr Miserable" by The Sun-Herald's Peter Holmes for the lyrics of "My Happiness" and "These Days", Fanning pointed out that the songs could be construed either as melancholy, or as part of "the most hopeful record ... in a long time". Much of Fanning's writing is inspired by non-rock music, and "My Happiness" is no exception. Gospel and soul music that is "unashamedly about love and how good it makes you feel" was common during the Odyssey Number Five recording sessions. Powderfinger worked hard in those sessions to ensure a more polished work than Internationalist; guitarist Darren Middleton concluded that "My Happiness", "The Metre", and "Up & Down & Back Again" were more "complete" because of the band's efforts. The lighter elements of "My Happiness" in comparison to some of the band's earlier work saw Fanning reveal his passion for several other musicians, such as James Taylor--something that "five years ago ... would have been an embarrassing thing to say". CANNOTANSWER
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The extensive time spent touring took its toll on the band, and it was on the back of this that Fanning wrote "My Happiness".
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"My Happiness" is a song by Australian rock band Powderfinger. It was released via record label Universal Music Australia on 21 August 2000 as the first single from the band's fourth album, Odyssey Number Five. Powderfinger frontman Bernard Fanning wrote the lyrics for "My Happiness" as a reflection on the time the band spent touring to promote their work, and the loneliness that came as a result. It was inspired by his love of gospel and soul music. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track. Despite its melancholy mood, "My Happiness" is considered by many to be a love song, a suggestion Fanning regards as mystifying.
The single is Powderfinger's most successful; it peaked at number four on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, number seven on the New Zealand Singles Chart, and number 23 on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart—the first Powderfinger song to do so. In June 2020, the song was certified 5x Platinum in Australia. It won an ARIA Award and an APRA Award and topped the Triple J Hottest 100 in 2000 as well as coming 27th in the Triple J Hottest 100 of All Time in 2009. "My Happiness" was highly praised by critics, with even negative reviews of Odyssey Number Five noting it as a highlight, especially for its catchy chorus. One of the highlights of Powderfinger's United States tour with Coldplay was a performance of "My Happiness" on the Late Show with David Letterman; they were only the fourth Australian act to appear on the show.
In January 2018, as part of Triple M's "Ozzest 100", the 'most Australian' songs of all time, "My Happiness" was ranked number 31.
Production and content
The lyrics for "My Happiness" were written by Bernard Fanning, Powderfinger's lead singer and songwriter. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track. The song describes feelings of love and separation; Sains Pennie Dennison said it described "the pining feeling you experience when you spend time away from the one you love". Fanning called it "a sad story of touring and the absence loneliness that comes with it". The extensive time spent touring took its toll on the band, and it was on the back of this that Fanning wrote "My Happiness". Thus, he expressed confusion at its being considered a romantic song.
"My Happiness" was attacked by some fans as being "like Lauryn Hill, bland and boring Top 40 bullshit"; guitarist Ian Haug rebutted by pointing out that the song was an example of the new emotional level on which Powderfinger made music, while Fanning was more aggressive in his defence of the song. In response to being dubbed "Mr Miserable" by The Sun-Heralds Peter Holmes for the lyrics of "My Happiness" and "These Days", Fanning pointed out that the songs could be construed either as melancholy, or as part of "the most hopeful record ... in a long time".
Much of Fanning's writing is inspired by non-rock music, and "My Happiness" is no exception. Gospel and soul music that is "unashamedly about love and how good it makes you feel" was common during the Odyssey Number Five recording sessions. Powderfinger worked hard in those sessions to ensure a more polished work than Internationalist; guitarist Darren Middleton concluded that "My Happiness", "The Metre", and "Up & Down & Back Again" were more "complete" because of the band's efforts. The lighter elements of "My Happiness" in comparison to some of the band's earlier work saw Fanning reveal his passion for several other musicians, such as James Taylor—something that "five years ago ... would have been an embarrassing thing to say".
Touring and promotion
"My Happiness" was put on heavy rotation by Los Angeles radio station KROQ-FM two months prior to its United States release, and Powderfinger signed a contract with United States label Republic as a result of the song's early success. Beat journalist Jayson Argall joked the song had received "a bit" of airplay. Although "My Happiness" was subsequently dropped from KROQ's roster, other radio stations continued to give the song high priority.
"My Happiness" peaked at number 23 on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks, making it the first Powderfinger song to appear on a Billboard chart. According to Susan Groves of WHRL, part of the song's success came about because very few people knew of Powderfinger, but were drawn towards "My Happiness" because it was "melodic, [and] pretty"—a change from what she described as "middle of the road rock" popular in the United States. Meanwhile, Australians were "starting to get sick of My Happiness"—Cameron Adams argued in The Hobart Mercury that this was one of the reasons Powderfinger decided to focus on the offshore market.
Powderfinger performed "My Happiness" live on the Late Show with David Letterman while touring North America with British rock group Coldplay. They were the fourth Australian act (after The Living End, Silverchair, and Nick Cave) to play on the show. The band also did free promotional shows leading up to the release of the single. In Europe, "My Happiness" received approximately four weeks of airplay on German music video program Viva II, and the band sold out for three nights in a row in London, partly due to the success of the single.
Release and commercial success
"My Happiness" was released as a single in Australia on 21 August 2000. When asked how they chose the release date, Fanning jokingly said "the release date is timed to coincide with the Olympics, when all the visitors are here ... they can go into HMV and pick it up." At the time of the single's release, the band's previous album, Internationalist, was still in the top 50 on the ARIA Albums Chart, 95 weeks after entering. The single featured B-side "My Kind of Scene", which had already received strong airplay due to its appearance on the Mission: Impossible 2 soundtrack. "My Happiness" appeared on a Triple M compilation entitled Triple M's New Stuff, and on a Kerrang! compilation, Kerrang!2 The Album.
"My Happiness" entered the ARIA singles chart at number four—making it Powderfinger's highest-charting single in Australia—and spent 24 weeks on the chart. It reached number two on the Queensland singles chart, and peaked at number seven on the New Zealand singles chart, on which it spent 23 weeks. In the US, "My Happiness" was serviced to alternative radio on 13 February 2001; it was Powderfinger's first single to chart in the US, reaching number 23 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.
The song won the "Single of the Year" award at the ARIA Awards of 2001, and the 2001 "Song of the Year" APRA Award. Furthermore, "My Happiness" topped the Triple J Hottest 100 chart in 2000, and appeared on that year's CD release. Rolling Stone Australia named "My Happiness" "Song of the Year" in a reader poll. "My Happiness" was the eighth most-played song on Australian radio in 2001.
Critical reception
"My Happiness" was critically acclaimed. Cameron Adams of the Herald Sun wrote that "My Happiness" did not disappoint in the trend of excellent first singles from Powderfinger, citing "Pick You Up" and "The Day You Come" as examples. He praised the song's structure, stating that "the verses almost crash into the chorus". Adams also expressed surprise that "My Kind of Scene" was only released as a B-side. The Newcastle Heralds Chad Watson described a mixture of acoustic and electric guitar and "a restrained yet warmly infectious chorus". Despite praising it as a "Big Rock Anthem™", Richard Jinman of The Sydney Morning Herald complained that "My Happiness" was not as "hummable" as past singles "Passenger" or "These Days". Devon Powers of PopMatters described it, and "Waiting for the Sun", as sounding bored. The Evening Mail agreed; it argued the "rock-lite" song, while sounding lush, failed to "make you really sit up and take notice".
Despite being highly critical of Odyssey Number Five, Allmusic's Dean Carlson labelled it, alongside "Odyssey #5", as one of the album's best songs, for the riff Powderfinger executed "better than most bands of their stature". Adams also enjoyed the song's "wobbly guitar", and Sains Christie Eliszer approved of the "acoustic strumalong", but The Advertisers Michael Duffy said the song was "a familiar piece of yearning guitar indie that is polished but pedestrian"; he reserved his praise for "My Kind of Scene", which he described as akin to the best of Internationalist. Darren Bunting wrote in the Hull Daily Mail that "My Happiness" was the best song on Odyssey Number Five, praising "soaring vocals, heartfelt lyrics and chiming guitar". Entertainment Weeklys Marc Weingarten said that on "My Happiness", "Fanning's heavy heart is tattered by scratching and clawing guitars".
Music video
The music video for "My Happiness" starts at a railway station (Roma Street in Brisbane) with a boy and girl stepping off a train. As the pair leave the train, the boy turns and tries to reach for something, but the girl pulls him back. It is shown that he was reaching for a sentient slinky. The slinky leaves the train, and passes Middleton busking in the train station. The slinky ventures to find the boy, facing a range of challenges along the way; these include avoiding fruit falling on it and riding a skateboard. In the middle of the music clip, the slinky is shown making its way through a music room in which Powderfinger are performing "My Happiness". It rests on the bar and the band finishes playing, while the background music continues. As Powderfinger leaves, the slinky is picked up by Haug. He gets into a car and places the slinky on the car's dashboard, but it falls out the window as the car turns a tight corner. It lands outside the gate of a house and is picked up and brought inside to the boy.
The video was created by Fifty Fifty Films, who created numerous other Powderfinger music videos. It was directed by Chris Applebaum and produced by Keeley Gould of A Band Apart, with editing by Jeff Selis. Cameron Adams of The Courier Mail reported that following the music video's release, slinky sales increased dramatically.
Awards and accolades
Track listings
Australian CD single
"My Happiness" – 4:36
"My Kind of Scene" – 4:37
"Nature Boy" – 3:12
"Odyssey #1" (demo) – 4:09
European CD single
"My Happiness" (edit) – 4:11
"Nature Boy" – 3:38
Personnel
Powderfinger
Bernard Fanning – vocals and tambourine
Darren Middleton – guitars and backing vocals
Ian Haug – guitars
John Collins – bass guitars
Jon Coghill – drums and percussion
Production
Nick DiDia – Producer, engineer and mixer
Matt Voigt – Assistant engineer
Anton Hagop – Assistant engineer
Alex Pertout – Percussion
Stewart Whitmore – Digital editing
Stephen Marcussen – Mastering
Anton Hagop – Assistant producer
Kevin Wilkins – Art direction and photography
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
Powderfinger songs
2000 singles
2000 songs
APRA Award winners
ARIA Award-winning songs
Polydor Records singles
Songs written by Bernard Fanning
Songs written by Jon Coghill
Songs written by John Collins (Australian musician)
Songs written by Ian Haug
Songs written by Darren Middleton
Universal Music Australia singles
| true |
[
"Events of National Historic Significance (also called National Historic Events) () are events that have been designated by Canada's Minister of the Environment, on the advice of the national Historic Sites and Monuments Board, as being defining actions, episodes, movements or experiences in Canadian history. To be designated, an event must have occurred at least 40 years previous; events that continue into the more recent past are evaluated on the basis of what occurred at least 40 years ago. As of October 2018, there were 485 designated Events of National Historic Significance.\n\nThere are related federal designations for National Historic Sites and National Historic Persons. Events, Sites, and Persons are each typically marked by a federal plaque, but the markers do not indicate which designation a subject has been given. The Welland Canal is an Event, while the Rideau Canal is a Site. The cairn and plaque to John Macdonell does not refer to a National Historic Person, but is erected because his home, Glengarry House, is a National Historic Site. Similarly, the plaque to John Guy officially marks not a Person, but an Event—the Landing of John Guy.\n\nEvents have been designated in all 10 provinces and three territories, as well as foreign countries: Belgium, China, France, Italy, Netherlands, South Korea, United Kingdom, United States.\n\nList \n, there were 495 National Historic Events. The \"Location\" column identifies the place where an event happened or, in the case of widespread or non-specific locations, marks the place where a federal plaque to the event is located or is likely to be located, if known.\n\nSee also\n \nNational Historic Sites\nNational Historic Persons\nHeritage Minutes\nList of years in Canada\n\nReferences",
"The PLISSIT model, also known as the PLISSIT model of sex therapy, is a modeling system used in the field of sexology to determine the different levels of intervention for individual clients. The model was created in 1976 by Jack S. Annon. The letters of the name refer to the four different levels of intervention that a sexologist can apply: permission (P), limited information (LI), specific suggestions (SS), and intensive therapy (IT). The model is also used outside the field of sexology, especially in fields involving extensive or life-threatening surgery.\n\nStructure\nThe model created by Annon has four levels of increasing intervention and interaction related to what kind of and how much help is given to a client. The varying levels largely revolve around what the client is looking for and how comfortable they are in discussing sexuality and sexual health. \n\nThe first level is permission, which involves the sexologist giving the client permission to feel comfortable about a topic or permission to change their lifestyle or to get medical assistance. This level was created because many clients only require the permission to speak and voice their concerns about sexual issues in order to understand and move past them, often without needing the other levels of the model. The sexologist, in acting as a receptive, nonjudgmental listening partner, allows the client to discuss matters that would otherwise be too embarrassing for the individual to discuss.\n\nThe second level is limited information, wherein the client is supplied with limited and specific information on the topics of discussion. Because there is a significant amount of information available, sexologists must learn what sexual topics the client wishes to discuss, so that information, organizations, and support groups for those specific subjects can be provided. \n\nThe third level is specific suggestions, where the sexologist gives the client suggestions related to the specific situations and assignments to do in order to help the client fix the mental or health problem. This can include suggestions on how to deal with sex related diseases or information on how to better achieve sexual satisfaction by the client changing their sexual behavior. The suggestions may be as simple as recommending exercise or can involve specific regimens of activity or medications.\n\nThe fourth and final level is intensive therapy, which has the sexologist refer the client to other mental and medical health professionals that can help the client deal with the deeper, underlying issues and concerns being expressed. This level, with the onset of the internet age, may also refer to a sexologist suggesting professional online resources for the client to browse about their specific issue in a more private setting.\n\nEX-PLISSIT model\nThe PLISSIT model was extended in 2006 by Sally Davis and Bridget Taylor because of concerns that practitioners often bypass permission-giving and go straight to providing information (sometimes merely in the form of a leaflet), without giving patients the opportunity to express any concerns they might have. The extended model, named the EX-PLISSIT model, places permission-giving at the core. By giving people explicit permission to discuss any concerns they have about their sexuality, the healthcare professional affirms the individual as a sexual being. Any information or suggestions that follow, are then specific to the needs of that person.\n\nThe EX-PLISSIT model also requires further permission-giving in the form of 'review', whereby the healthcare professional asks the patient to review the interaction and is given the opportunity to express any further worries or concerns. In addition, this model requires the professional to reflect on their interactions, challenging assumptions and extending their knowledge.\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading\n Annon, Jack S. (1975) The Behavioral Treatment of Sexual Problems. Vol 1: Brief Therapy. Harper & Row\n Annon, Jack S. (1976) The Behavioral Treatment of Sexual Problems Vol. 2: Intensive Therapy. Harper & Row\n\nCounseling\nHuman sexuality\nSex therapy"
] |
[
"My Happiness (Powderfinger song)",
"Production and content",
"Who was the producer for the song ?",
"The lyrics for \"My Happiness\" were written by Bernard Fanning, Powderfinger's lead singer and songwriter. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track.",
"What was the inspiration for the song ?",
"The song describes feelings of love and separation;",
"What is related to a specific event ?",
"The extensive time spent touring took its toll on the band, and it was on the back of this that Fanning wrote \"My Happiness\"."
] |
C_3b5f24445aa248aaa4fe3c82fbf944a0_1
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When the song was recorded ?
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When My Happiness was recorded ?
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My Happiness (Powderfinger song)
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If you can't cop a bit of emotional stuff then you should go and get the lamp shade extracted from your arse. If you don't think there is enough rock in your life then let me know and I will personally come around to your house and chuck stones at you. --Bernard FanningIn response to "My Happiness" being described by fans as "like Lauryn Hill, bland and boring Top 40 bullshit". The lyrics for "My Happiness" were written by Bernard Fanning, Powderfinger's lead singer and songwriter. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track. The song describes feelings of love and separation; Sain's Pennie Dennison said it described "the pining feeling you experience when you spend time away from the one you love". Fanning called it "a sad story of touring and the absence loneliness that comes with it". The extensive time spent touring took its toll on the band, and it was on the back of this that Fanning wrote "My Happiness". Thus, he expressed confusion at its being considered a romantic song. "My Happiness" was attacked by some fans as being "like Lauryn Hill, bland and boring Top 40 bullshit"; guitarist Ian Haug rebutted by pointing out that the song was an example of the new emotional level on which Powderfinger made music, while Fanning was more aggressive in his defence of the song. In response to being dubbed "Mr Miserable" by The Sun-Herald's Peter Holmes for the lyrics of "My Happiness" and "These Days", Fanning pointed out that the songs could be construed either as melancholy, or as part of "the most hopeful record ... in a long time". Much of Fanning's writing is inspired by non-rock music, and "My Happiness" is no exception. Gospel and soul music that is "unashamedly about love and how good it makes you feel" was common during the Odyssey Number Five recording sessions. Powderfinger worked hard in those sessions to ensure a more polished work than Internationalist; guitarist Darren Middleton concluded that "My Happiness", "The Metre", and "Up & Down & Back Again" were more "complete" because of the band's efforts. The lighter elements of "My Happiness" in comparison to some of the band's earlier work saw Fanning reveal his passion for several other musicians, such as James Taylor--something that "five years ago ... would have been an embarrassing thing to say". CANNOTANSWER
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CANNOTANSWER
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"My Happiness" is a song by Australian rock band Powderfinger. It was released via record label Universal Music Australia on 21 August 2000 as the first single from the band's fourth album, Odyssey Number Five. Powderfinger frontman Bernard Fanning wrote the lyrics for "My Happiness" as a reflection on the time the band spent touring to promote their work, and the loneliness that came as a result. It was inspired by his love of gospel and soul music. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track. Despite its melancholy mood, "My Happiness" is considered by many to be a love song, a suggestion Fanning regards as mystifying.
The single is Powderfinger's most successful; it peaked at number four on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, number seven on the New Zealand Singles Chart, and number 23 on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart—the first Powderfinger song to do so. In June 2020, the song was certified 5x Platinum in Australia. It won an ARIA Award and an APRA Award and topped the Triple J Hottest 100 in 2000 as well as coming 27th in the Triple J Hottest 100 of All Time in 2009. "My Happiness" was highly praised by critics, with even negative reviews of Odyssey Number Five noting it as a highlight, especially for its catchy chorus. One of the highlights of Powderfinger's United States tour with Coldplay was a performance of "My Happiness" on the Late Show with David Letterman; they were only the fourth Australian act to appear on the show.
In January 2018, as part of Triple M's "Ozzest 100", the 'most Australian' songs of all time, "My Happiness" was ranked number 31.
Production and content
The lyrics for "My Happiness" were written by Bernard Fanning, Powderfinger's lead singer and songwriter. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track. The song describes feelings of love and separation; Sains Pennie Dennison said it described "the pining feeling you experience when you spend time away from the one you love". Fanning called it "a sad story of touring and the absence loneliness that comes with it". The extensive time spent touring took its toll on the band, and it was on the back of this that Fanning wrote "My Happiness". Thus, he expressed confusion at its being considered a romantic song.
"My Happiness" was attacked by some fans as being "like Lauryn Hill, bland and boring Top 40 bullshit"; guitarist Ian Haug rebutted by pointing out that the song was an example of the new emotional level on which Powderfinger made music, while Fanning was more aggressive in his defence of the song. In response to being dubbed "Mr Miserable" by The Sun-Heralds Peter Holmes for the lyrics of "My Happiness" and "These Days", Fanning pointed out that the songs could be construed either as melancholy, or as part of "the most hopeful record ... in a long time".
Much of Fanning's writing is inspired by non-rock music, and "My Happiness" is no exception. Gospel and soul music that is "unashamedly about love and how good it makes you feel" was common during the Odyssey Number Five recording sessions. Powderfinger worked hard in those sessions to ensure a more polished work than Internationalist; guitarist Darren Middleton concluded that "My Happiness", "The Metre", and "Up & Down & Back Again" were more "complete" because of the band's efforts. The lighter elements of "My Happiness" in comparison to some of the band's earlier work saw Fanning reveal his passion for several other musicians, such as James Taylor—something that "five years ago ... would have been an embarrassing thing to say".
Touring and promotion
"My Happiness" was put on heavy rotation by Los Angeles radio station KROQ-FM two months prior to its United States release, and Powderfinger signed a contract with United States label Republic as a result of the song's early success. Beat journalist Jayson Argall joked the song had received "a bit" of airplay. Although "My Happiness" was subsequently dropped from KROQ's roster, other radio stations continued to give the song high priority.
"My Happiness" peaked at number 23 on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks, making it the first Powderfinger song to appear on a Billboard chart. According to Susan Groves of WHRL, part of the song's success came about because very few people knew of Powderfinger, but were drawn towards "My Happiness" because it was "melodic, [and] pretty"—a change from what she described as "middle of the road rock" popular in the United States. Meanwhile, Australians were "starting to get sick of My Happiness"—Cameron Adams argued in The Hobart Mercury that this was one of the reasons Powderfinger decided to focus on the offshore market.
Powderfinger performed "My Happiness" live on the Late Show with David Letterman while touring North America with British rock group Coldplay. They were the fourth Australian act (after The Living End, Silverchair, and Nick Cave) to play on the show. The band also did free promotional shows leading up to the release of the single. In Europe, "My Happiness" received approximately four weeks of airplay on German music video program Viva II, and the band sold out for three nights in a row in London, partly due to the success of the single.
Release and commercial success
"My Happiness" was released as a single in Australia on 21 August 2000. When asked how they chose the release date, Fanning jokingly said "the release date is timed to coincide with the Olympics, when all the visitors are here ... they can go into HMV and pick it up." At the time of the single's release, the band's previous album, Internationalist, was still in the top 50 on the ARIA Albums Chart, 95 weeks after entering. The single featured B-side "My Kind of Scene", which had already received strong airplay due to its appearance on the Mission: Impossible 2 soundtrack. "My Happiness" appeared on a Triple M compilation entitled Triple M's New Stuff, and on a Kerrang! compilation, Kerrang!2 The Album.
"My Happiness" entered the ARIA singles chart at number four—making it Powderfinger's highest-charting single in Australia—and spent 24 weeks on the chart. It reached number two on the Queensland singles chart, and peaked at number seven on the New Zealand singles chart, on which it spent 23 weeks. In the US, "My Happiness" was serviced to alternative radio on 13 February 2001; it was Powderfinger's first single to chart in the US, reaching number 23 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.
The song won the "Single of the Year" award at the ARIA Awards of 2001, and the 2001 "Song of the Year" APRA Award. Furthermore, "My Happiness" topped the Triple J Hottest 100 chart in 2000, and appeared on that year's CD release. Rolling Stone Australia named "My Happiness" "Song of the Year" in a reader poll. "My Happiness" was the eighth most-played song on Australian radio in 2001.
Critical reception
"My Happiness" was critically acclaimed. Cameron Adams of the Herald Sun wrote that "My Happiness" did not disappoint in the trend of excellent first singles from Powderfinger, citing "Pick You Up" and "The Day You Come" as examples. He praised the song's structure, stating that "the verses almost crash into the chorus". Adams also expressed surprise that "My Kind of Scene" was only released as a B-side. The Newcastle Heralds Chad Watson described a mixture of acoustic and electric guitar and "a restrained yet warmly infectious chorus". Despite praising it as a "Big Rock Anthem™", Richard Jinman of The Sydney Morning Herald complained that "My Happiness" was not as "hummable" as past singles "Passenger" or "These Days". Devon Powers of PopMatters described it, and "Waiting for the Sun", as sounding bored. The Evening Mail agreed; it argued the "rock-lite" song, while sounding lush, failed to "make you really sit up and take notice".
Despite being highly critical of Odyssey Number Five, Allmusic's Dean Carlson labelled it, alongside "Odyssey #5", as one of the album's best songs, for the riff Powderfinger executed "better than most bands of their stature". Adams also enjoyed the song's "wobbly guitar", and Sains Christie Eliszer approved of the "acoustic strumalong", but The Advertisers Michael Duffy said the song was "a familiar piece of yearning guitar indie that is polished but pedestrian"; he reserved his praise for "My Kind of Scene", which he described as akin to the best of Internationalist. Darren Bunting wrote in the Hull Daily Mail that "My Happiness" was the best song on Odyssey Number Five, praising "soaring vocals, heartfelt lyrics and chiming guitar". Entertainment Weeklys Marc Weingarten said that on "My Happiness", "Fanning's heavy heart is tattered by scratching and clawing guitars".
Music video
The music video for "My Happiness" starts at a railway station (Roma Street in Brisbane) with a boy and girl stepping off a train. As the pair leave the train, the boy turns and tries to reach for something, but the girl pulls him back. It is shown that he was reaching for a sentient slinky. The slinky leaves the train, and passes Middleton busking in the train station. The slinky ventures to find the boy, facing a range of challenges along the way; these include avoiding fruit falling on it and riding a skateboard. In the middle of the music clip, the slinky is shown making its way through a music room in which Powderfinger are performing "My Happiness". It rests on the bar and the band finishes playing, while the background music continues. As Powderfinger leaves, the slinky is picked up by Haug. He gets into a car and places the slinky on the car's dashboard, but it falls out the window as the car turns a tight corner. It lands outside the gate of a house and is picked up and brought inside to the boy.
The video was created by Fifty Fifty Films, who created numerous other Powderfinger music videos. It was directed by Chris Applebaum and produced by Keeley Gould of A Band Apart, with editing by Jeff Selis. Cameron Adams of The Courier Mail reported that following the music video's release, slinky sales increased dramatically.
Awards and accolades
Track listings
Australian CD single
"My Happiness" – 4:36
"My Kind of Scene" – 4:37
"Nature Boy" – 3:12
"Odyssey #1" (demo) – 4:09
European CD single
"My Happiness" (edit) – 4:11
"Nature Boy" – 3:38
Personnel
Powderfinger
Bernard Fanning – vocals and tambourine
Darren Middleton – guitars and backing vocals
Ian Haug – guitars
John Collins – bass guitars
Jon Coghill – drums and percussion
Production
Nick DiDia – Producer, engineer and mixer
Matt Voigt – Assistant engineer
Anton Hagop – Assistant engineer
Alex Pertout – Percussion
Stewart Whitmore – Digital editing
Stephen Marcussen – Mastering
Anton Hagop – Assistant producer
Kevin Wilkins – Art direction and photography
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
Powderfinger songs
2000 singles
2000 songs
APRA Award winners
ARIA Award-winning songs
Polydor Records singles
Songs written by Bernard Fanning
Songs written by Jon Coghill
Songs written by John Collins (Australian musician)
Songs written by Ian Haug
Songs written by Darren Middleton
Universal Music Australia singles
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[
"\"Älskade ängel\" is a song, written by Per Johan Widestrand and recorded by Lill-Babs. The single was released under the name Lill-Babs & Heman Hunters and in 1994 the song was used as signature melody for the SVT TV series Bert , where the refrain can be heard. In the TV series, Bert is seen dancing at the mirror when the song was played, while appearing words showed the episode title.\n\nIn 2004 the song was on Lill-Babs compilation album Lill-Babs i lyxförpackning.\n\nThe song became a Svensktoppen hit for nine weeks, during the period 10 December 1994-14 January 1995, peaking at second position.\n\nThe Playtones also performed the song at Dansbandskampen 2009, when Lill-Babs was tonight's theme in the second round. The song was also recorded on their 2010 album Rock'n'Roll Dance Party.\n\nBlack Jack recorded the song on the 2012 album Casino.\n\nReferences \n\n1994 singles\nLill-Babs songs\nSwedish-language songs\n1994 songs",
"\"Surfboard\" is an instrumental song by Antônio Carlos Jobim. The song was composed by Jobim on Ipanema beach after buying a surfboard for his son. Initially released on his US album The Wonderful World of Antonio Carlos Jobim in 1965, the song was re-recorded by Jobim for the albums A Certain Mr. Jobim (1967) with Claus Ogerman and 1995's Antonio Brasileiro.\n\nThe song had been performed by many artists on their albums but did not appear as a single until 1969 when it was recorded by Brazilian keyboardist Walter Wanderley on the album When It Was Done. The song was also recorded by Herbie Mann in 1996. Being an instrumental composition, Surfboard has no lyrics but was recorded vocally in a scat singing version by The Swingle Singers on Mood Swings 2003.\n\nReferences\n\nSongs with music by Antônio Carlos Jobim\n1965 songs"
] |
[
"My Happiness (Powderfinger song)",
"Production and content",
"Who was the producer for the song ?",
"The lyrics for \"My Happiness\" were written by Bernard Fanning, Powderfinger's lead singer and songwriter. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track.",
"What was the inspiration for the song ?",
"The song describes feelings of love and separation;",
"What is related to a specific event ?",
"The extensive time spent touring took its toll on the band, and it was on the back of this that Fanning wrote \"My Happiness\".",
"When the song was recorded ?",
"I don't know."
] |
C_3b5f24445aa248aaa4fe3c82fbf944a0_1
|
Was there anything special about the production of the song ?
| 5 |
Was there anything special about the production of My Happiness?
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My Happiness (Powderfinger song)
|
If you can't cop a bit of emotional stuff then you should go and get the lamp shade extracted from your arse. If you don't think there is enough rock in your life then let me know and I will personally come around to your house and chuck stones at you. --Bernard FanningIn response to "My Happiness" being described by fans as "like Lauryn Hill, bland and boring Top 40 bullshit". The lyrics for "My Happiness" were written by Bernard Fanning, Powderfinger's lead singer and songwriter. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track. The song describes feelings of love and separation; Sain's Pennie Dennison said it described "the pining feeling you experience when you spend time away from the one you love". Fanning called it "a sad story of touring and the absence loneliness that comes with it". The extensive time spent touring took its toll on the band, and it was on the back of this that Fanning wrote "My Happiness". Thus, he expressed confusion at its being considered a romantic song. "My Happiness" was attacked by some fans as being "like Lauryn Hill, bland and boring Top 40 bullshit"; guitarist Ian Haug rebutted by pointing out that the song was an example of the new emotional level on which Powderfinger made music, while Fanning was more aggressive in his defence of the song. In response to being dubbed "Mr Miserable" by The Sun-Herald's Peter Holmes for the lyrics of "My Happiness" and "These Days", Fanning pointed out that the songs could be construed either as melancholy, or as part of "the most hopeful record ... in a long time". Much of Fanning's writing is inspired by non-rock music, and "My Happiness" is no exception. Gospel and soul music that is "unashamedly about love and how good it makes you feel" was common during the Odyssey Number Five recording sessions. Powderfinger worked hard in those sessions to ensure a more polished work than Internationalist; guitarist Darren Middleton concluded that "My Happiness", "The Metre", and "Up & Down & Back Again" were more "complete" because of the band's efforts. The lighter elements of "My Happiness" in comparison to some of the band's earlier work saw Fanning reveal his passion for several other musicians, such as James Taylor--something that "five years ago ... would have been an embarrassing thing to say". CANNOTANSWER
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Much of Fanning's writing is inspired by non-rock music, and "My Happiness" is no exception.
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"My Happiness" is a song by Australian rock band Powderfinger. It was released via record label Universal Music Australia on 21 August 2000 as the first single from the band's fourth album, Odyssey Number Five. Powderfinger frontman Bernard Fanning wrote the lyrics for "My Happiness" as a reflection on the time the band spent touring to promote their work, and the loneliness that came as a result. It was inspired by his love of gospel and soul music. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track. Despite its melancholy mood, "My Happiness" is considered by many to be a love song, a suggestion Fanning regards as mystifying.
The single is Powderfinger's most successful; it peaked at number four on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, number seven on the New Zealand Singles Chart, and number 23 on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart—the first Powderfinger song to do so. In June 2020, the song was certified 5x Platinum in Australia. It won an ARIA Award and an APRA Award and topped the Triple J Hottest 100 in 2000 as well as coming 27th in the Triple J Hottest 100 of All Time in 2009. "My Happiness" was highly praised by critics, with even negative reviews of Odyssey Number Five noting it as a highlight, especially for its catchy chorus. One of the highlights of Powderfinger's United States tour with Coldplay was a performance of "My Happiness" on the Late Show with David Letterman; they were only the fourth Australian act to appear on the show.
In January 2018, as part of Triple M's "Ozzest 100", the 'most Australian' songs of all time, "My Happiness" was ranked number 31.
Production and content
The lyrics for "My Happiness" were written by Bernard Fanning, Powderfinger's lead singer and songwriter. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track. The song describes feelings of love and separation; Sains Pennie Dennison said it described "the pining feeling you experience when you spend time away from the one you love". Fanning called it "a sad story of touring and the absence loneliness that comes with it". The extensive time spent touring took its toll on the band, and it was on the back of this that Fanning wrote "My Happiness". Thus, he expressed confusion at its being considered a romantic song.
"My Happiness" was attacked by some fans as being "like Lauryn Hill, bland and boring Top 40 bullshit"; guitarist Ian Haug rebutted by pointing out that the song was an example of the new emotional level on which Powderfinger made music, while Fanning was more aggressive in his defence of the song. In response to being dubbed "Mr Miserable" by The Sun-Heralds Peter Holmes for the lyrics of "My Happiness" and "These Days", Fanning pointed out that the songs could be construed either as melancholy, or as part of "the most hopeful record ... in a long time".
Much of Fanning's writing is inspired by non-rock music, and "My Happiness" is no exception. Gospel and soul music that is "unashamedly about love and how good it makes you feel" was common during the Odyssey Number Five recording sessions. Powderfinger worked hard in those sessions to ensure a more polished work than Internationalist; guitarist Darren Middleton concluded that "My Happiness", "The Metre", and "Up & Down & Back Again" were more "complete" because of the band's efforts. The lighter elements of "My Happiness" in comparison to some of the band's earlier work saw Fanning reveal his passion for several other musicians, such as James Taylor—something that "five years ago ... would have been an embarrassing thing to say".
Touring and promotion
"My Happiness" was put on heavy rotation by Los Angeles radio station KROQ-FM two months prior to its United States release, and Powderfinger signed a contract with United States label Republic as a result of the song's early success. Beat journalist Jayson Argall joked the song had received "a bit" of airplay. Although "My Happiness" was subsequently dropped from KROQ's roster, other radio stations continued to give the song high priority.
"My Happiness" peaked at number 23 on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks, making it the first Powderfinger song to appear on a Billboard chart. According to Susan Groves of WHRL, part of the song's success came about because very few people knew of Powderfinger, but were drawn towards "My Happiness" because it was "melodic, [and] pretty"—a change from what she described as "middle of the road rock" popular in the United States. Meanwhile, Australians were "starting to get sick of My Happiness"—Cameron Adams argued in The Hobart Mercury that this was one of the reasons Powderfinger decided to focus on the offshore market.
Powderfinger performed "My Happiness" live on the Late Show with David Letterman while touring North America with British rock group Coldplay. They were the fourth Australian act (after The Living End, Silverchair, and Nick Cave) to play on the show. The band also did free promotional shows leading up to the release of the single. In Europe, "My Happiness" received approximately four weeks of airplay on German music video program Viva II, and the band sold out for three nights in a row in London, partly due to the success of the single.
Release and commercial success
"My Happiness" was released as a single in Australia on 21 August 2000. When asked how they chose the release date, Fanning jokingly said "the release date is timed to coincide with the Olympics, when all the visitors are here ... they can go into HMV and pick it up." At the time of the single's release, the band's previous album, Internationalist, was still in the top 50 on the ARIA Albums Chart, 95 weeks after entering. The single featured B-side "My Kind of Scene", which had already received strong airplay due to its appearance on the Mission: Impossible 2 soundtrack. "My Happiness" appeared on a Triple M compilation entitled Triple M's New Stuff, and on a Kerrang! compilation, Kerrang!2 The Album.
"My Happiness" entered the ARIA singles chart at number four—making it Powderfinger's highest-charting single in Australia—and spent 24 weeks on the chart. It reached number two on the Queensland singles chart, and peaked at number seven on the New Zealand singles chart, on which it spent 23 weeks. In the US, "My Happiness" was serviced to alternative radio on 13 February 2001; it was Powderfinger's first single to chart in the US, reaching number 23 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.
The song won the "Single of the Year" award at the ARIA Awards of 2001, and the 2001 "Song of the Year" APRA Award. Furthermore, "My Happiness" topped the Triple J Hottest 100 chart in 2000, and appeared on that year's CD release. Rolling Stone Australia named "My Happiness" "Song of the Year" in a reader poll. "My Happiness" was the eighth most-played song on Australian radio in 2001.
Critical reception
"My Happiness" was critically acclaimed. Cameron Adams of the Herald Sun wrote that "My Happiness" did not disappoint in the trend of excellent first singles from Powderfinger, citing "Pick You Up" and "The Day You Come" as examples. He praised the song's structure, stating that "the verses almost crash into the chorus". Adams also expressed surprise that "My Kind of Scene" was only released as a B-side. The Newcastle Heralds Chad Watson described a mixture of acoustic and electric guitar and "a restrained yet warmly infectious chorus". Despite praising it as a "Big Rock Anthem™", Richard Jinman of The Sydney Morning Herald complained that "My Happiness" was not as "hummable" as past singles "Passenger" or "These Days". Devon Powers of PopMatters described it, and "Waiting for the Sun", as sounding bored. The Evening Mail agreed; it argued the "rock-lite" song, while sounding lush, failed to "make you really sit up and take notice".
Despite being highly critical of Odyssey Number Five, Allmusic's Dean Carlson labelled it, alongside "Odyssey #5", as one of the album's best songs, for the riff Powderfinger executed "better than most bands of their stature". Adams also enjoyed the song's "wobbly guitar", and Sains Christie Eliszer approved of the "acoustic strumalong", but The Advertisers Michael Duffy said the song was "a familiar piece of yearning guitar indie that is polished but pedestrian"; he reserved his praise for "My Kind of Scene", which he described as akin to the best of Internationalist. Darren Bunting wrote in the Hull Daily Mail that "My Happiness" was the best song on Odyssey Number Five, praising "soaring vocals, heartfelt lyrics and chiming guitar". Entertainment Weeklys Marc Weingarten said that on "My Happiness", "Fanning's heavy heart is tattered by scratching and clawing guitars".
Music video
The music video for "My Happiness" starts at a railway station (Roma Street in Brisbane) with a boy and girl stepping off a train. As the pair leave the train, the boy turns and tries to reach for something, but the girl pulls him back. It is shown that he was reaching for a sentient slinky. The slinky leaves the train, and passes Middleton busking in the train station. The slinky ventures to find the boy, facing a range of challenges along the way; these include avoiding fruit falling on it and riding a skateboard. In the middle of the music clip, the slinky is shown making its way through a music room in which Powderfinger are performing "My Happiness". It rests on the bar and the band finishes playing, while the background music continues. As Powderfinger leaves, the slinky is picked up by Haug. He gets into a car and places the slinky on the car's dashboard, but it falls out the window as the car turns a tight corner. It lands outside the gate of a house and is picked up and brought inside to the boy.
The video was created by Fifty Fifty Films, who created numerous other Powderfinger music videos. It was directed by Chris Applebaum and produced by Keeley Gould of A Band Apart, with editing by Jeff Selis. Cameron Adams of The Courier Mail reported that following the music video's release, slinky sales increased dramatically.
Awards and accolades
Track listings
Australian CD single
"My Happiness" – 4:36
"My Kind of Scene" – 4:37
"Nature Boy" – 3:12
"Odyssey #1" (demo) – 4:09
European CD single
"My Happiness" (edit) – 4:11
"Nature Boy" – 3:38
Personnel
Powderfinger
Bernard Fanning – vocals and tambourine
Darren Middleton – guitars and backing vocals
Ian Haug – guitars
John Collins – bass guitars
Jon Coghill – drums and percussion
Production
Nick DiDia – Producer, engineer and mixer
Matt Voigt – Assistant engineer
Anton Hagop – Assistant engineer
Alex Pertout – Percussion
Stewart Whitmore – Digital editing
Stephen Marcussen – Mastering
Anton Hagop – Assistant producer
Kevin Wilkins – Art direction and photography
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
Powderfinger songs
2000 singles
2000 songs
APRA Award winners
ARIA Award-winning songs
Polydor Records singles
Songs written by Bernard Fanning
Songs written by Jon Coghill
Songs written by John Collins (Australian musician)
Songs written by Ian Haug
Songs written by Darren Middleton
Universal Music Australia singles
| true |
[
"\"You Don't Know Anything\" is a song by American indie rock band Ivy. It was released by Atlantic Records on April 29, 1999 as the fourth and final single from their second studio album, Apartment Life (1997). The single was made available exclusively in Europe and featured the same two B-sides as previous single, \"This Is the Day\", which had been released by 550 Music in Austria. The track was written by Dominique Durand, Adam Schlesinger and Andy Chase while production was handled by the latter two and Peter Nashel.\n\nReleased alongside \"This Is the Day\", \"You Don't Know Anything\" received promotion by Atlantic Records after the former track was included on the soundtrack for the 1998 film, There's Something About Mary. The recording received generally favorable reviews from music critics who compared the song to the works of Irish rock group My Bloody Valentine.\n\nBackground and composition \n\"You Don't Know Anything\" was written by Ivy band members Dominique Durand, Adam Schlesinger and Andy Chase. The production of the track was handled by Chase and Schlesinger, with additional production provided by Peter Nashel. Musically, \"You Don't Know Anything\" is a pop rock/indie rock song, also incorporating elements of indie pop and guitar accords. Lyrically, the song discusses a lover being \"clueless\" and \"in the wrong\".\n\nThe single was heavily compared to My Bloody Valentine; in their review of the track, Sputnikmusic stated that it \"comes off like a My Bloody Valentine song with intelligible vocals, with a sliding, reverb heavy hook and pummeling drums\", while AllMusic writer Jack Rabid drew similar comparisons. Patrick Carmosino of West Net stated that with \"You Don't Know Anything\", Ivy \"have an indie-ethic rock side that compliments their pop sensibilities to the tee\".\n\nRelease \nThe recording was released simultaneously with the release of the single \"This Is the Day\"; this occurred after the latter track was featured in the 1998 film, There's Something About Mary. \"You Don't Know Anything\" was released as a CD single exclusively in European countries; the CD included two B-side tracks, \"Sleeping Late\" and \"Sweet Mary\".\n\nCritical reception \n\"You Don't Know Anything\" received generally positive reviews from music critics. Stephen Thompson of The A.V. Club praised the track and Apartment Life for \"sound[ing] slickly pretty and mannered\". AllMusic named the song \"a knockout\" and praised it for allowing \"the guitars [to] get mean\". Reviewer Scott Floman was more mixed with his review, finding the track to \"pass by pleasantly but unremarkably\".\n\nTrack listing\n\nCredits and personnel \nCredits and personnel adapted from \"You Don't Know Anything\" liner notes and Andy Chase's discography.\nRecording\n Recorded at The Place, New York City; Duotone Studios, New York City; and Compositions, New York City\n\nPersonnel\n\nAndy Chase – engineering, executive producer, mixing\nDominique Durand – lead and background vocals\nMatthew Ellard – assistant mixing\nPhilippe Garcia – photography\nJosh Grier – legal advisor\nJames Iha – background vocals, additional production\n\nPaul Q. Kolderie – mixing\nBob Ludwig – mastering\nQ Prime – management\nBrenda Rotheiser – art direction, design\nAdam Schlesinger – engineering, executive producer, mixing\nSean Slade – mixing\n\nRelease history\n\nReferences \n\nIvy (band) songs\n1997 songs\n1999 singles\nAtlantic Records singles\nSongs written by Adam Schlesinger\nSongs written by Andy Chase\nSongs written by Dominique Durand",
"\"Anything\" is a song by American singer JoJo from her second studio album, The High Road (2006). It was released as the album's third and final single on March 20, 2007. Written by Beau Dozier, Mischke, and Justin Trugman, the track contains a sample from Toto's 1982 song \"Africa\", written by David Paich and Jeff Porcaro. The song premiered on March 19, 2007, on The Second JammX Kids All Star Dance Special.\n\nThe single served as the second official single from The High Road in European countries and was released in the United Kingdom on May 7, 2007; it began gaining airplay there on March 24, 2007, eventually debuting on BBC Radio 1's playlist under the B-list section. JoJo was in the UK during the first two weeks of May to promote the single; she performed at London's G-A-Y on May 12, and appeared on GMTV on May 8 as part of a series of radio and television interviews. \"Anything\" remained in the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart for three weeks.\n\nOn September 4, 2013, a remix of the song was released featuring American rapper Casey Veggies and Italian musician Francesco.\n\nCritical reception\nIn About.com's review of The High Road, Bill Lamb called \"Anything\" a \"tasty pop confection.\"\n\nMusic video\nThe music video for \"Anything\" was expected to premiere on May 2, 2007. JoJo's UK street team had launched a competition for fans to create their own video for \"Anything\" that would appear on the enhanced CD when the single was released. It was announced that member \"TheHighRoad\" won the video mission and his video would be placed on the official website, but fans who wanted to watch it would have to buy the CD because it \"unlocks\" the video. JoJo posted on her Myspace page that an official video was not completed and that she had asked Blackground Records to facilitate the production process with her and her management. An official video never surfaced.\n\nTrack listings\nUK CD single\n\"Anything\" – 3:50\n\"Anything\" (WaWa Club Mix) – 7:07\nAlso includes the winning fan videos for \"Anything\".\n\nGerman CD single\n\"Anything\" – 3:50\n\"Anything\" (instrumental) – 3:51\n\"Get It Poppin'\" – 3:41\n\"Too Little Too Late\" (Full Phatt Remix featuring Tah Mac) – 4:24\n\nCredits and personnel\nCredits adapted from the liner notes of The High Road.\n\nRecording\n Recorded at Chaos Theory (Encino, California), Sony Studios (New York City, New York) and Sound Moves Studios (Sun Valley, California)\n Mixed at Larrabee Studios (North Hollywood, California)\n Mastered at Oasis Mastering (Burbank, California)\n\nManagement\n Published by Like Father Like Son Music adm. by Zomba Songs, Inc. (BMI), mischkemusic (ASCAP), E&J 113 Music/Koala Bear Music/Sony/ATV Publishing (BMI), Hudmar Publishing (BMI), Rising Storm Music (BMI)\n\nPersonnel\n\n JoJo – vocal arrangement, lead vocals, background vocals\n Beau Dozier – production, recording\n Justin Trugman – production\n Dave Russell – mixing\n Michael Woodrum – Pro Tools engineering\n Scott Somerville – engineering assistance\n Gene Grimaldi – mastering\n\nCharts\n\nRelease history\n\nReferences\n\n2006 songs\n2007 singles\nBlackground Records singles\nJoJo (singer) songs\nSongs written by Beau Dozier\nSongs written by David Paich\nSongs written by Jeff Porcaro"
] |
[
"My Happiness (Powderfinger song)",
"Production and content",
"Who was the producer for the song ?",
"The lyrics for \"My Happiness\" were written by Bernard Fanning, Powderfinger's lead singer and songwriter. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track.",
"What was the inspiration for the song ?",
"The song describes feelings of love and separation;",
"What is related to a specific event ?",
"The extensive time spent touring took its toll on the band, and it was on the back of this that Fanning wrote \"My Happiness\".",
"When the song was recorded ?",
"I don't know.",
"Was there anything special about the production of the song ?",
"Much of Fanning's writing is inspired by non-rock music, and \"My Happiness\" is no exception."
] |
C_3b5f24445aa248aaa4fe3c82fbf944a0_1
|
What kind of music inspired "My Happiness"?
| 6 |
What kind of music inspired My Happiness?
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My Happiness (Powderfinger song)
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If you can't cop a bit of emotional stuff then you should go and get the lamp shade extracted from your arse. If you don't think there is enough rock in your life then let me know and I will personally come around to your house and chuck stones at you. --Bernard FanningIn response to "My Happiness" being described by fans as "like Lauryn Hill, bland and boring Top 40 bullshit". The lyrics for "My Happiness" were written by Bernard Fanning, Powderfinger's lead singer and songwriter. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track. The song describes feelings of love and separation; Sain's Pennie Dennison said it described "the pining feeling you experience when you spend time away from the one you love". Fanning called it "a sad story of touring and the absence loneliness that comes with it". The extensive time spent touring took its toll on the band, and it was on the back of this that Fanning wrote "My Happiness". Thus, he expressed confusion at its being considered a romantic song. "My Happiness" was attacked by some fans as being "like Lauryn Hill, bland and boring Top 40 bullshit"; guitarist Ian Haug rebutted by pointing out that the song was an example of the new emotional level on which Powderfinger made music, while Fanning was more aggressive in his defence of the song. In response to being dubbed "Mr Miserable" by The Sun-Herald's Peter Holmes for the lyrics of "My Happiness" and "These Days", Fanning pointed out that the songs could be construed either as melancholy, or as part of "the most hopeful record ... in a long time". Much of Fanning's writing is inspired by non-rock music, and "My Happiness" is no exception. Gospel and soul music that is "unashamedly about love and how good it makes you feel" was common during the Odyssey Number Five recording sessions. Powderfinger worked hard in those sessions to ensure a more polished work than Internationalist; guitarist Darren Middleton concluded that "My Happiness", "The Metre", and "Up & Down & Back Again" were more "complete" because of the band's efforts. The lighter elements of "My Happiness" in comparison to some of the band's earlier work saw Fanning reveal his passion for several other musicians, such as James Taylor--something that "five years ago ... would have been an embarrassing thing to say". CANNOTANSWER
|
Gospel and soul music
|
"My Happiness" is a song by Australian rock band Powderfinger. It was released via record label Universal Music Australia on 21 August 2000 as the first single from the band's fourth album, Odyssey Number Five. Powderfinger frontman Bernard Fanning wrote the lyrics for "My Happiness" as a reflection on the time the band spent touring to promote their work, and the loneliness that came as a result. It was inspired by his love of gospel and soul music. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track. Despite its melancholy mood, "My Happiness" is considered by many to be a love song, a suggestion Fanning regards as mystifying.
The single is Powderfinger's most successful; it peaked at number four on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, number seven on the New Zealand Singles Chart, and number 23 on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart—the first Powderfinger song to do so. In June 2020, the song was certified 5x Platinum in Australia. It won an ARIA Award and an APRA Award and topped the Triple J Hottest 100 in 2000 as well as coming 27th in the Triple J Hottest 100 of All Time in 2009. "My Happiness" was highly praised by critics, with even negative reviews of Odyssey Number Five noting it as a highlight, especially for its catchy chorus. One of the highlights of Powderfinger's United States tour with Coldplay was a performance of "My Happiness" on the Late Show with David Letterman; they were only the fourth Australian act to appear on the show.
In January 2018, as part of Triple M's "Ozzest 100", the 'most Australian' songs of all time, "My Happiness" was ranked number 31.
Production and content
The lyrics for "My Happiness" were written by Bernard Fanning, Powderfinger's lead singer and songwriter. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track. The song describes feelings of love and separation; Sains Pennie Dennison said it described "the pining feeling you experience when you spend time away from the one you love". Fanning called it "a sad story of touring and the absence loneliness that comes with it". The extensive time spent touring took its toll on the band, and it was on the back of this that Fanning wrote "My Happiness". Thus, he expressed confusion at its being considered a romantic song.
"My Happiness" was attacked by some fans as being "like Lauryn Hill, bland and boring Top 40 bullshit"; guitarist Ian Haug rebutted by pointing out that the song was an example of the new emotional level on which Powderfinger made music, while Fanning was more aggressive in his defence of the song. In response to being dubbed "Mr Miserable" by The Sun-Heralds Peter Holmes for the lyrics of "My Happiness" and "These Days", Fanning pointed out that the songs could be construed either as melancholy, or as part of "the most hopeful record ... in a long time".
Much of Fanning's writing is inspired by non-rock music, and "My Happiness" is no exception. Gospel and soul music that is "unashamedly about love and how good it makes you feel" was common during the Odyssey Number Five recording sessions. Powderfinger worked hard in those sessions to ensure a more polished work than Internationalist; guitarist Darren Middleton concluded that "My Happiness", "The Metre", and "Up & Down & Back Again" were more "complete" because of the band's efforts. The lighter elements of "My Happiness" in comparison to some of the band's earlier work saw Fanning reveal his passion for several other musicians, such as James Taylor—something that "five years ago ... would have been an embarrassing thing to say".
Touring and promotion
"My Happiness" was put on heavy rotation by Los Angeles radio station KROQ-FM two months prior to its United States release, and Powderfinger signed a contract with United States label Republic as a result of the song's early success. Beat journalist Jayson Argall joked the song had received "a bit" of airplay. Although "My Happiness" was subsequently dropped from KROQ's roster, other radio stations continued to give the song high priority.
"My Happiness" peaked at number 23 on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks, making it the first Powderfinger song to appear on a Billboard chart. According to Susan Groves of WHRL, part of the song's success came about because very few people knew of Powderfinger, but were drawn towards "My Happiness" because it was "melodic, [and] pretty"—a change from what she described as "middle of the road rock" popular in the United States. Meanwhile, Australians were "starting to get sick of My Happiness"—Cameron Adams argued in The Hobart Mercury that this was one of the reasons Powderfinger decided to focus on the offshore market.
Powderfinger performed "My Happiness" live on the Late Show with David Letterman while touring North America with British rock group Coldplay. They were the fourth Australian act (after The Living End, Silverchair, and Nick Cave) to play on the show. The band also did free promotional shows leading up to the release of the single. In Europe, "My Happiness" received approximately four weeks of airplay on German music video program Viva II, and the band sold out for three nights in a row in London, partly due to the success of the single.
Release and commercial success
"My Happiness" was released as a single in Australia on 21 August 2000. When asked how they chose the release date, Fanning jokingly said "the release date is timed to coincide with the Olympics, when all the visitors are here ... they can go into HMV and pick it up." At the time of the single's release, the band's previous album, Internationalist, was still in the top 50 on the ARIA Albums Chart, 95 weeks after entering. The single featured B-side "My Kind of Scene", which had already received strong airplay due to its appearance on the Mission: Impossible 2 soundtrack. "My Happiness" appeared on a Triple M compilation entitled Triple M's New Stuff, and on a Kerrang! compilation, Kerrang!2 The Album.
"My Happiness" entered the ARIA singles chart at number four—making it Powderfinger's highest-charting single in Australia—and spent 24 weeks on the chart. It reached number two on the Queensland singles chart, and peaked at number seven on the New Zealand singles chart, on which it spent 23 weeks. In the US, "My Happiness" was serviced to alternative radio on 13 February 2001; it was Powderfinger's first single to chart in the US, reaching number 23 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.
The song won the "Single of the Year" award at the ARIA Awards of 2001, and the 2001 "Song of the Year" APRA Award. Furthermore, "My Happiness" topped the Triple J Hottest 100 chart in 2000, and appeared on that year's CD release. Rolling Stone Australia named "My Happiness" "Song of the Year" in a reader poll. "My Happiness" was the eighth most-played song on Australian radio in 2001.
Critical reception
"My Happiness" was critically acclaimed. Cameron Adams of the Herald Sun wrote that "My Happiness" did not disappoint in the trend of excellent first singles from Powderfinger, citing "Pick You Up" and "The Day You Come" as examples. He praised the song's structure, stating that "the verses almost crash into the chorus". Adams also expressed surprise that "My Kind of Scene" was only released as a B-side. The Newcastle Heralds Chad Watson described a mixture of acoustic and electric guitar and "a restrained yet warmly infectious chorus". Despite praising it as a "Big Rock Anthem™", Richard Jinman of The Sydney Morning Herald complained that "My Happiness" was not as "hummable" as past singles "Passenger" or "These Days". Devon Powers of PopMatters described it, and "Waiting for the Sun", as sounding bored. The Evening Mail agreed; it argued the "rock-lite" song, while sounding lush, failed to "make you really sit up and take notice".
Despite being highly critical of Odyssey Number Five, Allmusic's Dean Carlson labelled it, alongside "Odyssey #5", as one of the album's best songs, for the riff Powderfinger executed "better than most bands of their stature". Adams also enjoyed the song's "wobbly guitar", and Sains Christie Eliszer approved of the "acoustic strumalong", but The Advertisers Michael Duffy said the song was "a familiar piece of yearning guitar indie that is polished but pedestrian"; he reserved his praise for "My Kind of Scene", which he described as akin to the best of Internationalist. Darren Bunting wrote in the Hull Daily Mail that "My Happiness" was the best song on Odyssey Number Five, praising "soaring vocals, heartfelt lyrics and chiming guitar". Entertainment Weeklys Marc Weingarten said that on "My Happiness", "Fanning's heavy heart is tattered by scratching and clawing guitars".
Music video
The music video for "My Happiness" starts at a railway station (Roma Street in Brisbane) with a boy and girl stepping off a train. As the pair leave the train, the boy turns and tries to reach for something, but the girl pulls him back. It is shown that he was reaching for a sentient slinky. The slinky leaves the train, and passes Middleton busking in the train station. The slinky ventures to find the boy, facing a range of challenges along the way; these include avoiding fruit falling on it and riding a skateboard. In the middle of the music clip, the slinky is shown making its way through a music room in which Powderfinger are performing "My Happiness". It rests on the bar and the band finishes playing, while the background music continues. As Powderfinger leaves, the slinky is picked up by Haug. He gets into a car and places the slinky on the car's dashboard, but it falls out the window as the car turns a tight corner. It lands outside the gate of a house and is picked up and brought inside to the boy.
The video was created by Fifty Fifty Films, who created numerous other Powderfinger music videos. It was directed by Chris Applebaum and produced by Keeley Gould of A Band Apart, with editing by Jeff Selis. Cameron Adams of The Courier Mail reported that following the music video's release, slinky sales increased dramatically.
Awards and accolades
Track listings
Australian CD single
"My Happiness" – 4:36
"My Kind of Scene" – 4:37
"Nature Boy" – 3:12
"Odyssey #1" (demo) – 4:09
European CD single
"My Happiness" (edit) – 4:11
"Nature Boy" – 3:38
Personnel
Powderfinger
Bernard Fanning – vocals and tambourine
Darren Middleton – guitars and backing vocals
Ian Haug – guitars
John Collins – bass guitars
Jon Coghill – drums and percussion
Production
Nick DiDia – Producer, engineer and mixer
Matt Voigt – Assistant engineer
Anton Hagop – Assistant engineer
Alex Pertout – Percussion
Stewart Whitmore – Digital editing
Stephen Marcussen – Mastering
Anton Hagop – Assistant producer
Kevin Wilkins – Art direction and photography
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
Powderfinger songs
2000 singles
2000 songs
APRA Award winners
ARIA Award-winning songs
Polydor Records singles
Songs written by Bernard Fanning
Songs written by Jon Coghill
Songs written by John Collins (Australian musician)
Songs written by Ian Haug
Songs written by Darren Middleton
Universal Music Australia singles
| true |
[
"My Favorite Kind of Geniie () is Taiwanese Mandopop artist Genie Chuo's () fourth Mandarin studio album. It was released by Rock Records on 7 November 2008 with two album cover versions: My Favorite Kind of Geniie (Sexy Edition) (超級喜歡 [初] 輕熟性感盤) and My Favorite Kind of Geniie (Sweet Edition) (超級喜歡 [漾] 可口甜心盤) both with the same bonus DVD. Two more editions were released: My Favorite Kind of Geniie (Collectable Edition) (超級喜歡 獨家快樂珍藏盤) on 23 December 2008 and My Favorite Kind of Geniie (New Year Edition) (超級喜歡 新春感謝回饋盤) on 20 January 2009, both with different bonus DVD.\n\nTrack listing\n \"愛的城堡\" Ai De Cheng Bao (Love Castle)\n \"一句話\" Yi Ju Hua (A Promise)\n \"超級喜歡\" Chao Ji Xi Huan (My Favorite Kind of Geniie)\n \"獨家快樂\" Du Jia Kuai Le (Exclusive Happiness)\n \"Save Me\"\n \"下個幸福\" Xia Ge Xing Fu (Next Love)\n \"自己找答案\" Zi Ji Zhao Da An (I Found The Answer)\n \"不說\" Bu Shuo (Be Quiet)\n \"一個人勇敢\" Yi Ge Ren Yong Gan (Brave Myself)\n \"靜電\" Jing Dian (Static)\n\nReleases\nFour editions were released by Rock Records:\n 7 November 2008 - My Favorite Kind of Geniie (Sexy Edition) (超級喜歡 [初] 輕熟性感盤) with a bonus DVD:\n \"愛的城堡\" (Love Castle) MV\n \"一句話\" (A Promise) MV\n \"愛的城堡\" (Love Castle) dance training footage\n Genie dance steps secrets\n Genie dance steps behind-the-scene\n\n 7 November 2008 - My Favorite Kind of Geniie (Sweet Edition) (超級喜歡 [漾] 可口甜心盤) with the same bonus DVD as listed at the sexy edition.\n 23 December 2008 - My Favorite Kind of Geniie (Collectable Edition) (超級喜歡 獨家快樂珍藏盤) with a bonus DVD containing the music video of \"獨家快樂\" (Exclusive Happiness) and a 46 minutes My Favorite Kind of Geniie television special.\n 20 January 2009 - My Favorite Kind of Geniie (New Year Edition) (超級喜歡 新春感謝回饋盤) with a bonus DVD containing four music videos and concert footage:\n \"愛的城堡\" (Love Castle) MV\n \"一句話\" (A Promise) MV\n \"獨家快樂\" (Exclusive Happiness) MV\n \"超級喜歡\" (My Favorite Kind of Geniie) MV\n 2008 Jeju Island, Korea music special\n Love Castle Love Music concert live highlight footage\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Genie International Club by Rock Records\n\n2008 albums\nGenie Chuo albums",
"My Kind of Country may refer to:\nMy Kind of Country (Reba McEntire album), 1984\nMy Kind of Country (Van Zant album), 2007\nMy Kind of Country (TV series), a Canadian country music television series\nMy Kind of Country Music, a 1965 studio album by Hank Locklin"
] |
[
"My Happiness (Powderfinger song)",
"Production and content",
"Who was the producer for the song ?",
"The lyrics for \"My Happiness\" were written by Bernard Fanning, Powderfinger's lead singer and songwriter. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track.",
"What was the inspiration for the song ?",
"The song describes feelings of love and separation;",
"What is related to a specific event ?",
"The extensive time spent touring took its toll on the band, and it was on the back of this that Fanning wrote \"My Happiness\".",
"When the song was recorded ?",
"I don't know.",
"Was there anything special about the production of the song ?",
"Much of Fanning's writing is inspired by non-rock music, and \"My Happiness\" is no exception.",
"What kind of music inspired \"My Happiness\"?",
"Gospel and soul music"
] |
C_3b5f24445aa248aaa4fe3c82fbf944a0_1
|
What does Fanning think of the song ?
| 7 |
What does Fanning think of My Happiness?
|
My Happiness (Powderfinger song)
|
If you can't cop a bit of emotional stuff then you should go and get the lamp shade extracted from your arse. If you don't think there is enough rock in your life then let me know and I will personally come around to your house and chuck stones at you. --Bernard FanningIn response to "My Happiness" being described by fans as "like Lauryn Hill, bland and boring Top 40 bullshit". The lyrics for "My Happiness" were written by Bernard Fanning, Powderfinger's lead singer and songwriter. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track. The song describes feelings of love and separation; Sain's Pennie Dennison said it described "the pining feeling you experience when you spend time away from the one you love". Fanning called it "a sad story of touring and the absence loneliness that comes with it". The extensive time spent touring took its toll on the band, and it was on the back of this that Fanning wrote "My Happiness". Thus, he expressed confusion at its being considered a romantic song. "My Happiness" was attacked by some fans as being "like Lauryn Hill, bland and boring Top 40 bullshit"; guitarist Ian Haug rebutted by pointing out that the song was an example of the new emotional level on which Powderfinger made music, while Fanning was more aggressive in his defence of the song. In response to being dubbed "Mr Miserable" by The Sun-Herald's Peter Holmes for the lyrics of "My Happiness" and "These Days", Fanning pointed out that the songs could be construed either as melancholy, or as part of "the most hopeful record ... in a long time". Much of Fanning's writing is inspired by non-rock music, and "My Happiness" is no exception. Gospel and soul music that is "unashamedly about love and how good it makes you feel" was common during the Odyssey Number Five recording sessions. Powderfinger worked hard in those sessions to ensure a more polished work than Internationalist; guitarist Darren Middleton concluded that "My Happiness", "The Metre", and "Up & Down & Back Again" were more "complete" because of the band's efforts. The lighter elements of "My Happiness" in comparison to some of the band's earlier work saw Fanning reveal his passion for several other musicians, such as James Taylor--something that "five years ago ... would have been an embarrassing thing to say". CANNOTANSWER
|
he expressed confusion at its being considered a romantic song.
|
"My Happiness" is a song by Australian rock band Powderfinger. It was released via record label Universal Music Australia on 21 August 2000 as the first single from the band's fourth album, Odyssey Number Five. Powderfinger frontman Bernard Fanning wrote the lyrics for "My Happiness" as a reflection on the time the band spent touring to promote their work, and the loneliness that came as a result. It was inspired by his love of gospel and soul music. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track. Despite its melancholy mood, "My Happiness" is considered by many to be a love song, a suggestion Fanning regards as mystifying.
The single is Powderfinger's most successful; it peaked at number four on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, number seven on the New Zealand Singles Chart, and number 23 on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart—the first Powderfinger song to do so. In June 2020, the song was certified 5x Platinum in Australia. It won an ARIA Award and an APRA Award and topped the Triple J Hottest 100 in 2000 as well as coming 27th in the Triple J Hottest 100 of All Time in 2009. "My Happiness" was highly praised by critics, with even negative reviews of Odyssey Number Five noting it as a highlight, especially for its catchy chorus. One of the highlights of Powderfinger's United States tour with Coldplay was a performance of "My Happiness" on the Late Show with David Letterman; they were only the fourth Australian act to appear on the show.
In January 2018, as part of Triple M's "Ozzest 100", the 'most Australian' songs of all time, "My Happiness" was ranked number 31.
Production and content
The lyrics for "My Happiness" were written by Bernard Fanning, Powderfinger's lead singer and songwriter. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track. The song describes feelings of love and separation; Sains Pennie Dennison said it described "the pining feeling you experience when you spend time away from the one you love". Fanning called it "a sad story of touring and the absence loneliness that comes with it". The extensive time spent touring took its toll on the band, and it was on the back of this that Fanning wrote "My Happiness". Thus, he expressed confusion at its being considered a romantic song.
"My Happiness" was attacked by some fans as being "like Lauryn Hill, bland and boring Top 40 bullshit"; guitarist Ian Haug rebutted by pointing out that the song was an example of the new emotional level on which Powderfinger made music, while Fanning was more aggressive in his defence of the song. In response to being dubbed "Mr Miserable" by The Sun-Heralds Peter Holmes for the lyrics of "My Happiness" and "These Days", Fanning pointed out that the songs could be construed either as melancholy, or as part of "the most hopeful record ... in a long time".
Much of Fanning's writing is inspired by non-rock music, and "My Happiness" is no exception. Gospel and soul music that is "unashamedly about love and how good it makes you feel" was common during the Odyssey Number Five recording sessions. Powderfinger worked hard in those sessions to ensure a more polished work than Internationalist; guitarist Darren Middleton concluded that "My Happiness", "The Metre", and "Up & Down & Back Again" were more "complete" because of the band's efforts. The lighter elements of "My Happiness" in comparison to some of the band's earlier work saw Fanning reveal his passion for several other musicians, such as James Taylor—something that "five years ago ... would have been an embarrassing thing to say".
Touring and promotion
"My Happiness" was put on heavy rotation by Los Angeles radio station KROQ-FM two months prior to its United States release, and Powderfinger signed a contract with United States label Republic as a result of the song's early success. Beat journalist Jayson Argall joked the song had received "a bit" of airplay. Although "My Happiness" was subsequently dropped from KROQ's roster, other radio stations continued to give the song high priority.
"My Happiness" peaked at number 23 on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks, making it the first Powderfinger song to appear on a Billboard chart. According to Susan Groves of WHRL, part of the song's success came about because very few people knew of Powderfinger, but were drawn towards "My Happiness" because it was "melodic, [and] pretty"—a change from what she described as "middle of the road rock" popular in the United States. Meanwhile, Australians were "starting to get sick of My Happiness"—Cameron Adams argued in The Hobart Mercury that this was one of the reasons Powderfinger decided to focus on the offshore market.
Powderfinger performed "My Happiness" live on the Late Show with David Letterman while touring North America with British rock group Coldplay. They were the fourth Australian act (after The Living End, Silverchair, and Nick Cave) to play on the show. The band also did free promotional shows leading up to the release of the single. In Europe, "My Happiness" received approximately four weeks of airplay on German music video program Viva II, and the band sold out for three nights in a row in London, partly due to the success of the single.
Release and commercial success
"My Happiness" was released as a single in Australia on 21 August 2000. When asked how they chose the release date, Fanning jokingly said "the release date is timed to coincide with the Olympics, when all the visitors are here ... they can go into HMV and pick it up." At the time of the single's release, the band's previous album, Internationalist, was still in the top 50 on the ARIA Albums Chart, 95 weeks after entering. The single featured B-side "My Kind of Scene", which had already received strong airplay due to its appearance on the Mission: Impossible 2 soundtrack. "My Happiness" appeared on a Triple M compilation entitled Triple M's New Stuff, and on a Kerrang! compilation, Kerrang!2 The Album.
"My Happiness" entered the ARIA singles chart at number four—making it Powderfinger's highest-charting single in Australia—and spent 24 weeks on the chart. It reached number two on the Queensland singles chart, and peaked at number seven on the New Zealand singles chart, on which it spent 23 weeks. In the US, "My Happiness" was serviced to alternative radio on 13 February 2001; it was Powderfinger's first single to chart in the US, reaching number 23 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.
The song won the "Single of the Year" award at the ARIA Awards of 2001, and the 2001 "Song of the Year" APRA Award. Furthermore, "My Happiness" topped the Triple J Hottest 100 chart in 2000, and appeared on that year's CD release. Rolling Stone Australia named "My Happiness" "Song of the Year" in a reader poll. "My Happiness" was the eighth most-played song on Australian radio in 2001.
Critical reception
"My Happiness" was critically acclaimed. Cameron Adams of the Herald Sun wrote that "My Happiness" did not disappoint in the trend of excellent first singles from Powderfinger, citing "Pick You Up" and "The Day You Come" as examples. He praised the song's structure, stating that "the verses almost crash into the chorus". Adams also expressed surprise that "My Kind of Scene" was only released as a B-side. The Newcastle Heralds Chad Watson described a mixture of acoustic and electric guitar and "a restrained yet warmly infectious chorus". Despite praising it as a "Big Rock Anthem™", Richard Jinman of The Sydney Morning Herald complained that "My Happiness" was not as "hummable" as past singles "Passenger" or "These Days". Devon Powers of PopMatters described it, and "Waiting for the Sun", as sounding bored. The Evening Mail agreed; it argued the "rock-lite" song, while sounding lush, failed to "make you really sit up and take notice".
Despite being highly critical of Odyssey Number Five, Allmusic's Dean Carlson labelled it, alongside "Odyssey #5", as one of the album's best songs, for the riff Powderfinger executed "better than most bands of their stature". Adams also enjoyed the song's "wobbly guitar", and Sains Christie Eliszer approved of the "acoustic strumalong", but The Advertisers Michael Duffy said the song was "a familiar piece of yearning guitar indie that is polished but pedestrian"; he reserved his praise for "My Kind of Scene", which he described as akin to the best of Internationalist. Darren Bunting wrote in the Hull Daily Mail that "My Happiness" was the best song on Odyssey Number Five, praising "soaring vocals, heartfelt lyrics and chiming guitar". Entertainment Weeklys Marc Weingarten said that on "My Happiness", "Fanning's heavy heart is tattered by scratching and clawing guitars".
Music video
The music video for "My Happiness" starts at a railway station (Roma Street in Brisbane) with a boy and girl stepping off a train. As the pair leave the train, the boy turns and tries to reach for something, but the girl pulls him back. It is shown that he was reaching for a sentient slinky. The slinky leaves the train, and passes Middleton busking in the train station. The slinky ventures to find the boy, facing a range of challenges along the way; these include avoiding fruit falling on it and riding a skateboard. In the middle of the music clip, the slinky is shown making its way through a music room in which Powderfinger are performing "My Happiness". It rests on the bar and the band finishes playing, while the background music continues. As Powderfinger leaves, the slinky is picked up by Haug. He gets into a car and places the slinky on the car's dashboard, but it falls out the window as the car turns a tight corner. It lands outside the gate of a house and is picked up and brought inside to the boy.
The video was created by Fifty Fifty Films, who created numerous other Powderfinger music videos. It was directed by Chris Applebaum and produced by Keeley Gould of A Band Apart, with editing by Jeff Selis. Cameron Adams of The Courier Mail reported that following the music video's release, slinky sales increased dramatically.
Awards and accolades
Track listings
Australian CD single
"My Happiness" – 4:36
"My Kind of Scene" – 4:37
"Nature Boy" – 3:12
"Odyssey #1" (demo) – 4:09
European CD single
"My Happiness" (edit) – 4:11
"Nature Boy" – 3:38
Personnel
Powderfinger
Bernard Fanning – vocals and tambourine
Darren Middleton – guitars and backing vocals
Ian Haug – guitars
John Collins – bass guitars
Jon Coghill – drums and percussion
Production
Nick DiDia – Producer, engineer and mixer
Matt Voigt – Assistant engineer
Anton Hagop – Assistant engineer
Alex Pertout – Percussion
Stewart Whitmore – Digital editing
Stephen Marcussen – Mastering
Anton Hagop – Assistant producer
Kevin Wilkins – Art direction and photography
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
Powderfinger songs
2000 singles
2000 songs
APRA Award winners
ARIA Award-winning songs
Polydor Records singles
Songs written by Bernard Fanning
Songs written by Jon Coghill
Songs written by John Collins (Australian musician)
Songs written by Ian Haug
Songs written by Darren Middleton
Universal Music Australia singles
| true |
[
"\"Take My Name\" is a song by American country music band Parmalee. It was released on October 4, 2021, as the second single from the band's third studio album For You. The band's lead vocalist Matt Thomas co-wrote the song with Ashley Gorley, Ben Johnson and David Fanning, while it was produced by Fanning.\n\nBackground\nOn July 9, 2021, the band posted a snippet on TikTok, and announced the song had been released early. Robyn Collins of Taste of Country described the song as \"a musical marriage proposal\". The band's lead vocalist Matt Thomas told Sounds Like Nashville: \"'Take My Name' was inspired by my brother Scott getting married last year, It made me sit back and think about what I would want to say to my future wife\".\n\nContent\nThomas told American Songwriter: \"'Take My Name' is a song about finding the person you want to spend the rest of your life with. A feeling you haven't had before. You don't want to look anywhere else or waste anymore time, you are ready to make that person yours\".\n\nLive performance\nOn October 18, 2021, the band performed the song on The Kelly Clarkson Show.\n\nCharts\n\nRelease history\n\nReferences\n\n2021 singles\n2021 songs\nParmalee songs\nSongs written by Ashley Gorley\nSongs written by David Fanning (singer)\nBBR Music Group singles",
"\"Pick You Up\" is the first single released from Powderfinger's second album Double Allergic. The single was released on 13 April 1996, and was Powderfinger's first moderate success both on commercial and Indie radio stations, and the most successful single from the album reaching #23 on the ARIA Charts. In 2007, eleven years after its initial release, \"Pick You Up\" was selected to be included in the soundtrack for Australian SBS soccer television program The World Game. The song is the oldest recording on the compilation album.\n\nHistory\n\"Pick You Up\" was the first release by Powderfinger to receive significant radio airplay. Whilst \"Reap What You Sow\", off their previous EP; Transfusion, had achieved some success, \"Pick You Up\" was the first to be played regularly nationwide. Guitarist Darren Middleton said the band were \"stoked\" with the song's success, saying that \"it's great for us because hopefully it'll give us a few more opportunities to do what we want to do.\" Middleton attributed part of the success of \"Pick You Up\" to Tim Whitten, producer of the song and Double Allergic, describing Whitten as \"what a band looks for in a producer/engineer\".\n\nPowderfinger's lead singer, Bernard Fanning, was equally impressed with the radio response to \"Pick You Up\" and the next single, \"D.A.F.\". He told Drum Media \"it's pretty weird hearing your song on B105\", in response to a question about the accessibility of the new album. In another interview, with Juice, Fanning described \"Pick You Up\" as \"a pretty obvious sort of song\", calling \"D.A.F.\" the more mysterious single from Double Allergic. Guitarist Ian Haug said it was odd for the band that \"Pick You Up\" was such a well-known song, when previously \"people had known all our stuff equally because we've never had a big radio song.\" He also said that the song was able to attract new audiences to the band, some of whom would \"go home after that song\", but others who would develop as the band's new fan base. Despite the increase in popularity, Haug didn't think the band had changed a great deal, saying \"I don't think our style has changed to lose the audience we had.\"\n\nIn 2007, Fanning noted that their song \"Nobody Sees\" was the bookend to \"Pick You Up\", with its first line \"Who's gonna pick you up?\", noting that he's no longer going to.\n\nResponse\n\n\"Pick You Up\" was nominated for the 1996 ARIA Award for \"Song of the Year\". The song was also performed live by the band at the ceremony. Concrete Press journalist Matt Budden was filled with praise for the four tracks on \"Pick You Up's\" single. He said that \"Pick You Up\" had a \"very professional sound\", which he said was well complemented by Bernard Fanning's \"grainy\" voice. He also praised the rhythmic guitar set, saying that it \"lingers like the smell at a cookie factory.\" Budden also lauded the b-sides, describing \"Toffee Apple\" as being reminiscent of Spinal Tap, calling the combination of \"slow repetitive guitars\" and \"soft sweet lyrics\" in \"Wobbly Knee\" beautiful, and dubbing \"Come Away\" bizarre in the most positive sense.\n\nAngus Fountaine of The Sunday Telegraph also approved of Fanning's voice in \"Pick You Up\", stating that \"His smooth vocal […] catapulted the band from rough 'n' ready indy hopefuls to slick Top 40 fortune seekers.\" When performed live, Alphonse Leong of Drop-D Magazine said that \"Pick You Up\", \"which sounds kind of sappy on disc, packed more of a wallop live\". He also described Powderfinger as \"a band with a mastery of loud, driving music\".\n\nTrack listing\n\"Pick You Up\" – 4:19 \n\"Toffee Apple\" – 2:24\n\"Wobbly Knee\" – 3:56\n\"Come Away\" – 3:55\n\"Piles\" (Hidden Track)\n\nCharts\n\nReferences\n\nPowderfinger songs\n1996 singles\n1996 songs\nPolydor Records singles\nSongs written by Jon Coghill\nSongs written by John Collins (Australian musician)\nSongs written by Bernard Fanning\nSongs written by Ian Haug\nSongs written by Darren Middleton"
] |
[
"My Happiness (Powderfinger song)",
"Production and content",
"Who was the producer for the song ?",
"The lyrics for \"My Happiness\" were written by Bernard Fanning, Powderfinger's lead singer and songwriter. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track.",
"What was the inspiration for the song ?",
"The song describes feelings of love and separation;",
"What is related to a specific event ?",
"The extensive time spent touring took its toll on the band, and it was on the back of this that Fanning wrote \"My Happiness\".",
"When the song was recorded ?",
"I don't know.",
"Was there anything special about the production of the song ?",
"Much of Fanning's writing is inspired by non-rock music, and \"My Happiness\" is no exception.",
"What kind of music inspired \"My Happiness\"?",
"Gospel and soul music",
"What does Fanning think of the song ?",
"he expressed confusion at its being considered a romantic song."
] |
C_3b5f24445aa248aaa4fe3c82fbf944a0_1
|
Besides music any other sources of inspiration for "My Happiness"?
| 8 |
Besides music any other sources of inspiration for My Happiness?
|
My Happiness (Powderfinger song)
|
If you can't cop a bit of emotional stuff then you should go and get the lamp shade extracted from your arse. If you don't think there is enough rock in your life then let me know and I will personally come around to your house and chuck stones at you. --Bernard FanningIn response to "My Happiness" being described by fans as "like Lauryn Hill, bland and boring Top 40 bullshit". The lyrics for "My Happiness" were written by Bernard Fanning, Powderfinger's lead singer and songwriter. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track. The song describes feelings of love and separation; Sain's Pennie Dennison said it described "the pining feeling you experience when you spend time away from the one you love". Fanning called it "a sad story of touring and the absence loneliness that comes with it". The extensive time spent touring took its toll on the band, and it was on the back of this that Fanning wrote "My Happiness". Thus, he expressed confusion at its being considered a romantic song. "My Happiness" was attacked by some fans as being "like Lauryn Hill, bland and boring Top 40 bullshit"; guitarist Ian Haug rebutted by pointing out that the song was an example of the new emotional level on which Powderfinger made music, while Fanning was more aggressive in his defence of the song. In response to being dubbed "Mr Miserable" by The Sun-Herald's Peter Holmes for the lyrics of "My Happiness" and "These Days", Fanning pointed out that the songs could be construed either as melancholy, or as part of "the most hopeful record ... in a long time". Much of Fanning's writing is inspired by non-rock music, and "My Happiness" is no exception. Gospel and soul music that is "unashamedly about love and how good it makes you feel" was common during the Odyssey Number Five recording sessions. Powderfinger worked hard in those sessions to ensure a more polished work than Internationalist; guitarist Darren Middleton concluded that "My Happiness", "The Metre", and "Up & Down & Back Again" were more "complete" because of the band's efforts. The lighter elements of "My Happiness" in comparison to some of the band's earlier work saw Fanning reveal his passion for several other musicians, such as James Taylor--something that "five years ago ... would have been an embarrassing thing to say". CANNOTANSWER
|
Sain's Pennie Dennison said it described "the pining feeling you experience when you spend time away from the one you love".
|
"My Happiness" is a song by Australian rock band Powderfinger. It was released via record label Universal Music Australia on 21 August 2000 as the first single from the band's fourth album, Odyssey Number Five. Powderfinger frontman Bernard Fanning wrote the lyrics for "My Happiness" as a reflection on the time the band spent touring to promote their work, and the loneliness that came as a result. It was inspired by his love of gospel and soul music. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track. Despite its melancholy mood, "My Happiness" is considered by many to be a love song, a suggestion Fanning regards as mystifying.
The single is Powderfinger's most successful; it peaked at number four on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, number seven on the New Zealand Singles Chart, and number 23 on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart—the first Powderfinger song to do so. In June 2020, the song was certified 5x Platinum in Australia. It won an ARIA Award and an APRA Award and topped the Triple J Hottest 100 in 2000 as well as coming 27th in the Triple J Hottest 100 of All Time in 2009. "My Happiness" was highly praised by critics, with even negative reviews of Odyssey Number Five noting it as a highlight, especially for its catchy chorus. One of the highlights of Powderfinger's United States tour with Coldplay was a performance of "My Happiness" on the Late Show with David Letterman; they were only the fourth Australian act to appear on the show.
In January 2018, as part of Triple M's "Ozzest 100", the 'most Australian' songs of all time, "My Happiness" was ranked number 31.
Production and content
The lyrics for "My Happiness" were written by Bernard Fanning, Powderfinger's lead singer and songwriter. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track. The song describes feelings of love and separation; Sains Pennie Dennison said it described "the pining feeling you experience when you spend time away from the one you love". Fanning called it "a sad story of touring and the absence loneliness that comes with it". The extensive time spent touring took its toll on the band, and it was on the back of this that Fanning wrote "My Happiness". Thus, he expressed confusion at its being considered a romantic song.
"My Happiness" was attacked by some fans as being "like Lauryn Hill, bland and boring Top 40 bullshit"; guitarist Ian Haug rebutted by pointing out that the song was an example of the new emotional level on which Powderfinger made music, while Fanning was more aggressive in his defence of the song. In response to being dubbed "Mr Miserable" by The Sun-Heralds Peter Holmes for the lyrics of "My Happiness" and "These Days", Fanning pointed out that the songs could be construed either as melancholy, or as part of "the most hopeful record ... in a long time".
Much of Fanning's writing is inspired by non-rock music, and "My Happiness" is no exception. Gospel and soul music that is "unashamedly about love and how good it makes you feel" was common during the Odyssey Number Five recording sessions. Powderfinger worked hard in those sessions to ensure a more polished work than Internationalist; guitarist Darren Middleton concluded that "My Happiness", "The Metre", and "Up & Down & Back Again" were more "complete" because of the band's efforts. The lighter elements of "My Happiness" in comparison to some of the band's earlier work saw Fanning reveal his passion for several other musicians, such as James Taylor—something that "five years ago ... would have been an embarrassing thing to say".
Touring and promotion
"My Happiness" was put on heavy rotation by Los Angeles radio station KROQ-FM two months prior to its United States release, and Powderfinger signed a contract with United States label Republic as a result of the song's early success. Beat journalist Jayson Argall joked the song had received "a bit" of airplay. Although "My Happiness" was subsequently dropped from KROQ's roster, other radio stations continued to give the song high priority.
"My Happiness" peaked at number 23 on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks, making it the first Powderfinger song to appear on a Billboard chart. According to Susan Groves of WHRL, part of the song's success came about because very few people knew of Powderfinger, but were drawn towards "My Happiness" because it was "melodic, [and] pretty"—a change from what she described as "middle of the road rock" popular in the United States. Meanwhile, Australians were "starting to get sick of My Happiness"—Cameron Adams argued in The Hobart Mercury that this was one of the reasons Powderfinger decided to focus on the offshore market.
Powderfinger performed "My Happiness" live on the Late Show with David Letterman while touring North America with British rock group Coldplay. They were the fourth Australian act (after The Living End, Silverchair, and Nick Cave) to play on the show. The band also did free promotional shows leading up to the release of the single. In Europe, "My Happiness" received approximately four weeks of airplay on German music video program Viva II, and the band sold out for three nights in a row in London, partly due to the success of the single.
Release and commercial success
"My Happiness" was released as a single in Australia on 21 August 2000. When asked how they chose the release date, Fanning jokingly said "the release date is timed to coincide with the Olympics, when all the visitors are here ... they can go into HMV and pick it up." At the time of the single's release, the band's previous album, Internationalist, was still in the top 50 on the ARIA Albums Chart, 95 weeks after entering. The single featured B-side "My Kind of Scene", which had already received strong airplay due to its appearance on the Mission: Impossible 2 soundtrack. "My Happiness" appeared on a Triple M compilation entitled Triple M's New Stuff, and on a Kerrang! compilation, Kerrang!2 The Album.
"My Happiness" entered the ARIA singles chart at number four—making it Powderfinger's highest-charting single in Australia—and spent 24 weeks on the chart. It reached number two on the Queensland singles chart, and peaked at number seven on the New Zealand singles chart, on which it spent 23 weeks. In the US, "My Happiness" was serviced to alternative radio on 13 February 2001; it was Powderfinger's first single to chart in the US, reaching number 23 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.
The song won the "Single of the Year" award at the ARIA Awards of 2001, and the 2001 "Song of the Year" APRA Award. Furthermore, "My Happiness" topped the Triple J Hottest 100 chart in 2000, and appeared on that year's CD release. Rolling Stone Australia named "My Happiness" "Song of the Year" in a reader poll. "My Happiness" was the eighth most-played song on Australian radio in 2001.
Critical reception
"My Happiness" was critically acclaimed. Cameron Adams of the Herald Sun wrote that "My Happiness" did not disappoint in the trend of excellent first singles from Powderfinger, citing "Pick You Up" and "The Day You Come" as examples. He praised the song's structure, stating that "the verses almost crash into the chorus". Adams also expressed surprise that "My Kind of Scene" was only released as a B-side. The Newcastle Heralds Chad Watson described a mixture of acoustic and electric guitar and "a restrained yet warmly infectious chorus". Despite praising it as a "Big Rock Anthem™", Richard Jinman of The Sydney Morning Herald complained that "My Happiness" was not as "hummable" as past singles "Passenger" or "These Days". Devon Powers of PopMatters described it, and "Waiting for the Sun", as sounding bored. The Evening Mail agreed; it argued the "rock-lite" song, while sounding lush, failed to "make you really sit up and take notice".
Despite being highly critical of Odyssey Number Five, Allmusic's Dean Carlson labelled it, alongside "Odyssey #5", as one of the album's best songs, for the riff Powderfinger executed "better than most bands of their stature". Adams also enjoyed the song's "wobbly guitar", and Sains Christie Eliszer approved of the "acoustic strumalong", but The Advertisers Michael Duffy said the song was "a familiar piece of yearning guitar indie that is polished but pedestrian"; he reserved his praise for "My Kind of Scene", which he described as akin to the best of Internationalist. Darren Bunting wrote in the Hull Daily Mail that "My Happiness" was the best song on Odyssey Number Five, praising "soaring vocals, heartfelt lyrics and chiming guitar". Entertainment Weeklys Marc Weingarten said that on "My Happiness", "Fanning's heavy heart is tattered by scratching and clawing guitars".
Music video
The music video for "My Happiness" starts at a railway station (Roma Street in Brisbane) with a boy and girl stepping off a train. As the pair leave the train, the boy turns and tries to reach for something, but the girl pulls him back. It is shown that he was reaching for a sentient slinky. The slinky leaves the train, and passes Middleton busking in the train station. The slinky ventures to find the boy, facing a range of challenges along the way; these include avoiding fruit falling on it and riding a skateboard. In the middle of the music clip, the slinky is shown making its way through a music room in which Powderfinger are performing "My Happiness". It rests on the bar and the band finishes playing, while the background music continues. As Powderfinger leaves, the slinky is picked up by Haug. He gets into a car and places the slinky on the car's dashboard, but it falls out the window as the car turns a tight corner. It lands outside the gate of a house and is picked up and brought inside to the boy.
The video was created by Fifty Fifty Films, who created numerous other Powderfinger music videos. It was directed by Chris Applebaum and produced by Keeley Gould of A Band Apart, with editing by Jeff Selis. Cameron Adams of The Courier Mail reported that following the music video's release, slinky sales increased dramatically.
Awards and accolades
Track listings
Australian CD single
"My Happiness" – 4:36
"My Kind of Scene" – 4:37
"Nature Boy" – 3:12
"Odyssey #1" (demo) – 4:09
European CD single
"My Happiness" (edit) – 4:11
"Nature Boy" – 3:38
Personnel
Powderfinger
Bernard Fanning – vocals and tambourine
Darren Middleton – guitars and backing vocals
Ian Haug – guitars
John Collins – bass guitars
Jon Coghill – drums and percussion
Production
Nick DiDia – Producer, engineer and mixer
Matt Voigt – Assistant engineer
Anton Hagop – Assistant engineer
Alex Pertout – Percussion
Stewart Whitmore – Digital editing
Stephen Marcussen – Mastering
Anton Hagop – Assistant producer
Kevin Wilkins – Art direction and photography
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
Powderfinger songs
2000 singles
2000 songs
APRA Award winners
ARIA Award-winning songs
Polydor Records singles
Songs written by Bernard Fanning
Songs written by Jon Coghill
Songs written by John Collins (Australian musician)
Songs written by Ian Haug
Songs written by Darren Middleton
Universal Music Australia singles
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[
"Simon Mawhinney (born 1976) is a Northern Irish composer. His music has been performed in the UK, Ireland, Germany, France, and Iceland, and has won prizes including the Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize.\n\nEarly life and education \nMawhinney was born in County Down, Northern Ireland in 1976. As a student, he studied music at the University of Oxford, the University of York and Queen's University Belfast, the latter of which he has held the position of senior lecturer in composition since 2006.\n\nMusical career \nThroughout his musical career, Mawhinney has used a range of compositional techniques, drawing on the post-spectral and New Complexity movements. He has also been interested in computer-assisted composition, specifically using OpenMusic, a software developed by the French company IRCAM.\n\nMawhinney draws particular inspiration from the music of Olivier Messiaen and Pierre Boulez, stating that Boulez's Dérive 2 is a pinnacle of contemporary music. He has also been influenced by the works of Kaikhosru Sorabji.\nHe has a particular interest in music with extended duration, with inspiration from composers such as Morton Feldman. In 2009, he said about his composition Hunshigo that he felt all of his compositional work was, in some way, a response to The Troubles in Northern Ireland. He said:\n\nHowever, no specific work sets out to make explicit reference. Rather, I have sought in my work to consider underlying sources of conflict (which I would term duality in order to apply it universally) and to come up with solutions as to how it is prevented. I have sought to inculcate my optimistic/idealistic world view throughout the structure of my work. Hunshigo [for violin and piano] is as good an example as any of mine in which the resulting musical language reflects my response. I really cannot envisage writing any other way to achieve this.\n\nSelected works \nMawhinney's works include:\n\n Hunshigo (2009) - for violin and piano\n Nendrum Haykal (2006) - for viola d'amore\n Starbog (2006) - for chamber ensemble\n Batu (2005) - for piano\n Trumpet Sketches (2004) - for trumpet\n Darby's Loanin (2003) - for chamber ensemble\n Asháb (2003) - for symphony orchestra\n Barcode 3 (2003) - for violin\n Barcode (2003) - for trumpet\n Barcode 2 (2002) - for flute and clarinet\n The Pot of Pulgarve (2003) - for symphony orchestra\n Qalban Tahiran (2001) - for voice and chamber ensemble\n Lavander (2000) - for clarinet and large ensemble\n Namas (1999) - for large ensemble\n\nBibliography\n\nExternal links \n \n \n\nComposers from Northern Ireland\nMusicians from County Down\nLiving people\n1976 births",
"\"My Happiness\" is a song by Australian rock band Powderfinger. It was released via record label Universal Music Australia on 21 August 2000 as the first single from the band's fourth album, Odyssey Number Five. Powderfinger frontman Bernard Fanning wrote the lyrics for \"My Happiness\" as a reflection on the time the band spent touring to promote their work, and the loneliness that came as a result. It was inspired by his love of gospel and soul music. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track. Despite its melancholy mood, \"My Happiness\" is considered by many to be a love song, a suggestion Fanning regards as mystifying.\n\nThe single is Powderfinger's most successful; it peaked at number four on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, number seven on the New Zealand Singles Chart, and number 23 on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart—the first Powderfinger song to do so. In June 2020, the song was certified 5x Platinum in Australia. It won an ARIA Award and an APRA Award and topped the Triple J Hottest 100 in 2000 as well as coming 27th in the Triple J Hottest 100 of All Time in 2009. \"My Happiness\" was highly praised by critics, with even negative reviews of Odyssey Number Five noting it as a highlight, especially for its catchy chorus. One of the highlights of Powderfinger's United States tour with Coldplay was a performance of \"My Happiness\" on the Late Show with David Letterman; they were only the fourth Australian act to appear on the show.\n\nIn January 2018, as part of Triple M's \"Ozzest 100\", the 'most Australian' songs of all time, \"My Happiness\" was ranked number 31.\n\nProduction and content \n\nThe lyrics for \"My Happiness\" were written by Bernard Fanning, Powderfinger's lead singer and songwriter. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track. The song describes feelings of love and separation; Sains Pennie Dennison said it described \"the pining feeling you experience when you spend time away from the one you love\". Fanning called it \"a sad story of touring and the absence loneliness that comes with it\". The extensive time spent touring took its toll on the band, and it was on the back of this that Fanning wrote \"My Happiness\". Thus, he expressed confusion at its being considered a romantic song.\n\n\"My Happiness\" was attacked by some fans as being \"like Lauryn Hill, bland and boring Top 40 bullshit\"; guitarist Ian Haug rebutted by pointing out that the song was an example of the new emotional level on which Powderfinger made music, while Fanning was more aggressive in his defence of the song. In response to being dubbed \"Mr Miserable\" by The Sun-Heralds Peter Holmes for the lyrics of \"My Happiness\" and \"These Days\", Fanning pointed out that the songs could be construed either as melancholy, or as part of \"the most hopeful record ... in a long time\".\n\nMuch of Fanning's writing is inspired by non-rock music, and \"My Happiness\" is no exception. Gospel and soul music that is \"unashamedly about love and how good it makes you feel\" was common during the Odyssey Number Five recording sessions. Powderfinger worked hard in those sessions to ensure a more polished work than Internationalist; guitarist Darren Middleton concluded that \"My Happiness\", \"The Metre\", and \"Up & Down & Back Again\" were more \"complete\" because of the band's efforts. The lighter elements of \"My Happiness\" in comparison to some of the band's earlier work saw Fanning reveal his passion for several other musicians, such as James Taylor—something that \"five years ago ... would have been an embarrassing thing to say\".\n\nTouring and promotion \n\"My Happiness\" was put on heavy rotation by Los Angeles radio station KROQ-FM two months prior to its United States release, and Powderfinger signed a contract with United States label Republic as a result of the song's early success. Beat journalist Jayson Argall joked the song had received \"a bit\" of airplay. Although \"My Happiness\" was subsequently dropped from KROQ's roster, other radio stations continued to give the song high priority.\n\n\"My Happiness\" peaked at number 23 on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks, making it the first Powderfinger song to appear on a Billboard chart. According to Susan Groves of WHRL, part of the song's success came about because very few people knew of Powderfinger, but were drawn towards \"My Happiness\" because it was \"melodic, [and] pretty\"—a change from what she described as \"middle of the road rock\" popular in the United States. Meanwhile, Australians were \"starting to get sick of My Happiness\"—Cameron Adams argued in The Hobart Mercury that this was one of the reasons Powderfinger decided to focus on the offshore market.\n\nPowderfinger performed \"My Happiness\" live on the Late Show with David Letterman while touring North America with British rock group Coldplay. They were the fourth Australian act (after The Living End, Silverchair, and Nick Cave) to play on the show. The band also did free promotional shows leading up to the release of the single. In Europe, \"My Happiness\" received approximately four weeks of airplay on German music video program Viva II, and the band sold out for three nights in a row in London, partly due to the success of the single.\n\nRelease and commercial success \n\"My Happiness\" was released as a single in Australia on 21 August 2000. When asked how they chose the release date, Fanning jokingly said \"the release date is timed to coincide with the Olympics, when all the visitors are here ... they can go into HMV and pick it up.\" At the time of the single's release, the band's previous album, Internationalist, was still in the top 50 on the ARIA Albums Chart, 95 weeks after entering. The single featured B-side \"My Kind of Scene\", which had already received strong airplay due to its appearance on the Mission: Impossible 2 soundtrack. \"My Happiness\" appeared on a Triple M compilation entitled Triple M's New Stuff, and on a Kerrang! compilation, Kerrang!2 The Album.\n\n\"My Happiness\" entered the ARIA singles chart at number four—making it Powderfinger's highest-charting single in Australia—and spent 24 weeks on the chart. It reached number two on the Queensland singles chart, and peaked at number seven on the New Zealand singles chart, on which it spent 23 weeks. In the US, \"My Happiness\" was serviced to alternative radio on 13 February 2001; it was Powderfinger's first single to chart in the US, reaching number 23 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.\n\nThe song won the \"Single of the Year\" award at the ARIA Awards of 2001, and the 2001 \"Song of the Year\" APRA Award. Furthermore, \"My Happiness\" topped the Triple J Hottest 100 chart in 2000, and appeared on that year's CD release. Rolling Stone Australia named \"My Happiness\" \"Song of the Year\" in a reader poll. \"My Happiness\" was the eighth most-played song on Australian radio in 2001.\n\nCritical reception \n\n\"My Happiness\" was critically acclaimed. Cameron Adams of the Herald Sun wrote that \"My Happiness\" did not disappoint in the trend of excellent first singles from Powderfinger, citing \"Pick You Up\" and \"The Day You Come\" as examples. He praised the song's structure, stating that \"the verses almost crash into the chorus\". Adams also expressed surprise that \"My Kind of Scene\" was only released as a B-side. The Newcastle Heralds Chad Watson described a mixture of acoustic and electric guitar and \"a restrained yet warmly infectious chorus\". Despite praising it as a \"Big Rock Anthem™\", Richard Jinman of The Sydney Morning Herald complained that \"My Happiness\" was not as \"hummable\" as past singles \"Passenger\" or \"These Days\". Devon Powers of PopMatters described it, and \"Waiting for the Sun\", as sounding bored. The Evening Mail agreed; it argued the \"rock-lite\" song, while sounding lush, failed to \"make you really sit up and take notice\".\n\nDespite being highly critical of Odyssey Number Five, Allmusic's Dean Carlson labelled it, alongside \"Odyssey #5\", as one of the album's best songs, for the riff Powderfinger executed \"better than most bands of their stature\". Adams also enjoyed the song's \"wobbly guitar\", and Sains Christie Eliszer approved of the \"acoustic strumalong\", but The Advertisers Michael Duffy said the song was \"a familiar piece of yearning guitar indie that is polished but pedestrian\"; he reserved his praise for \"My Kind of Scene\", which he described as akin to the best of Internationalist. Darren Bunting wrote in the Hull Daily Mail that \"My Happiness\" was the best song on Odyssey Number Five, praising \"soaring vocals, heartfelt lyrics and chiming guitar\". Entertainment Weeklys Marc Weingarten said that on \"My Happiness\", \"Fanning's heavy heart is tattered by scratching and clawing guitars\".\n\nMusic video \n\nThe music video for \"My Happiness\" starts at a railway station (Roma Street in Brisbane) with a boy and girl stepping off a train. As the pair leave the train, the boy turns and tries to reach for something, but the girl pulls him back. It is shown that he was reaching for a sentient slinky. The slinky leaves the train, and passes Middleton busking in the train station. The slinky ventures to find the boy, facing a range of challenges along the way; these include avoiding fruit falling on it and riding a skateboard. In the middle of the music clip, the slinky is shown making its way through a music room in which Powderfinger are performing \"My Happiness\". It rests on the bar and the band finishes playing, while the background music continues. As Powderfinger leaves, the slinky is picked up by Haug. He gets into a car and places the slinky on the car's dashboard, but it falls out the window as the car turns a tight corner. It lands outside the gate of a house and is picked up and brought inside to the boy.\n\nThe video was created by Fifty Fifty Films, who created numerous other Powderfinger music videos. It was directed by Chris Applebaum and produced by Keeley Gould of A Band Apart, with editing by Jeff Selis. Cameron Adams of The Courier Mail reported that following the music video's release, slinky sales increased dramatically.\n\nAwards and accolades\n\nTrack listings \nAustralian CD single\n \"My Happiness\" – 4:36\n \"My Kind of Scene\" – 4:37\n \"Nature Boy\" – 3:12\n \"Odyssey #1\" (demo) – 4:09\n\nEuropean CD single\n \"My Happiness\" (edit) – 4:11\n \"Nature Boy\" – 3:38\n\nPersonnel \nPowderfinger\n Bernard Fanning – vocals and tambourine\n Darren Middleton – guitars and backing vocals\n Ian Haug – guitars\n John Collins – bass guitars\n Jon Coghill – drums and percussion\n\nProduction\n Nick DiDia – Producer, engineer and mixer\n Matt Voigt – Assistant engineer\n Anton Hagop – Assistant engineer\n Alex Pertout – Percussion\n Stewart Whitmore – Digital editing\n Stephen Marcussen – Mastering\n Anton Hagop – Assistant producer\n Kevin Wilkins – Art direction and photography\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nCertifications\n\nReferences \n\nPowderfinger songs\n2000 singles\n2000 songs\nAPRA Award winners\nARIA Award-winning songs\nPolydor Records singles\nSongs written by Bernard Fanning\nSongs written by Jon Coghill\nSongs written by John Collins (Australian musician)\nSongs written by Ian Haug\nSongs written by Darren Middleton\nUniversal Music Australia singles"
] |
[
"Tippi Hedren",
"Personal life"
] |
C_6c10e713d0a04ea8bb308b48d98f3da6_0
|
where was Tippi born?
| 1 |
Where was Tippi Hedren born?
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Tippi Hedren
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In 1952, Hedren met and married 18-year-old future advertising executive Peter Griffith. Their daughter, actress Melanie Griffith, was born on August 9, 1957. They were divorced in 1961. On September 22, 1964, Hedren married her then-agent Noel Marshall, who later produced three of her films; they divorced in 1982. In 1985, she married steel manufacturer Luis Barrenechea, but they divorced in 1995. Hedren was engaged to veterinarian Martin Dinnes from 2002 until their breakup in mid-2008. In September 2008, Hedren told The Sunday Times "I'm waiting for someone to sweep me off my feet." Hedren played a role in the development of Vietnamese-American nail salons in the United States. In 1975, while an international relief coordinator with Food for the Hungry, she began visiting with refugees at Hope Village outside Sacramento, California. When she learned the women were interested in her manicured nails, she employed her manicurist to teach them the skills of the trade and worked with a local beauty school to help them find jobs. Hedren's work with the Vietnamese-Americans was the subject of Happy Hands, directed by Honey Lauren, which won Best Documentary Short at the Sonoma International Film Festival in 2014. CND and Beauty Changes Lives Foundation (BCL) have announced the BCL CND Tippi Hedren Nail Scholarship Fund to support professional nail education and will be administered starting January 1, 2014. Hedren suffered from severe and persistent headaches for a long time and therefore was unable to accept several projects, including a television series produced by and starring Betty White. After she got a titanium plate put in her neck, she improved and then agreed, with the blessing of her doctor, to take the part of a dying woman in the soap opera Fashion House. While she was rehearsing a scene, a gallon of water fell from the ceiling onto her head. The headaches returned after the incident and persisted. Hedren filed a suit to receive recompense following her inability to work. Hedren's lawyer, Joseph Allen, made a mistake in his discussions with the defendants that allowed them to block him from filing suit. Hedren sued Allen for malpractice. In 2013, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Hedren had been awarded a $1.5 million settlement, including $213,400 for past lost earnings and $440,308 for future lost earnings, against her former lawyer. Hedren was hurt by the report since she had not collected the award. She gave an interview to explain that her former lawyer does not have the money to pay her, and discussed how the report put her in a difficult situation since her foundation was in dire need of funds. She explained that she has to raise $75,000 monthly just to keep it going. "Chances are I won't ever even see the money, and that what hurts so badly, that in all of this pain and suffering that publication ran with a swift and not researched story, which told people around the world who have been so gracious and thoughtful about sending donations, that I no longer needed them." CANNOTANSWER
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CANNOTANSWER
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Nathalie Kay "Tippi" Hedren (born January 19, 1930) is an American actress, animal rights activist, and former fashion model. She achieved worldwide recognition for her work in two of Alfred Hitchcock's classics: The Birds (1963) and Marnie (1964). Hedren is noted as one of the most famous 'Hitchcock Blondes' and is now one of the last surviving leading stars from Hitchcock's filmography.
A successful fashion model who appeared on the front covers of Life and Glamour magazines, among others, Hedren became an actress after she was discovered by director Alfred Hitchcock while appearing on a television commercial in 1961. She achieved great praise for her work in two of his films: the suspense-thriller The Birds (1963), for which she won a Golden Globe, and the psychological drama Marnie (1964). She has appeared in over 80 films and television shows, including Charlie Chaplin's final film A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), the political satire Citizen Ruth (1996), and the existential comedy I Heart Huckabees (2004). Among other honors, her contributions to world cinema have been recognized with the Jules Verne Award and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Hedren's strong commitment to animal rescue began in 1969 while she was shooting two films in Africa and was introduced to the plight of African lions. In an attempt to raise awareness for wildlife, she spent over a decade bringing Roar (1981) to the screen. She started her own nonprofit organization, the Roar Foundation, in 1983; it supports the Shambala Preserve, an wildlife habitat that enables her to continue her work in the care and preservation of lions and tigers. Hedren has also set up relief programs worldwide following earthquakes, hurricanes, famine and war. She was also instrumental in the development of Vietnamese-American nail salons.
Early life
Nathalie Kay Hedren was born in New Ulm, Minnesota, on January 19, 1930, to Bernard Carl and Dorothea Henrietta (née Eckhardt) Hedren. For much of her career, her year of birth was reported as 1935. In 2004, however, she acknowledged that she was actually born in 1930 (which is consistent with the birth registration index at the Minnesota Historical Society). Her paternal grandparents were Swedish immigrants, while her mother was of German and Norwegian descent. Her father ran a small general store in Lafayette, Minnesota, and gave her the nickname "Tippi". When she was four, she moved with her parents to Minneapolis; she has an older sister, Patricia. As a teenager, she took part in department store fashion shows. Her parents relocated to California while she was a high school student at West High School in Minneapolis.
Career
Modeling success (1950–1960)
On reaching her 20th birthday, Hedren bought a ticket to New York City, where she joined the Eileen Ford Agency. Within a year, she made her unofficial film debut as "Miss Ice Box" in the musical comedy The Petty Girl. In interviews, she referred to The Birds, her first credited role, as her first film. Although she received several film offers during that time, Hedren had no interest in acting, as she knew it was very difficult to succeed.
She had a highly successful modeling career during the 1950s and early 1960s, appearing on the covers of Life, The Saturday Evening Post, McCall's, and Glamour, among others. In 1961, after seven years of marriage to the actor Peter Griffith, Hedren divorced and returned to California with her daughter, Melanie, and rented an expensive home in Sherman Oaks. She later said, "I thought I could continue my career as it had been in New York. I thought everything would be just fine, and it wasn't. So I thought, 'well, I don't type, what shall I do?'"
Transition to acting and collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock (1961–1966)
On October 13, 1961, she received a call from an agent who told her a producer was interested in working with her. When she was told it was Alfred Hitchcock, who while watching The Today Show, saw her in a commercial for a diet drink called Sego, she agreed to sign a seven-year contract. During their first meeting, the two talked about everything except the role for which he was considering her. Hedren was convinced for several weeks it was for his television series, Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Hitchcock later said, "I was not primarily concerned with how she looked in person. Most important was her appearance on the screen, and I liked that immediately. She has a touch of that high-style, lady-like quality which was once well-represented in films by actresses like Irene Dunne, Grace Kelly, Claudette Colbert, and others, but which is now quite rare."
Being an unknown actress with little training, Hitchcock put Hedren through an extensive color screen test that lasted two days and cost $25,000, doing scenes from his previous films, such as Rebecca, Notorious, and To Catch a Thief with actor Martin Balsam. According to Balsam, Hedren was very nervous, but studied every line, did every move she was asked to, and tried to do everything right. Hitchcock asked costume designer Edith Head to design clothes for Hedren's private life and he personally advised her about wine and food. He also insisted for publicity purposes that her name should be printed only in single quotes, 'Tippi'. The press mostly ignored this directive from the director, who felt that the single quotes added distinction and mystery to her name. Hitchcock was impressed with Hedren. As production designer Robert F. Boyle explained, "Hitch always liked women who behaved like well-bred ladies. Tippi generated that quality."
Afterward, Hedren was invited to lunch with Hitchcock, his wife, Alma, and Lew Wasserman, head of Universal, at one of Hitchcock's favorite restaurants, Chasen's. There, she was presented with a golden pin of three birds in flight, adorned by three tiny seed pearls, and was asked by Hitchcock to play the leading role in his upcoming film The Birds. "I was so stunned. It never occurred to me that I would be given a leading role in a major motion picture. I had great big tears in my eyes", Hedren later recalled.
The Birds (1963) was Hedren's screen debut. Hitchcock became her drama coach, and gave her an education in film-making, as she attended many of the production meetings such as script, music, or photography conferences. Hedren said, "I probably learned in three years what it would have taken me 15 years to learn otherwise." She learned how to break down a script, to become another character, and to study the relationship of different characters. Hedren portrayed her role of Melanie Daniels as Hitchcock requested. She said, "He gives his actors very little leeway. He'll listen, but he has a very definite plan in mind as to how he wants his characters to act. With me, it was understandable, because I was not an actress of stature. I welcomed his guidance."
During the six months of principal photography, Hedren's schedule was tight, as she was only given one afternoon off a week. At first, she found the shooting "wonderful". Hitchcock told a reporter, after a few weeks of filming, that she was remarkable, and said, "She's already reaching the lows and highs of terror." Nonetheless, Hedren recalled the week she did the final bird attack scene in a second-floor bedroom as the worst of her life. Before filming it, she asked Hitchcock about her character's motivations to go upstairs, and his response was, "Because I tell you to." She was then assured that the crew would use mechanical birds. Instead, Hedren endured five solid days of prop men, protected by thick leather gloves, flinging dozens of live gulls, ravens and crows at her (their beaks clamped shut with elastic bands). In a state of exhaustion, when one of the birds gouged her cheek and narrowly missed her eye, Hedren sat down on the set and began crying. A physician ordered a week's rest. Hitchcock protested, according to Hedren, saying nobody but her was left to film. The doctor's reply was, "Are you trying to kill her?" She said the week also appeared to be an ordeal for the director.
Universal's executives, who did not back Hitchcock's decision to hire Hedren in the first place, were impressed with her performance and Wasserman described it as "remarkable". While promoting The Birds, Hitchcock was full of praise for his new protégée, and compared her to Grace Kelly. "Tippi has a faster tempo, city glibness, more humor [than Grace Kelly]. She displayed jaunty assuredness, pertness, an attractive throw of the head. And she memorized and read lines extraordinarily well and is sharper in expression." The film was screened out of competition in May at a prestigious invitational showing at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival. Hedren's performance was praised in Varietys review: "Aside from the birds, the film belongs to Hedren, who makes an auspicious screen bow. She virtually has to carry the picture alone for the first 45-minute stretch, prior to the advent of the first wave of organized attackers from the sky. Miss Hedren has a star quality and Hitchcock has provided her with a potent vehicle to launch her career". Hedren received the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year, tied with Elke Sommer and Ursula Andress. Her role as Melanie Daniels was named by Premiere as one of the greatest movie characters of all time.
Hitchcock was so impressed with Hedren's acting abilities, he decided to offer her the leading role of his next film, Marnie (1964), a romantic drama and psychological thriller from the novel by Winston Graham, during the filming of The Birds. Hedren was stunned and felt extremely fortunate to be offered to play "such a complicated, sad, tragic woman", and later said, "I consider my acting, while not necessarily being method acting, but one that draws upon my own feelings. I thought Marnie was an extremely interesting role to play and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity". She voiced doubts about her ability to play the demanding role, but Hitchcock assured her she could do it. As opposed to The Birds, where she had received little acting guidance, for this film Hedren studied every scene with Hitchcock.
Hedren recalled Marnie as her favorite of the two films she did with Hitchcock for the challenge of playing an emotionally battered young woman who travels from city to city assuming various guises to rob her employers. During the filming, Hitchcock was quoted as saying about Hedren, "an Academy Award performance is in the making". On release, the film was greeted by mixed reviews and indifferent box-office returns, and received no Oscar nominations. Variety wrote, "Hedren returns in a particularly demanding role. Miss Hedren, undertaking a role originally offered Grace Kelly for a resumption of her screen career, lends credence to a part never sympathetic. It's a difficult assignment which she fulfills satisfactorily." Hedren later said that Marnie was "ahead of its time" because "people didn't talk about childhood and its effects on adult life. It was taboo to discuss sexuality and psychology and to put all that into a film was shocking." Despite its original lukewarm reception, the film was later acclaimed and described as a "masterpiece" and Hedren's performance is now regarded as one of the finest in any Hitchcock film. Richard Brody of The New Yorker wrote in his 2016 review of the film "Hedren's performance is one of the greatest in the history of cinema."
Marnie was the second and last collaboration between Hedren and Hitchcock. In 1973, she admitted that a major lifestyle difference caused a split in their relationship. "He was too possessive and too demanding. I cannot be possessed by anyone. But, then, that's my own hangup". In 1983, author Donald Spoto published his second book about Hitchcock, The Dark Side of Genius, for which Hedren agreed to talk for the first time in detail about her relationship with the director.
The book was controversial, as several of Hitchcock's friends claimed the Hitchcock portrayed in the book was not the man they knew. For years after its release, Hedren was not keen to talk about it in interviews, but thought the chapter devoted to her story was "accurate as to just what he was". Hedren later explained her long silence before telling her story, "It was embarrassing and insulting—there were a lot of reasons why I didn't want to tell the story. I didn't want it to be taken advantage of, twisted, turned, and made into an even uglier situation than it was".
According to Spoto's book, Hitchcock brought in two members of his crew during the filming of The Birds and asked them to keep careful watch on the activities of Hedren, "when she left the set—where she went, who she visited, how she spent her free time". He then advised her on what she should eat, whom she should see, and how she should live. He told the cast and crew they were not allowed to talk to her. Hedren's co-star in The Birds, Rod Taylor, later remembered, "Hitch was becoming very domineering and covetous of 'Tippi', and it was very difficult for her. No one was permitted to come physically close to her during the production. 'Don't touch the girl after I call "Cut!"' he said to me repeatedly". Hitchcock also attempted, on one occasion, to grab and violently kiss Hedren in the back of a car as they drove onto the set. Hedren told his assistant, Peggy Robertson, and the studio chief, Lew Wasserman, that she was becoming very unhappy about the whole situation. "But he was Alfred Hitchcock, the great and famous director, and I was Tippi Hedren, an inexperienced actress who had no clout". She decided she could not quit her contract because she was afraid to be blacklisted and unable to find work. Hedren's own daughter, Melanie Griffith, remembered that while Hedren was doing The Birds, she thought Hitchcock was taking her mother away from her. "Suddenly, I wasn't allowed even to visit my mom at the studio".
During the filming of Marnie, Hedren found Hitchcock's behavior toward her increasingly difficult to bear as filming progressed. "Everyone—I mean everyone—knew he was obsessed with me. He always wanted a glass of wine or champagne, with me alone, at the end of the day. He was really isolating me from everyone". Hedren's co-star in Marnie, Diane Baker, later recalled, "She was never allowed to gather around with the rest of us, and he demanded that every conversation between her and Hitch be held in private... Nothing could have been more horrible for me than to arrive on that movie set and to see her being treated the way she was".
Hitchcock revealed to Hedren one day he had a recurring dream where she came up to him and said, "Hitch, I love you—I'll always love you". When she heard this, Hedren replied "But it was a dream. Just a dream", and excused herself from his presence. She believed Hitchcock had no consideration for her feelings and remembered she was humiliated after he asked her to touch him, just before shooting a scene. "He made sure no one else could hear, and his tone and glance made it clear exactly what he meant". Hedren asked Hitchcock's permission one day to travel to New York to appear on The Tonight Show, where she was supposed to be presented an award as the "Most Promising New Star". Hitchcock refused, according to his biographer, because he claimed the break would affect her performance. During that meeting, he apparently "made an overt sexual proposition" that Hedren "could neither ignore nor answer casually, as she could his previous gestures". In Spoto's third book about Hitchcock, Spellbound by Beauty (2008), Hedren revealed that Hitchcock actually made offensive demands on her. "He stared at me and simply said, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, that from this time on, he expected me to make myself sexually available and accessible to him—however and whenever and wherever he wanted". Hitchcock's demands led to a "horrible, horrible fight", according to Hedren. "He made these demands on me, and no way could I acquiesce to them".
Hedren then told him Marnie would be their last film together and later recalled how Hitchcock told her he would destroy her career. "I said I wanted to get out of my contract. He said: 'You can't. You have your daughter to support, and your parents are getting older'. I said: 'Nobody would want me to be in this situation, I want to get out'. And he said: 'I'll ruin your career'. I said: 'Do what you have to do'. And he did ruin my career. He kept me under contract, paid me to do nothing for close on two years". Hedren felt so humiliated, she called the director a "fat pig" in front of people on the set. Hitchcock made only a comment about it to his biographer, John Russell Taylor: "She did what no one is permitted to do. She referred to my weight". The two communicated only through a third party for the rest of the film. According to Marnie'''s screenwriter, Jay Presson Allen, Hitchcock was "mad" for Hedren. She felt unhappy for both and described the situation as "an old man's cri de coeur", adding that Hitchcock had a "Pygmalion complex about Tippi". She advised Hedren to finish the film and then get on with her life and be happy. Hedren's hairdresser, Virginia Darcy, even told Hitchcock he should not be possessive with Hedren. "Tippi felt rightly that she was not his property, but he'd say, 'You are, I have a contract'". Although Hitchcock thought he might mend fences with Hedren and make another film with her, she refused to reconsider her decision. Hedren's contract terms gave Hitchcock the final say as to any work she could take on and he used that power to turn down several film roles on her behalf. She was particularly disappointed when French director François Truffaut told her he had wanted her for one of them. In 1966, Hitchcock finally sold her contract to Universal Studios after Hedren appeared in two of their TV shows, Kraft Suspense Theatre (1965) and Run for Your Life (id.). The studio ultimately released her from her contract after she refused to appear on a television Western for them.
In 2012, The Girl, an HBO/BBC film about Hedren and Hitchcock's relationship, based on Donald Spoto's 2009 book Spellbound by Beauty: Alfred Hitchcock and His Leading Ladies, was released. When she was first told about the project, Hedren said she had mixed feelings about it, "To be still alive and have a film made about you is an awesome and incredibly frightening experience". Hedren and Hitchcock were respectively portrayed by Sienna Miller and Toby Jones.
Although she was thrilled with the choice of Miller, Hedren was worried she would not be portrayed "as strong a character as I was—and still am. I had to be extremely strong to fight off Mr. Hitchcock". She described the moment she saw the film as "probably one of the most involved, emotionally tense 90 minutes that I have ever lived". Upon the film's release, Hedren said although she believed the film accurately portrays Hitchcock's behavior towards her, the time constraints of a 90-minute film prevented telling the entire story of her career with him. "It wasn't a constant barrage of harassment. If it had been constantly the way we have had to do it in this film, I would have been long gone". She recalled there were times she described as "absolutely delightful and wonderful”, and insisted that “Hitchcock had a charm about him. He was very funny at times. He was incredibly brilliant in his field". The film was controversial, as others who knew and worked with Hitchcock responded to it negatively. Kim Novak, who worked on Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958), disputed Hitchcock's portrayal as a sexual predator in The Girl: "I never saw him make a pass at anybody or act strange to anybody. And wouldn't you think if he was that way, I would've seen it or at least seen him with somebody? I think it's unfortunate when someone's no longer around and can't defend themselves". Novak previously described Hitchcock as a gentleman, and when asked about reports of his behavior, she said, "Maybe I just wasn't his type". Novak also stated, "I won't dispute Tippi if that's what she saw."
Hedren herself was asked why her account of sexual harassment contrasted with the many interviews she gave about her time with Hitchcock, her presence at the AFI Life Achievement Award ceremony honoring him in 1979, and her presence at his funeral. She explained that, "He ruined my career, but he didn't ruin my life. That time of my life was over. I still admire the man for who he was". She also said, "I've been able to separate the two. The man who was the artist. I mean, what he gave to the motion picture industry can never be taken away from him and I certainly wouldn't want to try. But on the other side, there is that dark side that was really awful".
Career setbacks (1967–1973)
Hedren's first feature film appearance after Marnie was in A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), starring Marlon Brando and Sophia Loren. She was told by writer-director Charlie Chaplin that she was offered a major supporting role as Brando's estranged wife and had to accept the role without reading the script. However, when she arrived in England where the filming took place, she finally received the script and realized that her part was little more than a cameo. She asked Chaplin why he lied to her. "Every actor in the world was asking if they could do this film, to just do a walk-on, without even being paid for it. When I said, 'Why didn't you just tell me that it was a cameo? I would have done this film anyway,' he said, 'I didn't think you would come,' which was very sweet. He was a very clever man." Hedren asked Chaplin to expand the role, and although he tried to accommodate her, he could not, as the story mostly takes place on a ship, which Hedren's character boards near the end of the film. In the end, she remained in the film and later said that it was both amusing and strange to work with Chaplin. She found him to be a very serious man and loved his approach to directing. She later said, "I wish someone would have been allowed to do a documentary. The way he directed was unlike anyone I ever saw. He acted out all the parts himself. He did Sophia's part, then Marlon's part, then mine, and then he'd say, 'Okay, now you can do it.' Which would be impossible, to mimic the master. It was incredible. None of us believed it. Marlon hated it."
After the release of A Countess from Hong Kong, Hedren's career was described as "spectacular" by the press. She told a reporter at the time, "I don't want to wait myself out of this business, but working for Hitch and Charlie has been very special to me, and now I'm going to wait for something special to come along". In 1968, she signed on to do the American Civil War drama Five Against Kansas with Farley Granger and Jeffrey Hunter, but the project was never realized. In 1968, Hedren returned to film as a socialite who helps her boyfriend (played by George Armstrong) catch a killer, in Tiger by the Tail. From 1970 to 1971, she guest-starred twice on The Courtship of Eddie's Father. She agreed to take part in Satan's Harvest (1970) and Mister Kingstreet's War (1973)—which were shot back-to-back despite the discrepancy in their release dates—for the sole reason that they were being filmed in Africa. In 1973, Hedren played a teacher of an experimental sex school in The Harrad Experiment, which starred James Whitmore and Don Johnson—the latter who later became the husband of her daughter, Melanie Griffith. Hedren felt that the film "deals with vital themes—themes like the decline in importance of ideas like possession and jealousy and, by inference, marriage. I have four teenaged children and I think this picture says some valuable things to them." She confessed at the time she was occasionally depressed because she was not doing any major films and told a magazine, "My husband just cancelled all the trade magazines because he felt I should cut off the source of my discontent. He's the type who won't stand for sustained down feelings".
Roar (1974–1981)
Hedren and husband Noel Marshall watched a pride of lions move into a house after a game warden moved out in 1969, during the filming of Satan's Harvest in Africa. She said, "We were delighted with the way they adapted themselves to living there. And they were so funny we knew we had an idea for a picture." Marshall wrote a script titled Lions, Lions and More Lions based on their experience; it was retitled Roar and centered on a family's misadventures in a research park filled with lions, tigers, and other wild cats.
Hedren played the lead role and co-starred with her daughter Melanie, husband Marshall, and his own sons Jerry and John. They attempted to rent Hollywood animals for a nine-month shoot, but upon approaching animal trainers for support, they were discouraged and nobody would rent them 30 or 40 lions, as the script required, because of their natural tendency to fight. They were encouraged to start collecting and training their own exotic beasts. Animal trainer Ron Oxley told them, "to get to know about lions, you've got to live with them for a while". They started to raise a lion cub named Neil in their Sherman Oaks house and made sure that the animal slept in their bed. Life photographer Michael Rougier documented their life in 1971 and photographed the lion with the whole family inside and outside the house, from Hedren's daughter's bed to the living room to the swimming pool. After complaints from their neighbors, Hedren and Marshall bought a ranch outside of Los Angeles in Acton that would serve as the set for Roar. They got permission there to rescue and raise several lions, tigers, African elephants, and other exotic felines.
Filming started in 1974 and took five years just to complete the photography. Every scene involving lions was improvised and shot with four or sometimes eight cameras. More than 100 people worked on the film, as well as more than 150 untrained lions, tigers, leopards, and cheetahs. During production, no animals were hurt, but more than 70 members of the cast and crew were mauled. Hedren fractured a leg and also had scalp wounds when an elephant bucked her off its back while she was riding it. She was also bitten in the neck by a lion and required 38 stitches; this incident can be seen in the film. Melanie Griffith was also attacked, receiving 50 stitches to her face; it was feared that she would lose an eye, but she recovered and was not disfigured. Marshall was attacked so many times that he eventually was diagnosed with gangrene. In one of those incidents, he was clawed by a cheetah when protecting the animals during a bushfire that occurred in 1979. All animals were evacuated, and several years were needed for him to recover from his injuries. In 1978, a flood destroyed the movie sets and killed three of the lions. The project was set back several years. Hedren said that they were all determined to finish the film: "We were so sure the film was going to be a success that we thought everything (financing the ranch and the lions, etc.) would take care of itself."Roar was released worldwide in 1981 with the exception of the United States, because according to Hedren, "The United States distributors wanted the lion's share of the profits, and we thought it ought to go to the beautiful animals that made the movie." The film cost $17 million and grossed only $2 million, but it was a turning point in Hedren's life. In 1983, she established the nonprofit The Roar Foundation to take care of the big cats. "After our movie was over," she explained, "it was unconscionable to see the animals go any place else." Roar was re-released in 2015, but Hedren declined to discuss it, as she felt that promotion for the film was filled with "inaccuracies".
Later career (1982–present)
After Roar, Hedren accepted any low-budget television or cinema role that could help bring funds to her foundation to provide protection, shelter, care, and maintenance for the animals at the Shambala Preserve. In 1982, she co-starred with Leslie Nielsen in Foxfire Light. She appeared in several television series, including Hart to Hart in 1983 and the late-night horror series Tales from the Darkside in 1984. In the 1985 pilot episode of The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents, she made a brief appearance as a waitress in a bar who berates a customer, played by her daughter Melanie Griffith. In 1990, she had a nonspeaking, minor part as a wealthy widow romanced by Michael Keaton in the film Pacific Heights (1990), which also starred her daughter. That same year, she had a role on The Bold and the Beautiful, a daytime soap opera she said she was "proud to have in my resume".
In 1994, Hedren appeared in the made-for-cable sequel, The Birds II: Land's End, in a role different from the one she had played in the original. She was, however, disappointed that she did not get a starring role and admitted before the film's release, "I wish that it was more than a cameo. I think they made a mistake by not doing that, but it has helped me to feed my lions and tigers." When asked about what could have been Hitchcock's opinion on the film, she answered: "I'd hate to think what he would say!" In a 2007 interview, Hedren said of the film, "It's absolutely horrible, it embarrasses me horribly."
From 1994 to 1996, Hedren had a guest-starring role in Dream On. The sitcom gave her "the opportunity to do comedy. I'd never done comedy before and it was just wonderful for me to be able to do that. Everybody just thought of me as a serious actress, so I owe that to John Landis (the executive producer), giving me that opportunity." In 1996, she played an abortion rights activist in Alexander Payne's political satire Citizen Ruth with Laura Dern. In 1998, she co-starred alongside Billy Zane and Christina Ricci in I Woke Up Early the Day I Died, a film she felt was "incredible". "I must say I really love that film. It was a unique kind of film to do also, because of the fact that it had no dialogue in it. It was very, very different". That same year, she guest-starred in a special episode titled "Psychodrama" of the television series Chicago Hope, that paid tribute to the Hitchcock movies. Hedren's character, Alfreda Perkins, was a reference to Alfred Hitchcock and actor Anthony Perkins, who starred in the director's 1960 film Psycho.
After appearing in a number of little-exposed films between 1999 and 2003, Hedren had a small but showy role in the 2004 David O. Russell comedy I Heart Huckabees, as a foul-mouthed attractive older woman who slaps Jude Law in an elevator. She felt that the director, who had a reputation for being difficult, was "totally crazy", but also "very interesting. I was able to work well with him." She also added it was a strange experience as, "... all of a sudden, he'd be like, 'Now I'm going to do it this way,' and you'd think, 'How is he going to edit this? How is this going to work?' But he made it work." In 2006, Hedren was a cast member of the short-lived primetime soap opera Fashion House with Bo Derek and Morgan Fairchild, and continued to guest-star in television series such as The 4400 (2006) and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2008). In 2012, Hedren and her daughter guest-starred together on an episode of Raising Hope. That same year, she appeared in Free Samples, an indie film where she had a supporting role as an old movie star. In 2013, she made an appearance as herself in the fourth-season finale of Cougar Town.
Hedren published her autobiography, Tippi: A Memoir, co-written with Lindsay Harrison, in 2016 through William Morrow and Company, as she felt it was "about time I stop letting everyone else tell my story and finally tell it myself." In 2018, at age 88, Hedren became the new face of Gucci's timepieces and jewelry and starred as a mysterious fortune teller in the brand's commercial ad, The Fortune Teller.
Influence
A Louis Vuitton ad campaign in 2006 paid tribute to Hedren and Hitchcock with a modern-day interpretation of the deserted railway station opening sequence of Marnie. Her look from The Birds (1963) inspired designer Bill Gaytten to design for John Galliano Pre-Fall 2012 collection.
Naomi Watts stated that her character interpretation in Mulholland Drive (2001) was influenced by the look and performances of Hedren in Hitchcock films. Watts and Hedren both appeared in I ♥ Huckabees (2004), but did not share any scenes together. Off screen, the film's director David O. Russell introduced them both, and Watts said of Hedren: "I was pretty fascinated by her then, because people have often said we're alike." Watts dressed up as Hedren's title character from Marnie for a photo shoot for March 2008 issue of Vanity Fair. In the same issue, Jodie Foster dressed up as Hedren's character, Melanie Daniels, from The Birds.
Shambala Preserve
In 1981, Hedren produced Roar, an 11-year project that ended up costing $17 million and starred dozens of African lions. "This was probably one of the most dangerous films that Hollywood has ever seen", remarked the actress. "It's amazing no one was killed." During the production of Roar, Hedren, her husband at the time, Noel Marshall, and daughter Melanie were attacked by lions; Jan de Bont, the director of photography, was scalped. Hedren later co-wrote Cats of Shambala (1985) about the experience. Roar made only $2 million worldwide. Hedren ended her marriage to Marshall a year later in 1982. The film directly led to the 1983 establishment of the nonprofit The Roar Foundation and Hedren's Shambala Preserve, located at the edge of the Mojave Desert in Acton, California, between the Antelope Valley and the Santa Clarita Valley, northeast of Los Angeles. Shambala houses some 70 animals. Hedren lives on the Shambala site and conducts monthly tours of the preserve for the public. In a 2015 interview with magazine Ability, Hedren emphasized that there is no human contact with the animals and that all of the cats are spayed and neutered, since they are being raised in captivity. Hedren was the founding president of the American Sanctuary Association, a post she still holds.
She took in and cared for Togar, a lion that belonged to Anton LaVey, after he was told by San Francisco officials that he could not keep a fully grown lion as a house pet. Shambala became the new home for Michael Jackson's two Bengal tigers, Sabu and Thriller, after he decided to close his zoo at his Neverland Valley Ranch in Los Olivos. Thriller died in June 2012 of lung cancer.
On December 3, 2007, Shambala Preserve made headlines when Chris Orr, a caretaker for the animals, was mauled by a tiger named Alexander. Several documentaries have focused on Shambala Preserve, including the 30-minute Lions: Kings of the Serengeti (1995), narrated by Melanie Griffith, and Animal Planet's Life with Big Cats (1998), which won the Genesis Award for best documentary in 1999. The animals at the preserve served as the initial inspiration for the life's work of artist A.E. London, who started her career working for Hedren.
As of 2020, Hedren still maintains more than a dozen lions and tigers; her granddaughter Dakota Johnson is involved in their care.
Personal life
In 1952, Hedren met and married 18-year-old future advertising executive Peter Griffith. Their daughter, actress Melanie Griffith, was born on August 9, 1957. They were divorced in 1961. On September 27, 1964, Hedren married her then-agent Noel Marshall, who later produced three of her films; they divorced in 1982. In 1985, she married steel manufacturer Luis Barrenechea, but they divorced in 1992. Hedren was engaged to veterinarian Martin Dinnes from 2002 until their breakup in mid-2008. In September 2008, Hedren told The Sunday Times "I'm waiting for someone to sweep me off my feet." Hedren's granddaughter Dakota Johnson is also an actress.
Hedren played a role in the development of Vietnamese-American nail salons in the United States. In 1975, while an international relief coordinator with Food for the Hungry, she began visiting with refugees at Hope Village outside Sacramento, California. When she learned the women were interested in her manicured nails, she employed her manicurist to teach them the skills of the trade and worked with a local beauty school to help them find jobs. Hedren's work with the Vietnamese-Americans was the subject of several documentaries: Happy Hands, directed by Honey Lauren, which won Best Documentary Short at the Sonoma International Film Festival in 2014Sonoma International Film Festival website, sonomaportal.com; accessed March 10, 2015. and "Nailedit:
Vietnamese and the Nail Industry" which won the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) 2014 Documentary Fund Award. CND and Beauty Changes Lives Foundation (BCL) have announced the BCL CND Tippi Hedren Nail Scholarship Fund to support professional nail education and will be administered starting January 1, 2014.
Hedren was instrumental in helping a desperate Nguyen Thi Chinh to enter the US after the fall of the South Vietnam government in 1975, she arranged for an air ticket and a visa for her then invited her to stay in her house.
Hedren suffered from severe and persistent headaches for a long time, which rendered her unable to accept several projects, including a television series produced by and starring Betty White. After she got a titanium plate put in her neck, she improved and then agreed, with the blessing of her doctor, to take the part of a dying woman in the soap opera Fashion House. While she was rehearsing a scene, a gallon of water fell from the ceiling onto her head. The headaches returned after the incident and persisted. Hedren filed a suit to receive recompense following her inability to work. Hedren's lawyer, Joseph Allen, made a mistake in his discussions with the defendants that allowed them to block him from filing suit. Hedren sued Allen for malpractice. In 2013, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Hedren had been awarded a $1.5 million settlement, including $213,400 for past lost earnings and $440,308 for future lost earnings, against her former lawyer. Hedren was hurt by the report since she had not collected the award. She gave an interview to explain that her former lawyer does not have the money to pay her, and discussed how the report put her in a difficult situation since her foundation was in dire need of funds. She explained that she has to raise $75,000 monthly just to keep it going. "Chances are I won't ever even see the money, and that's what hurts so badly, that in all of this pain and suffering that publication ran with a swift and not researched story, which told people around the world who have been so gracious and thoughtful about sending donations, that I no longer needed them."
Filmography
Film
Television
Honours and awards
1964: Most Promising Newcomer Award by Photoplay
1964: Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actress (shared with Ursula Andress and Elke Sommer)
1994: Life Achievement Award in France at The Beauvais Film Festival Cinemalia
1995: Life Achievement Award in Spain, La Fundación Municipal de Cine
1995: The Helen Woodward Animal Center's Annual Humane Award
1996: Founder's Award from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
1997: Lion and Lamb Award from Wildhaven
1999: Woman of Vision Award from Women of Film and Video in Washington, D.C.
1999: Presidential Medal for her work in film from Hofstra University
1999: Humanitarian Award at the Las Vegas International Film Festival
2000: Best Actress in a Comedy Short Award in the short film Mulligans! at the Method Fest, Independent Film Festival
2002: Best Actress Award for the short film Tea with Grandma from the New York International Independent Film Festival
2003: Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
2003: Women of Los Angeles Annual Hope is a Woman Honor
2004: PAWS Companion for Life Award
2004: Best Actress Award for the short film Rose's Garden from the Los Angeles TV Short Film Festival
2004: Animal Rights Advocacy Award at Artivist Film Festival
2005: Living Legacy Award
2006: Conservationist of the Year—Dino Award from the Las Vegas Natural History Museum
2007: Lifetime Achievement Award—Riverside Film Festival
2007: Jules Verne "Nature" Award — the 1st Annual Jules Verne Adventure Film Festival of Los Angeles
2008: Academy of Art University's 2nd Epidemic Film Festival Award
2008: Jules Verne Legendaire Award
2008: Thespian Award - LA Femme Film Festival
2009: "When a Woman Wills She Will!" Award by the Woman's Club of Hollywood
2009: Workhouse's first Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award
2009: Received the First Star on the Orinda Theater Walk of Fame
2010: Received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 24th Annual Genesis Awards show from the Humane Society
2010: BraveHeart Award
2010: Who-Manitarian Award
2011: Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce at its 90th Annual Installation & Awards Luncheon
2011: "The Women Together Award" from the United Nations
2011: Vietnamese-American Marton Saint Award from the Boat People SOS Organization
2011: Omni Youth Humanitarian/Career Achievement Award
2012: Honorary Masters of Fine Arts Degree from the New York Film Academy
2012: Mayor Career Achievement Award from Starz Denver Film Festival
2013: Legacy of Style Award
2013: "People Helping People" Award by the Touching Live TV Award Show, broadwayworld.com; accessed November 14, 2015.
2014: Lifetime Achievement Award from Bel-Air Film Festival
2014: Special Recognition Award from Acton Women's Club
2014:The Women's International Film & Television Showcase Foundation International Visionary Award, thewifts.org; accessed November 14, 2015.
2015: Choreography of Desire (A Tribute to Tippi Hedren) by the Vienna International Film Festival, viennale.at; accessed November 14, 2015.
2015: Believe, Achieve, Empower Award
2017: Waggy Award recipient from the Tailwaggers Foundation
2017: The Icon Award
2018: "Friend for Life Award" from The Palm Springs Animal Shelter
Notes
References
Hedren, Tippi. Tippi: A Memoir, William Morrow, 2016, 288 p.
McGilligan, Patrick. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light, It Books, 2004 (Reprint), 864 p.
Moral, Tony Lee. Hitchcock and the Making of Marnie, Scarecrow Pres, 2013 (Revised Edition), 340 p.
Moral, Tony Lee. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds, Scarecrow Pres, 2013 (Revised Edition), 224 p.
Taylor, John Russell. Hitch: The Life and Times of Alfred Hitchcock, Bloomsbury Reader, 2013, 318 p. ASIN B00BWL8L0C
Spoto, Donald. Spellbound by Beauty, Three Rivers Press, 2009, 368 p.
Paul, Louis. Tales from the Cult Film Trenches: Interviews with 36 Actors from Horror, Science Fiction and Exploitation Cinema, McFarland, 2007, 336 p.
Gambin, Lee. Massacred By Mother Nature: Exploring the Natural Horror Film'', Midnight Marquee Press, Inc., October 8, 2012
External links
1930 births
Living people
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American actresses
Actresses from Minnesota
American film actresses
New Star of the Year (Actress) Golden Globe winners
American people of German descent
American people of Norwegian descent
American people of Swedish descent
Big cat attack victims
Keepers of animal sanctuaries
Apex Records artists
Challenge Records artists
Female models from Minnesota
People from New Ulm, Minnesota
Griffith family
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[
"Tippi Benjamine Okanti Degré (born June 4, 1990) is a French woman best known for spending her youth in Namibia among wild animals and tribes people. In 1997, she was the protagonist of Le Monde selon Tippi, filmed in Namibia and Botswana. When she was 10, Degré wrote Tippi My Book of Africa. In 2002–03, she was the presenter of Around the World with Tippi, six wildlife and environmental TV documentaries.\n\nBiography\nTippi Degré was born in Windhoek, Namibia, on June 4, 1990, to wildlife photographer-filmmaker parents and was raised in the bush for the first ten years of her life in Southern Africa. She was named after the American actress Tippi Hedren. During her childhood in Namibia, Degré befriended animals she lived among including a 28-year old elephant Abu, a leopard nicknamed J&B, lions, giraffes, a banded mongoose, an ostrich, meerkats, a cheetah, a caracal, snakes, a giant bullfrog and chameleons.\n\nIn 2000, Degré wrote the novel Tippi - My Book of Africa, based on her life in Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Madagascar where she lived among wild animals and with tribes people, the San Bushmen and the Himbas.\n\nIn 2001, she was named the Godmother of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) with the French actor, producer and director Jacques Perrin. From 2002 to 2003, Degré presented six wildlife and environmental TV documentaries for the Discovery Channel.\n\nA documentary film on her experiences, Le Monde Selon Tippi (\"The World According to Tippi\") was released in 1997. Around the World with Tippi was released in 2004, directed by Jeanne Mascolo de Filippis.\n\nDegré studied cinema and audiovisuals in France. Active in conservation and in the documentary film industry, she is a speaker and is currently the director of \"El Petit FICMA,\" the children's section of the FICMA International Environmental Film Festival (Barcelona).\n\nBibliography\n\nReferences\nNotes\n\nFurther reading\n\nExternal links\n Official website\n \n Le Monde Selon Tippi at the Internet Movie Database\nTippi's World\n\n1990 births\nLiving people\nFrench expatriates in Namibia\nFrench children",
"Tippi or Tippie can refer to:\n\n\nPeople\n Tippi Hedren (born 1930), Hollywood actress and animal rights activist born Nathalie Hedren\n Tippi Degré (born 1990), a French girl from Namibia who has a special bond with animals; named after Tippi Hedren\n Tippi McCullough (born 1963), American politician\n Clifford Gray (athlete) (1892-1968), American bobsledder and songwriter nicknamed \"Tippi\"\n Henry Tippie (1927-2022), American businessman\n\nFictional characters\nTippi, a character in Satisfaction (Australian TV series)\nTippi, a Pixl in the game Super Paper Mario\nTippie, a dog in Cap Stubbs and Tippie, an American syndicated comic strip\n\nOther uses\nTepi, a town in Ethiopia sometimes transliterated as \"Tippi\"\nTippi Airport, a former airport, Ethiopia\nTippie College of Business, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, United States\nTippi, a diacritic used in the Gurmukhi script\n\nSee also\nTippy (disambiguation)"
] |
[
"Tippi Hedren",
"Personal life",
"where was Tippi born?",
"I don't know."
] |
C_6c10e713d0a04ea8bb308b48d98f3da6_0
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is she married?
| 2 |
Is Tippi Hedren married?
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Tippi Hedren
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In 1952, Hedren met and married 18-year-old future advertising executive Peter Griffith. Their daughter, actress Melanie Griffith, was born on August 9, 1957. They were divorced in 1961. On September 22, 1964, Hedren married her then-agent Noel Marshall, who later produced three of her films; they divorced in 1982. In 1985, she married steel manufacturer Luis Barrenechea, but they divorced in 1995. Hedren was engaged to veterinarian Martin Dinnes from 2002 until their breakup in mid-2008. In September 2008, Hedren told The Sunday Times "I'm waiting for someone to sweep me off my feet." Hedren played a role in the development of Vietnamese-American nail salons in the United States. In 1975, while an international relief coordinator with Food for the Hungry, she began visiting with refugees at Hope Village outside Sacramento, California. When she learned the women were interested in her manicured nails, she employed her manicurist to teach them the skills of the trade and worked with a local beauty school to help them find jobs. Hedren's work with the Vietnamese-Americans was the subject of Happy Hands, directed by Honey Lauren, which won Best Documentary Short at the Sonoma International Film Festival in 2014. CND and Beauty Changes Lives Foundation (BCL) have announced the BCL CND Tippi Hedren Nail Scholarship Fund to support professional nail education and will be administered starting January 1, 2014. Hedren suffered from severe and persistent headaches for a long time and therefore was unable to accept several projects, including a television series produced by and starring Betty White. After she got a titanium plate put in her neck, she improved and then agreed, with the blessing of her doctor, to take the part of a dying woman in the soap opera Fashion House. While she was rehearsing a scene, a gallon of water fell from the ceiling onto her head. The headaches returned after the incident and persisted. Hedren filed a suit to receive recompense following her inability to work. Hedren's lawyer, Joseph Allen, made a mistake in his discussions with the defendants that allowed them to block him from filing suit. Hedren sued Allen for malpractice. In 2013, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Hedren had been awarded a $1.5 million settlement, including $213,400 for past lost earnings and $440,308 for future lost earnings, against her former lawyer. Hedren was hurt by the report since she had not collected the award. She gave an interview to explain that her former lawyer does not have the money to pay her, and discussed how the report put her in a difficult situation since her foundation was in dire need of funds. She explained that she has to raise $75,000 monthly just to keep it going. "Chances are I won't ever even see the money, and that what hurts so badly, that in all of this pain and suffering that publication ran with a swift and not researched story, which told people around the world who have been so gracious and thoughtful about sending donations, that I no longer needed them." CANNOTANSWER
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In 1952, Hedren met and married 18-year-old future advertising executive Peter Griffith.
|
Nathalie Kay "Tippi" Hedren (born January 19, 1930) is an American actress, animal rights activist, and former fashion model. She achieved worldwide recognition for her work in two of Alfred Hitchcock's classics: The Birds (1963) and Marnie (1964). Hedren is noted as one of the most famous 'Hitchcock Blondes' and is now one of the last surviving leading stars from Hitchcock's filmography.
A successful fashion model who appeared on the front covers of Life and Glamour magazines, among others, Hedren became an actress after she was discovered by director Alfred Hitchcock while appearing on a television commercial in 1961. She achieved great praise for her work in two of his films: the suspense-thriller The Birds (1963), for which she won a Golden Globe, and the psychological drama Marnie (1964). She has appeared in over 80 films and television shows, including Charlie Chaplin's final film A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), the political satire Citizen Ruth (1996), and the existential comedy I Heart Huckabees (2004). Among other honors, her contributions to world cinema have been recognized with the Jules Verne Award and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Hedren's strong commitment to animal rescue began in 1969 while she was shooting two films in Africa and was introduced to the plight of African lions. In an attempt to raise awareness for wildlife, she spent over a decade bringing Roar (1981) to the screen. She started her own nonprofit organization, the Roar Foundation, in 1983; it supports the Shambala Preserve, an wildlife habitat that enables her to continue her work in the care and preservation of lions and tigers. Hedren has also set up relief programs worldwide following earthquakes, hurricanes, famine and war. She was also instrumental in the development of Vietnamese-American nail salons.
Early life
Nathalie Kay Hedren was born in New Ulm, Minnesota, on January 19, 1930, to Bernard Carl and Dorothea Henrietta (née Eckhardt) Hedren. For much of her career, her year of birth was reported as 1935. In 2004, however, she acknowledged that she was actually born in 1930 (which is consistent with the birth registration index at the Minnesota Historical Society). Her paternal grandparents were Swedish immigrants, while her mother was of German and Norwegian descent. Her father ran a small general store in Lafayette, Minnesota, and gave her the nickname "Tippi". When she was four, she moved with her parents to Minneapolis; she has an older sister, Patricia. As a teenager, she took part in department store fashion shows. Her parents relocated to California while she was a high school student at West High School in Minneapolis.
Career
Modeling success (1950–1960)
On reaching her 20th birthday, Hedren bought a ticket to New York City, where she joined the Eileen Ford Agency. Within a year, she made her unofficial film debut as "Miss Ice Box" in the musical comedy The Petty Girl. In interviews, she referred to The Birds, her first credited role, as her first film. Although she received several film offers during that time, Hedren had no interest in acting, as she knew it was very difficult to succeed.
She had a highly successful modeling career during the 1950s and early 1960s, appearing on the covers of Life, The Saturday Evening Post, McCall's, and Glamour, among others. In 1961, after seven years of marriage to the actor Peter Griffith, Hedren divorced and returned to California with her daughter, Melanie, and rented an expensive home in Sherman Oaks. She later said, "I thought I could continue my career as it had been in New York. I thought everything would be just fine, and it wasn't. So I thought, 'well, I don't type, what shall I do?'"
Transition to acting and collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock (1961–1966)
On October 13, 1961, she received a call from an agent who told her a producer was interested in working with her. When she was told it was Alfred Hitchcock, who while watching The Today Show, saw her in a commercial for a diet drink called Sego, she agreed to sign a seven-year contract. During their first meeting, the two talked about everything except the role for which he was considering her. Hedren was convinced for several weeks it was for his television series, Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Hitchcock later said, "I was not primarily concerned with how she looked in person. Most important was her appearance on the screen, and I liked that immediately. She has a touch of that high-style, lady-like quality which was once well-represented in films by actresses like Irene Dunne, Grace Kelly, Claudette Colbert, and others, but which is now quite rare."
Being an unknown actress with little training, Hitchcock put Hedren through an extensive color screen test that lasted two days and cost $25,000, doing scenes from his previous films, such as Rebecca, Notorious, and To Catch a Thief with actor Martin Balsam. According to Balsam, Hedren was very nervous, but studied every line, did every move she was asked to, and tried to do everything right. Hitchcock asked costume designer Edith Head to design clothes for Hedren's private life and he personally advised her about wine and food. He also insisted for publicity purposes that her name should be printed only in single quotes, 'Tippi'. The press mostly ignored this directive from the director, who felt that the single quotes added distinction and mystery to her name. Hitchcock was impressed with Hedren. As production designer Robert F. Boyle explained, "Hitch always liked women who behaved like well-bred ladies. Tippi generated that quality."
Afterward, Hedren was invited to lunch with Hitchcock, his wife, Alma, and Lew Wasserman, head of Universal, at one of Hitchcock's favorite restaurants, Chasen's. There, she was presented with a golden pin of three birds in flight, adorned by three tiny seed pearls, and was asked by Hitchcock to play the leading role in his upcoming film The Birds. "I was so stunned. It never occurred to me that I would be given a leading role in a major motion picture. I had great big tears in my eyes", Hedren later recalled.
The Birds (1963) was Hedren's screen debut. Hitchcock became her drama coach, and gave her an education in film-making, as she attended many of the production meetings such as script, music, or photography conferences. Hedren said, "I probably learned in three years what it would have taken me 15 years to learn otherwise." She learned how to break down a script, to become another character, and to study the relationship of different characters. Hedren portrayed her role of Melanie Daniels as Hitchcock requested. She said, "He gives his actors very little leeway. He'll listen, but he has a very definite plan in mind as to how he wants his characters to act. With me, it was understandable, because I was not an actress of stature. I welcomed his guidance."
During the six months of principal photography, Hedren's schedule was tight, as she was only given one afternoon off a week. At first, she found the shooting "wonderful". Hitchcock told a reporter, after a few weeks of filming, that she was remarkable, and said, "She's already reaching the lows and highs of terror." Nonetheless, Hedren recalled the week she did the final bird attack scene in a second-floor bedroom as the worst of her life. Before filming it, she asked Hitchcock about her character's motivations to go upstairs, and his response was, "Because I tell you to." She was then assured that the crew would use mechanical birds. Instead, Hedren endured five solid days of prop men, protected by thick leather gloves, flinging dozens of live gulls, ravens and crows at her (their beaks clamped shut with elastic bands). In a state of exhaustion, when one of the birds gouged her cheek and narrowly missed her eye, Hedren sat down on the set and began crying. A physician ordered a week's rest. Hitchcock protested, according to Hedren, saying nobody but her was left to film. The doctor's reply was, "Are you trying to kill her?" She said the week also appeared to be an ordeal for the director.
Universal's executives, who did not back Hitchcock's decision to hire Hedren in the first place, were impressed with her performance and Wasserman described it as "remarkable". While promoting The Birds, Hitchcock was full of praise for his new protégée, and compared her to Grace Kelly. "Tippi has a faster tempo, city glibness, more humor [than Grace Kelly]. She displayed jaunty assuredness, pertness, an attractive throw of the head. And she memorized and read lines extraordinarily well and is sharper in expression." The film was screened out of competition in May at a prestigious invitational showing at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival. Hedren's performance was praised in Varietys review: "Aside from the birds, the film belongs to Hedren, who makes an auspicious screen bow. She virtually has to carry the picture alone for the first 45-minute stretch, prior to the advent of the first wave of organized attackers from the sky. Miss Hedren has a star quality and Hitchcock has provided her with a potent vehicle to launch her career". Hedren received the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year, tied with Elke Sommer and Ursula Andress. Her role as Melanie Daniels was named by Premiere as one of the greatest movie characters of all time.
Hitchcock was so impressed with Hedren's acting abilities, he decided to offer her the leading role of his next film, Marnie (1964), a romantic drama and psychological thriller from the novel by Winston Graham, during the filming of The Birds. Hedren was stunned and felt extremely fortunate to be offered to play "such a complicated, sad, tragic woman", and later said, "I consider my acting, while not necessarily being method acting, but one that draws upon my own feelings. I thought Marnie was an extremely interesting role to play and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity". She voiced doubts about her ability to play the demanding role, but Hitchcock assured her she could do it. As opposed to The Birds, where she had received little acting guidance, for this film Hedren studied every scene with Hitchcock.
Hedren recalled Marnie as her favorite of the two films she did with Hitchcock for the challenge of playing an emotionally battered young woman who travels from city to city assuming various guises to rob her employers. During the filming, Hitchcock was quoted as saying about Hedren, "an Academy Award performance is in the making". On release, the film was greeted by mixed reviews and indifferent box-office returns, and received no Oscar nominations. Variety wrote, "Hedren returns in a particularly demanding role. Miss Hedren, undertaking a role originally offered Grace Kelly for a resumption of her screen career, lends credence to a part never sympathetic. It's a difficult assignment which she fulfills satisfactorily." Hedren later said that Marnie was "ahead of its time" because "people didn't talk about childhood and its effects on adult life. It was taboo to discuss sexuality and psychology and to put all that into a film was shocking." Despite its original lukewarm reception, the film was later acclaimed and described as a "masterpiece" and Hedren's performance is now regarded as one of the finest in any Hitchcock film. Richard Brody of The New Yorker wrote in his 2016 review of the film "Hedren's performance is one of the greatest in the history of cinema."
Marnie was the second and last collaboration between Hedren and Hitchcock. In 1973, she admitted that a major lifestyle difference caused a split in their relationship. "He was too possessive and too demanding. I cannot be possessed by anyone. But, then, that's my own hangup". In 1983, author Donald Spoto published his second book about Hitchcock, The Dark Side of Genius, for which Hedren agreed to talk for the first time in detail about her relationship with the director.
The book was controversial, as several of Hitchcock's friends claimed the Hitchcock portrayed in the book was not the man they knew. For years after its release, Hedren was not keen to talk about it in interviews, but thought the chapter devoted to her story was "accurate as to just what he was". Hedren later explained her long silence before telling her story, "It was embarrassing and insulting—there were a lot of reasons why I didn't want to tell the story. I didn't want it to be taken advantage of, twisted, turned, and made into an even uglier situation than it was".
According to Spoto's book, Hitchcock brought in two members of his crew during the filming of The Birds and asked them to keep careful watch on the activities of Hedren, "when she left the set—where she went, who she visited, how she spent her free time". He then advised her on what she should eat, whom she should see, and how she should live. He told the cast and crew they were not allowed to talk to her. Hedren's co-star in The Birds, Rod Taylor, later remembered, "Hitch was becoming very domineering and covetous of 'Tippi', and it was very difficult for her. No one was permitted to come physically close to her during the production. 'Don't touch the girl after I call "Cut!"' he said to me repeatedly". Hitchcock also attempted, on one occasion, to grab and violently kiss Hedren in the back of a car as they drove onto the set. Hedren told his assistant, Peggy Robertson, and the studio chief, Lew Wasserman, that she was becoming very unhappy about the whole situation. "But he was Alfred Hitchcock, the great and famous director, and I was Tippi Hedren, an inexperienced actress who had no clout". She decided she could not quit her contract because she was afraid to be blacklisted and unable to find work. Hedren's own daughter, Melanie Griffith, remembered that while Hedren was doing The Birds, she thought Hitchcock was taking her mother away from her. "Suddenly, I wasn't allowed even to visit my mom at the studio".
During the filming of Marnie, Hedren found Hitchcock's behavior toward her increasingly difficult to bear as filming progressed. "Everyone—I mean everyone—knew he was obsessed with me. He always wanted a glass of wine or champagne, with me alone, at the end of the day. He was really isolating me from everyone". Hedren's co-star in Marnie, Diane Baker, later recalled, "She was never allowed to gather around with the rest of us, and he demanded that every conversation between her and Hitch be held in private... Nothing could have been more horrible for me than to arrive on that movie set and to see her being treated the way she was".
Hitchcock revealed to Hedren one day he had a recurring dream where she came up to him and said, "Hitch, I love you—I'll always love you". When she heard this, Hedren replied "But it was a dream. Just a dream", and excused herself from his presence. She believed Hitchcock had no consideration for her feelings and remembered she was humiliated after he asked her to touch him, just before shooting a scene. "He made sure no one else could hear, and his tone and glance made it clear exactly what he meant". Hedren asked Hitchcock's permission one day to travel to New York to appear on The Tonight Show, where she was supposed to be presented an award as the "Most Promising New Star". Hitchcock refused, according to his biographer, because he claimed the break would affect her performance. During that meeting, he apparently "made an overt sexual proposition" that Hedren "could neither ignore nor answer casually, as she could his previous gestures". In Spoto's third book about Hitchcock, Spellbound by Beauty (2008), Hedren revealed that Hitchcock actually made offensive demands on her. "He stared at me and simply said, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, that from this time on, he expected me to make myself sexually available and accessible to him—however and whenever and wherever he wanted". Hitchcock's demands led to a "horrible, horrible fight", according to Hedren. "He made these demands on me, and no way could I acquiesce to them".
Hedren then told him Marnie would be their last film together and later recalled how Hitchcock told her he would destroy her career. "I said I wanted to get out of my contract. He said: 'You can't. You have your daughter to support, and your parents are getting older'. I said: 'Nobody would want me to be in this situation, I want to get out'. And he said: 'I'll ruin your career'. I said: 'Do what you have to do'. And he did ruin my career. He kept me under contract, paid me to do nothing for close on two years". Hedren felt so humiliated, she called the director a "fat pig" in front of people on the set. Hitchcock made only a comment about it to his biographer, John Russell Taylor: "She did what no one is permitted to do. She referred to my weight". The two communicated only through a third party for the rest of the film. According to Marnie'''s screenwriter, Jay Presson Allen, Hitchcock was "mad" for Hedren. She felt unhappy for both and described the situation as "an old man's cri de coeur", adding that Hitchcock had a "Pygmalion complex about Tippi". She advised Hedren to finish the film and then get on with her life and be happy. Hedren's hairdresser, Virginia Darcy, even told Hitchcock he should not be possessive with Hedren. "Tippi felt rightly that she was not his property, but he'd say, 'You are, I have a contract'". Although Hitchcock thought he might mend fences with Hedren and make another film with her, she refused to reconsider her decision. Hedren's contract terms gave Hitchcock the final say as to any work she could take on and he used that power to turn down several film roles on her behalf. She was particularly disappointed when French director François Truffaut told her he had wanted her for one of them. In 1966, Hitchcock finally sold her contract to Universal Studios after Hedren appeared in two of their TV shows, Kraft Suspense Theatre (1965) and Run for Your Life (id.). The studio ultimately released her from her contract after she refused to appear on a television Western for them.
In 2012, The Girl, an HBO/BBC film about Hedren and Hitchcock's relationship, based on Donald Spoto's 2009 book Spellbound by Beauty: Alfred Hitchcock and His Leading Ladies, was released. When she was first told about the project, Hedren said she had mixed feelings about it, "To be still alive and have a film made about you is an awesome and incredibly frightening experience". Hedren and Hitchcock were respectively portrayed by Sienna Miller and Toby Jones.
Although she was thrilled with the choice of Miller, Hedren was worried she would not be portrayed "as strong a character as I was—and still am. I had to be extremely strong to fight off Mr. Hitchcock". She described the moment she saw the film as "probably one of the most involved, emotionally tense 90 minutes that I have ever lived". Upon the film's release, Hedren said although she believed the film accurately portrays Hitchcock's behavior towards her, the time constraints of a 90-minute film prevented telling the entire story of her career with him. "It wasn't a constant barrage of harassment. If it had been constantly the way we have had to do it in this film, I would have been long gone". She recalled there were times she described as "absolutely delightful and wonderful”, and insisted that “Hitchcock had a charm about him. He was very funny at times. He was incredibly brilliant in his field". The film was controversial, as others who knew and worked with Hitchcock responded to it negatively. Kim Novak, who worked on Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958), disputed Hitchcock's portrayal as a sexual predator in The Girl: "I never saw him make a pass at anybody or act strange to anybody. And wouldn't you think if he was that way, I would've seen it or at least seen him with somebody? I think it's unfortunate when someone's no longer around and can't defend themselves". Novak previously described Hitchcock as a gentleman, and when asked about reports of his behavior, she said, "Maybe I just wasn't his type". Novak also stated, "I won't dispute Tippi if that's what she saw."
Hedren herself was asked why her account of sexual harassment contrasted with the many interviews she gave about her time with Hitchcock, her presence at the AFI Life Achievement Award ceremony honoring him in 1979, and her presence at his funeral. She explained that, "He ruined my career, but he didn't ruin my life. That time of my life was over. I still admire the man for who he was". She also said, "I've been able to separate the two. The man who was the artist. I mean, what he gave to the motion picture industry can never be taken away from him and I certainly wouldn't want to try. But on the other side, there is that dark side that was really awful".
Career setbacks (1967–1973)
Hedren's first feature film appearance after Marnie was in A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), starring Marlon Brando and Sophia Loren. She was told by writer-director Charlie Chaplin that she was offered a major supporting role as Brando's estranged wife and had to accept the role without reading the script. However, when she arrived in England where the filming took place, she finally received the script and realized that her part was little more than a cameo. She asked Chaplin why he lied to her. "Every actor in the world was asking if they could do this film, to just do a walk-on, without even being paid for it. When I said, 'Why didn't you just tell me that it was a cameo? I would have done this film anyway,' he said, 'I didn't think you would come,' which was very sweet. He was a very clever man." Hedren asked Chaplin to expand the role, and although he tried to accommodate her, he could not, as the story mostly takes place on a ship, which Hedren's character boards near the end of the film. In the end, she remained in the film and later said that it was both amusing and strange to work with Chaplin. She found him to be a very serious man and loved his approach to directing. She later said, "I wish someone would have been allowed to do a documentary. The way he directed was unlike anyone I ever saw. He acted out all the parts himself. He did Sophia's part, then Marlon's part, then mine, and then he'd say, 'Okay, now you can do it.' Which would be impossible, to mimic the master. It was incredible. None of us believed it. Marlon hated it."
After the release of A Countess from Hong Kong, Hedren's career was described as "spectacular" by the press. She told a reporter at the time, "I don't want to wait myself out of this business, but working for Hitch and Charlie has been very special to me, and now I'm going to wait for something special to come along". In 1968, she signed on to do the American Civil War drama Five Against Kansas with Farley Granger and Jeffrey Hunter, but the project was never realized. In 1968, Hedren returned to film as a socialite who helps her boyfriend (played by George Armstrong) catch a killer, in Tiger by the Tail. From 1970 to 1971, she guest-starred twice on The Courtship of Eddie's Father. She agreed to take part in Satan's Harvest (1970) and Mister Kingstreet's War (1973)—which were shot back-to-back despite the discrepancy in their release dates—for the sole reason that they were being filmed in Africa. In 1973, Hedren played a teacher of an experimental sex school in The Harrad Experiment, which starred James Whitmore and Don Johnson—the latter who later became the husband of her daughter, Melanie Griffith. Hedren felt that the film "deals with vital themes—themes like the decline in importance of ideas like possession and jealousy and, by inference, marriage. I have four teenaged children and I think this picture says some valuable things to them." She confessed at the time she was occasionally depressed because she was not doing any major films and told a magazine, "My husband just cancelled all the trade magazines because he felt I should cut off the source of my discontent. He's the type who won't stand for sustained down feelings".
Roar (1974–1981)
Hedren and husband Noel Marshall watched a pride of lions move into a house after a game warden moved out in 1969, during the filming of Satan's Harvest in Africa. She said, "We were delighted with the way they adapted themselves to living there. And they were so funny we knew we had an idea for a picture." Marshall wrote a script titled Lions, Lions and More Lions based on their experience; it was retitled Roar and centered on a family's misadventures in a research park filled with lions, tigers, and other wild cats.
Hedren played the lead role and co-starred with her daughter Melanie, husband Marshall, and his own sons Jerry and John. They attempted to rent Hollywood animals for a nine-month shoot, but upon approaching animal trainers for support, they were discouraged and nobody would rent them 30 or 40 lions, as the script required, because of their natural tendency to fight. They were encouraged to start collecting and training their own exotic beasts. Animal trainer Ron Oxley told them, "to get to know about lions, you've got to live with them for a while". They started to raise a lion cub named Neil in their Sherman Oaks house and made sure that the animal slept in their bed. Life photographer Michael Rougier documented their life in 1971 and photographed the lion with the whole family inside and outside the house, from Hedren's daughter's bed to the living room to the swimming pool. After complaints from their neighbors, Hedren and Marshall bought a ranch outside of Los Angeles in Acton that would serve as the set for Roar. They got permission there to rescue and raise several lions, tigers, African elephants, and other exotic felines.
Filming started in 1974 and took five years just to complete the photography. Every scene involving lions was improvised and shot with four or sometimes eight cameras. More than 100 people worked on the film, as well as more than 150 untrained lions, tigers, leopards, and cheetahs. During production, no animals were hurt, but more than 70 members of the cast and crew were mauled. Hedren fractured a leg and also had scalp wounds when an elephant bucked her off its back while she was riding it. She was also bitten in the neck by a lion and required 38 stitches; this incident can be seen in the film. Melanie Griffith was also attacked, receiving 50 stitches to her face; it was feared that she would lose an eye, but she recovered and was not disfigured. Marshall was attacked so many times that he eventually was diagnosed with gangrene. In one of those incidents, he was clawed by a cheetah when protecting the animals during a bushfire that occurred in 1979. All animals were evacuated, and several years were needed for him to recover from his injuries. In 1978, a flood destroyed the movie sets and killed three of the lions. The project was set back several years. Hedren said that they were all determined to finish the film: "We were so sure the film was going to be a success that we thought everything (financing the ranch and the lions, etc.) would take care of itself."Roar was released worldwide in 1981 with the exception of the United States, because according to Hedren, "The United States distributors wanted the lion's share of the profits, and we thought it ought to go to the beautiful animals that made the movie." The film cost $17 million and grossed only $2 million, but it was a turning point in Hedren's life. In 1983, she established the nonprofit The Roar Foundation to take care of the big cats. "After our movie was over," she explained, "it was unconscionable to see the animals go any place else." Roar was re-released in 2015, but Hedren declined to discuss it, as she felt that promotion for the film was filled with "inaccuracies".
Later career (1982–present)
After Roar, Hedren accepted any low-budget television or cinema role that could help bring funds to her foundation to provide protection, shelter, care, and maintenance for the animals at the Shambala Preserve. In 1982, she co-starred with Leslie Nielsen in Foxfire Light. She appeared in several television series, including Hart to Hart in 1983 and the late-night horror series Tales from the Darkside in 1984. In the 1985 pilot episode of The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents, she made a brief appearance as a waitress in a bar who berates a customer, played by her daughter Melanie Griffith. In 1990, she had a nonspeaking, minor part as a wealthy widow romanced by Michael Keaton in the film Pacific Heights (1990), which also starred her daughter. That same year, she had a role on The Bold and the Beautiful, a daytime soap opera she said she was "proud to have in my resume".
In 1994, Hedren appeared in the made-for-cable sequel, The Birds II: Land's End, in a role different from the one she had played in the original. She was, however, disappointed that she did not get a starring role and admitted before the film's release, "I wish that it was more than a cameo. I think they made a mistake by not doing that, but it has helped me to feed my lions and tigers." When asked about what could have been Hitchcock's opinion on the film, she answered: "I'd hate to think what he would say!" In a 2007 interview, Hedren said of the film, "It's absolutely horrible, it embarrasses me horribly."
From 1994 to 1996, Hedren had a guest-starring role in Dream On. The sitcom gave her "the opportunity to do comedy. I'd never done comedy before and it was just wonderful for me to be able to do that. Everybody just thought of me as a serious actress, so I owe that to John Landis (the executive producer), giving me that opportunity." In 1996, she played an abortion rights activist in Alexander Payne's political satire Citizen Ruth with Laura Dern. In 1998, she co-starred alongside Billy Zane and Christina Ricci in I Woke Up Early the Day I Died, a film she felt was "incredible". "I must say I really love that film. It was a unique kind of film to do also, because of the fact that it had no dialogue in it. It was very, very different". That same year, she guest-starred in a special episode titled "Psychodrama" of the television series Chicago Hope, that paid tribute to the Hitchcock movies. Hedren's character, Alfreda Perkins, was a reference to Alfred Hitchcock and actor Anthony Perkins, who starred in the director's 1960 film Psycho.
After appearing in a number of little-exposed films between 1999 and 2003, Hedren had a small but showy role in the 2004 David O. Russell comedy I Heart Huckabees, as a foul-mouthed attractive older woman who slaps Jude Law in an elevator. She felt that the director, who had a reputation for being difficult, was "totally crazy", but also "very interesting. I was able to work well with him." She also added it was a strange experience as, "... all of a sudden, he'd be like, 'Now I'm going to do it this way,' and you'd think, 'How is he going to edit this? How is this going to work?' But he made it work." In 2006, Hedren was a cast member of the short-lived primetime soap opera Fashion House with Bo Derek and Morgan Fairchild, and continued to guest-star in television series such as The 4400 (2006) and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2008). In 2012, Hedren and her daughter guest-starred together on an episode of Raising Hope. That same year, she appeared in Free Samples, an indie film where she had a supporting role as an old movie star. In 2013, she made an appearance as herself in the fourth-season finale of Cougar Town.
Hedren published her autobiography, Tippi: A Memoir, co-written with Lindsay Harrison, in 2016 through William Morrow and Company, as she felt it was "about time I stop letting everyone else tell my story and finally tell it myself." In 2018, at age 88, Hedren became the new face of Gucci's timepieces and jewelry and starred as a mysterious fortune teller in the brand's commercial ad, The Fortune Teller.
Influence
A Louis Vuitton ad campaign in 2006 paid tribute to Hedren and Hitchcock with a modern-day interpretation of the deserted railway station opening sequence of Marnie. Her look from The Birds (1963) inspired designer Bill Gaytten to design for John Galliano Pre-Fall 2012 collection.
Naomi Watts stated that her character interpretation in Mulholland Drive (2001) was influenced by the look and performances of Hedren in Hitchcock films. Watts and Hedren both appeared in I ♥ Huckabees (2004), but did not share any scenes together. Off screen, the film's director David O. Russell introduced them both, and Watts said of Hedren: "I was pretty fascinated by her then, because people have often said we're alike." Watts dressed up as Hedren's title character from Marnie for a photo shoot for March 2008 issue of Vanity Fair. In the same issue, Jodie Foster dressed up as Hedren's character, Melanie Daniels, from The Birds.
Shambala Preserve
In 1981, Hedren produced Roar, an 11-year project that ended up costing $17 million and starred dozens of African lions. "This was probably one of the most dangerous films that Hollywood has ever seen", remarked the actress. "It's amazing no one was killed." During the production of Roar, Hedren, her husband at the time, Noel Marshall, and daughter Melanie were attacked by lions; Jan de Bont, the director of photography, was scalped. Hedren later co-wrote Cats of Shambala (1985) about the experience. Roar made only $2 million worldwide. Hedren ended her marriage to Marshall a year later in 1982. The film directly led to the 1983 establishment of the nonprofit The Roar Foundation and Hedren's Shambala Preserve, located at the edge of the Mojave Desert in Acton, California, between the Antelope Valley and the Santa Clarita Valley, northeast of Los Angeles. Shambala houses some 70 animals. Hedren lives on the Shambala site and conducts monthly tours of the preserve for the public. In a 2015 interview with magazine Ability, Hedren emphasized that there is no human contact with the animals and that all of the cats are spayed and neutered, since they are being raised in captivity. Hedren was the founding president of the American Sanctuary Association, a post she still holds.
She took in and cared for Togar, a lion that belonged to Anton LaVey, after he was told by San Francisco officials that he could not keep a fully grown lion as a house pet. Shambala became the new home for Michael Jackson's two Bengal tigers, Sabu and Thriller, after he decided to close his zoo at his Neverland Valley Ranch in Los Olivos. Thriller died in June 2012 of lung cancer.
On December 3, 2007, Shambala Preserve made headlines when Chris Orr, a caretaker for the animals, was mauled by a tiger named Alexander. Several documentaries have focused on Shambala Preserve, including the 30-minute Lions: Kings of the Serengeti (1995), narrated by Melanie Griffith, and Animal Planet's Life with Big Cats (1998), which won the Genesis Award for best documentary in 1999. The animals at the preserve served as the initial inspiration for the life's work of artist A.E. London, who started her career working for Hedren.
As of 2020, Hedren still maintains more than a dozen lions and tigers; her granddaughter Dakota Johnson is involved in their care.
Personal life
In 1952, Hedren met and married 18-year-old future advertising executive Peter Griffith. Their daughter, actress Melanie Griffith, was born on August 9, 1957. They were divorced in 1961. On September 27, 1964, Hedren married her then-agent Noel Marshall, who later produced three of her films; they divorced in 1982. In 1985, she married steel manufacturer Luis Barrenechea, but they divorced in 1992. Hedren was engaged to veterinarian Martin Dinnes from 2002 until their breakup in mid-2008. In September 2008, Hedren told The Sunday Times "I'm waiting for someone to sweep me off my feet." Hedren's granddaughter Dakota Johnson is also an actress.
Hedren played a role in the development of Vietnamese-American nail salons in the United States. In 1975, while an international relief coordinator with Food for the Hungry, she began visiting with refugees at Hope Village outside Sacramento, California. When she learned the women were interested in her manicured nails, she employed her manicurist to teach them the skills of the trade and worked with a local beauty school to help them find jobs. Hedren's work with the Vietnamese-Americans was the subject of several documentaries: Happy Hands, directed by Honey Lauren, which won Best Documentary Short at the Sonoma International Film Festival in 2014Sonoma International Film Festival website, sonomaportal.com; accessed March 10, 2015. and "Nailedit:
Vietnamese and the Nail Industry" which won the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) 2014 Documentary Fund Award. CND and Beauty Changes Lives Foundation (BCL) have announced the BCL CND Tippi Hedren Nail Scholarship Fund to support professional nail education and will be administered starting January 1, 2014.
Hedren was instrumental in helping a desperate Nguyen Thi Chinh to enter the US after the fall of the South Vietnam government in 1975, she arranged for an air ticket and a visa for her then invited her to stay in her house.
Hedren suffered from severe and persistent headaches for a long time, which rendered her unable to accept several projects, including a television series produced by and starring Betty White. After she got a titanium plate put in her neck, she improved and then agreed, with the blessing of her doctor, to take the part of a dying woman in the soap opera Fashion House. While she was rehearsing a scene, a gallon of water fell from the ceiling onto her head. The headaches returned after the incident and persisted. Hedren filed a suit to receive recompense following her inability to work. Hedren's lawyer, Joseph Allen, made a mistake in his discussions with the defendants that allowed them to block him from filing suit. Hedren sued Allen for malpractice. In 2013, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Hedren had been awarded a $1.5 million settlement, including $213,400 for past lost earnings and $440,308 for future lost earnings, against her former lawyer. Hedren was hurt by the report since she had not collected the award. She gave an interview to explain that her former lawyer does not have the money to pay her, and discussed how the report put her in a difficult situation since her foundation was in dire need of funds. She explained that she has to raise $75,000 monthly just to keep it going. "Chances are I won't ever even see the money, and that's what hurts so badly, that in all of this pain and suffering that publication ran with a swift and not researched story, which told people around the world who have been so gracious and thoughtful about sending donations, that I no longer needed them."
Filmography
Film
Television
Honours and awards
1964: Most Promising Newcomer Award by Photoplay
1964: Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actress (shared with Ursula Andress and Elke Sommer)
1994: Life Achievement Award in France at The Beauvais Film Festival Cinemalia
1995: Life Achievement Award in Spain, La Fundación Municipal de Cine
1995: The Helen Woodward Animal Center's Annual Humane Award
1996: Founder's Award from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
1997: Lion and Lamb Award from Wildhaven
1999: Woman of Vision Award from Women of Film and Video in Washington, D.C.
1999: Presidential Medal for her work in film from Hofstra University
1999: Humanitarian Award at the Las Vegas International Film Festival
2000: Best Actress in a Comedy Short Award in the short film Mulligans! at the Method Fest, Independent Film Festival
2002: Best Actress Award for the short film Tea with Grandma from the New York International Independent Film Festival
2003: Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
2003: Women of Los Angeles Annual Hope is a Woman Honor
2004: PAWS Companion for Life Award
2004: Best Actress Award for the short film Rose's Garden from the Los Angeles TV Short Film Festival
2004: Animal Rights Advocacy Award at Artivist Film Festival
2005: Living Legacy Award
2006: Conservationist of the Year—Dino Award from the Las Vegas Natural History Museum
2007: Lifetime Achievement Award—Riverside Film Festival
2007: Jules Verne "Nature" Award — the 1st Annual Jules Verne Adventure Film Festival of Los Angeles
2008: Academy of Art University's 2nd Epidemic Film Festival Award
2008: Jules Verne Legendaire Award
2008: Thespian Award - LA Femme Film Festival
2009: "When a Woman Wills She Will!" Award by the Woman's Club of Hollywood
2009: Workhouse's first Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award
2009: Received the First Star on the Orinda Theater Walk of Fame
2010: Received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 24th Annual Genesis Awards show from the Humane Society
2010: BraveHeart Award
2010: Who-Manitarian Award
2011: Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce at its 90th Annual Installation & Awards Luncheon
2011: "The Women Together Award" from the United Nations
2011: Vietnamese-American Marton Saint Award from the Boat People SOS Organization
2011: Omni Youth Humanitarian/Career Achievement Award
2012: Honorary Masters of Fine Arts Degree from the New York Film Academy
2012: Mayor Career Achievement Award from Starz Denver Film Festival
2013: Legacy of Style Award
2013: "People Helping People" Award by the Touching Live TV Award Show, broadwayworld.com; accessed November 14, 2015.
2014: Lifetime Achievement Award from Bel-Air Film Festival
2014: Special Recognition Award from Acton Women's Club
2014:The Women's International Film & Television Showcase Foundation International Visionary Award, thewifts.org; accessed November 14, 2015.
2015: Choreography of Desire (A Tribute to Tippi Hedren) by the Vienna International Film Festival, viennale.at; accessed November 14, 2015.
2015: Believe, Achieve, Empower Award
2017: Waggy Award recipient from the Tailwaggers Foundation
2017: The Icon Award
2018: "Friend for Life Award" from The Palm Springs Animal Shelter
Notes
References
Hedren, Tippi. Tippi: A Memoir, William Morrow, 2016, 288 p.
McGilligan, Patrick. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light, It Books, 2004 (Reprint), 864 p.
Moral, Tony Lee. Hitchcock and the Making of Marnie, Scarecrow Pres, 2013 (Revised Edition), 340 p.
Moral, Tony Lee. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds, Scarecrow Pres, 2013 (Revised Edition), 224 p.
Taylor, John Russell. Hitch: The Life and Times of Alfred Hitchcock, Bloomsbury Reader, 2013, 318 p. ASIN B00BWL8L0C
Spoto, Donald. Spellbound by Beauty, Three Rivers Press, 2009, 368 p.
Paul, Louis. Tales from the Cult Film Trenches: Interviews with 36 Actors from Horror, Science Fiction and Exploitation Cinema, McFarland, 2007, 336 p.
Gambin, Lee. Massacred By Mother Nature: Exploring the Natural Horror Film'', Midnight Marquee Press, Inc., October 8, 2012
External links
1930 births
Living people
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American actresses
Actresses from Minnesota
American film actresses
New Star of the Year (Actress) Golden Globe winners
American people of German descent
American people of Norwegian descent
American people of Swedish descent
Big cat attack victims
Keepers of animal sanctuaries
Apex Records artists
Challenge Records artists
Female models from Minnesota
People from New Ulm, Minnesota
Griffith family
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"Big Rich Atlanta was an American reality television series on the Style Network. The series premiered on January 23, 2013. Big Rich Atlanta follows a group of wealthy Georgia women and their daughters who do whatever it takes to be at the top of the local social scene and in control of the action.\n\nCast\nVirginia: Meyer and Harvin's mother, Virginia, moved in with them after her divorced was finalized. Virginia manages her daughters' business.\nHarvin: Harvin is Virginia's eldest daughter and is 30 years old. She owns a clothing and jewelry line named She Blames Me.\nMeyer: Meyer is 28 years old. She is part owner of her joint business She Blames Me.\nSabrina: Sabrina is a newly single pastor. She had a successful dancing career but turned it into a career in international dance ministry.\nAnandi: Anandi is a 19‑year‑old sophomore in college. She admits that she's a nerd but she also has an interest in beauty and fashion which has led to her partaking in beauty pageants.\nMarcia: Marcia is Meagan's mother and is an interior designer. She's working with her daughter to launch a mobile fashion truck business.\nMeagan: Meagan is a licensed real estate agent. She and her mother are currently working on opening Atlanta's first mobile boutique.\nAshlee: Ashlee is a former Miss Georgia Teen. She was married at a young age but is now divorced. Ashlee lives in a penthouse apartment that was inherited from her grandfather.\nKatie: Katie is a fourth generation Atlantan. She is a mother of two and is married.\nDiana: Diana is one of Katie's children, and is 17 years old. She's involved in the world of competitive cheerleading.\nSharlinda: Sharlinda is co-owner of Tu La 2 Nail salon, which she runs with her twin sister, Brie. She is married to Q. Parker of the R&B group 112.\nKahdijiha: Kahdijiha is 26 years old and the daughter of Sharlinda.\nBrié: Brié is Sharlinda's twin sister and serves as a second mom to Kahdijiha.\n\nEpisodes\n\nReferences\n\n2010s American reality television series\n2013 American television series debuts\n2013 American television series endings\nEnglish-language television shows\nStyle Network original programming\nTelevision shows set in Atlanta",
"The following is a list of characters from the Polish TV series M jak miłość.\n\nFor biographies of members of Mostowiak family, see: List of M jak miłość characters (Mostowiak family)\n\nBanach family \nBanach family is related to Mostowiak family through the 2020 wedding of Mateusz Mostowiak and Liliana Banach.\n\n Krzysztof Banach (January Brunov) is a patriarch of Banach family.\n\n Krystyna Banach (Dorota Chotecka-Pazura) is a wife of Krzysztof Banach.\n\n Liliana Mostowiak, born Banach (Monika Mielnicka) is a daughter of Jacek Kotowski and Krystyna Banach and legal daughter of Krzysztof Banach. She was a classmate of Mateusz Mostowiak and lived with her family in Lipnica. Her father used a domestic violence. In late 2019 she was raped by Daniel and fell pregnant. Mateusz Mostowiak decided to take care of her and raise her child as his own. In March 2020 Liliana miscarried. She married Mostowiak on April 21, 2020. In January 2021 she learnt that her biologcal father was Jacek Kotowski. Liliana had a romance with Australian Ethan Anderson, who is fifteen years senior and has a daughter. She left Mateusz and decided to divorce him and to marry her new partner.\n\n Mateusz Mostowiak is a husband of Liliana Mostowiak. They married on April 21, 2020.\n\n Kamil Banach is a second child and first son of Krzysztof Banach and his wife, Krystyna Banach. He lives in Lipnica.\n\nBudzyński family \nBudzyński family is related to Mostowiak family through the 2012 wedding of Andrzej Budzyński and Marta Mostowiak.\n\n Tadeusz Budzyński is a brother of Wanda Budzyńska. He was born in 1929 and died in 2012. She met Irena Malanowska, a woman whom he loved in his youth, and moved with her to Cracow.\n\n Wanda Budzyńska (Maria Rybarczyk) is a senior of Budzyński family. She was born in 1956. Wanda has one brother, Tadeusz Budzyński. She is a lawyer and a judge. She was dating Jerzy Kolęda (2014-2015).\n\n Andrzej Budzyński (Krystian Wieczorek) is an only child of Wanda Budzyńska and her unnamed husband. He was born on November 17, 1973. In 2003 he had a son, Piotr Bielak, with his married lover, Edyta Bielak. He hasn't known about him and met him later. Piotr was raised as a son of Edyta's husband. Andrzej married Marta Wojciechowska on January 16, 2012 and became a stepfather to her two children. They divorced in May 2017 after Marta moved to Colombia. He then started dating Magdalena Marszałek and they married on January 7, 2020. Andrzej is a stepfather to Magdalena's son, Maciej Chodakowski.\n\n Marta Budzyńska, born Mostowiak is a first wife of Andrzej Budzyński. They married on January 16, 2012 and divorced on May 15, 2017.\n\n Magdalena Budzyńska, born Marszałek is a second wife of Andrzej Budzyński. They married on January 7, 2020.\n\n Piotr Bielak is a first child of Andrzej Budzyński and his then lover, Edyta Bielak. His legal father is Janusz Bielak. He was born in 2003.\n\nChodakowski family \nChodakowski family is related to Mostowiak family through the 2009 wedding of Tomasz Chodakowski and Małgorzata Mostowiak.\n\n Grzegorz Chodakowski (Wojciech Majchrzak) is a first child of Mr. and Mrs. Chodakowski and older brother of Tomasz Chodakowski. He was born on May 6, 1967. \n\n Aleksandra Chodakowska (Małgorzata Pieczyńska) is a wife of Grzegorz Chodakowski. She was born on May 12, 1965. Aleksandra has one sister, a nun named Łucja (born July 9, 1967, died March 14, 2008).\n\n Aleksander Chodakowski (Maurycy Popiel) is a first child of Grzegorz Chodakowski and his wife, Aleksandra Chodakowska. He was born on June 6, 1987. He civilly married Aneta Kryńska on April 28, 2020 in a prison in Warsaw.\n\n Magdalena Chodakowska, born Marszałek is a first wife of Aleksander Chodakowski. They married on December 22, 2015 and divorced on September 19, 2017.\n\n Aneta Chodakowska, born Kryńska (Ilona Janyst) is a second wife of Aleksander Chodakowski. They married on April 28, 2020.\n\n Maciej Chodakowski, born Romanowski (Franciszek Przanowski) is a first child of Aleksander Chodakowski and his first wife, Magdalena Chodakowska. He was born in 2006. His biological father, Krzysztof Romanowski, died because of heart attack on January 18, 2016. On March 14, 2016 he was adopted by Aleksander and Magdalena\n\n Marcin Chodakowski (Mikołaj Roznerski) is a second child and second son of Grzegorz Chodakowski and his wife, Aleksandra Chodakowska. He was born on August 18, 1990. Marcin was raised in Germany by his father, because his mother left the family and moved abroad. He was a boxer. He came to Warsaw because he had a conflict with boxer club's chef. Marcin had romances with Weronika Zawada (who was married to Ryszard Zawada, 2013), Agnieszka Olszewska (2012), Eryka Bufford (2013-2014) and Jane Bufford (2013). In 2014 he met Katarzyna Mularczyk. They started dating and she fell pregnant. Marcin got engaged to Katarzyna on December 29, 2014. On March 9, 2015 their son Szymon Chodakowski was born in Warsaw, but Katarzyna died as a result of severe blooding. Marcin, who raised his son alone, met Izabela Lewińska. She worked as a curator and controlled Marcin's family. They fell in love and has a daughter, Maja Chodakowska, on November 14, 2017. In the meantime, Izabela married her former boyfriend, Artur Skalski and didn't say Marcin that she was expecting their child. Artur was killed in October 2019 by Aleksander Chodakowski. Marcin and Izabela engaged on January 28, 2020 and married in a church ceremony on March 24, 2020. Chodakowski owns a company.\n\n Izabela Chodakowska, born Lewińska (Adriana Kalska) is a wife of Marcin Chodakowski. They married on March 24, 2020.\n\n Szymon Chodakowski is a first child of Marcin Chodakowski and his fiancee, Katarzyna Mularczyk. He was born on March 9, 2015. His mother died hours after his birth and he was raised by his father.\n\n Maja Chodakowska is a first child of Marcin Chodakowski and his then girlfriend, Izabela Lewińska. She was born on November 14, 2017.\n\n Tomasz Chodakowski (Andrzej Młynarczyk) was a second child of Mr. and Mrs. Chodakowski and younger brother of Grzegorz Chodakowski. He was born on July 7, 1978. He lived in Szczecin and worked as a policeman. He decided to change his work and become a driver after the death of his close friend. He took care of his daughter, Zofia Warakomska. Tomasz met Małgorzata Mostowiak and saved her life when a man tried to rape her. They married on November 10, 2009 and their son was born on November 23, 2009. In the past, Tomasz was engaged to Agnieszka Olszewska, who escaped from the church minutes before their wedding. Agnieszka came to Warsaw from Szczecin and they renewed their relationship. Tomasz's relationship with Agnieszka and Małgorzata's work abroad was bad for their marriage. In 2014 Małgorzata left her family and moved to United States where she got engaged to her first husband, Michał Łagoda, and fell pregnant. Tomasz divorced her on May 12, 2014. Chodakowski had another one night stand with Olszewska. It resulted in a birth of their daughter, Helena Chodakowska, on February 23, 2016. Tomasz started dating Joanna Tarnowska, a nanny of Wojciech. Tomasz and Joanna married on March 28, 2017. Chodakowski was attacked with a knife and died in a Warsaw hospital on September 11, 2017.\n\n Małgorzata Chodakowska, born Mostowiak is a first wife of Tomasz Chodakowski. They married on November 10, 2009 and divorced on May 12, 2014.\n\n Joanna Chodakowska, born Tarnowska is a second wife of Tomasz Chodakowski. They married on March 28, 2017 and she widowed on September 11, 2017.\n\n Zofia Warakomska is a stepchild of Tomasz Chodakowski and his first wife, Małgorzata Chodakowska. She was born on June 15, 1999 in Szczecin.\n\n Wojciech Chodakowski is a first child of Tomasz Chodakowski and his first wife, Małgorzata Chodakowska. He was born on November 23, 2009 in Warsaw.\n\n Helena Chodakowska is a first child of Tomasz Chodakowski and his former fiancee, Agnieszka Olszewska. She was born on February 23, 2016. She spent her first years in Warsaw. In September 2017 her father died. In April 2020 she moved to home town of her mother, Szczecin.\n\nDomański family \n Stefan Domański (Zbigniew Waleryś) is a patriarch of Domański family. He was born in 1955. He has a daughter, Alicja Domańska. For many years Stefan had been a tramp. He met his granddaughter Barbara Domańska and they become friends.\n\n Jerzy Domański (Michał Czernecki) is a son of Stefan Domański and biological father of Barbara Zduńska. He was married to Alicja but they later divorced and he didn't have a contact with his child. Barbara is now raised as a child of Paweł Zduński. He was born in 1979.\n\n Alicja Zduńska, primo voto Domańska, secundo voto Zduńska was a wife of Jerzy Domański. She was born on October 18, 1985. Alicja has one sister, Olga. Alicja was married to Jerzy Domański with whom she has a daughter, Barbara. Secondly she married Paweł Zduński and they raised Barbara as her parents. Alicja left her family and moved to London with her new boyfriend. She soon fell pregnant and divorced Zduński. She gave birth to another son.\n\n Barbara Zduńska, born Domańska (Gabriela Raczyńska) is a daughter of Jerzy Domański and his then wife, Alicja Zduńska and also stepdaughter of Paweł Zduński. She was born on July 15, 2006.\n\nFilarski family \nFilarski family is related to Mostowiak family through the 2002 wedding of Piotr Zduński and Kinga Filarska.\n\n Zbigniew Filarski is a senior of Filarski family. He is divorced from Krystyna Filarska since May 16, 2006.\n\n Krystyna Filarska-Marszałek is a first wife of Zbigniew Filarski. They divorced on May 16, 2006.\n\n Kinga Filarska-Zduńska, born Filarska (Katarzyna Cichopek-Hakiel) is a first child of Zbigniew Filarski and his wife, Krystyna Filarska. She was born on May 22, 1984. Status: present, living in Warsaw since 2002. Occupation: psychologist. Marital status: married to Piotr Zduński since 2002.\n\nLisiecki family \nLisiecki family is related to Mostowiak family through the 2019 wedding of Bartosz Lisiecki and Urszula Mostowiak.\n\n Andrzej Lisiecki (Tomasz Oświeciński) is an older brother of Bartosz Lisiecki. In the past he was married to Elżbieta but his marriage lasted only a few months. On January 31, 2017 he married his friend, Marzena Laskowska and they're expecting their first child. Status: present, living in Grabina. Marital status: married to Marzena Lisiecka since 2017.\n\n Elżbieta Lisiecka (Anna Sarna) is a divorced first wife of Andrzej Lisiecki. She came to Grabina to stop Andrzej's wedding with Marzena Laskowska, saying that they're not divorced. Status: non-present since 2017. Marital status: divorced from Andrzej Lisiecki.\n\n Marzena Lisiecka, born Laskowska (Olga Szomańska) is a second wife of Andrzej Lisiecki. She worked at Siedlisko with Urszula Lisiecka. Marzena gave birth to her daughter Kalina on March 17, 2020.\n\n Kalina Lisiecka is a first child of Andrzej Lisiecki and his wife, Marzena Lisiecka. She was born on March 17, 2020 in Warsaw.\n\n Bartosz Lisiecki (Arkadiusz Smoleński) is a younger brother of Andrzej Lisiecki. Before he came to Grabina, he was in jail. Bartosz was previously married to Jolanta Lisiecka but they divorced after she betrayed him and gave birth to a daughter whose father was her lover. Lisiecki met Urszula Mostowiak and she split with her fiance to be with Bartosz. They married on June 4, 2019. Status: present, living in Grabina. Occupation: car mechanic. Marital status: married to Urszula Lisiecka since 2019.\n\n Jolanta Lisiecka is a first wife of Bartosz Lisiecki. They are divorced.\n\n Urszula Lisiecka, born Jakubczyk is a second wife of Bartosz Lisiecki. They married on June 4, 2019.\n\nŁagoda family \nŁagoda family is related to Mostowiak family through the 1960 adoption of Maria Mostowiak by Lucjan Mostowiak and through the 2002 wedding of Michał Łagoda and Małgorzata Mostowiak.\n\n Feliks Łagoda (never seen on screen) was a senior of Łagoda family. He was born in 1896 and died on June 28, 1960.\n\n Zofia Łagoda (never seen on screen) was a wife of Feliks Łagoda.\n\n Zenon Łagoda (Emil Karewicz) was a first child of Feliks Łagoda and his wife, Zofia Łagoda. He was born on June 14, 1936. He died on November 17, 2001.\n\n Maria Rogowska, born Mostowiak, primo voto Zduńska, secundo voto Rogowska is a first child of Zenon Łagoda and his then fiancee, Barbara Wrzodak. She is a legal daughter of Lucjan Mostowiak. She was born on December 24, 1960. Status: present, living in Grabina since 2018. Occupation: nurse. Marital status: married to Artur Rogowski since 2018.\n\n Piotr Zduński is a first child of Krzysztof Zduński and his wife, Maria Zduńska. He was born on February 18, 1984. Status: present, living in Warsaw since 2002. Occupation: lawyer. Marital status: married to Kinga Filarska-Zduńska since 2002.\n\n Magdalena Zduńska (Maja Wudkiewicz) is a first child of Piotr Zduński and his wife, Kinga Filarska-Zduńska. She was born on March 9, 2009. \n\n Mikołaj Zduński is a second child and first son of Piotr Zduński and his wife, Kinga Filarska-Zduńska. He was born on May 6, 2014.\n\n Emilia Zduńska is a third child and second daughter of Piotr Zduński and his wife, Kinga Filarska-Zduńska. She was born on February 25, 2019.\n\n Zuzanna Zduńska is a fourth child and third daughter of Piotr Zduński and his wife, Kinga Filarska-Zduńska. She was born on February 25, 2019.\n\n Paweł Zduński is a second child and second son of Krzysztof Zduński and his wife, Maria Zduńska. He was born on February 18, 1984. Status: present, living in Warsaw since 2002. Occupation: businessman. Marital status: divorced from Katia Zduńska since 2018. \n\n Barbara Zduńska is a first child of Paweł Zduński and his second wife, Alicja Zduńska. She was born on July 15, 2006. \n\n Maria Zduńska was a third child and first daughter of Krzysztof Zduński and his wife, Maria Zduńska. She was born on June 2, 2001 and died on June 2, 2001.\n\n Michał Łagoda (Paweł Okraska) was a first child of Zenon Łagoda and his unnamed wife. He was born on August 18, 1974 and died on April 3, 2014.\n\n Marian Łagoda was a second child and second son of Feliks Łagoda and his wife, Zofia Łagoda. He died in 2003.\n\n Unnamed Starski, born Łagoda was a brother of Feliks Łagoda. He moved to United States and changed his surname to Starski.\n\n Unnamed Starski II is a son of Unnamed Starski and his wife and nephew of Feliks Łagoda.\n\n Kamil Starski (Radosław Krzyżowski) was a son of Unnamed Starski II and his wife. He died in 2019.\n\n Maciej Kalicki (Aleksander Kaleta) is a son of Kamil Starski and his former partner, Miss Kalicka. Status: present, living in Gródek since 2019. Occupation: doctor.\n\nMarszałek family \n Wojciech Marszałek (Emilian Kamiński) is a senior of Marszałek family. \n\n Halina Marszałek (Marta Klubowicz) was a first wife of Wojciech Marszałek. She was born on April 9, 1960. Halina died on November 21, 2009 after a long illness.\n\n Krystyna Filarska-Marszałek (Hanna Mikuć) is a second wife of Wojciech Marszałek. She was born in 1956. She lived in Gródek with her wealthy husband Zbigniew Filarski and daughter Kinga. She didn't accept that her daughter was dating Piotr Zduński whose family was poor. Krystyna and Zbigniew divorced on May 16, 2006. Krystyna met Wojciech Marszałek and married him on May 3, 2011, making best friends Kinga Zduńska and Magdalena Marszałek stepsisters.\n\n Magdalena Budzyńska, born Marszałek, primo voto Maksymowicz, secundo voto Chodakowska, tertio voto Budzyńska (Anna Mucha) is an only child of Wojciech Marszałek and his first wife, Halina Marszałek. She was born on September 14, 1982. She studied psychology at Warsaw University where she met Kinga Zduńska, Piotr Zduński and Kamil Gryc. She married her first husband, Sasza Maksymowicz, to let him applicate for a Polish citizenship.\n\n Sasza Maksymowicz (Iwan Komarenko) is a first husband of Magdalena Marszałek. They married in a civil ceremony and divorced.\n\n Aleksander Chodakowski is a second husband of Magdalena Marszałek. They married in 2015 and divorced in 2017.\n\n Andrzej Budzyński is a third husband of Magdalena Marszałek. They married on January 7, 2020.\n\n Zuzanna Marszałek (Jolanta Fraszyńska) is a cousin of Wojciech Marszałek. She worked as a nanny of Magdalena Zduńska and Mikołaj Zduński. She was dating Zbigniew Filarski and Wiktor Żak (whom she met in a secondary school and then again in Warsaw in 2016).\n\n Michał Marszałek is a brother of Zuzanna Marszałek.\n\nMostowiak family \nMostowiak family is a main family of the series.\n\nLudwik Mostowiak (died)\n\nTeodor Mostowiak (died)\nMaria Mostowiak (married)\n\nHanna Smine (Mostowiak, born 1922, died 1978)\nhusband Smine\n\ndaughter Bufford (Smine)\nhusband Bufford (married)\n\nJane Bufford (born 1990)\n\nLucjan Mostowiak (born 1931, died 2017)\nBarbara Mostowiak (Wrzodak, married 1960)\n\n Maria Rogowska (Mostowiak, born 1960)\n Krzysztof Zduński (married 1984, widowed 2006)\n Artur Rogowski (married 2008, divorced 2015; married 2018)\n\n Piotr Zduński (born 1984)\n Kinga Filarska-Zduńska (Filarska, married 2002)\n\n Magdalena Zduńska (born 2009)\n\n Mikołaj Zduński (born 2014)\n\n Emilia Zduńska (born 2019)\n\n Zuzanna Zduńska (born 2019)\n\n Paweł Zduński (born 1984)\n Joanna Zduńska (Liberadzka, married 2011, divorced 2012)\n Alicja Zduńska (Domańska, married 2014, divorced 2017)\n Katia Zduńska (Tatiszwili, married 2018, divorced 2018)\n\n Barbara Zduńska (born 2006, adopted 2018)\n\n Maria Zduńska (born 2001, died 2001)\n\n Barbara Rogowska (born 2009)\n\n Marta Budzyńska (Mostowiak, born 1972)\n Jacek Milecki (married 2003, divorced 2004)\n Norbert Wojciechowski (married 2005, widowed 2007)\n Andrzej Budzyński (married 2012, divorced 2017)\n\n Łukasz Wojciechowski (Mostowiak, born 1993)\n\n Natalia Wojciechowska (born 2020)\n\n Anna Wojciechowska (born 2006)\n\n Marek Mostowiak (born 1978)\n Hanna Mostowiak (married 2001, widowed 2011)\n Ewa Kolęda (married 2015)\n\n Natalia Zarzycka (Mostowiak, born 1996, adopted 2005)\n Franciszek Zarzycki (married 2017)\n\n Hanna Zarzycka (Mostowiak, born 2015)\n\n Urszula Lisiecka (Mostowiak, born 1996, adopted 2008)\n Bartosz Lisiecki (married 2019)\n\n Mateusz Mostowiak (born 2002)\n Liliana Mostowiak (Banach, married 2020)\n\n Małgorzata Chodakowska (Mostowiak, born 1980)\n Michał Łagoda (married 2002, divorced 2004, engaged 2014, died 2014)\n Stefan Miller (married 2004, divorced 2005)\n Tomasz Chodakowski (married 2009, divorced 2014, died 2017)\n\n Zofia Warakomska (born 1999, adopted)\n\n Wojciech Chodakowski (born 2009)\n\nOlszewski family \n Agnieszka Olszewska (Magdalena Walach) is a public prosecutor and former fiancee of Tomasz Chodakowski. She was born in 1978 in Szczecin. She met Chodakowski at a secondary school in Szczecin. They were even engaged but she decided to split with him. Agnieszka came to Warsaw as a widowed woman and met Chodakowski again. She was in love triangle with his wife, Małgorzata Chodakowska. In 2011 she fell pregnant after a one night stand with Andrzej Budzyński, but later miscarried. On February 23, 2016 her daughter Helena Chodakowska was born. In September 2017 Tomasz Chodakowski died. In April 2020 Agnieszka and her daughter moved to Szczecin.\n\n Helena Chodakowska is a first child of Agnieszka Olszewska and her former partner, Tomasz Chodakowski. She was born on February 23, 2016.\n\nRogowski family \n Artur Rogowski (Robert Moskwa) is a senior of Rogowski family. He was born in 1969. He is a doctor. Rogowski has been in love with Maria Zduńska for many years and started dating her after the death of her first husband. They married in 2008 during their long stay in Oslo, Norway. On November 3, 2009 their daughter Barbara was born. Rogowski had a romance with Teresa Drawicz and it let to his divorce from Maria in 2015. They later reconciled and married for a second time on November 26, 2018. Since then they live in Grabina.\n\n Maria Rogowska, born Mostowiak is a wife of Artur Rogowski. They married in 2008 and divorced in 2015. They married for a second time on November 26, 2018.\n\n Barbara Rogowska is a first child of Artur Rogowski and his wife, Maria Rogowska. She was born on November 3, 2009.\n\n Agata Rogowska (Katarzyna Kwiatowska) is a sister of Artur Rogowski. She is a doctor. She was married and lived in Norway for many years. Then she divorced her husband and came back to Poland. She started her work in Lipnica with her brother and sister-in-law. She is dating Artur Werner as of 2020.\n\nTarnowski family \nAdam Tarnowski (born 1958)\nDorota Tarnowska (widowed 2015)\n\n Joanna Chodakowska (Tarnowska born 1987)\n Tomasz Chodakowski (married 2017, widowed 2017)\n Leszek Krajewski (engaged 2021)\n\nAdam Tarnowski (Juliusz Krzysztof Warunek) is a senior of Tarnowski family. He was born in 1958.\n\nDorota Tarnowska (Katarzyna Żak) was a wife of Adam Tarnowski. In a past she was diagnosed with a cancer and recovered after her daughter stole money from the casino she worked. Later, she was diagnosed with a pancreatic cancer and died on June 1, 2015.\n\nJoanna Chodakowska, born Tarnowska (Barbara Kurdej-Szatan) is a first child of Adam Tarnowski and his wife, Dorota Tarnowska. She was born on March 15, 1987. She worked in United States as a nanny of Wojciech Chodakowski. After his mother, Małgorzata Chodakowska, and her fiance, Michał Łagoda, had a car accident, she took care of Wojciech and later took him to Poland. Joanna fell in love with Tomasz Chodakowski and they married on March 28, 2017. Tomasz unfortunately died on September 11, 2017. Joanna lives in Warsaw and raises Wojciech Chodakowski. On December 6, 2021 she got engaged to Leszek Krajewski.\n\nTomasz Chodakowski was a first husband of Joanna Tarnowska. They married on March 28, 2017 and he died on September 11, 2017.\n\nTatiszwili family \nTatiszwili family is of Georgian origin.\n\n Otar Tatiszwili (David Gamtsemlidze) is a senior of Tatiszwili family. He is Georgian. Otar lives in Warsaw and owns a restaurant.\n\n Katia Zduńska, born Tatiszwili (Joanna Jarmołowicz) is a daughter of Otar Tatiszwili and his wife. On May 21, 2018 she married Paweł Zduński in order to have a Polish citizenship. They eventually fell in love with each other but divorced on November 20, 2018. Katia had a romance with Łukasz Wojciechowski and fell pregnant. Her father didn't accept that she was expecting a child out of wedlock. On March 9, 2020 she gave birth to her daughter, Natalia.\n\n Paweł Zduński is a first husband of Katia Tatiszwili. They married on May 21, 2018 and divorced on November 20, 2018.\n\n Natalia Wojciechowska is a first child of Katia Zduńska and her former boyfriend, Łukasz Wojciechowski. She was born on March 9, 2020.\n\nWalisiak family \n Władysław Walisiak was a senior of Walisiak family. He was born in 1947. In his youth Władysław was dating Wanda Kalicka but married her younger sister, Maria Kalicka. They had one child, Hanna, born in 1975. In 1980 Walisiak family came home from a party in a car driven by Waldemar Jaroszy. Jaroszy had no driving license and caused an accident with Lucjan and Barbara Mostowiak. Władysław and Maria died as a result and Hanna had to live in an orphanage. In 1978 Władysław had a child out of wedlock, Anna Gruszyńska.\n\n Maria Walisiak, born Kalicka was a wife of Władysław Walisiak. She was born in 1949 and died in a car accident in 1980. She had one daughter, Hanna, and has never learnt that her husband had also a daughter out of wedlock.\n\n Hanna Mostowiak, born Walisiak (Małgorzata Kożuchowska) was a daughter of Władysław Walisiak and his wife, Maria Walisiak. Hanna took part in a car accident in 1980 where her parents were killed. She later lived in an orphanage in Józefowo and was temporary adopted by Irena Gałązka and her husband. In 2001 she married Marek Mostowiak and they had son, Mateusz Mostowiak, in 2002. They later adopted two girls from Józefowo, Natalia and Urszula. Hanna died of brain aneurysm in 2011. Her granddaughter, Hanna Zarzycka, is named after her.\n\n Marek Mostowiak was a husband of Hanna Mostowiak. They married in 2001 and he widowed in 2011.\n\n Anna Gruszyńska (Tamara Arciuch) is a daughter of Władysław Walisiak. For some time she lived in Grabina before moving to France. She was previously married and divorced. She was later engaged to Adam Werner.\n\n Wanda Kalicka (Grażyna Marzec) was an older sister of Maria Walisiak and maternal aunt of Hanna Mostowiak. She was born in 1945. Wanda dated Władysław Kalisiak but he chose to marry her sister. In 1980 her sister and brother-in-law died in a car accident and Wanda refused to take care of their daughter resulting in Hanna living in an orphanage. She moved to Germany and was thought to be dead. In 2004 Hanna learnt that her aunt was still living and sick. Mostowiak went to Germany and took her aunt to Grabina. It was later revealed that Kalicka had much money but posed that she was poor. She came back to Germany to take care of one of her former wards, Erika.\n\nWojciechowski family \nWojciechowski family is related to Mostowiak family through the 1993 birth of Łukasz Mostowiak and through the 2006 wedding of Norbert Wojciechowski and Marta Mostowiak.\n\n Kazimierz Wojciechowski (never seen on screen) was a senior of Wojciechowski family.\n\n Henryk Wojciechowski (Tadeusz Chudecki) was a first child of Kazimierz Wojciechowski and his first wife. He was born in 1961. He lived with his widowed sister-in-law, Marta Wojciechowska and her two children. Henryk was dating Matylda Górska. He married his girlfriend Nina.\n\n Nina Wojciechowska is a wife of Henryk Wojciechowski. \n\n Norbert Wojciechowski (Mariusz Sabiniewicz) was a second child of Kazimierz Wojciechowski. He was born in 1967. In the early 1990s he was dating Marta Mostowiak. In 1993 their son Łukasz was born. He was fighting for his life. Norbert refuse to give his blood to Łukasz and left his family. As a result, Marta raised Łukasz as a single mother and told him that his father was dead. Wojciechowski worked abroad and he came back in 2001 as a famous politician. When a press reported that he had a child born out of wedlock, Łukasz learnt that he was Wojciechowski's son and they met. Norbert saved Łukasz's live after they had a car crash in United States. Norbert married Marta Mostowiak on October 11, 2005. They daughter Anna Wojciechowska was born on February 14, 2006. In the meantime, Wojciechowski was dating his student, Klara Sobieszczańska and Magdalena Rudnik. Norbert died in a plane crash on December 3, 2007.\n\n Marta Wojciechowska, born Mostowiak was a wife of Norbert Wojciechowski. They married on October 11, 2005 and she widowed on December 3, 2007.\n\n Łukasz Wojciechowski, born Mostowiak is a first child of Norbert Wojciechowski and his then girlfriend, Marta Mostowiak. He was born on October 9, 1993.\n\n Natalia Wojciechowska is a first child of Łukasz Wojciechowski and his former girlfriend, Katia Tatiszwili. She was born on March 9, 2020.\n\n Anna Wojciechowska is a second child and only daughter of Norbert Wojciechowski and his wife, Marta Wojciechowska. She was born on February 14, 2006.\n\nZduński family \nZduński family is related to Mostowiak family through 1984 marriage of Krzysztof Zduński and Maria Mostowiak.\n\n Jadwiga Zduńska-Jabłońska, primo voto Zduńska, secundo voto Jabłońska (Barbara Horowianka) is a senior of Zduński family. Her first husband, Mr. Zduński, was a dentist. Jadwiga had two children with him: Krzysztof (born in 1958) and Renata. Her daughter Renata died as an infant because of SIDS. Zduńska wanted Krzysztof to become a doctor like his father. She was angry when he stopped his studies to marry his pregnant daughter Maria Mostowiak and they ended their contact. Jadwiga didn't like her daughter-in-law. On March 17, 2001 Jadwiga was diagnosed with stroke and hospitalized. She renewed contact with her son and met her grandchildren. Zduńska later moved to Krzysztof's and Maria's flat where Maria took care of her. She met Karol Jabłoński and married him in March 2004. Status: non-present since 2004. Marital status: married to Karol Jabłoński since March 2004.\n\n Krzysztof Zduński (Cezary Morawski) is a first child of Jadwiga Zduńska and her first husband, Mr. Zduński. He was born on February 13, 1953. His father was a dentist and Krzysztof studied medicine to become a doctor. When his girlfriend, Maria Mostowiak, fell pregnant, he quit his studies and married her. They had twin sons in February 1984, Piotr and Paweł. Their third child, daughter Maria, died a few hours after her birth in June 2001. She suffered from a heart disease. Krzysztof worked as a businessman but had no successes. In 2002 he had a romance with his secretary, Ewa Nowicka. She later gave birth to her daughter Aleksandra and Krzysztof was suspected of being Aleksandra's father. Zduński reconciled with Maria and bought a plot in Grabina to build them new home. On March 6, 2006 he suffered from a heart attack and died in Grabina, building their house. He was a godfather to Łukasz Wojciechowski and Aleksandra Skalska. Status: deceased since 2006. Occupation: businessman. Marital status: married to Maria Zduńska from 1984 to 2006. \n\n Maria Zduńska, born Mostowiak is a first wife of Krzysztof Zduński. They married in 1984 and she widowed on March 6, 2006.\n\n Renata Zduńska (never seen on screen) was a second child of Jadwiga Zduńska and her first husband, Mr. Zduński. She died as an infant. Status: deceased.\n\nOther characters\n\nG \n Irena Gałązka (Joanna Kasperska) is a former adoptive mother of Hanna Walisiak. She and her husband adopted Hanna, whose parents died in a car accident but they took her back to the orphanage in Józefowo when Irena fell pregnant. Irena's child later died and she had a mental disorder ever since. She met her former daughter again in 2001 when Hanna was married to Marek Mostowiak and expecting their child. Irena kidnapped Hanna's son, Mateusz Mostowiak and wanted to kill him and herself. Mateusz was saved by his parents and Irena was arrested.\n\nO \n Agnieszka Olszewska (Magdalena Walach) is a former fiance of Tomasz Chodakowski. She was born in 1978 in Szczecin.\n\nW \n Anna Waszkiewicz (Weronika Rosati) is a classmate of Piotr Zduński, Paweł Zduński and Kinga Filarska. In the past, she had a romance with Andrzej Budzyński. She is a godmother to Emilia Zduńska and Zuzanna Zduńska. Occupation: painter.\n\nList of main characters' departures\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n M jak miłość – official site\n M jak miłośc – TVP site\n M jak miłość – Filmweb\n\nPolish television soap operas"
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[
"Tippi Hedren",
"Personal life",
"where was Tippi born?",
"I don't know.",
"is she married?",
"In 1952, Hedren met and married 18-year-old future advertising executive Peter Griffith."
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C_6c10e713d0a04ea8bb308b48d98f3da6_0
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did she have kids?
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Did Tippi Hedren have kids?
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Tippi Hedren
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In 1952, Hedren met and married 18-year-old future advertising executive Peter Griffith. Their daughter, actress Melanie Griffith, was born on August 9, 1957. They were divorced in 1961. On September 22, 1964, Hedren married her then-agent Noel Marshall, who later produced three of her films; they divorced in 1982. In 1985, she married steel manufacturer Luis Barrenechea, but they divorced in 1995. Hedren was engaged to veterinarian Martin Dinnes from 2002 until their breakup in mid-2008. In September 2008, Hedren told The Sunday Times "I'm waiting for someone to sweep me off my feet." Hedren played a role in the development of Vietnamese-American nail salons in the United States. In 1975, while an international relief coordinator with Food for the Hungry, she began visiting with refugees at Hope Village outside Sacramento, California. When she learned the women were interested in her manicured nails, she employed her manicurist to teach them the skills of the trade and worked with a local beauty school to help them find jobs. Hedren's work with the Vietnamese-Americans was the subject of Happy Hands, directed by Honey Lauren, which won Best Documentary Short at the Sonoma International Film Festival in 2014. CND and Beauty Changes Lives Foundation (BCL) have announced the BCL CND Tippi Hedren Nail Scholarship Fund to support professional nail education and will be administered starting January 1, 2014. Hedren suffered from severe and persistent headaches for a long time and therefore was unable to accept several projects, including a television series produced by and starring Betty White. After she got a titanium plate put in her neck, she improved and then agreed, with the blessing of her doctor, to take the part of a dying woman in the soap opera Fashion House. While she was rehearsing a scene, a gallon of water fell from the ceiling onto her head. The headaches returned after the incident and persisted. Hedren filed a suit to receive recompense following her inability to work. Hedren's lawyer, Joseph Allen, made a mistake in his discussions with the defendants that allowed them to block him from filing suit. Hedren sued Allen for malpractice. In 2013, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Hedren had been awarded a $1.5 million settlement, including $213,400 for past lost earnings and $440,308 for future lost earnings, against her former lawyer. Hedren was hurt by the report since she had not collected the award. She gave an interview to explain that her former lawyer does not have the money to pay her, and discussed how the report put her in a difficult situation since her foundation was in dire need of funds. She explained that she has to raise $75,000 monthly just to keep it going. "Chances are I won't ever even see the money, and that what hurts so badly, that in all of this pain and suffering that publication ran with a swift and not researched story, which told people around the world who have been so gracious and thoughtful about sending donations, that I no longer needed them." CANNOTANSWER
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daughter, actress Melanie Griffith, was born on August 9, 1957.
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Nathalie Kay "Tippi" Hedren (born January 19, 1930) is an American actress, animal rights activist, and former fashion model. She achieved worldwide recognition for her work in two of Alfred Hitchcock's classics: The Birds (1963) and Marnie (1964). Hedren is noted as one of the most famous 'Hitchcock Blondes' and is now one of the last surviving leading stars from Hitchcock's filmography.
A successful fashion model who appeared on the front covers of Life and Glamour magazines, among others, Hedren became an actress after she was discovered by director Alfred Hitchcock while appearing on a television commercial in 1961. She achieved great praise for her work in two of his films: the suspense-thriller The Birds (1963), for which she won a Golden Globe, and the psychological drama Marnie (1964). She has appeared in over 80 films and television shows, including Charlie Chaplin's final film A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), the political satire Citizen Ruth (1996), and the existential comedy I Heart Huckabees (2004). Among other honors, her contributions to world cinema have been recognized with the Jules Verne Award and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Hedren's strong commitment to animal rescue began in 1969 while she was shooting two films in Africa and was introduced to the plight of African lions. In an attempt to raise awareness for wildlife, she spent over a decade bringing Roar (1981) to the screen. She started her own nonprofit organization, the Roar Foundation, in 1983; it supports the Shambala Preserve, an wildlife habitat that enables her to continue her work in the care and preservation of lions and tigers. Hedren has also set up relief programs worldwide following earthquakes, hurricanes, famine and war. She was also instrumental in the development of Vietnamese-American nail salons.
Early life
Nathalie Kay Hedren was born in New Ulm, Minnesota, on January 19, 1930, to Bernard Carl and Dorothea Henrietta (née Eckhardt) Hedren. For much of her career, her year of birth was reported as 1935. In 2004, however, she acknowledged that she was actually born in 1930 (which is consistent with the birth registration index at the Minnesota Historical Society). Her paternal grandparents were Swedish immigrants, while her mother was of German and Norwegian descent. Her father ran a small general store in Lafayette, Minnesota, and gave her the nickname "Tippi". When she was four, she moved with her parents to Minneapolis; she has an older sister, Patricia. As a teenager, she took part in department store fashion shows. Her parents relocated to California while she was a high school student at West High School in Minneapolis.
Career
Modeling success (1950–1960)
On reaching her 20th birthday, Hedren bought a ticket to New York City, where she joined the Eileen Ford Agency. Within a year, she made her unofficial film debut as "Miss Ice Box" in the musical comedy The Petty Girl. In interviews, she referred to The Birds, her first credited role, as her first film. Although she received several film offers during that time, Hedren had no interest in acting, as she knew it was very difficult to succeed.
She had a highly successful modeling career during the 1950s and early 1960s, appearing on the covers of Life, The Saturday Evening Post, McCall's, and Glamour, among others. In 1961, after seven years of marriage to the actor Peter Griffith, Hedren divorced and returned to California with her daughter, Melanie, and rented an expensive home in Sherman Oaks. She later said, "I thought I could continue my career as it had been in New York. I thought everything would be just fine, and it wasn't. So I thought, 'well, I don't type, what shall I do?'"
Transition to acting and collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock (1961–1966)
On October 13, 1961, she received a call from an agent who told her a producer was interested in working with her. When she was told it was Alfred Hitchcock, who while watching The Today Show, saw her in a commercial for a diet drink called Sego, she agreed to sign a seven-year contract. During their first meeting, the two talked about everything except the role for which he was considering her. Hedren was convinced for several weeks it was for his television series, Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Hitchcock later said, "I was not primarily concerned with how she looked in person. Most important was her appearance on the screen, and I liked that immediately. She has a touch of that high-style, lady-like quality which was once well-represented in films by actresses like Irene Dunne, Grace Kelly, Claudette Colbert, and others, but which is now quite rare."
Being an unknown actress with little training, Hitchcock put Hedren through an extensive color screen test that lasted two days and cost $25,000, doing scenes from his previous films, such as Rebecca, Notorious, and To Catch a Thief with actor Martin Balsam. According to Balsam, Hedren was very nervous, but studied every line, did every move she was asked to, and tried to do everything right. Hitchcock asked costume designer Edith Head to design clothes for Hedren's private life and he personally advised her about wine and food. He also insisted for publicity purposes that her name should be printed only in single quotes, 'Tippi'. The press mostly ignored this directive from the director, who felt that the single quotes added distinction and mystery to her name. Hitchcock was impressed with Hedren. As production designer Robert F. Boyle explained, "Hitch always liked women who behaved like well-bred ladies. Tippi generated that quality."
Afterward, Hedren was invited to lunch with Hitchcock, his wife, Alma, and Lew Wasserman, head of Universal, at one of Hitchcock's favorite restaurants, Chasen's. There, she was presented with a golden pin of three birds in flight, adorned by three tiny seed pearls, and was asked by Hitchcock to play the leading role in his upcoming film The Birds. "I was so stunned. It never occurred to me that I would be given a leading role in a major motion picture. I had great big tears in my eyes", Hedren later recalled.
The Birds (1963) was Hedren's screen debut. Hitchcock became her drama coach, and gave her an education in film-making, as she attended many of the production meetings such as script, music, or photography conferences. Hedren said, "I probably learned in three years what it would have taken me 15 years to learn otherwise." She learned how to break down a script, to become another character, and to study the relationship of different characters. Hedren portrayed her role of Melanie Daniels as Hitchcock requested. She said, "He gives his actors very little leeway. He'll listen, but he has a very definite plan in mind as to how he wants his characters to act. With me, it was understandable, because I was not an actress of stature. I welcomed his guidance."
During the six months of principal photography, Hedren's schedule was tight, as she was only given one afternoon off a week. At first, she found the shooting "wonderful". Hitchcock told a reporter, after a few weeks of filming, that she was remarkable, and said, "She's already reaching the lows and highs of terror." Nonetheless, Hedren recalled the week she did the final bird attack scene in a second-floor bedroom as the worst of her life. Before filming it, she asked Hitchcock about her character's motivations to go upstairs, and his response was, "Because I tell you to." She was then assured that the crew would use mechanical birds. Instead, Hedren endured five solid days of prop men, protected by thick leather gloves, flinging dozens of live gulls, ravens and crows at her (their beaks clamped shut with elastic bands). In a state of exhaustion, when one of the birds gouged her cheek and narrowly missed her eye, Hedren sat down on the set and began crying. A physician ordered a week's rest. Hitchcock protested, according to Hedren, saying nobody but her was left to film. The doctor's reply was, "Are you trying to kill her?" She said the week also appeared to be an ordeal for the director.
Universal's executives, who did not back Hitchcock's decision to hire Hedren in the first place, were impressed with her performance and Wasserman described it as "remarkable". While promoting The Birds, Hitchcock was full of praise for his new protégée, and compared her to Grace Kelly. "Tippi has a faster tempo, city glibness, more humor [than Grace Kelly]. She displayed jaunty assuredness, pertness, an attractive throw of the head. And she memorized and read lines extraordinarily well and is sharper in expression." The film was screened out of competition in May at a prestigious invitational showing at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival. Hedren's performance was praised in Varietys review: "Aside from the birds, the film belongs to Hedren, who makes an auspicious screen bow. She virtually has to carry the picture alone for the first 45-minute stretch, prior to the advent of the first wave of organized attackers from the sky. Miss Hedren has a star quality and Hitchcock has provided her with a potent vehicle to launch her career". Hedren received the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year, tied with Elke Sommer and Ursula Andress. Her role as Melanie Daniels was named by Premiere as one of the greatest movie characters of all time.
Hitchcock was so impressed with Hedren's acting abilities, he decided to offer her the leading role of his next film, Marnie (1964), a romantic drama and psychological thriller from the novel by Winston Graham, during the filming of The Birds. Hedren was stunned and felt extremely fortunate to be offered to play "such a complicated, sad, tragic woman", and later said, "I consider my acting, while not necessarily being method acting, but one that draws upon my own feelings. I thought Marnie was an extremely interesting role to play and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity". She voiced doubts about her ability to play the demanding role, but Hitchcock assured her she could do it. As opposed to The Birds, where she had received little acting guidance, for this film Hedren studied every scene with Hitchcock.
Hedren recalled Marnie as her favorite of the two films she did with Hitchcock for the challenge of playing an emotionally battered young woman who travels from city to city assuming various guises to rob her employers. During the filming, Hitchcock was quoted as saying about Hedren, "an Academy Award performance is in the making". On release, the film was greeted by mixed reviews and indifferent box-office returns, and received no Oscar nominations. Variety wrote, "Hedren returns in a particularly demanding role. Miss Hedren, undertaking a role originally offered Grace Kelly for a resumption of her screen career, lends credence to a part never sympathetic. It's a difficult assignment which she fulfills satisfactorily." Hedren later said that Marnie was "ahead of its time" because "people didn't talk about childhood and its effects on adult life. It was taboo to discuss sexuality and psychology and to put all that into a film was shocking." Despite its original lukewarm reception, the film was later acclaimed and described as a "masterpiece" and Hedren's performance is now regarded as one of the finest in any Hitchcock film. Richard Brody of The New Yorker wrote in his 2016 review of the film "Hedren's performance is one of the greatest in the history of cinema."
Marnie was the second and last collaboration between Hedren and Hitchcock. In 1973, she admitted that a major lifestyle difference caused a split in their relationship. "He was too possessive and too demanding. I cannot be possessed by anyone. But, then, that's my own hangup". In 1983, author Donald Spoto published his second book about Hitchcock, The Dark Side of Genius, for which Hedren agreed to talk for the first time in detail about her relationship with the director.
The book was controversial, as several of Hitchcock's friends claimed the Hitchcock portrayed in the book was not the man they knew. For years after its release, Hedren was not keen to talk about it in interviews, but thought the chapter devoted to her story was "accurate as to just what he was". Hedren later explained her long silence before telling her story, "It was embarrassing and insulting—there were a lot of reasons why I didn't want to tell the story. I didn't want it to be taken advantage of, twisted, turned, and made into an even uglier situation than it was".
According to Spoto's book, Hitchcock brought in two members of his crew during the filming of The Birds and asked them to keep careful watch on the activities of Hedren, "when she left the set—where she went, who she visited, how she spent her free time". He then advised her on what she should eat, whom she should see, and how she should live. He told the cast and crew they were not allowed to talk to her. Hedren's co-star in The Birds, Rod Taylor, later remembered, "Hitch was becoming very domineering and covetous of 'Tippi', and it was very difficult for her. No one was permitted to come physically close to her during the production. 'Don't touch the girl after I call "Cut!"' he said to me repeatedly". Hitchcock also attempted, on one occasion, to grab and violently kiss Hedren in the back of a car as they drove onto the set. Hedren told his assistant, Peggy Robertson, and the studio chief, Lew Wasserman, that she was becoming very unhappy about the whole situation. "But he was Alfred Hitchcock, the great and famous director, and I was Tippi Hedren, an inexperienced actress who had no clout". She decided she could not quit her contract because she was afraid to be blacklisted and unable to find work. Hedren's own daughter, Melanie Griffith, remembered that while Hedren was doing The Birds, she thought Hitchcock was taking her mother away from her. "Suddenly, I wasn't allowed even to visit my mom at the studio".
During the filming of Marnie, Hedren found Hitchcock's behavior toward her increasingly difficult to bear as filming progressed. "Everyone—I mean everyone—knew he was obsessed with me. He always wanted a glass of wine or champagne, with me alone, at the end of the day. He was really isolating me from everyone". Hedren's co-star in Marnie, Diane Baker, later recalled, "She was never allowed to gather around with the rest of us, and he demanded that every conversation between her and Hitch be held in private... Nothing could have been more horrible for me than to arrive on that movie set and to see her being treated the way she was".
Hitchcock revealed to Hedren one day he had a recurring dream where she came up to him and said, "Hitch, I love you—I'll always love you". When she heard this, Hedren replied "But it was a dream. Just a dream", and excused herself from his presence. She believed Hitchcock had no consideration for her feelings and remembered she was humiliated after he asked her to touch him, just before shooting a scene. "He made sure no one else could hear, and his tone and glance made it clear exactly what he meant". Hedren asked Hitchcock's permission one day to travel to New York to appear on The Tonight Show, where she was supposed to be presented an award as the "Most Promising New Star". Hitchcock refused, according to his biographer, because he claimed the break would affect her performance. During that meeting, he apparently "made an overt sexual proposition" that Hedren "could neither ignore nor answer casually, as she could his previous gestures". In Spoto's third book about Hitchcock, Spellbound by Beauty (2008), Hedren revealed that Hitchcock actually made offensive demands on her. "He stared at me and simply said, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, that from this time on, he expected me to make myself sexually available and accessible to him—however and whenever and wherever he wanted". Hitchcock's demands led to a "horrible, horrible fight", according to Hedren. "He made these demands on me, and no way could I acquiesce to them".
Hedren then told him Marnie would be their last film together and later recalled how Hitchcock told her he would destroy her career. "I said I wanted to get out of my contract. He said: 'You can't. You have your daughter to support, and your parents are getting older'. I said: 'Nobody would want me to be in this situation, I want to get out'. And he said: 'I'll ruin your career'. I said: 'Do what you have to do'. And he did ruin my career. He kept me under contract, paid me to do nothing for close on two years". Hedren felt so humiliated, she called the director a "fat pig" in front of people on the set. Hitchcock made only a comment about it to his biographer, John Russell Taylor: "She did what no one is permitted to do. She referred to my weight". The two communicated only through a third party for the rest of the film. According to Marnie'''s screenwriter, Jay Presson Allen, Hitchcock was "mad" for Hedren. She felt unhappy for both and described the situation as "an old man's cri de coeur", adding that Hitchcock had a "Pygmalion complex about Tippi". She advised Hedren to finish the film and then get on with her life and be happy. Hedren's hairdresser, Virginia Darcy, even told Hitchcock he should not be possessive with Hedren. "Tippi felt rightly that she was not his property, but he'd say, 'You are, I have a contract'". Although Hitchcock thought he might mend fences with Hedren and make another film with her, she refused to reconsider her decision. Hedren's contract terms gave Hitchcock the final say as to any work she could take on and he used that power to turn down several film roles on her behalf. She was particularly disappointed when French director François Truffaut told her he had wanted her for one of them. In 1966, Hitchcock finally sold her contract to Universal Studios after Hedren appeared in two of their TV shows, Kraft Suspense Theatre (1965) and Run for Your Life (id.). The studio ultimately released her from her contract after she refused to appear on a television Western for them.
In 2012, The Girl, an HBO/BBC film about Hedren and Hitchcock's relationship, based on Donald Spoto's 2009 book Spellbound by Beauty: Alfred Hitchcock and His Leading Ladies, was released. When she was first told about the project, Hedren said she had mixed feelings about it, "To be still alive and have a film made about you is an awesome and incredibly frightening experience". Hedren and Hitchcock were respectively portrayed by Sienna Miller and Toby Jones.
Although she was thrilled with the choice of Miller, Hedren was worried she would not be portrayed "as strong a character as I was—and still am. I had to be extremely strong to fight off Mr. Hitchcock". She described the moment she saw the film as "probably one of the most involved, emotionally tense 90 minutes that I have ever lived". Upon the film's release, Hedren said although she believed the film accurately portrays Hitchcock's behavior towards her, the time constraints of a 90-minute film prevented telling the entire story of her career with him. "It wasn't a constant barrage of harassment. If it had been constantly the way we have had to do it in this film, I would have been long gone". She recalled there were times she described as "absolutely delightful and wonderful”, and insisted that “Hitchcock had a charm about him. He was very funny at times. He was incredibly brilliant in his field". The film was controversial, as others who knew and worked with Hitchcock responded to it negatively. Kim Novak, who worked on Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958), disputed Hitchcock's portrayal as a sexual predator in The Girl: "I never saw him make a pass at anybody or act strange to anybody. And wouldn't you think if he was that way, I would've seen it or at least seen him with somebody? I think it's unfortunate when someone's no longer around and can't defend themselves". Novak previously described Hitchcock as a gentleman, and when asked about reports of his behavior, she said, "Maybe I just wasn't his type". Novak also stated, "I won't dispute Tippi if that's what she saw."
Hedren herself was asked why her account of sexual harassment contrasted with the many interviews she gave about her time with Hitchcock, her presence at the AFI Life Achievement Award ceremony honoring him in 1979, and her presence at his funeral. She explained that, "He ruined my career, but he didn't ruin my life. That time of my life was over. I still admire the man for who he was". She also said, "I've been able to separate the two. The man who was the artist. I mean, what he gave to the motion picture industry can never be taken away from him and I certainly wouldn't want to try. But on the other side, there is that dark side that was really awful".
Career setbacks (1967–1973)
Hedren's first feature film appearance after Marnie was in A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), starring Marlon Brando and Sophia Loren. She was told by writer-director Charlie Chaplin that she was offered a major supporting role as Brando's estranged wife and had to accept the role without reading the script. However, when she arrived in England where the filming took place, she finally received the script and realized that her part was little more than a cameo. She asked Chaplin why he lied to her. "Every actor in the world was asking if they could do this film, to just do a walk-on, without even being paid for it. When I said, 'Why didn't you just tell me that it was a cameo? I would have done this film anyway,' he said, 'I didn't think you would come,' which was very sweet. He was a very clever man." Hedren asked Chaplin to expand the role, and although he tried to accommodate her, he could not, as the story mostly takes place on a ship, which Hedren's character boards near the end of the film. In the end, she remained in the film and later said that it was both amusing and strange to work with Chaplin. She found him to be a very serious man and loved his approach to directing. She later said, "I wish someone would have been allowed to do a documentary. The way he directed was unlike anyone I ever saw. He acted out all the parts himself. He did Sophia's part, then Marlon's part, then mine, and then he'd say, 'Okay, now you can do it.' Which would be impossible, to mimic the master. It was incredible. None of us believed it. Marlon hated it."
After the release of A Countess from Hong Kong, Hedren's career was described as "spectacular" by the press. She told a reporter at the time, "I don't want to wait myself out of this business, but working for Hitch and Charlie has been very special to me, and now I'm going to wait for something special to come along". In 1968, she signed on to do the American Civil War drama Five Against Kansas with Farley Granger and Jeffrey Hunter, but the project was never realized. In 1968, Hedren returned to film as a socialite who helps her boyfriend (played by George Armstrong) catch a killer, in Tiger by the Tail. From 1970 to 1971, she guest-starred twice on The Courtship of Eddie's Father. She agreed to take part in Satan's Harvest (1970) and Mister Kingstreet's War (1973)—which were shot back-to-back despite the discrepancy in their release dates—for the sole reason that they were being filmed in Africa. In 1973, Hedren played a teacher of an experimental sex school in The Harrad Experiment, which starred James Whitmore and Don Johnson—the latter who later became the husband of her daughter, Melanie Griffith. Hedren felt that the film "deals with vital themes—themes like the decline in importance of ideas like possession and jealousy and, by inference, marriage. I have four teenaged children and I think this picture says some valuable things to them." She confessed at the time she was occasionally depressed because she was not doing any major films and told a magazine, "My husband just cancelled all the trade magazines because he felt I should cut off the source of my discontent. He's the type who won't stand for sustained down feelings".
Roar (1974–1981)
Hedren and husband Noel Marshall watched a pride of lions move into a house after a game warden moved out in 1969, during the filming of Satan's Harvest in Africa. She said, "We were delighted with the way they adapted themselves to living there. And they were so funny we knew we had an idea for a picture." Marshall wrote a script titled Lions, Lions and More Lions based on their experience; it was retitled Roar and centered on a family's misadventures in a research park filled with lions, tigers, and other wild cats.
Hedren played the lead role and co-starred with her daughter Melanie, husband Marshall, and his own sons Jerry and John. They attempted to rent Hollywood animals for a nine-month shoot, but upon approaching animal trainers for support, they were discouraged and nobody would rent them 30 or 40 lions, as the script required, because of their natural tendency to fight. They were encouraged to start collecting and training their own exotic beasts. Animal trainer Ron Oxley told them, "to get to know about lions, you've got to live with them for a while". They started to raise a lion cub named Neil in their Sherman Oaks house and made sure that the animal slept in their bed. Life photographer Michael Rougier documented their life in 1971 and photographed the lion with the whole family inside and outside the house, from Hedren's daughter's bed to the living room to the swimming pool. After complaints from their neighbors, Hedren and Marshall bought a ranch outside of Los Angeles in Acton that would serve as the set for Roar. They got permission there to rescue and raise several lions, tigers, African elephants, and other exotic felines.
Filming started in 1974 and took five years just to complete the photography. Every scene involving lions was improvised and shot with four or sometimes eight cameras. More than 100 people worked on the film, as well as more than 150 untrained lions, tigers, leopards, and cheetahs. During production, no animals were hurt, but more than 70 members of the cast and crew were mauled. Hedren fractured a leg and also had scalp wounds when an elephant bucked her off its back while she was riding it. She was also bitten in the neck by a lion and required 38 stitches; this incident can be seen in the film. Melanie Griffith was also attacked, receiving 50 stitches to her face; it was feared that she would lose an eye, but she recovered and was not disfigured. Marshall was attacked so many times that he eventually was diagnosed with gangrene. In one of those incidents, he was clawed by a cheetah when protecting the animals during a bushfire that occurred in 1979. All animals were evacuated, and several years were needed for him to recover from his injuries. In 1978, a flood destroyed the movie sets and killed three of the lions. The project was set back several years. Hedren said that they were all determined to finish the film: "We were so sure the film was going to be a success that we thought everything (financing the ranch and the lions, etc.) would take care of itself."Roar was released worldwide in 1981 with the exception of the United States, because according to Hedren, "The United States distributors wanted the lion's share of the profits, and we thought it ought to go to the beautiful animals that made the movie." The film cost $17 million and grossed only $2 million, but it was a turning point in Hedren's life. In 1983, she established the nonprofit The Roar Foundation to take care of the big cats. "After our movie was over," she explained, "it was unconscionable to see the animals go any place else." Roar was re-released in 2015, but Hedren declined to discuss it, as she felt that promotion for the film was filled with "inaccuracies".
Later career (1982–present)
After Roar, Hedren accepted any low-budget television or cinema role that could help bring funds to her foundation to provide protection, shelter, care, and maintenance for the animals at the Shambala Preserve. In 1982, she co-starred with Leslie Nielsen in Foxfire Light. She appeared in several television series, including Hart to Hart in 1983 and the late-night horror series Tales from the Darkside in 1984. In the 1985 pilot episode of The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents, she made a brief appearance as a waitress in a bar who berates a customer, played by her daughter Melanie Griffith. In 1990, she had a nonspeaking, minor part as a wealthy widow romanced by Michael Keaton in the film Pacific Heights (1990), which also starred her daughter. That same year, she had a role on The Bold and the Beautiful, a daytime soap opera she said she was "proud to have in my resume".
In 1994, Hedren appeared in the made-for-cable sequel, The Birds II: Land's End, in a role different from the one she had played in the original. She was, however, disappointed that she did not get a starring role and admitted before the film's release, "I wish that it was more than a cameo. I think they made a mistake by not doing that, but it has helped me to feed my lions and tigers." When asked about what could have been Hitchcock's opinion on the film, she answered: "I'd hate to think what he would say!" In a 2007 interview, Hedren said of the film, "It's absolutely horrible, it embarrasses me horribly."
From 1994 to 1996, Hedren had a guest-starring role in Dream On. The sitcom gave her "the opportunity to do comedy. I'd never done comedy before and it was just wonderful for me to be able to do that. Everybody just thought of me as a serious actress, so I owe that to John Landis (the executive producer), giving me that opportunity." In 1996, she played an abortion rights activist in Alexander Payne's political satire Citizen Ruth with Laura Dern. In 1998, she co-starred alongside Billy Zane and Christina Ricci in I Woke Up Early the Day I Died, a film she felt was "incredible". "I must say I really love that film. It was a unique kind of film to do also, because of the fact that it had no dialogue in it. It was very, very different". That same year, she guest-starred in a special episode titled "Psychodrama" of the television series Chicago Hope, that paid tribute to the Hitchcock movies. Hedren's character, Alfreda Perkins, was a reference to Alfred Hitchcock and actor Anthony Perkins, who starred in the director's 1960 film Psycho.
After appearing in a number of little-exposed films between 1999 and 2003, Hedren had a small but showy role in the 2004 David O. Russell comedy I Heart Huckabees, as a foul-mouthed attractive older woman who slaps Jude Law in an elevator. She felt that the director, who had a reputation for being difficult, was "totally crazy", but also "very interesting. I was able to work well with him." She also added it was a strange experience as, "... all of a sudden, he'd be like, 'Now I'm going to do it this way,' and you'd think, 'How is he going to edit this? How is this going to work?' But he made it work." In 2006, Hedren was a cast member of the short-lived primetime soap opera Fashion House with Bo Derek and Morgan Fairchild, and continued to guest-star in television series such as The 4400 (2006) and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2008). In 2012, Hedren and her daughter guest-starred together on an episode of Raising Hope. That same year, she appeared in Free Samples, an indie film where she had a supporting role as an old movie star. In 2013, she made an appearance as herself in the fourth-season finale of Cougar Town.
Hedren published her autobiography, Tippi: A Memoir, co-written with Lindsay Harrison, in 2016 through William Morrow and Company, as she felt it was "about time I stop letting everyone else tell my story and finally tell it myself." In 2018, at age 88, Hedren became the new face of Gucci's timepieces and jewelry and starred as a mysterious fortune teller in the brand's commercial ad, The Fortune Teller.
Influence
A Louis Vuitton ad campaign in 2006 paid tribute to Hedren and Hitchcock with a modern-day interpretation of the deserted railway station opening sequence of Marnie. Her look from The Birds (1963) inspired designer Bill Gaytten to design for John Galliano Pre-Fall 2012 collection.
Naomi Watts stated that her character interpretation in Mulholland Drive (2001) was influenced by the look and performances of Hedren in Hitchcock films. Watts and Hedren both appeared in I ♥ Huckabees (2004), but did not share any scenes together. Off screen, the film's director David O. Russell introduced them both, and Watts said of Hedren: "I was pretty fascinated by her then, because people have often said we're alike." Watts dressed up as Hedren's title character from Marnie for a photo shoot for March 2008 issue of Vanity Fair. In the same issue, Jodie Foster dressed up as Hedren's character, Melanie Daniels, from The Birds.
Shambala Preserve
In 1981, Hedren produced Roar, an 11-year project that ended up costing $17 million and starred dozens of African lions. "This was probably one of the most dangerous films that Hollywood has ever seen", remarked the actress. "It's amazing no one was killed." During the production of Roar, Hedren, her husband at the time, Noel Marshall, and daughter Melanie were attacked by lions; Jan de Bont, the director of photography, was scalped. Hedren later co-wrote Cats of Shambala (1985) about the experience. Roar made only $2 million worldwide. Hedren ended her marriage to Marshall a year later in 1982. The film directly led to the 1983 establishment of the nonprofit The Roar Foundation and Hedren's Shambala Preserve, located at the edge of the Mojave Desert in Acton, California, between the Antelope Valley and the Santa Clarita Valley, northeast of Los Angeles. Shambala houses some 70 animals. Hedren lives on the Shambala site and conducts monthly tours of the preserve for the public. In a 2015 interview with magazine Ability, Hedren emphasized that there is no human contact with the animals and that all of the cats are spayed and neutered, since they are being raised in captivity. Hedren was the founding president of the American Sanctuary Association, a post she still holds.
She took in and cared for Togar, a lion that belonged to Anton LaVey, after he was told by San Francisco officials that he could not keep a fully grown lion as a house pet. Shambala became the new home for Michael Jackson's two Bengal tigers, Sabu and Thriller, after he decided to close his zoo at his Neverland Valley Ranch in Los Olivos. Thriller died in June 2012 of lung cancer.
On December 3, 2007, Shambala Preserve made headlines when Chris Orr, a caretaker for the animals, was mauled by a tiger named Alexander. Several documentaries have focused on Shambala Preserve, including the 30-minute Lions: Kings of the Serengeti (1995), narrated by Melanie Griffith, and Animal Planet's Life with Big Cats (1998), which won the Genesis Award for best documentary in 1999. The animals at the preserve served as the initial inspiration for the life's work of artist A.E. London, who started her career working for Hedren.
As of 2020, Hedren still maintains more than a dozen lions and tigers; her granddaughter Dakota Johnson is involved in their care.
Personal life
In 1952, Hedren met and married 18-year-old future advertising executive Peter Griffith. Their daughter, actress Melanie Griffith, was born on August 9, 1957. They were divorced in 1961. On September 27, 1964, Hedren married her then-agent Noel Marshall, who later produced three of her films; they divorced in 1982. In 1985, she married steel manufacturer Luis Barrenechea, but they divorced in 1992. Hedren was engaged to veterinarian Martin Dinnes from 2002 until their breakup in mid-2008. In September 2008, Hedren told The Sunday Times "I'm waiting for someone to sweep me off my feet." Hedren's granddaughter Dakota Johnson is also an actress.
Hedren played a role in the development of Vietnamese-American nail salons in the United States. In 1975, while an international relief coordinator with Food for the Hungry, she began visiting with refugees at Hope Village outside Sacramento, California. When she learned the women were interested in her manicured nails, she employed her manicurist to teach them the skills of the trade and worked with a local beauty school to help them find jobs. Hedren's work with the Vietnamese-Americans was the subject of several documentaries: Happy Hands, directed by Honey Lauren, which won Best Documentary Short at the Sonoma International Film Festival in 2014Sonoma International Film Festival website, sonomaportal.com; accessed March 10, 2015. and "Nailedit:
Vietnamese and the Nail Industry" which won the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) 2014 Documentary Fund Award. CND and Beauty Changes Lives Foundation (BCL) have announced the BCL CND Tippi Hedren Nail Scholarship Fund to support professional nail education and will be administered starting January 1, 2014.
Hedren was instrumental in helping a desperate Nguyen Thi Chinh to enter the US after the fall of the South Vietnam government in 1975, she arranged for an air ticket and a visa for her then invited her to stay in her house.
Hedren suffered from severe and persistent headaches for a long time, which rendered her unable to accept several projects, including a television series produced by and starring Betty White. After she got a titanium plate put in her neck, she improved and then agreed, with the blessing of her doctor, to take the part of a dying woman in the soap opera Fashion House. While she was rehearsing a scene, a gallon of water fell from the ceiling onto her head. The headaches returned after the incident and persisted. Hedren filed a suit to receive recompense following her inability to work. Hedren's lawyer, Joseph Allen, made a mistake in his discussions with the defendants that allowed them to block him from filing suit. Hedren sued Allen for malpractice. In 2013, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Hedren had been awarded a $1.5 million settlement, including $213,400 for past lost earnings and $440,308 for future lost earnings, against her former lawyer. Hedren was hurt by the report since she had not collected the award. She gave an interview to explain that her former lawyer does not have the money to pay her, and discussed how the report put her in a difficult situation since her foundation was in dire need of funds. She explained that she has to raise $75,000 monthly just to keep it going. "Chances are I won't ever even see the money, and that's what hurts so badly, that in all of this pain and suffering that publication ran with a swift and not researched story, which told people around the world who have been so gracious and thoughtful about sending donations, that I no longer needed them."
Filmography
Film
Television
Honours and awards
1964: Most Promising Newcomer Award by Photoplay
1964: Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actress (shared with Ursula Andress and Elke Sommer)
1994: Life Achievement Award in France at The Beauvais Film Festival Cinemalia
1995: Life Achievement Award in Spain, La Fundación Municipal de Cine
1995: The Helen Woodward Animal Center's Annual Humane Award
1996: Founder's Award from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
1997: Lion and Lamb Award from Wildhaven
1999: Woman of Vision Award from Women of Film and Video in Washington, D.C.
1999: Presidential Medal for her work in film from Hofstra University
1999: Humanitarian Award at the Las Vegas International Film Festival
2000: Best Actress in a Comedy Short Award in the short film Mulligans! at the Method Fest, Independent Film Festival
2002: Best Actress Award for the short film Tea with Grandma from the New York International Independent Film Festival
2003: Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
2003: Women of Los Angeles Annual Hope is a Woman Honor
2004: PAWS Companion for Life Award
2004: Best Actress Award for the short film Rose's Garden from the Los Angeles TV Short Film Festival
2004: Animal Rights Advocacy Award at Artivist Film Festival
2005: Living Legacy Award
2006: Conservationist of the Year—Dino Award from the Las Vegas Natural History Museum
2007: Lifetime Achievement Award—Riverside Film Festival
2007: Jules Verne "Nature" Award — the 1st Annual Jules Verne Adventure Film Festival of Los Angeles
2008: Academy of Art University's 2nd Epidemic Film Festival Award
2008: Jules Verne Legendaire Award
2008: Thespian Award - LA Femme Film Festival
2009: "When a Woman Wills She Will!" Award by the Woman's Club of Hollywood
2009: Workhouse's first Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award
2009: Received the First Star on the Orinda Theater Walk of Fame
2010: Received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 24th Annual Genesis Awards show from the Humane Society
2010: BraveHeart Award
2010: Who-Manitarian Award
2011: Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce at its 90th Annual Installation & Awards Luncheon
2011: "The Women Together Award" from the United Nations
2011: Vietnamese-American Marton Saint Award from the Boat People SOS Organization
2011: Omni Youth Humanitarian/Career Achievement Award
2012: Honorary Masters of Fine Arts Degree from the New York Film Academy
2012: Mayor Career Achievement Award from Starz Denver Film Festival
2013: Legacy of Style Award
2013: "People Helping People" Award by the Touching Live TV Award Show, broadwayworld.com; accessed November 14, 2015.
2014: Lifetime Achievement Award from Bel-Air Film Festival
2014: Special Recognition Award from Acton Women's Club
2014:The Women's International Film & Television Showcase Foundation International Visionary Award, thewifts.org; accessed November 14, 2015.
2015: Choreography of Desire (A Tribute to Tippi Hedren) by the Vienna International Film Festival, viennale.at; accessed November 14, 2015.
2015: Believe, Achieve, Empower Award
2017: Waggy Award recipient from the Tailwaggers Foundation
2017: The Icon Award
2018: "Friend for Life Award" from The Palm Springs Animal Shelter
Notes
References
Hedren, Tippi. Tippi: A Memoir, William Morrow, 2016, 288 p.
McGilligan, Patrick. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light, It Books, 2004 (Reprint), 864 p.
Moral, Tony Lee. Hitchcock and the Making of Marnie, Scarecrow Pres, 2013 (Revised Edition), 340 p.
Moral, Tony Lee. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds, Scarecrow Pres, 2013 (Revised Edition), 224 p.
Taylor, John Russell. Hitch: The Life and Times of Alfred Hitchcock, Bloomsbury Reader, 2013, 318 p. ASIN B00BWL8L0C
Spoto, Donald. Spellbound by Beauty, Three Rivers Press, 2009, 368 p.
Paul, Louis. Tales from the Cult Film Trenches: Interviews with 36 Actors from Horror, Science Fiction and Exploitation Cinema, McFarland, 2007, 336 p.
Gambin, Lee. Massacred By Mother Nature: Exploring the Natural Horror Film'', Midnight Marquee Press, Inc., October 8, 2012
External links
1930 births
Living people
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American actresses
Actresses from Minnesota
American film actresses
New Star of the Year (Actress) Golden Globe winners
American people of German descent
American people of Norwegian descent
American people of Swedish descent
Big cat attack victims
Keepers of animal sanctuaries
Apex Records artists
Challenge Records artists
Female models from Minnesota
People from New Ulm, Minnesota
Griffith family
| true |
[
"Diane Latiker is a community activist in Chicago. Latiker is the founder of the nonprofit, Kids Off the Block (KOB), which provides recreational activities and educational opportunities for young people in Chicago, focusing on the neighborhood of Roseland.\n\nBiography \nLatiker never finished high-school, dropping out at age 16. She has worked in construction and as a cosmetologist. Latiker has lived in Roseland, Chicago, since 1988. She is the mother of eight children and 13 grandchildren. Latiker eventually remarried when she was 36 and earned her GED.\n\nWhen Latiker's daughter, Aisha, became a teen in 2003, Latiker began to worry that she would get involved in gang activity. Latiker's mother suggested that she help out the teens in the neighborhood. In 2003, Latiker literally turned her own home into a community center for young people. She sold her TV to buy used computers, and got rid of furniture to make space for kids in her home. She opened her house to the children in the neighborhood, letting them know she was available any time of the day to help. Latiker did not expect the idea to turn her home into a community center to become so popular, but in about 3 months, she had 75 kids visiting regularly. Latiker became known to the Roseland neighborhood as Ms. Diane.\n\nLatiker called her project Kids Off the Block (KOB) and started KOB because she felt that her community was \"plagued by violence, hopelessness and negativity.\" There were no places for kids in her neighborhood to play prior to opening KOB. Latiker is widely revered in her neighborhood, though she has also been threatened by \"gang bangers\" who have shot up her van. Her program provides young people an alternative to joining a gang. Latiker tries to help the young people who come to KOB in many ways, but especially by listening to them; \"The only way I can help them is if I listen and know what they need. In 2011, Latiker made it to the top ten of CNN Heroes.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Interview (BET)\n\nPeople from Chicago\nAmerican women activists\nAfrican-American activists",
"Kids United was a French singing group between 2015 and 2021 that consisted of six, later five, children born between 2000 and 2009. It was created to support UNICEF campaigns and is sponsored by Hélène Ségara and Corneille , two Francophone singers. The first album Un monde meilleur (A better world) was launched on Universal Children's Day in 2015, it received gold certification in France. The second album Tout le bonheur du monde was certified 2x platinum. It won a Felix Award for best pop album; making it the band's first award.\n\nOn 30 May 2018, it was announced that three of the remaining four members were to leave the group for a solo career, and the one remaining member, Gloria, would continue with other young singers under the name Kids United Nouvelle Génération (Kids United New Generation). In 2020, Kids United Nouvelle Génération joined Green Team : a group of artists who sing to raise awareness of ecological issues.\n\nOriginal members\n\nErza Muqoli\n\nErza was born on in Sarreguemines, Moselle, Lorraine. Her parents are from Kosovo. She has two older sisters and a brother. She was a contestant in La France a un incroyable talent where she notably sang \"Papaoutai\" by Stromae in her first audition, \"Éblouie par la nuit\" by Raphaël Haroche in the semi-final, and \"La Vie en rose\" by Édith Piaf in the final. She finished in 3rd place. She took piano and singing lessons in Sarralbe and her music teacher regularly posted videos of her singing on the Internet. She was 10 when Kids United was formed. She also came out with an original Je Chanterai in 2019\n\nCarla Georges\n\nCarla was born on in Avignon, Vaucluse, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. In 2014, she was a contestant in the first edition of The Voice Kids. She auditioned with the song \"Éblouie par la nuit\" by Raphaël Haroche. With her coach Jenifer, she won the season. On March 3, 2016, she announced on Twitter that she was quitting Kids United for solo projects. She didn't appear in the second album, but she participated in some of the group activities after she left.\n\nEsteban Durand\nEsteban was born on in Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, Île-de-France. His family is from Spain. In 2011, he was a contestant in Season 6 of La France a un incroyable talent with his 14-year-old cousin Diego Losada. In 2013, he was a contestant in Season 4 of Italia's Got Talent, with his cousin Diego, and later participated in Belgium's Got Talent. In 2014, he participated in the first edition of The Voice Kids. He has a YouTube channel called \"Esteban y Diego\" with his cousin Diego. They both live in Paris and they both play guitar. He also has a sister named Aitana. He was 15 when Kids United was formed. He announced that he will be quitting the group for a solo career. He was the oldest boy of the original group.\n\nGabriel Gros\nGabriel was born on in Roubaix. He is from England and is part Antillean and Senegalese. He taught other members of the group English songs. He lives in Tourcoing. He was a contestant on the show TeenStar. After, he had to choose between The Voice Kids and Kids United, and chose to join Kids United because he liked the idea of helping children. He was 13 when Kids United was formed. He has since competed on The Voice UK, 2019, where he made it to the knockouts with coach Will.i.am and now lives in London.\n\nNilusi Nissanka\nNilusi was born on in Paris. Her family is from Sri Lanka. She participated in L'École des fans in January 2014 with Tal. She won the game with two jury votes. She started a YouTube channel where she posts covers. She plays a number of instruments, such as the guitar, piano and drums. She was the oldest member of the original Kids United, and was 15 when the group was formed. In November 2017, it was announced she was leaving the group to start a solo career. She has since released numerous songs including Je veux and Au-Delà.\n\nKids United Nouvelle Génération members \nKnown as Kids United Nouvelle Génération, the new members of the formation were:\n\nGloria Palermo de Blasi\nGloria age 14 years old, Born on 27 April 2007 (age 14) Metz, Moselle, Lorraine. In 2014, she was a contestant in the first edition of The Voice Kids. She was teamed with Jennifer and lost to Carla in the semi-finals, past member of Kids United. She was the youngest member of the original Kids United group and was 8 when the group was created. Her mother is also a singer who, in 2017, auditioned in The Voice (French TV series) though unfortunately did not make it past the auditions. Gloria played Emilie in the musical Émilie Jolie and in December 2018 released her new single \"Petit Papa Noël\". On 22 June 2021, she has announced in a story of her Instagram account that the Best of Tour was officially cancelled, supposedly putting an end to the group altogether.\n\nDylan Marina\nDylan was born on 2004 (age 17-18). She was a contestant in Season 4 of The Voice Kids where he made it to the semi-final. He participated in the Kids United and Friends Tour before joining Kids United Nouvelle Generation. he was a part of the album Sardou et nous where he sang \"La Java de Broadway\" and \"En Chantant\" with Lou, Nemo Schifman and Angie Robba. Dylan's favourite singer is Beyoncé.\n\nIlyana Raho-Moussa\nIlyana was born on in Le Havre. She was a contestant in Season 4 of The Voice Kids where she made it to the semi-final. She is a part of the album Sardou et nous... : she sings Je vole with Nemo Schifman.\n\nNathan Laface\nNathan was born on June 6, 2006 (age 15). He is Italian-Swiss and is from the Switzerland city of Neuchâtel.\nHe has dark brown hair, brown eyes, plays soccer and he likes pasta. On July 16 he released his first single \"Par amour\" feat. Minissia released under his new stage name NTH.\nHe doesn't publicly speak about his relationships but he does have a girlfriend.\n\nValentina Tronel\n\nValentina was born on 6 April 2009 (age 12). She was born in Brittany, France. She auditioned for The Voice Kids at the age of 6, with the song Tra te e il mare by Laura Pausini, though none of the judges selected her for their team. She is the youngest member of Kids United Nouvelle Génération. She also participated in The Tremplin 2018, Valentina - Les Meilleures Voix 2018| 5 February 2018|access-date 9 October 2020|and she represented France in the France-selects-Valentina title France selects Valentina! France-selects-Valentina archive date with her first single J'imagine. She went on to win the contest, giving France its first victory result.\n\nDiscography\n\nStudio albums\n\nLive albums\n\nCompilation albums\n\nOther releases\n\nSingles\n\nOther charted songs\n\nReferences\n\nNotes\n\nSources\n\n \nFrench musical groups\nMusical groups established in 2015\n2015 establishments in France"
] |
[
"Tippi Hedren",
"Personal life",
"where was Tippi born?",
"I don't know.",
"is she married?",
"In 1952, Hedren met and married 18-year-old future advertising executive Peter Griffith.",
"did she have kids?",
"daughter, actress Melanie Griffith, was born on August 9, 1957."
] |
C_6c10e713d0a04ea8bb308b48d98f3da6_0
|
how long was she married?
| 4 |
How long was Tippi Hedren married?
|
Tippi Hedren
|
In 1952, Hedren met and married 18-year-old future advertising executive Peter Griffith. Their daughter, actress Melanie Griffith, was born on August 9, 1957. They were divorced in 1961. On September 22, 1964, Hedren married her then-agent Noel Marshall, who later produced three of her films; they divorced in 1982. In 1985, she married steel manufacturer Luis Barrenechea, but they divorced in 1995. Hedren was engaged to veterinarian Martin Dinnes from 2002 until their breakup in mid-2008. In September 2008, Hedren told The Sunday Times "I'm waiting for someone to sweep me off my feet." Hedren played a role in the development of Vietnamese-American nail salons in the United States. In 1975, while an international relief coordinator with Food for the Hungry, she began visiting with refugees at Hope Village outside Sacramento, California. When she learned the women were interested in her manicured nails, she employed her manicurist to teach them the skills of the trade and worked with a local beauty school to help them find jobs. Hedren's work with the Vietnamese-Americans was the subject of Happy Hands, directed by Honey Lauren, which won Best Documentary Short at the Sonoma International Film Festival in 2014. CND and Beauty Changes Lives Foundation (BCL) have announced the BCL CND Tippi Hedren Nail Scholarship Fund to support professional nail education and will be administered starting January 1, 2014. Hedren suffered from severe and persistent headaches for a long time and therefore was unable to accept several projects, including a television series produced by and starring Betty White. After she got a titanium plate put in her neck, she improved and then agreed, with the blessing of her doctor, to take the part of a dying woman in the soap opera Fashion House. While she was rehearsing a scene, a gallon of water fell from the ceiling onto her head. The headaches returned after the incident and persisted. Hedren filed a suit to receive recompense following her inability to work. Hedren's lawyer, Joseph Allen, made a mistake in his discussions with the defendants that allowed them to block him from filing suit. Hedren sued Allen for malpractice. In 2013, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Hedren had been awarded a $1.5 million settlement, including $213,400 for past lost earnings and $440,308 for future lost earnings, against her former lawyer. Hedren was hurt by the report since she had not collected the award. She gave an interview to explain that her former lawyer does not have the money to pay her, and discussed how the report put her in a difficult situation since her foundation was in dire need of funds. She explained that she has to raise $75,000 monthly just to keep it going. "Chances are I won't ever even see the money, and that what hurts so badly, that in all of this pain and suffering that publication ran with a swift and not researched story, which told people around the world who have been so gracious and thoughtful about sending donations, that I no longer needed them." CANNOTANSWER
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They were divorced in 1961.
|
Nathalie Kay "Tippi" Hedren (born January 19, 1930) is an American actress, animal rights activist, and former fashion model. She achieved worldwide recognition for her work in two of Alfred Hitchcock's classics: The Birds (1963) and Marnie (1964). Hedren is noted as one of the most famous 'Hitchcock Blondes' and is now one of the last surviving leading stars from Hitchcock's filmography.
A successful fashion model who appeared on the front covers of Life and Glamour magazines, among others, Hedren became an actress after she was discovered by director Alfred Hitchcock while appearing on a television commercial in 1961. She achieved great praise for her work in two of his films: the suspense-thriller The Birds (1963), for which she won a Golden Globe, and the psychological drama Marnie (1964). She has appeared in over 80 films and television shows, including Charlie Chaplin's final film A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), the political satire Citizen Ruth (1996), and the existential comedy I Heart Huckabees (2004). Among other honors, her contributions to world cinema have been recognized with the Jules Verne Award and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Hedren's strong commitment to animal rescue began in 1969 while she was shooting two films in Africa and was introduced to the plight of African lions. In an attempt to raise awareness for wildlife, she spent over a decade bringing Roar (1981) to the screen. She started her own nonprofit organization, the Roar Foundation, in 1983; it supports the Shambala Preserve, an wildlife habitat that enables her to continue her work in the care and preservation of lions and tigers. Hedren has also set up relief programs worldwide following earthquakes, hurricanes, famine and war. She was also instrumental in the development of Vietnamese-American nail salons.
Early life
Nathalie Kay Hedren was born in New Ulm, Minnesota, on January 19, 1930, to Bernard Carl and Dorothea Henrietta (née Eckhardt) Hedren. For much of her career, her year of birth was reported as 1935. In 2004, however, she acknowledged that she was actually born in 1930 (which is consistent with the birth registration index at the Minnesota Historical Society). Her paternal grandparents were Swedish immigrants, while her mother was of German and Norwegian descent. Her father ran a small general store in Lafayette, Minnesota, and gave her the nickname "Tippi". When she was four, she moved with her parents to Minneapolis; she has an older sister, Patricia. As a teenager, she took part in department store fashion shows. Her parents relocated to California while she was a high school student at West High School in Minneapolis.
Career
Modeling success (1950–1960)
On reaching her 20th birthday, Hedren bought a ticket to New York City, where she joined the Eileen Ford Agency. Within a year, she made her unofficial film debut as "Miss Ice Box" in the musical comedy The Petty Girl. In interviews, she referred to The Birds, her first credited role, as her first film. Although she received several film offers during that time, Hedren had no interest in acting, as she knew it was very difficult to succeed.
She had a highly successful modeling career during the 1950s and early 1960s, appearing on the covers of Life, The Saturday Evening Post, McCall's, and Glamour, among others. In 1961, after seven years of marriage to the actor Peter Griffith, Hedren divorced and returned to California with her daughter, Melanie, and rented an expensive home in Sherman Oaks. She later said, "I thought I could continue my career as it had been in New York. I thought everything would be just fine, and it wasn't. So I thought, 'well, I don't type, what shall I do?'"
Transition to acting and collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock (1961–1966)
On October 13, 1961, she received a call from an agent who told her a producer was interested in working with her. When she was told it was Alfred Hitchcock, who while watching The Today Show, saw her in a commercial for a diet drink called Sego, she agreed to sign a seven-year contract. During their first meeting, the two talked about everything except the role for which he was considering her. Hedren was convinced for several weeks it was for his television series, Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Hitchcock later said, "I was not primarily concerned with how she looked in person. Most important was her appearance on the screen, and I liked that immediately. She has a touch of that high-style, lady-like quality which was once well-represented in films by actresses like Irene Dunne, Grace Kelly, Claudette Colbert, and others, but which is now quite rare."
Being an unknown actress with little training, Hitchcock put Hedren through an extensive color screen test that lasted two days and cost $25,000, doing scenes from his previous films, such as Rebecca, Notorious, and To Catch a Thief with actor Martin Balsam. According to Balsam, Hedren was very nervous, but studied every line, did every move she was asked to, and tried to do everything right. Hitchcock asked costume designer Edith Head to design clothes for Hedren's private life and he personally advised her about wine and food. He also insisted for publicity purposes that her name should be printed only in single quotes, 'Tippi'. The press mostly ignored this directive from the director, who felt that the single quotes added distinction and mystery to her name. Hitchcock was impressed with Hedren. As production designer Robert F. Boyle explained, "Hitch always liked women who behaved like well-bred ladies. Tippi generated that quality."
Afterward, Hedren was invited to lunch with Hitchcock, his wife, Alma, and Lew Wasserman, head of Universal, at one of Hitchcock's favorite restaurants, Chasen's. There, she was presented with a golden pin of three birds in flight, adorned by three tiny seed pearls, and was asked by Hitchcock to play the leading role in his upcoming film The Birds. "I was so stunned. It never occurred to me that I would be given a leading role in a major motion picture. I had great big tears in my eyes", Hedren later recalled.
The Birds (1963) was Hedren's screen debut. Hitchcock became her drama coach, and gave her an education in film-making, as she attended many of the production meetings such as script, music, or photography conferences. Hedren said, "I probably learned in three years what it would have taken me 15 years to learn otherwise." She learned how to break down a script, to become another character, and to study the relationship of different characters. Hedren portrayed her role of Melanie Daniels as Hitchcock requested. She said, "He gives his actors very little leeway. He'll listen, but he has a very definite plan in mind as to how he wants his characters to act. With me, it was understandable, because I was not an actress of stature. I welcomed his guidance."
During the six months of principal photography, Hedren's schedule was tight, as she was only given one afternoon off a week. At first, she found the shooting "wonderful". Hitchcock told a reporter, after a few weeks of filming, that she was remarkable, and said, "She's already reaching the lows and highs of terror." Nonetheless, Hedren recalled the week she did the final bird attack scene in a second-floor bedroom as the worst of her life. Before filming it, she asked Hitchcock about her character's motivations to go upstairs, and his response was, "Because I tell you to." She was then assured that the crew would use mechanical birds. Instead, Hedren endured five solid days of prop men, protected by thick leather gloves, flinging dozens of live gulls, ravens and crows at her (their beaks clamped shut with elastic bands). In a state of exhaustion, when one of the birds gouged her cheek and narrowly missed her eye, Hedren sat down on the set and began crying. A physician ordered a week's rest. Hitchcock protested, according to Hedren, saying nobody but her was left to film. The doctor's reply was, "Are you trying to kill her?" She said the week also appeared to be an ordeal for the director.
Universal's executives, who did not back Hitchcock's decision to hire Hedren in the first place, were impressed with her performance and Wasserman described it as "remarkable". While promoting The Birds, Hitchcock was full of praise for his new protégée, and compared her to Grace Kelly. "Tippi has a faster tempo, city glibness, more humor [than Grace Kelly]. She displayed jaunty assuredness, pertness, an attractive throw of the head. And she memorized and read lines extraordinarily well and is sharper in expression." The film was screened out of competition in May at a prestigious invitational showing at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival. Hedren's performance was praised in Varietys review: "Aside from the birds, the film belongs to Hedren, who makes an auspicious screen bow. She virtually has to carry the picture alone for the first 45-minute stretch, prior to the advent of the first wave of organized attackers from the sky. Miss Hedren has a star quality and Hitchcock has provided her with a potent vehicle to launch her career". Hedren received the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year, tied with Elke Sommer and Ursula Andress. Her role as Melanie Daniels was named by Premiere as one of the greatest movie characters of all time.
Hitchcock was so impressed with Hedren's acting abilities, he decided to offer her the leading role of his next film, Marnie (1964), a romantic drama and psychological thriller from the novel by Winston Graham, during the filming of The Birds. Hedren was stunned and felt extremely fortunate to be offered to play "such a complicated, sad, tragic woman", and later said, "I consider my acting, while not necessarily being method acting, but one that draws upon my own feelings. I thought Marnie was an extremely interesting role to play and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity". She voiced doubts about her ability to play the demanding role, but Hitchcock assured her she could do it. As opposed to The Birds, where she had received little acting guidance, for this film Hedren studied every scene with Hitchcock.
Hedren recalled Marnie as her favorite of the two films she did with Hitchcock for the challenge of playing an emotionally battered young woman who travels from city to city assuming various guises to rob her employers. During the filming, Hitchcock was quoted as saying about Hedren, "an Academy Award performance is in the making". On release, the film was greeted by mixed reviews and indifferent box-office returns, and received no Oscar nominations. Variety wrote, "Hedren returns in a particularly demanding role. Miss Hedren, undertaking a role originally offered Grace Kelly for a resumption of her screen career, lends credence to a part never sympathetic. It's a difficult assignment which she fulfills satisfactorily." Hedren later said that Marnie was "ahead of its time" because "people didn't talk about childhood and its effects on adult life. It was taboo to discuss sexuality and psychology and to put all that into a film was shocking." Despite its original lukewarm reception, the film was later acclaimed and described as a "masterpiece" and Hedren's performance is now regarded as one of the finest in any Hitchcock film. Richard Brody of The New Yorker wrote in his 2016 review of the film "Hedren's performance is one of the greatest in the history of cinema."
Marnie was the second and last collaboration between Hedren and Hitchcock. In 1973, she admitted that a major lifestyle difference caused a split in their relationship. "He was too possessive and too demanding. I cannot be possessed by anyone. But, then, that's my own hangup". In 1983, author Donald Spoto published his second book about Hitchcock, The Dark Side of Genius, for which Hedren agreed to talk for the first time in detail about her relationship with the director.
The book was controversial, as several of Hitchcock's friends claimed the Hitchcock portrayed in the book was not the man they knew. For years after its release, Hedren was not keen to talk about it in interviews, but thought the chapter devoted to her story was "accurate as to just what he was". Hedren later explained her long silence before telling her story, "It was embarrassing and insulting—there were a lot of reasons why I didn't want to tell the story. I didn't want it to be taken advantage of, twisted, turned, and made into an even uglier situation than it was".
According to Spoto's book, Hitchcock brought in two members of his crew during the filming of The Birds and asked them to keep careful watch on the activities of Hedren, "when she left the set—where she went, who she visited, how she spent her free time". He then advised her on what she should eat, whom she should see, and how she should live. He told the cast and crew they were not allowed to talk to her. Hedren's co-star in The Birds, Rod Taylor, later remembered, "Hitch was becoming very domineering and covetous of 'Tippi', and it was very difficult for her. No one was permitted to come physically close to her during the production. 'Don't touch the girl after I call "Cut!"' he said to me repeatedly". Hitchcock also attempted, on one occasion, to grab and violently kiss Hedren in the back of a car as they drove onto the set. Hedren told his assistant, Peggy Robertson, and the studio chief, Lew Wasserman, that she was becoming very unhappy about the whole situation. "But he was Alfred Hitchcock, the great and famous director, and I was Tippi Hedren, an inexperienced actress who had no clout". She decided she could not quit her contract because she was afraid to be blacklisted and unable to find work. Hedren's own daughter, Melanie Griffith, remembered that while Hedren was doing The Birds, she thought Hitchcock was taking her mother away from her. "Suddenly, I wasn't allowed even to visit my mom at the studio".
During the filming of Marnie, Hedren found Hitchcock's behavior toward her increasingly difficult to bear as filming progressed. "Everyone—I mean everyone—knew he was obsessed with me. He always wanted a glass of wine or champagne, with me alone, at the end of the day. He was really isolating me from everyone". Hedren's co-star in Marnie, Diane Baker, later recalled, "She was never allowed to gather around with the rest of us, and he demanded that every conversation between her and Hitch be held in private... Nothing could have been more horrible for me than to arrive on that movie set and to see her being treated the way she was".
Hitchcock revealed to Hedren one day he had a recurring dream where she came up to him and said, "Hitch, I love you—I'll always love you". When she heard this, Hedren replied "But it was a dream. Just a dream", and excused herself from his presence. She believed Hitchcock had no consideration for her feelings and remembered she was humiliated after he asked her to touch him, just before shooting a scene. "He made sure no one else could hear, and his tone and glance made it clear exactly what he meant". Hedren asked Hitchcock's permission one day to travel to New York to appear on The Tonight Show, where she was supposed to be presented an award as the "Most Promising New Star". Hitchcock refused, according to his biographer, because he claimed the break would affect her performance. During that meeting, he apparently "made an overt sexual proposition" that Hedren "could neither ignore nor answer casually, as she could his previous gestures". In Spoto's third book about Hitchcock, Spellbound by Beauty (2008), Hedren revealed that Hitchcock actually made offensive demands on her. "He stared at me and simply said, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, that from this time on, he expected me to make myself sexually available and accessible to him—however and whenever and wherever he wanted". Hitchcock's demands led to a "horrible, horrible fight", according to Hedren. "He made these demands on me, and no way could I acquiesce to them".
Hedren then told him Marnie would be their last film together and later recalled how Hitchcock told her he would destroy her career. "I said I wanted to get out of my contract. He said: 'You can't. You have your daughter to support, and your parents are getting older'. I said: 'Nobody would want me to be in this situation, I want to get out'. And he said: 'I'll ruin your career'. I said: 'Do what you have to do'. And he did ruin my career. He kept me under contract, paid me to do nothing for close on two years". Hedren felt so humiliated, she called the director a "fat pig" in front of people on the set. Hitchcock made only a comment about it to his biographer, John Russell Taylor: "She did what no one is permitted to do. She referred to my weight". The two communicated only through a third party for the rest of the film. According to Marnie'''s screenwriter, Jay Presson Allen, Hitchcock was "mad" for Hedren. She felt unhappy for both and described the situation as "an old man's cri de coeur", adding that Hitchcock had a "Pygmalion complex about Tippi". She advised Hedren to finish the film and then get on with her life and be happy. Hedren's hairdresser, Virginia Darcy, even told Hitchcock he should not be possessive with Hedren. "Tippi felt rightly that she was not his property, but he'd say, 'You are, I have a contract'". Although Hitchcock thought he might mend fences with Hedren and make another film with her, she refused to reconsider her decision. Hedren's contract terms gave Hitchcock the final say as to any work she could take on and he used that power to turn down several film roles on her behalf. She was particularly disappointed when French director François Truffaut told her he had wanted her for one of them. In 1966, Hitchcock finally sold her contract to Universal Studios after Hedren appeared in two of their TV shows, Kraft Suspense Theatre (1965) and Run for Your Life (id.). The studio ultimately released her from her contract after she refused to appear on a television Western for them.
In 2012, The Girl, an HBO/BBC film about Hedren and Hitchcock's relationship, based on Donald Spoto's 2009 book Spellbound by Beauty: Alfred Hitchcock and His Leading Ladies, was released. When she was first told about the project, Hedren said she had mixed feelings about it, "To be still alive and have a film made about you is an awesome and incredibly frightening experience". Hedren and Hitchcock were respectively portrayed by Sienna Miller and Toby Jones.
Although she was thrilled with the choice of Miller, Hedren was worried she would not be portrayed "as strong a character as I was—and still am. I had to be extremely strong to fight off Mr. Hitchcock". She described the moment she saw the film as "probably one of the most involved, emotionally tense 90 minutes that I have ever lived". Upon the film's release, Hedren said although she believed the film accurately portrays Hitchcock's behavior towards her, the time constraints of a 90-minute film prevented telling the entire story of her career with him. "It wasn't a constant barrage of harassment. If it had been constantly the way we have had to do it in this film, I would have been long gone". She recalled there were times she described as "absolutely delightful and wonderful”, and insisted that “Hitchcock had a charm about him. He was very funny at times. He was incredibly brilliant in his field". The film was controversial, as others who knew and worked with Hitchcock responded to it negatively. Kim Novak, who worked on Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958), disputed Hitchcock's portrayal as a sexual predator in The Girl: "I never saw him make a pass at anybody or act strange to anybody. And wouldn't you think if he was that way, I would've seen it or at least seen him with somebody? I think it's unfortunate when someone's no longer around and can't defend themselves". Novak previously described Hitchcock as a gentleman, and when asked about reports of his behavior, she said, "Maybe I just wasn't his type". Novak also stated, "I won't dispute Tippi if that's what she saw."
Hedren herself was asked why her account of sexual harassment contrasted with the many interviews she gave about her time with Hitchcock, her presence at the AFI Life Achievement Award ceremony honoring him in 1979, and her presence at his funeral. She explained that, "He ruined my career, but he didn't ruin my life. That time of my life was over. I still admire the man for who he was". She also said, "I've been able to separate the two. The man who was the artist. I mean, what he gave to the motion picture industry can never be taken away from him and I certainly wouldn't want to try. But on the other side, there is that dark side that was really awful".
Career setbacks (1967–1973)
Hedren's first feature film appearance after Marnie was in A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), starring Marlon Brando and Sophia Loren. She was told by writer-director Charlie Chaplin that she was offered a major supporting role as Brando's estranged wife and had to accept the role without reading the script. However, when she arrived in England where the filming took place, she finally received the script and realized that her part was little more than a cameo. She asked Chaplin why he lied to her. "Every actor in the world was asking if they could do this film, to just do a walk-on, without even being paid for it. When I said, 'Why didn't you just tell me that it was a cameo? I would have done this film anyway,' he said, 'I didn't think you would come,' which was very sweet. He was a very clever man." Hedren asked Chaplin to expand the role, and although he tried to accommodate her, he could not, as the story mostly takes place on a ship, which Hedren's character boards near the end of the film. In the end, she remained in the film and later said that it was both amusing and strange to work with Chaplin. She found him to be a very serious man and loved his approach to directing. She later said, "I wish someone would have been allowed to do a documentary. The way he directed was unlike anyone I ever saw. He acted out all the parts himself. He did Sophia's part, then Marlon's part, then mine, and then he'd say, 'Okay, now you can do it.' Which would be impossible, to mimic the master. It was incredible. None of us believed it. Marlon hated it."
After the release of A Countess from Hong Kong, Hedren's career was described as "spectacular" by the press. She told a reporter at the time, "I don't want to wait myself out of this business, but working for Hitch and Charlie has been very special to me, and now I'm going to wait for something special to come along". In 1968, she signed on to do the American Civil War drama Five Against Kansas with Farley Granger and Jeffrey Hunter, but the project was never realized. In 1968, Hedren returned to film as a socialite who helps her boyfriend (played by George Armstrong) catch a killer, in Tiger by the Tail. From 1970 to 1971, she guest-starred twice on The Courtship of Eddie's Father. She agreed to take part in Satan's Harvest (1970) and Mister Kingstreet's War (1973)—which were shot back-to-back despite the discrepancy in their release dates—for the sole reason that they were being filmed in Africa. In 1973, Hedren played a teacher of an experimental sex school in The Harrad Experiment, which starred James Whitmore and Don Johnson—the latter who later became the husband of her daughter, Melanie Griffith. Hedren felt that the film "deals with vital themes—themes like the decline in importance of ideas like possession and jealousy and, by inference, marriage. I have four teenaged children and I think this picture says some valuable things to them." She confessed at the time she was occasionally depressed because she was not doing any major films and told a magazine, "My husband just cancelled all the trade magazines because he felt I should cut off the source of my discontent. He's the type who won't stand for sustained down feelings".
Roar (1974–1981)
Hedren and husband Noel Marshall watched a pride of lions move into a house after a game warden moved out in 1969, during the filming of Satan's Harvest in Africa. She said, "We were delighted with the way they adapted themselves to living there. And they were so funny we knew we had an idea for a picture." Marshall wrote a script titled Lions, Lions and More Lions based on their experience; it was retitled Roar and centered on a family's misadventures in a research park filled with lions, tigers, and other wild cats.
Hedren played the lead role and co-starred with her daughter Melanie, husband Marshall, and his own sons Jerry and John. They attempted to rent Hollywood animals for a nine-month shoot, but upon approaching animal trainers for support, they were discouraged and nobody would rent them 30 or 40 lions, as the script required, because of their natural tendency to fight. They were encouraged to start collecting and training their own exotic beasts. Animal trainer Ron Oxley told them, "to get to know about lions, you've got to live with them for a while". They started to raise a lion cub named Neil in their Sherman Oaks house and made sure that the animal slept in their bed. Life photographer Michael Rougier documented their life in 1971 and photographed the lion with the whole family inside and outside the house, from Hedren's daughter's bed to the living room to the swimming pool. After complaints from their neighbors, Hedren and Marshall bought a ranch outside of Los Angeles in Acton that would serve as the set for Roar. They got permission there to rescue and raise several lions, tigers, African elephants, and other exotic felines.
Filming started in 1974 and took five years just to complete the photography. Every scene involving lions was improvised and shot with four or sometimes eight cameras. More than 100 people worked on the film, as well as more than 150 untrained lions, tigers, leopards, and cheetahs. During production, no animals were hurt, but more than 70 members of the cast and crew were mauled. Hedren fractured a leg and also had scalp wounds when an elephant bucked her off its back while she was riding it. She was also bitten in the neck by a lion and required 38 stitches; this incident can be seen in the film. Melanie Griffith was also attacked, receiving 50 stitches to her face; it was feared that she would lose an eye, but she recovered and was not disfigured. Marshall was attacked so many times that he eventually was diagnosed with gangrene. In one of those incidents, he was clawed by a cheetah when protecting the animals during a bushfire that occurred in 1979. All animals were evacuated, and several years were needed for him to recover from his injuries. In 1978, a flood destroyed the movie sets and killed three of the lions. The project was set back several years. Hedren said that they were all determined to finish the film: "We were so sure the film was going to be a success that we thought everything (financing the ranch and the lions, etc.) would take care of itself."Roar was released worldwide in 1981 with the exception of the United States, because according to Hedren, "The United States distributors wanted the lion's share of the profits, and we thought it ought to go to the beautiful animals that made the movie." The film cost $17 million and grossed only $2 million, but it was a turning point in Hedren's life. In 1983, she established the nonprofit The Roar Foundation to take care of the big cats. "After our movie was over," she explained, "it was unconscionable to see the animals go any place else." Roar was re-released in 2015, but Hedren declined to discuss it, as she felt that promotion for the film was filled with "inaccuracies".
Later career (1982–present)
After Roar, Hedren accepted any low-budget television or cinema role that could help bring funds to her foundation to provide protection, shelter, care, and maintenance for the animals at the Shambala Preserve. In 1982, she co-starred with Leslie Nielsen in Foxfire Light. She appeared in several television series, including Hart to Hart in 1983 and the late-night horror series Tales from the Darkside in 1984. In the 1985 pilot episode of The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents, she made a brief appearance as a waitress in a bar who berates a customer, played by her daughter Melanie Griffith. In 1990, she had a nonspeaking, minor part as a wealthy widow romanced by Michael Keaton in the film Pacific Heights (1990), which also starred her daughter. That same year, she had a role on The Bold and the Beautiful, a daytime soap opera she said she was "proud to have in my resume".
In 1994, Hedren appeared in the made-for-cable sequel, The Birds II: Land's End, in a role different from the one she had played in the original. She was, however, disappointed that she did not get a starring role and admitted before the film's release, "I wish that it was more than a cameo. I think they made a mistake by not doing that, but it has helped me to feed my lions and tigers." When asked about what could have been Hitchcock's opinion on the film, she answered: "I'd hate to think what he would say!" In a 2007 interview, Hedren said of the film, "It's absolutely horrible, it embarrasses me horribly."
From 1994 to 1996, Hedren had a guest-starring role in Dream On. The sitcom gave her "the opportunity to do comedy. I'd never done comedy before and it was just wonderful for me to be able to do that. Everybody just thought of me as a serious actress, so I owe that to John Landis (the executive producer), giving me that opportunity." In 1996, she played an abortion rights activist in Alexander Payne's political satire Citizen Ruth with Laura Dern. In 1998, she co-starred alongside Billy Zane and Christina Ricci in I Woke Up Early the Day I Died, a film she felt was "incredible". "I must say I really love that film. It was a unique kind of film to do also, because of the fact that it had no dialogue in it. It was very, very different". That same year, she guest-starred in a special episode titled "Psychodrama" of the television series Chicago Hope, that paid tribute to the Hitchcock movies. Hedren's character, Alfreda Perkins, was a reference to Alfred Hitchcock and actor Anthony Perkins, who starred in the director's 1960 film Psycho.
After appearing in a number of little-exposed films between 1999 and 2003, Hedren had a small but showy role in the 2004 David O. Russell comedy I Heart Huckabees, as a foul-mouthed attractive older woman who slaps Jude Law in an elevator. She felt that the director, who had a reputation for being difficult, was "totally crazy", but also "very interesting. I was able to work well with him." She also added it was a strange experience as, "... all of a sudden, he'd be like, 'Now I'm going to do it this way,' and you'd think, 'How is he going to edit this? How is this going to work?' But he made it work." In 2006, Hedren was a cast member of the short-lived primetime soap opera Fashion House with Bo Derek and Morgan Fairchild, and continued to guest-star in television series such as The 4400 (2006) and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2008). In 2012, Hedren and her daughter guest-starred together on an episode of Raising Hope. That same year, she appeared in Free Samples, an indie film where she had a supporting role as an old movie star. In 2013, she made an appearance as herself in the fourth-season finale of Cougar Town.
Hedren published her autobiography, Tippi: A Memoir, co-written with Lindsay Harrison, in 2016 through William Morrow and Company, as she felt it was "about time I stop letting everyone else tell my story and finally tell it myself." In 2018, at age 88, Hedren became the new face of Gucci's timepieces and jewelry and starred as a mysterious fortune teller in the brand's commercial ad, The Fortune Teller.
Influence
A Louis Vuitton ad campaign in 2006 paid tribute to Hedren and Hitchcock with a modern-day interpretation of the deserted railway station opening sequence of Marnie. Her look from The Birds (1963) inspired designer Bill Gaytten to design for John Galliano Pre-Fall 2012 collection.
Naomi Watts stated that her character interpretation in Mulholland Drive (2001) was influenced by the look and performances of Hedren in Hitchcock films. Watts and Hedren both appeared in I ♥ Huckabees (2004), but did not share any scenes together. Off screen, the film's director David O. Russell introduced them both, and Watts said of Hedren: "I was pretty fascinated by her then, because people have often said we're alike." Watts dressed up as Hedren's title character from Marnie for a photo shoot for March 2008 issue of Vanity Fair. In the same issue, Jodie Foster dressed up as Hedren's character, Melanie Daniels, from The Birds.
Shambala Preserve
In 1981, Hedren produced Roar, an 11-year project that ended up costing $17 million and starred dozens of African lions. "This was probably one of the most dangerous films that Hollywood has ever seen", remarked the actress. "It's amazing no one was killed." During the production of Roar, Hedren, her husband at the time, Noel Marshall, and daughter Melanie were attacked by lions; Jan de Bont, the director of photography, was scalped. Hedren later co-wrote Cats of Shambala (1985) about the experience. Roar made only $2 million worldwide. Hedren ended her marriage to Marshall a year later in 1982. The film directly led to the 1983 establishment of the nonprofit The Roar Foundation and Hedren's Shambala Preserve, located at the edge of the Mojave Desert in Acton, California, between the Antelope Valley and the Santa Clarita Valley, northeast of Los Angeles. Shambala houses some 70 animals. Hedren lives on the Shambala site and conducts monthly tours of the preserve for the public. In a 2015 interview with magazine Ability, Hedren emphasized that there is no human contact with the animals and that all of the cats are spayed and neutered, since they are being raised in captivity. Hedren was the founding president of the American Sanctuary Association, a post she still holds.
She took in and cared for Togar, a lion that belonged to Anton LaVey, after he was told by San Francisco officials that he could not keep a fully grown lion as a house pet. Shambala became the new home for Michael Jackson's two Bengal tigers, Sabu and Thriller, after he decided to close his zoo at his Neverland Valley Ranch in Los Olivos. Thriller died in June 2012 of lung cancer.
On December 3, 2007, Shambala Preserve made headlines when Chris Orr, a caretaker for the animals, was mauled by a tiger named Alexander. Several documentaries have focused on Shambala Preserve, including the 30-minute Lions: Kings of the Serengeti (1995), narrated by Melanie Griffith, and Animal Planet's Life with Big Cats (1998), which won the Genesis Award for best documentary in 1999. The animals at the preserve served as the initial inspiration for the life's work of artist A.E. London, who started her career working for Hedren.
As of 2020, Hedren still maintains more than a dozen lions and tigers; her granddaughter Dakota Johnson is involved in their care.
Personal life
In 1952, Hedren met and married 18-year-old future advertising executive Peter Griffith. Their daughter, actress Melanie Griffith, was born on August 9, 1957. They were divorced in 1961. On September 27, 1964, Hedren married her then-agent Noel Marshall, who later produced three of her films; they divorced in 1982. In 1985, she married steel manufacturer Luis Barrenechea, but they divorced in 1992. Hedren was engaged to veterinarian Martin Dinnes from 2002 until their breakup in mid-2008. In September 2008, Hedren told The Sunday Times "I'm waiting for someone to sweep me off my feet." Hedren's granddaughter Dakota Johnson is also an actress.
Hedren played a role in the development of Vietnamese-American nail salons in the United States. In 1975, while an international relief coordinator with Food for the Hungry, she began visiting with refugees at Hope Village outside Sacramento, California. When she learned the women were interested in her manicured nails, she employed her manicurist to teach them the skills of the trade and worked with a local beauty school to help them find jobs. Hedren's work with the Vietnamese-Americans was the subject of several documentaries: Happy Hands, directed by Honey Lauren, which won Best Documentary Short at the Sonoma International Film Festival in 2014Sonoma International Film Festival website, sonomaportal.com; accessed March 10, 2015. and "Nailedit:
Vietnamese and the Nail Industry" which won the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) 2014 Documentary Fund Award. CND and Beauty Changes Lives Foundation (BCL) have announced the BCL CND Tippi Hedren Nail Scholarship Fund to support professional nail education and will be administered starting January 1, 2014.
Hedren was instrumental in helping a desperate Nguyen Thi Chinh to enter the US after the fall of the South Vietnam government in 1975, she arranged for an air ticket and a visa for her then invited her to stay in her house.
Hedren suffered from severe and persistent headaches for a long time, which rendered her unable to accept several projects, including a television series produced by and starring Betty White. After she got a titanium plate put in her neck, she improved and then agreed, with the blessing of her doctor, to take the part of a dying woman in the soap opera Fashion House. While she was rehearsing a scene, a gallon of water fell from the ceiling onto her head. The headaches returned after the incident and persisted. Hedren filed a suit to receive recompense following her inability to work. Hedren's lawyer, Joseph Allen, made a mistake in his discussions with the defendants that allowed them to block him from filing suit. Hedren sued Allen for malpractice. In 2013, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Hedren had been awarded a $1.5 million settlement, including $213,400 for past lost earnings and $440,308 for future lost earnings, against her former lawyer. Hedren was hurt by the report since she had not collected the award. She gave an interview to explain that her former lawyer does not have the money to pay her, and discussed how the report put her in a difficult situation since her foundation was in dire need of funds. She explained that she has to raise $75,000 monthly just to keep it going. "Chances are I won't ever even see the money, and that's what hurts so badly, that in all of this pain and suffering that publication ran with a swift and not researched story, which told people around the world who have been so gracious and thoughtful about sending donations, that I no longer needed them."
Filmography
Film
Television
Honours and awards
1964: Most Promising Newcomer Award by Photoplay
1964: Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actress (shared with Ursula Andress and Elke Sommer)
1994: Life Achievement Award in France at The Beauvais Film Festival Cinemalia
1995: Life Achievement Award in Spain, La Fundación Municipal de Cine
1995: The Helen Woodward Animal Center's Annual Humane Award
1996: Founder's Award from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
1997: Lion and Lamb Award from Wildhaven
1999: Woman of Vision Award from Women of Film and Video in Washington, D.C.
1999: Presidential Medal for her work in film from Hofstra University
1999: Humanitarian Award at the Las Vegas International Film Festival
2000: Best Actress in a Comedy Short Award in the short film Mulligans! at the Method Fest, Independent Film Festival
2002: Best Actress Award for the short film Tea with Grandma from the New York International Independent Film Festival
2003: Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
2003: Women of Los Angeles Annual Hope is a Woman Honor
2004: PAWS Companion for Life Award
2004: Best Actress Award for the short film Rose's Garden from the Los Angeles TV Short Film Festival
2004: Animal Rights Advocacy Award at Artivist Film Festival
2005: Living Legacy Award
2006: Conservationist of the Year—Dino Award from the Las Vegas Natural History Museum
2007: Lifetime Achievement Award—Riverside Film Festival
2007: Jules Verne "Nature" Award — the 1st Annual Jules Verne Adventure Film Festival of Los Angeles
2008: Academy of Art University's 2nd Epidemic Film Festival Award
2008: Jules Verne Legendaire Award
2008: Thespian Award - LA Femme Film Festival
2009: "When a Woman Wills She Will!" Award by the Woman's Club of Hollywood
2009: Workhouse's first Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award
2009: Received the First Star on the Orinda Theater Walk of Fame
2010: Received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 24th Annual Genesis Awards show from the Humane Society
2010: BraveHeart Award
2010: Who-Manitarian Award
2011: Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce at its 90th Annual Installation & Awards Luncheon
2011: "The Women Together Award" from the United Nations
2011: Vietnamese-American Marton Saint Award from the Boat People SOS Organization
2011: Omni Youth Humanitarian/Career Achievement Award
2012: Honorary Masters of Fine Arts Degree from the New York Film Academy
2012: Mayor Career Achievement Award from Starz Denver Film Festival
2013: Legacy of Style Award
2013: "People Helping People" Award by the Touching Live TV Award Show, broadwayworld.com; accessed November 14, 2015.
2014: Lifetime Achievement Award from Bel-Air Film Festival
2014: Special Recognition Award from Acton Women's Club
2014:The Women's International Film & Television Showcase Foundation International Visionary Award, thewifts.org; accessed November 14, 2015.
2015: Choreography of Desire (A Tribute to Tippi Hedren) by the Vienna International Film Festival, viennale.at; accessed November 14, 2015.
2015: Believe, Achieve, Empower Award
2017: Waggy Award recipient from the Tailwaggers Foundation
2017: The Icon Award
2018: "Friend for Life Award" from The Palm Springs Animal Shelter
Notes
References
Hedren, Tippi. Tippi: A Memoir, William Morrow, 2016, 288 p.
McGilligan, Patrick. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light, It Books, 2004 (Reprint), 864 p.
Moral, Tony Lee. Hitchcock and the Making of Marnie, Scarecrow Pres, 2013 (Revised Edition), 340 p.
Moral, Tony Lee. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds, Scarecrow Pres, 2013 (Revised Edition), 224 p.
Taylor, John Russell. Hitch: The Life and Times of Alfred Hitchcock, Bloomsbury Reader, 2013, 318 p. ASIN B00BWL8L0C
Spoto, Donald. Spellbound by Beauty, Three Rivers Press, 2009, 368 p.
Paul, Louis. Tales from the Cult Film Trenches: Interviews with 36 Actors from Horror, Science Fiction and Exploitation Cinema, McFarland, 2007, 336 p.
Gambin, Lee. Massacred By Mother Nature: Exploring the Natural Horror Film'', Midnight Marquee Press, Inc., October 8, 2012
External links
1930 births
Living people
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American actresses
Actresses from Minnesota
American film actresses
New Star of the Year (Actress) Golden Globe winners
American people of German descent
American people of Norwegian descent
American people of Swedish descent
Big cat attack victims
Keepers of animal sanctuaries
Apex Records artists
Challenge Records artists
Female models from Minnesota
People from New Ulm, Minnesota
Griffith family
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"Frances Laura Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough (née Charteris; 10 August 1915 – 19 February 1990), was a British noblewoman and socialite. She was variously Viscountess Long, Countess of Dudley and became Duchess of Marlborough upon her fourth marriage, to John Spencer-Churchill, 10th Duke of Marlborough. She was the sister of novelist Hugo Charteris and Ann Charteris (who married Ian Fleming), as well as the granddaughter of Hugo Charteris, 11th Earl of Wemyss. Her third husband, Michael Temple Canfield, was the former husband of Lee Radziwill, sister of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. During World War II, she served as an auxiliary nurse.\n\nEarly life\nFrances Laura Charteris was born on 10 August 1915 at London, England, to Captain the Hon. Guy Lawrence Charteris (second son of the 11th Earl of Wemyss and Mary Constance Wyndham) and Frances Lucy Tennant, daughter of a Scottish chemical merchant. Laura, as she was called, had 3 siblings, Ann, Mary Rose and Hugo. Their mother died of cancer in 1925 and the remainder of their childhood was spent shuffling between homes in London and family in Scotland, where their grandparents, the Earl and Countess of Wemyss, lived. During World War II, she served as an auxiliary nurse for the Royal Navy.\n\nMarriages\nOn 14 November 1933, at St Margaret's Church, Westminster, London, England, she married Walter Francis David Long, 2nd Viscount Long. He was the son of Brigadier-General Walter Long and \nSibell Vanden-Bempde-Johnstone. During her marriage, she was the Viscountess Long. Laura's only child, was the product of this union: The couple divorced in 1942.\n\n Antoinette Sara Frances Sibell Long (b. 1934), who married the Hon. Sir Charles Morrison, second son of John Morrison, 1st Baron Margadale, in 1954.\n\nLaura then married William Humble Eric Ward, 3rd Earl of Dudley, son of William Humble Ward, 2nd Earl of Dudley and Rachel Gurney, on 23 February 1943. She was known as the Countess of Dudley until she and Ward divorced in 1954.\n\nOn 13 June 1960, Laura married Michael Temple Canfield, rumoured to have been the son of Prince George, Duke of Kent and American Alice \"Kiki\" Gwynne Preston. Canfield was adopted as an infant by Cass Canfield, head of Harper & Row Publishing house with his wife Katharine Emmet. Michael Canfield was the previous husband of Lee Radziwill, Jackie Kennedy's younger sister. \n \nHer fourth and final husband was John Albert William Spencer-Churchill, 10th Duke of Marlborough, whom she married six weeks before his death in 1972. From the time of this marriage, she became known as the Duchess of Marlborough.\n\nLaura died on 19 February 1990 at age 74 at Portman Towers, Marylebone, London, England.\n\nAutobiography\nIn 1980, she published her autobiography, Laughter from a Cloud. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1980 ()\n\nTitles\n1915 — 1933: Miss Frances Laura Charteris\n1933 — 1942: The Right Honourable The Viscountess Long\n1942 — 1943: Frances, Viscountess Long\n1943 — 1954: The Right Honourable The Countess of Dudley\n1954 — 1960: Frances, Countess of Dudley\n1960 — 1971: Mrs Michael Temple Canfield\n1972 — 1972: Her Grace The Duchess of Marlborough\n1972 — 1977: Her Grace Laura Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough \n1977 — 1990: Her Grace The Dowager Duchess of Marlborough\n\nReferences \n\n1915 births\n1990 deaths\nWomen autobiographers\nEnglish socialites\nLaura\n20th-century British women writers\n20th-century British non-fiction writers\nEnglish autobiographers\nLong\nDudley\nMarlborough\nLaura",
"Madeleine de Pouget, stage name Mademoiselle Beauchateau (1611–1683), was a French stage actress.\n\nAccording to an anecdote, she was the natural child of “a demoiselle of good family and a magistrate.” She was married to the actor Francois Chastelet, stage name Beauchateau. \n\nIn 1628 the Grands Comediens (Comédiens du Roi) was established at the Hôtel de Bourgogne. Initially, only the male actors are named, but in 1630 three actresses are mentioned: Nicole Gassot (Mlle Bellerose), Madeleine de Pouget (Mlle Beauchateau) and Jeanne Buffequin (Mlle La Fleur). She was engaged at the Théâtre du Marais in 1634. She was a prominent actress of the theatre. She created the role of the Infante in Pierre Corneille’s Le Cid. \n\nAccording to Paul Scarron, she wrote the prose version of François Tristan l'Hermite’s Les Coups de l’Amour et de la Fortune, which was finished by Scarron. \nAccording to Tallemant, she instructed a noblewoman in how to recite verses. \n\nShe was described as a wit by Raymond Poisson: said of her as “she is as witty as the devil”, and while Donneau de Vise said of her wit that if he were to speak of it, he would have to “remain a long time on such a rich and vast matter.”\n\nReferences \n\n1611 births\n1683 deaths\n17th-century French actresses\nFrench stage actresses\n17th-century French writers\n17th-century French women writers"
] |
[
"Tippi Hedren",
"Personal life",
"where was Tippi born?",
"I don't know.",
"is she married?",
"In 1952, Hedren met and married 18-year-old future advertising executive Peter Griffith.",
"did she have kids?",
"daughter, actress Melanie Griffith, was born on August 9, 1957.",
"how long was she married?",
"They were divorced in 1961."
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C_6c10e713d0a04ea8bb308b48d98f3da6_0
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did she have other relationships?
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Did Tippi Hedren have other relationships beside with Peter Griffith?
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Tippi Hedren
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In 1952, Hedren met and married 18-year-old future advertising executive Peter Griffith. Their daughter, actress Melanie Griffith, was born on August 9, 1957. They were divorced in 1961. On September 22, 1964, Hedren married her then-agent Noel Marshall, who later produced three of her films; they divorced in 1982. In 1985, she married steel manufacturer Luis Barrenechea, but they divorced in 1995. Hedren was engaged to veterinarian Martin Dinnes from 2002 until their breakup in mid-2008. In September 2008, Hedren told The Sunday Times "I'm waiting for someone to sweep me off my feet." Hedren played a role in the development of Vietnamese-American nail salons in the United States. In 1975, while an international relief coordinator with Food for the Hungry, she began visiting with refugees at Hope Village outside Sacramento, California. When she learned the women were interested in her manicured nails, she employed her manicurist to teach them the skills of the trade and worked with a local beauty school to help them find jobs. Hedren's work with the Vietnamese-Americans was the subject of Happy Hands, directed by Honey Lauren, which won Best Documentary Short at the Sonoma International Film Festival in 2014. CND and Beauty Changes Lives Foundation (BCL) have announced the BCL CND Tippi Hedren Nail Scholarship Fund to support professional nail education and will be administered starting January 1, 2014. Hedren suffered from severe and persistent headaches for a long time and therefore was unable to accept several projects, including a television series produced by and starring Betty White. After she got a titanium plate put in her neck, she improved and then agreed, with the blessing of her doctor, to take the part of a dying woman in the soap opera Fashion House. While she was rehearsing a scene, a gallon of water fell from the ceiling onto her head. The headaches returned after the incident and persisted. Hedren filed a suit to receive recompense following her inability to work. Hedren's lawyer, Joseph Allen, made a mistake in his discussions with the defendants that allowed them to block him from filing suit. Hedren sued Allen for malpractice. In 2013, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Hedren had been awarded a $1.5 million settlement, including $213,400 for past lost earnings and $440,308 for future lost earnings, against her former lawyer. Hedren was hurt by the report since she had not collected the award. She gave an interview to explain that her former lawyer does not have the money to pay her, and discussed how the report put her in a difficult situation since her foundation was in dire need of funds. She explained that she has to raise $75,000 monthly just to keep it going. "Chances are I won't ever even see the money, and that what hurts so badly, that in all of this pain and suffering that publication ran with a swift and not researched story, which told people around the world who have been so gracious and thoughtful about sending donations, that I no longer needed them." CANNOTANSWER
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On September 22, 1964, Hedren married her then-agent Noel Marshall,
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Nathalie Kay "Tippi" Hedren (born January 19, 1930) is an American actress, animal rights activist, and former fashion model. She achieved worldwide recognition for her work in two of Alfred Hitchcock's classics: The Birds (1963) and Marnie (1964). Hedren is noted as one of the most famous 'Hitchcock Blondes' and is now one of the last surviving leading stars from Hitchcock's filmography.
A successful fashion model who appeared on the front covers of Life and Glamour magazines, among others, Hedren became an actress after she was discovered by director Alfred Hitchcock while appearing on a television commercial in 1961. She achieved great praise for her work in two of his films: the suspense-thriller The Birds (1963), for which she won a Golden Globe, and the psychological drama Marnie (1964). She has appeared in over 80 films and television shows, including Charlie Chaplin's final film A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), the political satire Citizen Ruth (1996), and the existential comedy I Heart Huckabees (2004). Among other honors, her contributions to world cinema have been recognized with the Jules Verne Award and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Hedren's strong commitment to animal rescue began in 1969 while she was shooting two films in Africa and was introduced to the plight of African lions. In an attempt to raise awareness for wildlife, she spent over a decade bringing Roar (1981) to the screen. She started her own nonprofit organization, the Roar Foundation, in 1983; it supports the Shambala Preserve, an wildlife habitat that enables her to continue her work in the care and preservation of lions and tigers. Hedren has also set up relief programs worldwide following earthquakes, hurricanes, famine and war. She was also instrumental in the development of Vietnamese-American nail salons.
Early life
Nathalie Kay Hedren was born in New Ulm, Minnesota, on January 19, 1930, to Bernard Carl and Dorothea Henrietta (née Eckhardt) Hedren. For much of her career, her year of birth was reported as 1935. In 2004, however, she acknowledged that she was actually born in 1930 (which is consistent with the birth registration index at the Minnesota Historical Society). Her paternal grandparents were Swedish immigrants, while her mother was of German and Norwegian descent. Her father ran a small general store in Lafayette, Minnesota, and gave her the nickname "Tippi". When she was four, she moved with her parents to Minneapolis; she has an older sister, Patricia. As a teenager, she took part in department store fashion shows. Her parents relocated to California while she was a high school student at West High School in Minneapolis.
Career
Modeling success (1950–1960)
On reaching her 20th birthday, Hedren bought a ticket to New York City, where she joined the Eileen Ford Agency. Within a year, she made her unofficial film debut as "Miss Ice Box" in the musical comedy The Petty Girl. In interviews, she referred to The Birds, her first credited role, as her first film. Although she received several film offers during that time, Hedren had no interest in acting, as she knew it was very difficult to succeed.
She had a highly successful modeling career during the 1950s and early 1960s, appearing on the covers of Life, The Saturday Evening Post, McCall's, and Glamour, among others. In 1961, after seven years of marriage to the actor Peter Griffith, Hedren divorced and returned to California with her daughter, Melanie, and rented an expensive home in Sherman Oaks. She later said, "I thought I could continue my career as it had been in New York. I thought everything would be just fine, and it wasn't. So I thought, 'well, I don't type, what shall I do?'"
Transition to acting and collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock (1961–1966)
On October 13, 1961, she received a call from an agent who told her a producer was interested in working with her. When she was told it was Alfred Hitchcock, who while watching The Today Show, saw her in a commercial for a diet drink called Sego, she agreed to sign a seven-year contract. During their first meeting, the two talked about everything except the role for which he was considering her. Hedren was convinced for several weeks it was for his television series, Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Hitchcock later said, "I was not primarily concerned with how she looked in person. Most important was her appearance on the screen, and I liked that immediately. She has a touch of that high-style, lady-like quality which was once well-represented in films by actresses like Irene Dunne, Grace Kelly, Claudette Colbert, and others, but which is now quite rare."
Being an unknown actress with little training, Hitchcock put Hedren through an extensive color screen test that lasted two days and cost $25,000, doing scenes from his previous films, such as Rebecca, Notorious, and To Catch a Thief with actor Martin Balsam. According to Balsam, Hedren was very nervous, but studied every line, did every move she was asked to, and tried to do everything right. Hitchcock asked costume designer Edith Head to design clothes for Hedren's private life and he personally advised her about wine and food. He also insisted for publicity purposes that her name should be printed only in single quotes, 'Tippi'. The press mostly ignored this directive from the director, who felt that the single quotes added distinction and mystery to her name. Hitchcock was impressed with Hedren. As production designer Robert F. Boyle explained, "Hitch always liked women who behaved like well-bred ladies. Tippi generated that quality."
Afterward, Hedren was invited to lunch with Hitchcock, his wife, Alma, and Lew Wasserman, head of Universal, at one of Hitchcock's favorite restaurants, Chasen's. There, she was presented with a golden pin of three birds in flight, adorned by three tiny seed pearls, and was asked by Hitchcock to play the leading role in his upcoming film The Birds. "I was so stunned. It never occurred to me that I would be given a leading role in a major motion picture. I had great big tears in my eyes", Hedren later recalled.
The Birds (1963) was Hedren's screen debut. Hitchcock became her drama coach, and gave her an education in film-making, as she attended many of the production meetings such as script, music, or photography conferences. Hedren said, "I probably learned in three years what it would have taken me 15 years to learn otherwise." She learned how to break down a script, to become another character, and to study the relationship of different characters. Hedren portrayed her role of Melanie Daniels as Hitchcock requested. She said, "He gives his actors very little leeway. He'll listen, but he has a very definite plan in mind as to how he wants his characters to act. With me, it was understandable, because I was not an actress of stature. I welcomed his guidance."
During the six months of principal photography, Hedren's schedule was tight, as she was only given one afternoon off a week. At first, she found the shooting "wonderful". Hitchcock told a reporter, after a few weeks of filming, that she was remarkable, and said, "She's already reaching the lows and highs of terror." Nonetheless, Hedren recalled the week she did the final bird attack scene in a second-floor bedroom as the worst of her life. Before filming it, she asked Hitchcock about her character's motivations to go upstairs, and his response was, "Because I tell you to." She was then assured that the crew would use mechanical birds. Instead, Hedren endured five solid days of prop men, protected by thick leather gloves, flinging dozens of live gulls, ravens and crows at her (their beaks clamped shut with elastic bands). In a state of exhaustion, when one of the birds gouged her cheek and narrowly missed her eye, Hedren sat down on the set and began crying. A physician ordered a week's rest. Hitchcock protested, according to Hedren, saying nobody but her was left to film. The doctor's reply was, "Are you trying to kill her?" She said the week also appeared to be an ordeal for the director.
Universal's executives, who did not back Hitchcock's decision to hire Hedren in the first place, were impressed with her performance and Wasserman described it as "remarkable". While promoting The Birds, Hitchcock was full of praise for his new protégée, and compared her to Grace Kelly. "Tippi has a faster tempo, city glibness, more humor [than Grace Kelly]. She displayed jaunty assuredness, pertness, an attractive throw of the head. And she memorized and read lines extraordinarily well and is sharper in expression." The film was screened out of competition in May at a prestigious invitational showing at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival. Hedren's performance was praised in Varietys review: "Aside from the birds, the film belongs to Hedren, who makes an auspicious screen bow. She virtually has to carry the picture alone for the first 45-minute stretch, prior to the advent of the first wave of organized attackers from the sky. Miss Hedren has a star quality and Hitchcock has provided her with a potent vehicle to launch her career". Hedren received the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year, tied with Elke Sommer and Ursula Andress. Her role as Melanie Daniels was named by Premiere as one of the greatest movie characters of all time.
Hitchcock was so impressed with Hedren's acting abilities, he decided to offer her the leading role of his next film, Marnie (1964), a romantic drama and psychological thriller from the novel by Winston Graham, during the filming of The Birds. Hedren was stunned and felt extremely fortunate to be offered to play "such a complicated, sad, tragic woman", and later said, "I consider my acting, while not necessarily being method acting, but one that draws upon my own feelings. I thought Marnie was an extremely interesting role to play and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity". She voiced doubts about her ability to play the demanding role, but Hitchcock assured her she could do it. As opposed to The Birds, where she had received little acting guidance, for this film Hedren studied every scene with Hitchcock.
Hedren recalled Marnie as her favorite of the two films she did with Hitchcock for the challenge of playing an emotionally battered young woman who travels from city to city assuming various guises to rob her employers. During the filming, Hitchcock was quoted as saying about Hedren, "an Academy Award performance is in the making". On release, the film was greeted by mixed reviews and indifferent box-office returns, and received no Oscar nominations. Variety wrote, "Hedren returns in a particularly demanding role. Miss Hedren, undertaking a role originally offered Grace Kelly for a resumption of her screen career, lends credence to a part never sympathetic. It's a difficult assignment which she fulfills satisfactorily." Hedren later said that Marnie was "ahead of its time" because "people didn't talk about childhood and its effects on adult life. It was taboo to discuss sexuality and psychology and to put all that into a film was shocking." Despite its original lukewarm reception, the film was later acclaimed and described as a "masterpiece" and Hedren's performance is now regarded as one of the finest in any Hitchcock film. Richard Brody of The New Yorker wrote in his 2016 review of the film "Hedren's performance is one of the greatest in the history of cinema."
Marnie was the second and last collaboration between Hedren and Hitchcock. In 1973, she admitted that a major lifestyle difference caused a split in their relationship. "He was too possessive and too demanding. I cannot be possessed by anyone. But, then, that's my own hangup". In 1983, author Donald Spoto published his second book about Hitchcock, The Dark Side of Genius, for which Hedren agreed to talk for the first time in detail about her relationship with the director.
The book was controversial, as several of Hitchcock's friends claimed the Hitchcock portrayed in the book was not the man they knew. For years after its release, Hedren was not keen to talk about it in interviews, but thought the chapter devoted to her story was "accurate as to just what he was". Hedren later explained her long silence before telling her story, "It was embarrassing and insulting—there were a lot of reasons why I didn't want to tell the story. I didn't want it to be taken advantage of, twisted, turned, and made into an even uglier situation than it was".
According to Spoto's book, Hitchcock brought in two members of his crew during the filming of The Birds and asked them to keep careful watch on the activities of Hedren, "when she left the set—where she went, who she visited, how she spent her free time". He then advised her on what she should eat, whom she should see, and how she should live. He told the cast and crew they were not allowed to talk to her. Hedren's co-star in The Birds, Rod Taylor, later remembered, "Hitch was becoming very domineering and covetous of 'Tippi', and it was very difficult for her. No one was permitted to come physically close to her during the production. 'Don't touch the girl after I call "Cut!"' he said to me repeatedly". Hitchcock also attempted, on one occasion, to grab and violently kiss Hedren in the back of a car as they drove onto the set. Hedren told his assistant, Peggy Robertson, and the studio chief, Lew Wasserman, that she was becoming very unhappy about the whole situation. "But he was Alfred Hitchcock, the great and famous director, and I was Tippi Hedren, an inexperienced actress who had no clout". She decided she could not quit her contract because she was afraid to be blacklisted and unable to find work. Hedren's own daughter, Melanie Griffith, remembered that while Hedren was doing The Birds, she thought Hitchcock was taking her mother away from her. "Suddenly, I wasn't allowed even to visit my mom at the studio".
During the filming of Marnie, Hedren found Hitchcock's behavior toward her increasingly difficult to bear as filming progressed. "Everyone—I mean everyone—knew he was obsessed with me. He always wanted a glass of wine or champagne, with me alone, at the end of the day. He was really isolating me from everyone". Hedren's co-star in Marnie, Diane Baker, later recalled, "She was never allowed to gather around with the rest of us, and he demanded that every conversation between her and Hitch be held in private... Nothing could have been more horrible for me than to arrive on that movie set and to see her being treated the way she was".
Hitchcock revealed to Hedren one day he had a recurring dream where she came up to him and said, "Hitch, I love you—I'll always love you". When she heard this, Hedren replied "But it was a dream. Just a dream", and excused herself from his presence. She believed Hitchcock had no consideration for her feelings and remembered she was humiliated after he asked her to touch him, just before shooting a scene. "He made sure no one else could hear, and his tone and glance made it clear exactly what he meant". Hedren asked Hitchcock's permission one day to travel to New York to appear on The Tonight Show, where she was supposed to be presented an award as the "Most Promising New Star". Hitchcock refused, according to his biographer, because he claimed the break would affect her performance. During that meeting, he apparently "made an overt sexual proposition" that Hedren "could neither ignore nor answer casually, as she could his previous gestures". In Spoto's third book about Hitchcock, Spellbound by Beauty (2008), Hedren revealed that Hitchcock actually made offensive demands on her. "He stared at me and simply said, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, that from this time on, he expected me to make myself sexually available and accessible to him—however and whenever and wherever he wanted". Hitchcock's demands led to a "horrible, horrible fight", according to Hedren. "He made these demands on me, and no way could I acquiesce to them".
Hedren then told him Marnie would be their last film together and later recalled how Hitchcock told her he would destroy her career. "I said I wanted to get out of my contract. He said: 'You can't. You have your daughter to support, and your parents are getting older'. I said: 'Nobody would want me to be in this situation, I want to get out'. And he said: 'I'll ruin your career'. I said: 'Do what you have to do'. And he did ruin my career. He kept me under contract, paid me to do nothing for close on two years". Hedren felt so humiliated, she called the director a "fat pig" in front of people on the set. Hitchcock made only a comment about it to his biographer, John Russell Taylor: "She did what no one is permitted to do. She referred to my weight". The two communicated only through a third party for the rest of the film. According to Marnie'''s screenwriter, Jay Presson Allen, Hitchcock was "mad" for Hedren. She felt unhappy for both and described the situation as "an old man's cri de coeur", adding that Hitchcock had a "Pygmalion complex about Tippi". She advised Hedren to finish the film and then get on with her life and be happy. Hedren's hairdresser, Virginia Darcy, even told Hitchcock he should not be possessive with Hedren. "Tippi felt rightly that she was not his property, but he'd say, 'You are, I have a contract'". Although Hitchcock thought he might mend fences with Hedren and make another film with her, she refused to reconsider her decision. Hedren's contract terms gave Hitchcock the final say as to any work she could take on and he used that power to turn down several film roles on her behalf. She was particularly disappointed when French director François Truffaut told her he had wanted her for one of them. In 1966, Hitchcock finally sold her contract to Universal Studios after Hedren appeared in two of their TV shows, Kraft Suspense Theatre (1965) and Run for Your Life (id.). The studio ultimately released her from her contract after she refused to appear on a television Western for them.
In 2012, The Girl, an HBO/BBC film about Hedren and Hitchcock's relationship, based on Donald Spoto's 2009 book Spellbound by Beauty: Alfred Hitchcock and His Leading Ladies, was released. When she was first told about the project, Hedren said she had mixed feelings about it, "To be still alive and have a film made about you is an awesome and incredibly frightening experience". Hedren and Hitchcock were respectively portrayed by Sienna Miller and Toby Jones.
Although she was thrilled with the choice of Miller, Hedren was worried she would not be portrayed "as strong a character as I was—and still am. I had to be extremely strong to fight off Mr. Hitchcock". She described the moment she saw the film as "probably one of the most involved, emotionally tense 90 minutes that I have ever lived". Upon the film's release, Hedren said although she believed the film accurately portrays Hitchcock's behavior towards her, the time constraints of a 90-minute film prevented telling the entire story of her career with him. "It wasn't a constant barrage of harassment. If it had been constantly the way we have had to do it in this film, I would have been long gone". She recalled there were times she described as "absolutely delightful and wonderful”, and insisted that “Hitchcock had a charm about him. He was very funny at times. He was incredibly brilliant in his field". The film was controversial, as others who knew and worked with Hitchcock responded to it negatively. Kim Novak, who worked on Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958), disputed Hitchcock's portrayal as a sexual predator in The Girl: "I never saw him make a pass at anybody or act strange to anybody. And wouldn't you think if he was that way, I would've seen it or at least seen him with somebody? I think it's unfortunate when someone's no longer around and can't defend themselves". Novak previously described Hitchcock as a gentleman, and when asked about reports of his behavior, she said, "Maybe I just wasn't his type". Novak also stated, "I won't dispute Tippi if that's what she saw."
Hedren herself was asked why her account of sexual harassment contrasted with the many interviews she gave about her time with Hitchcock, her presence at the AFI Life Achievement Award ceremony honoring him in 1979, and her presence at his funeral. She explained that, "He ruined my career, but he didn't ruin my life. That time of my life was over. I still admire the man for who he was". She also said, "I've been able to separate the two. The man who was the artist. I mean, what he gave to the motion picture industry can never be taken away from him and I certainly wouldn't want to try. But on the other side, there is that dark side that was really awful".
Career setbacks (1967–1973)
Hedren's first feature film appearance after Marnie was in A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), starring Marlon Brando and Sophia Loren. She was told by writer-director Charlie Chaplin that she was offered a major supporting role as Brando's estranged wife and had to accept the role without reading the script. However, when she arrived in England where the filming took place, she finally received the script and realized that her part was little more than a cameo. She asked Chaplin why he lied to her. "Every actor in the world was asking if they could do this film, to just do a walk-on, without even being paid for it. When I said, 'Why didn't you just tell me that it was a cameo? I would have done this film anyway,' he said, 'I didn't think you would come,' which was very sweet. He was a very clever man." Hedren asked Chaplin to expand the role, and although he tried to accommodate her, he could not, as the story mostly takes place on a ship, which Hedren's character boards near the end of the film. In the end, she remained in the film and later said that it was both amusing and strange to work with Chaplin. She found him to be a very serious man and loved his approach to directing. She later said, "I wish someone would have been allowed to do a documentary. The way he directed was unlike anyone I ever saw. He acted out all the parts himself. He did Sophia's part, then Marlon's part, then mine, and then he'd say, 'Okay, now you can do it.' Which would be impossible, to mimic the master. It was incredible. None of us believed it. Marlon hated it."
After the release of A Countess from Hong Kong, Hedren's career was described as "spectacular" by the press. She told a reporter at the time, "I don't want to wait myself out of this business, but working for Hitch and Charlie has been very special to me, and now I'm going to wait for something special to come along". In 1968, she signed on to do the American Civil War drama Five Against Kansas with Farley Granger and Jeffrey Hunter, but the project was never realized. In 1968, Hedren returned to film as a socialite who helps her boyfriend (played by George Armstrong) catch a killer, in Tiger by the Tail. From 1970 to 1971, she guest-starred twice on The Courtship of Eddie's Father. She agreed to take part in Satan's Harvest (1970) and Mister Kingstreet's War (1973)—which were shot back-to-back despite the discrepancy in their release dates—for the sole reason that they were being filmed in Africa. In 1973, Hedren played a teacher of an experimental sex school in The Harrad Experiment, which starred James Whitmore and Don Johnson—the latter who later became the husband of her daughter, Melanie Griffith. Hedren felt that the film "deals with vital themes—themes like the decline in importance of ideas like possession and jealousy and, by inference, marriage. I have four teenaged children and I think this picture says some valuable things to them." She confessed at the time she was occasionally depressed because she was not doing any major films and told a magazine, "My husband just cancelled all the trade magazines because he felt I should cut off the source of my discontent. He's the type who won't stand for sustained down feelings".
Roar (1974–1981)
Hedren and husband Noel Marshall watched a pride of lions move into a house after a game warden moved out in 1969, during the filming of Satan's Harvest in Africa. She said, "We were delighted with the way they adapted themselves to living there. And they were so funny we knew we had an idea for a picture." Marshall wrote a script titled Lions, Lions and More Lions based on their experience; it was retitled Roar and centered on a family's misadventures in a research park filled with lions, tigers, and other wild cats.
Hedren played the lead role and co-starred with her daughter Melanie, husband Marshall, and his own sons Jerry and John. They attempted to rent Hollywood animals for a nine-month shoot, but upon approaching animal trainers for support, they were discouraged and nobody would rent them 30 or 40 lions, as the script required, because of their natural tendency to fight. They were encouraged to start collecting and training their own exotic beasts. Animal trainer Ron Oxley told them, "to get to know about lions, you've got to live with them for a while". They started to raise a lion cub named Neil in their Sherman Oaks house and made sure that the animal slept in their bed. Life photographer Michael Rougier documented their life in 1971 and photographed the lion with the whole family inside and outside the house, from Hedren's daughter's bed to the living room to the swimming pool. After complaints from their neighbors, Hedren and Marshall bought a ranch outside of Los Angeles in Acton that would serve as the set for Roar. They got permission there to rescue and raise several lions, tigers, African elephants, and other exotic felines.
Filming started in 1974 and took five years just to complete the photography. Every scene involving lions was improvised and shot with four or sometimes eight cameras. More than 100 people worked on the film, as well as more than 150 untrained lions, tigers, leopards, and cheetahs. During production, no animals were hurt, but more than 70 members of the cast and crew were mauled. Hedren fractured a leg and also had scalp wounds when an elephant bucked her off its back while she was riding it. She was also bitten in the neck by a lion and required 38 stitches; this incident can be seen in the film. Melanie Griffith was also attacked, receiving 50 stitches to her face; it was feared that she would lose an eye, but she recovered and was not disfigured. Marshall was attacked so many times that he eventually was diagnosed with gangrene. In one of those incidents, he was clawed by a cheetah when protecting the animals during a bushfire that occurred in 1979. All animals were evacuated, and several years were needed for him to recover from his injuries. In 1978, a flood destroyed the movie sets and killed three of the lions. The project was set back several years. Hedren said that they were all determined to finish the film: "We were so sure the film was going to be a success that we thought everything (financing the ranch and the lions, etc.) would take care of itself."Roar was released worldwide in 1981 with the exception of the United States, because according to Hedren, "The United States distributors wanted the lion's share of the profits, and we thought it ought to go to the beautiful animals that made the movie." The film cost $17 million and grossed only $2 million, but it was a turning point in Hedren's life. In 1983, she established the nonprofit The Roar Foundation to take care of the big cats. "After our movie was over," she explained, "it was unconscionable to see the animals go any place else." Roar was re-released in 2015, but Hedren declined to discuss it, as she felt that promotion for the film was filled with "inaccuracies".
Later career (1982–present)
After Roar, Hedren accepted any low-budget television or cinema role that could help bring funds to her foundation to provide protection, shelter, care, and maintenance for the animals at the Shambala Preserve. In 1982, she co-starred with Leslie Nielsen in Foxfire Light. She appeared in several television series, including Hart to Hart in 1983 and the late-night horror series Tales from the Darkside in 1984. In the 1985 pilot episode of The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents, she made a brief appearance as a waitress in a bar who berates a customer, played by her daughter Melanie Griffith. In 1990, she had a nonspeaking, minor part as a wealthy widow romanced by Michael Keaton in the film Pacific Heights (1990), which also starred her daughter. That same year, she had a role on The Bold and the Beautiful, a daytime soap opera she said she was "proud to have in my resume".
In 1994, Hedren appeared in the made-for-cable sequel, The Birds II: Land's End, in a role different from the one she had played in the original. She was, however, disappointed that she did not get a starring role and admitted before the film's release, "I wish that it was more than a cameo. I think they made a mistake by not doing that, but it has helped me to feed my lions and tigers." When asked about what could have been Hitchcock's opinion on the film, she answered: "I'd hate to think what he would say!" In a 2007 interview, Hedren said of the film, "It's absolutely horrible, it embarrasses me horribly."
From 1994 to 1996, Hedren had a guest-starring role in Dream On. The sitcom gave her "the opportunity to do comedy. I'd never done comedy before and it was just wonderful for me to be able to do that. Everybody just thought of me as a serious actress, so I owe that to John Landis (the executive producer), giving me that opportunity." In 1996, she played an abortion rights activist in Alexander Payne's political satire Citizen Ruth with Laura Dern. In 1998, she co-starred alongside Billy Zane and Christina Ricci in I Woke Up Early the Day I Died, a film she felt was "incredible". "I must say I really love that film. It was a unique kind of film to do also, because of the fact that it had no dialogue in it. It was very, very different". That same year, she guest-starred in a special episode titled "Psychodrama" of the television series Chicago Hope, that paid tribute to the Hitchcock movies. Hedren's character, Alfreda Perkins, was a reference to Alfred Hitchcock and actor Anthony Perkins, who starred in the director's 1960 film Psycho.
After appearing in a number of little-exposed films between 1999 and 2003, Hedren had a small but showy role in the 2004 David O. Russell comedy I Heart Huckabees, as a foul-mouthed attractive older woman who slaps Jude Law in an elevator. She felt that the director, who had a reputation for being difficult, was "totally crazy", but also "very interesting. I was able to work well with him." She also added it was a strange experience as, "... all of a sudden, he'd be like, 'Now I'm going to do it this way,' and you'd think, 'How is he going to edit this? How is this going to work?' But he made it work." In 2006, Hedren was a cast member of the short-lived primetime soap opera Fashion House with Bo Derek and Morgan Fairchild, and continued to guest-star in television series such as The 4400 (2006) and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2008). In 2012, Hedren and her daughter guest-starred together on an episode of Raising Hope. That same year, she appeared in Free Samples, an indie film where she had a supporting role as an old movie star. In 2013, she made an appearance as herself in the fourth-season finale of Cougar Town.
Hedren published her autobiography, Tippi: A Memoir, co-written with Lindsay Harrison, in 2016 through William Morrow and Company, as she felt it was "about time I stop letting everyone else tell my story and finally tell it myself." In 2018, at age 88, Hedren became the new face of Gucci's timepieces and jewelry and starred as a mysterious fortune teller in the brand's commercial ad, The Fortune Teller.
Influence
A Louis Vuitton ad campaign in 2006 paid tribute to Hedren and Hitchcock with a modern-day interpretation of the deserted railway station opening sequence of Marnie. Her look from The Birds (1963) inspired designer Bill Gaytten to design for John Galliano Pre-Fall 2012 collection.
Naomi Watts stated that her character interpretation in Mulholland Drive (2001) was influenced by the look and performances of Hedren in Hitchcock films. Watts and Hedren both appeared in I ♥ Huckabees (2004), but did not share any scenes together. Off screen, the film's director David O. Russell introduced them both, and Watts said of Hedren: "I was pretty fascinated by her then, because people have often said we're alike." Watts dressed up as Hedren's title character from Marnie for a photo shoot for March 2008 issue of Vanity Fair. In the same issue, Jodie Foster dressed up as Hedren's character, Melanie Daniels, from The Birds.
Shambala Preserve
In 1981, Hedren produced Roar, an 11-year project that ended up costing $17 million and starred dozens of African lions. "This was probably one of the most dangerous films that Hollywood has ever seen", remarked the actress. "It's amazing no one was killed." During the production of Roar, Hedren, her husband at the time, Noel Marshall, and daughter Melanie were attacked by lions; Jan de Bont, the director of photography, was scalped. Hedren later co-wrote Cats of Shambala (1985) about the experience. Roar made only $2 million worldwide. Hedren ended her marriage to Marshall a year later in 1982. The film directly led to the 1983 establishment of the nonprofit The Roar Foundation and Hedren's Shambala Preserve, located at the edge of the Mojave Desert in Acton, California, between the Antelope Valley and the Santa Clarita Valley, northeast of Los Angeles. Shambala houses some 70 animals. Hedren lives on the Shambala site and conducts monthly tours of the preserve for the public. In a 2015 interview with magazine Ability, Hedren emphasized that there is no human contact with the animals and that all of the cats are spayed and neutered, since they are being raised in captivity. Hedren was the founding president of the American Sanctuary Association, a post she still holds.
She took in and cared for Togar, a lion that belonged to Anton LaVey, after he was told by San Francisco officials that he could not keep a fully grown lion as a house pet. Shambala became the new home for Michael Jackson's two Bengal tigers, Sabu and Thriller, after he decided to close his zoo at his Neverland Valley Ranch in Los Olivos. Thriller died in June 2012 of lung cancer.
On December 3, 2007, Shambala Preserve made headlines when Chris Orr, a caretaker for the animals, was mauled by a tiger named Alexander. Several documentaries have focused on Shambala Preserve, including the 30-minute Lions: Kings of the Serengeti (1995), narrated by Melanie Griffith, and Animal Planet's Life with Big Cats (1998), which won the Genesis Award for best documentary in 1999. The animals at the preserve served as the initial inspiration for the life's work of artist A.E. London, who started her career working for Hedren.
As of 2020, Hedren still maintains more than a dozen lions and tigers; her granddaughter Dakota Johnson is involved in their care.
Personal life
In 1952, Hedren met and married 18-year-old future advertising executive Peter Griffith. Their daughter, actress Melanie Griffith, was born on August 9, 1957. They were divorced in 1961. On September 27, 1964, Hedren married her then-agent Noel Marshall, who later produced three of her films; they divorced in 1982. In 1985, she married steel manufacturer Luis Barrenechea, but they divorced in 1992. Hedren was engaged to veterinarian Martin Dinnes from 2002 until their breakup in mid-2008. In September 2008, Hedren told The Sunday Times "I'm waiting for someone to sweep me off my feet." Hedren's granddaughter Dakota Johnson is also an actress.
Hedren played a role in the development of Vietnamese-American nail salons in the United States. In 1975, while an international relief coordinator with Food for the Hungry, she began visiting with refugees at Hope Village outside Sacramento, California. When she learned the women were interested in her manicured nails, she employed her manicurist to teach them the skills of the trade and worked with a local beauty school to help them find jobs. Hedren's work with the Vietnamese-Americans was the subject of several documentaries: Happy Hands, directed by Honey Lauren, which won Best Documentary Short at the Sonoma International Film Festival in 2014Sonoma International Film Festival website, sonomaportal.com; accessed March 10, 2015. and "Nailedit:
Vietnamese and the Nail Industry" which won the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) 2014 Documentary Fund Award. CND and Beauty Changes Lives Foundation (BCL) have announced the BCL CND Tippi Hedren Nail Scholarship Fund to support professional nail education and will be administered starting January 1, 2014.
Hedren was instrumental in helping a desperate Nguyen Thi Chinh to enter the US after the fall of the South Vietnam government in 1975, she arranged for an air ticket and a visa for her then invited her to stay in her house.
Hedren suffered from severe and persistent headaches for a long time, which rendered her unable to accept several projects, including a television series produced by and starring Betty White. After she got a titanium plate put in her neck, she improved and then agreed, with the blessing of her doctor, to take the part of a dying woman in the soap opera Fashion House. While she was rehearsing a scene, a gallon of water fell from the ceiling onto her head. The headaches returned after the incident and persisted. Hedren filed a suit to receive recompense following her inability to work. Hedren's lawyer, Joseph Allen, made a mistake in his discussions with the defendants that allowed them to block him from filing suit. Hedren sued Allen for malpractice. In 2013, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Hedren had been awarded a $1.5 million settlement, including $213,400 for past lost earnings and $440,308 for future lost earnings, against her former lawyer. Hedren was hurt by the report since she had not collected the award. She gave an interview to explain that her former lawyer does not have the money to pay her, and discussed how the report put her in a difficult situation since her foundation was in dire need of funds. She explained that she has to raise $75,000 monthly just to keep it going. "Chances are I won't ever even see the money, and that's what hurts so badly, that in all of this pain and suffering that publication ran with a swift and not researched story, which told people around the world who have been so gracious and thoughtful about sending donations, that I no longer needed them."
Filmography
Film
Television
Honours and awards
1964: Most Promising Newcomer Award by Photoplay
1964: Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actress (shared with Ursula Andress and Elke Sommer)
1994: Life Achievement Award in France at The Beauvais Film Festival Cinemalia
1995: Life Achievement Award in Spain, La Fundación Municipal de Cine
1995: The Helen Woodward Animal Center's Annual Humane Award
1996: Founder's Award from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
1997: Lion and Lamb Award from Wildhaven
1999: Woman of Vision Award from Women of Film and Video in Washington, D.C.
1999: Presidential Medal for her work in film from Hofstra University
1999: Humanitarian Award at the Las Vegas International Film Festival
2000: Best Actress in a Comedy Short Award in the short film Mulligans! at the Method Fest, Independent Film Festival
2002: Best Actress Award for the short film Tea with Grandma from the New York International Independent Film Festival
2003: Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
2003: Women of Los Angeles Annual Hope is a Woman Honor
2004: PAWS Companion for Life Award
2004: Best Actress Award for the short film Rose's Garden from the Los Angeles TV Short Film Festival
2004: Animal Rights Advocacy Award at Artivist Film Festival
2005: Living Legacy Award
2006: Conservationist of the Year—Dino Award from the Las Vegas Natural History Museum
2007: Lifetime Achievement Award—Riverside Film Festival
2007: Jules Verne "Nature" Award — the 1st Annual Jules Verne Adventure Film Festival of Los Angeles
2008: Academy of Art University's 2nd Epidemic Film Festival Award
2008: Jules Verne Legendaire Award
2008: Thespian Award - LA Femme Film Festival
2009: "When a Woman Wills She Will!" Award by the Woman's Club of Hollywood
2009: Workhouse's first Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award
2009: Received the First Star on the Orinda Theater Walk of Fame
2010: Received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 24th Annual Genesis Awards show from the Humane Society
2010: BraveHeart Award
2010: Who-Manitarian Award
2011: Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce at its 90th Annual Installation & Awards Luncheon
2011: "The Women Together Award" from the United Nations
2011: Vietnamese-American Marton Saint Award from the Boat People SOS Organization
2011: Omni Youth Humanitarian/Career Achievement Award
2012: Honorary Masters of Fine Arts Degree from the New York Film Academy
2012: Mayor Career Achievement Award from Starz Denver Film Festival
2013: Legacy of Style Award
2013: "People Helping People" Award by the Touching Live TV Award Show, broadwayworld.com; accessed November 14, 2015.
2014: Lifetime Achievement Award from Bel-Air Film Festival
2014: Special Recognition Award from Acton Women's Club
2014:The Women's International Film & Television Showcase Foundation International Visionary Award, thewifts.org; accessed November 14, 2015.
2015: Choreography of Desire (A Tribute to Tippi Hedren) by the Vienna International Film Festival, viennale.at; accessed November 14, 2015.
2015: Believe, Achieve, Empower Award
2017: Waggy Award recipient from the Tailwaggers Foundation
2017: The Icon Award
2018: "Friend for Life Award" from The Palm Springs Animal Shelter
Notes
References
Hedren, Tippi. Tippi: A Memoir, William Morrow, 2016, 288 p.
McGilligan, Patrick. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light, It Books, 2004 (Reprint), 864 p.
Moral, Tony Lee. Hitchcock and the Making of Marnie, Scarecrow Pres, 2013 (Revised Edition), 340 p.
Moral, Tony Lee. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds, Scarecrow Pres, 2013 (Revised Edition), 224 p.
Taylor, John Russell. Hitch: The Life and Times of Alfred Hitchcock, Bloomsbury Reader, 2013, 318 p. ASIN B00BWL8L0C
Spoto, Donald. Spellbound by Beauty, Three Rivers Press, 2009, 368 p.
Paul, Louis. Tales from the Cult Film Trenches: Interviews with 36 Actors from Horror, Science Fiction and Exploitation Cinema, McFarland, 2007, 336 p.
Gambin, Lee. Massacred By Mother Nature: Exploring the Natural Horror Film'', Midnight Marquee Press, Inc., October 8, 2012
External links
1930 births
Living people
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American actresses
Actresses from Minnesota
American film actresses
New Star of the Year (Actress) Golden Globe winners
American people of German descent
American people of Norwegian descent
American people of Swedish descent
Big cat attack victims
Keepers of animal sanctuaries
Apex Records artists
Challenge Records artists
Female models from Minnesota
People from New Ulm, Minnesota
Griffith family
| false |
[
"Motsoalle is the term for socially acceptable, long-term relationships between Basotho women in Lesotho. Motsoalle can be translated from Sesotho loosely as \"a very special friend.\" The word, motsoalle, is used to describe the other woman, as in \"she is my motsoalle;\" and a motsoalle relationship describes the bond between the two women. Motsoalle relationships are socially sanctioned, and have often been celebrated by the people of Lesotho. These women's relationships usually occur alongside otherwise conventional heterosexual marriages and may involve various levels of physical intimacy between the female partners. Motsoalle relationships have, over time, begun to disappear in Lesotho.\n\nAbout \nMotsoalle relationships can first be formed between women during adolescence. The word motsoalle means \"special friend.\" Often, a motsoalle relationship was acknowledged publicly with a ritual feast and with the community fully aware of the women's commitment to one another. One anecdote about a motsoalle relationship describes how one woman, Mpho 'M'atsepho Nthunya, and her husband threw a party in the 1950s to celebrate her motsoalle. Nthunya's account of her relationship with her partner, Malineo, was described to anthropologist K. Limakatso Kendall in a book, Singing Away the Hunger: The Autobiography of an African Woman (1997). Judith Gay is another anthropologist to document these relationships, and she gives evidence that they were once very common. Jason Sullivan describes a form of motsoalle relationships among school girls where it functioned like a type of \"puppy love\" or mentorship. Other anthropologists who have described motsoalle relationships include Stephen Murray and Will Roscoe.\n\nMotsoalle relationships differ from a western perspective of queer or lesbian relationships. Women in motsoalle relationships \"marry men and conform, or appear to conform, to gender expectations.\" Women in these relationships do not have a different social identity even though they are in a committed relationship with another woman. Women in motsoalle relationships also differ from western ideas of heterosexual female friends. Researcher, William J. Spurlin, stresses that \"it is important not to simply translate into English 'M'atsepo Nthunya's use of the Sesotho word motsoalle [...] as lesbian.\" Nevertheless, Spurlin does state that \"it might be possible to place motsoalle relationships on the lesbian continuum to discuss, debate, and imagine them theoretically as possible sites of lesbian existence, given the close emotional and intimate bonds between the women, but with the stipulation that the relationships not be reduced to western understandings of 'lesbian.'\"\n\nPart of the difference between a motsoalle relationship and a lesbian one is due to the Sesotho notion of sex. Many Basotho of older generations in Lesotho did not consider an act a sex act if one partner was not male. Therefore, anything women did together was not considered sex, even if it involved erotic components. Because of the social situation in rural Lesotho and the lack of a concept of lesbianism, motsoalle relationships were once widespread, but not seen as an \"alternative to heterosexual marriage.\" Nthunya described it like this: \"When a woman loves another woman, you see, she can love her with a whole heart.\"\n\nAs Lesotho became more modernized, those communities exposed to western culture were also more likely to become exposed to homophobia. Kendall hypothesizes that as Western ideas spread, the idea that women could be sexual with one another, coupled with homophobia, began to erase the motsoalle relationships. By the 1980s, the ritual feasts that were once celebrated by the community for motsoalles had vanished. Today, motsoalle relationships have largely disappeared.\n\nReferences\n\nCitations\n\nSources\n\nExternal links \n Singing Away the Hunger: The Autobiography of an African Woman by Mpho 'M'atsepo Nthunya and edited by K. Limakatso Kendall\n\nLesotho culture\nLGBT in Lesotho\nInterpersonal relationships\nInterpersonal attraction\nWomen in society\nSame-sex sexuality",
"Amatonormativity is a set of societal assumptions that everyone prospers with an exclusive romantic relationship. Arizona State University professor of philosophy Elizabeth Brake coined the term to capture societal assumptions about romance. Brake wanted to describe the pressure she received by many to prioritize marriage in her own life when she did not want to. Amatonormativity extends beyond social pressures for marriage to include general pressures involving romance.\n\nDerivation\nThe word amatonormativity comes from amatus, which is the Latin word for \"beloved\". Another word which is similarly related to the word Amatonormativity is amative. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word amative as: strongly moved by love and especially sexual love. Relating to or indicative of love. Amorous is a closely related word also derived from amatus.\n\nExamples\nElizabeth Brake describes the term as a pressure or desire for monogamy, romance, and/or marriage.\nThe desire to find relationships that are romantic, sexual, monogamous, and lifelong has many social consequences. People who are asexual, aromantic, and/or nonmonogamous become social oddities. According to researcher Bella DePaulo it puts a stigma on single people as incomplete and re-enforces romantic partners to stay in unhealthy relationships because of a fear the partners may have of being single.\n\nAccording to Brake, one way in which this stigma is institutionally applied is the law and morality surrounding marriage. Loving friendships, queerplatonic, and other relationships are not given the same legal protections romantic partners are given through marriage. This legality also de-legitimizes the love and care found in other non-marital relationships.\n\nBrake wrote a book, Minimizing Marriage, in which she defines amatonormativity as \"the widespread assumption is that everyone is better off in an exclusive, romantic, long-term coupled relationship, and that everyone is seeking such a relationship.\"\n\nSee also\nCriticism of marriage\nDiscrimination against asexual people\nHeteronormativity\nPolyamory\nRelationship anarchy\n\nReferences\n\nFeminist terminology\nNeologisms\nGender-related prejudices\nIntimate relationships\nRomance\nPhilosophy of love"
] |
[
"Tippi Hedren",
"Personal life",
"where was Tippi born?",
"I don't know.",
"is she married?",
"In 1952, Hedren met and married 18-year-old future advertising executive Peter Griffith.",
"did she have kids?",
"daughter, actress Melanie Griffith, was born on August 9, 1957.",
"how long was she married?",
"They were divorced in 1961.",
"did she have other relationships?",
"On September 22, 1964, Hedren married her then-agent Noel Marshall,"
] |
C_6c10e713d0a04ea8bb308b48d98f3da6_0
|
are they still married?
| 6 |
Are Tippi Hedren and Noel Marshall still married?
|
Tippi Hedren
|
In 1952, Hedren met and married 18-year-old future advertising executive Peter Griffith. Their daughter, actress Melanie Griffith, was born on August 9, 1957. They were divorced in 1961. On September 22, 1964, Hedren married her then-agent Noel Marshall, who later produced three of her films; they divorced in 1982. In 1985, she married steel manufacturer Luis Barrenechea, but they divorced in 1995. Hedren was engaged to veterinarian Martin Dinnes from 2002 until their breakup in mid-2008. In September 2008, Hedren told The Sunday Times "I'm waiting for someone to sweep me off my feet." Hedren played a role in the development of Vietnamese-American nail salons in the United States. In 1975, while an international relief coordinator with Food for the Hungry, she began visiting with refugees at Hope Village outside Sacramento, California. When she learned the women were interested in her manicured nails, she employed her manicurist to teach them the skills of the trade and worked with a local beauty school to help them find jobs. Hedren's work with the Vietnamese-Americans was the subject of Happy Hands, directed by Honey Lauren, which won Best Documentary Short at the Sonoma International Film Festival in 2014. CND and Beauty Changes Lives Foundation (BCL) have announced the BCL CND Tippi Hedren Nail Scholarship Fund to support professional nail education and will be administered starting January 1, 2014. Hedren suffered from severe and persistent headaches for a long time and therefore was unable to accept several projects, including a television series produced by and starring Betty White. After she got a titanium plate put in her neck, she improved and then agreed, with the blessing of her doctor, to take the part of a dying woman in the soap opera Fashion House. While she was rehearsing a scene, a gallon of water fell from the ceiling onto her head. The headaches returned after the incident and persisted. Hedren filed a suit to receive recompense following her inability to work. Hedren's lawyer, Joseph Allen, made a mistake in his discussions with the defendants that allowed them to block him from filing suit. Hedren sued Allen for malpractice. In 2013, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Hedren had been awarded a $1.5 million settlement, including $213,400 for past lost earnings and $440,308 for future lost earnings, against her former lawyer. Hedren was hurt by the report since she had not collected the award. She gave an interview to explain that her former lawyer does not have the money to pay her, and discussed how the report put her in a difficult situation since her foundation was in dire need of funds. She explained that she has to raise $75,000 monthly just to keep it going. "Chances are I won't ever even see the money, and that what hurts so badly, that in all of this pain and suffering that publication ran with a swift and not researched story, which told people around the world who have been so gracious and thoughtful about sending donations, that I no longer needed them." CANNOTANSWER
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they divorced in 1982.
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Nathalie Kay "Tippi" Hedren (born January 19, 1930) is an American actress, animal rights activist, and former fashion model. She achieved worldwide recognition for her work in two of Alfred Hitchcock's classics: The Birds (1963) and Marnie (1964). Hedren is noted as one of the most famous 'Hitchcock Blondes' and is now one of the last surviving leading stars from Hitchcock's filmography.
A successful fashion model who appeared on the front covers of Life and Glamour magazines, among others, Hedren became an actress after she was discovered by director Alfred Hitchcock while appearing on a television commercial in 1961. She achieved great praise for her work in two of his films: the suspense-thriller The Birds (1963), for which she won a Golden Globe, and the psychological drama Marnie (1964). She has appeared in over 80 films and television shows, including Charlie Chaplin's final film A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), the political satire Citizen Ruth (1996), and the existential comedy I Heart Huckabees (2004). Among other honors, her contributions to world cinema have been recognized with the Jules Verne Award and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Hedren's strong commitment to animal rescue began in 1969 while she was shooting two films in Africa and was introduced to the plight of African lions. In an attempt to raise awareness for wildlife, she spent over a decade bringing Roar (1981) to the screen. She started her own nonprofit organization, the Roar Foundation, in 1983; it supports the Shambala Preserve, an wildlife habitat that enables her to continue her work in the care and preservation of lions and tigers. Hedren has also set up relief programs worldwide following earthquakes, hurricanes, famine and war. She was also instrumental in the development of Vietnamese-American nail salons.
Early life
Nathalie Kay Hedren was born in New Ulm, Minnesota, on January 19, 1930, to Bernard Carl and Dorothea Henrietta (née Eckhardt) Hedren. For much of her career, her year of birth was reported as 1935. In 2004, however, she acknowledged that she was actually born in 1930 (which is consistent with the birth registration index at the Minnesota Historical Society). Her paternal grandparents were Swedish immigrants, while her mother was of German and Norwegian descent. Her father ran a small general store in Lafayette, Minnesota, and gave her the nickname "Tippi". When she was four, she moved with her parents to Minneapolis; she has an older sister, Patricia. As a teenager, she took part in department store fashion shows. Her parents relocated to California while she was a high school student at West High School in Minneapolis.
Career
Modeling success (1950–1960)
On reaching her 20th birthday, Hedren bought a ticket to New York City, where she joined the Eileen Ford Agency. Within a year, she made her unofficial film debut as "Miss Ice Box" in the musical comedy The Petty Girl. In interviews, she referred to The Birds, her first credited role, as her first film. Although she received several film offers during that time, Hedren had no interest in acting, as she knew it was very difficult to succeed.
She had a highly successful modeling career during the 1950s and early 1960s, appearing on the covers of Life, The Saturday Evening Post, McCall's, and Glamour, among others. In 1961, after seven years of marriage to the actor Peter Griffith, Hedren divorced and returned to California with her daughter, Melanie, and rented an expensive home in Sherman Oaks. She later said, "I thought I could continue my career as it had been in New York. I thought everything would be just fine, and it wasn't. So I thought, 'well, I don't type, what shall I do?'"
Transition to acting and collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock (1961–1966)
On October 13, 1961, she received a call from an agent who told her a producer was interested in working with her. When she was told it was Alfred Hitchcock, who while watching The Today Show, saw her in a commercial for a diet drink called Sego, she agreed to sign a seven-year contract. During their first meeting, the two talked about everything except the role for which he was considering her. Hedren was convinced for several weeks it was for his television series, Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Hitchcock later said, "I was not primarily concerned with how she looked in person. Most important was her appearance on the screen, and I liked that immediately. She has a touch of that high-style, lady-like quality which was once well-represented in films by actresses like Irene Dunne, Grace Kelly, Claudette Colbert, and others, but which is now quite rare."
Being an unknown actress with little training, Hitchcock put Hedren through an extensive color screen test that lasted two days and cost $25,000, doing scenes from his previous films, such as Rebecca, Notorious, and To Catch a Thief with actor Martin Balsam. According to Balsam, Hedren was very nervous, but studied every line, did every move she was asked to, and tried to do everything right. Hitchcock asked costume designer Edith Head to design clothes for Hedren's private life and he personally advised her about wine and food. He also insisted for publicity purposes that her name should be printed only in single quotes, 'Tippi'. The press mostly ignored this directive from the director, who felt that the single quotes added distinction and mystery to her name. Hitchcock was impressed with Hedren. As production designer Robert F. Boyle explained, "Hitch always liked women who behaved like well-bred ladies. Tippi generated that quality."
Afterward, Hedren was invited to lunch with Hitchcock, his wife, Alma, and Lew Wasserman, head of Universal, at one of Hitchcock's favorite restaurants, Chasen's. There, she was presented with a golden pin of three birds in flight, adorned by three tiny seed pearls, and was asked by Hitchcock to play the leading role in his upcoming film The Birds. "I was so stunned. It never occurred to me that I would be given a leading role in a major motion picture. I had great big tears in my eyes", Hedren later recalled.
The Birds (1963) was Hedren's screen debut. Hitchcock became her drama coach, and gave her an education in film-making, as she attended many of the production meetings such as script, music, or photography conferences. Hedren said, "I probably learned in three years what it would have taken me 15 years to learn otherwise." She learned how to break down a script, to become another character, and to study the relationship of different characters. Hedren portrayed her role of Melanie Daniels as Hitchcock requested. She said, "He gives his actors very little leeway. He'll listen, but he has a very definite plan in mind as to how he wants his characters to act. With me, it was understandable, because I was not an actress of stature. I welcomed his guidance."
During the six months of principal photography, Hedren's schedule was tight, as she was only given one afternoon off a week. At first, she found the shooting "wonderful". Hitchcock told a reporter, after a few weeks of filming, that she was remarkable, and said, "She's already reaching the lows and highs of terror." Nonetheless, Hedren recalled the week she did the final bird attack scene in a second-floor bedroom as the worst of her life. Before filming it, she asked Hitchcock about her character's motivations to go upstairs, and his response was, "Because I tell you to." She was then assured that the crew would use mechanical birds. Instead, Hedren endured five solid days of prop men, protected by thick leather gloves, flinging dozens of live gulls, ravens and crows at her (their beaks clamped shut with elastic bands). In a state of exhaustion, when one of the birds gouged her cheek and narrowly missed her eye, Hedren sat down on the set and began crying. A physician ordered a week's rest. Hitchcock protested, according to Hedren, saying nobody but her was left to film. The doctor's reply was, "Are you trying to kill her?" She said the week also appeared to be an ordeal for the director.
Universal's executives, who did not back Hitchcock's decision to hire Hedren in the first place, were impressed with her performance and Wasserman described it as "remarkable". While promoting The Birds, Hitchcock was full of praise for his new protégée, and compared her to Grace Kelly. "Tippi has a faster tempo, city glibness, more humor [than Grace Kelly]. She displayed jaunty assuredness, pertness, an attractive throw of the head. And she memorized and read lines extraordinarily well and is sharper in expression." The film was screened out of competition in May at a prestigious invitational showing at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival. Hedren's performance was praised in Varietys review: "Aside from the birds, the film belongs to Hedren, who makes an auspicious screen bow. She virtually has to carry the picture alone for the first 45-minute stretch, prior to the advent of the first wave of organized attackers from the sky. Miss Hedren has a star quality and Hitchcock has provided her with a potent vehicle to launch her career". Hedren received the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year, tied with Elke Sommer and Ursula Andress. Her role as Melanie Daniels was named by Premiere as one of the greatest movie characters of all time.
Hitchcock was so impressed with Hedren's acting abilities, he decided to offer her the leading role of his next film, Marnie (1964), a romantic drama and psychological thriller from the novel by Winston Graham, during the filming of The Birds. Hedren was stunned and felt extremely fortunate to be offered to play "such a complicated, sad, tragic woman", and later said, "I consider my acting, while not necessarily being method acting, but one that draws upon my own feelings. I thought Marnie was an extremely interesting role to play and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity". She voiced doubts about her ability to play the demanding role, but Hitchcock assured her she could do it. As opposed to The Birds, where she had received little acting guidance, for this film Hedren studied every scene with Hitchcock.
Hedren recalled Marnie as her favorite of the two films she did with Hitchcock for the challenge of playing an emotionally battered young woman who travels from city to city assuming various guises to rob her employers. During the filming, Hitchcock was quoted as saying about Hedren, "an Academy Award performance is in the making". On release, the film was greeted by mixed reviews and indifferent box-office returns, and received no Oscar nominations. Variety wrote, "Hedren returns in a particularly demanding role. Miss Hedren, undertaking a role originally offered Grace Kelly for a resumption of her screen career, lends credence to a part never sympathetic. It's a difficult assignment which she fulfills satisfactorily." Hedren later said that Marnie was "ahead of its time" because "people didn't talk about childhood and its effects on adult life. It was taboo to discuss sexuality and psychology and to put all that into a film was shocking." Despite its original lukewarm reception, the film was later acclaimed and described as a "masterpiece" and Hedren's performance is now regarded as one of the finest in any Hitchcock film. Richard Brody of The New Yorker wrote in his 2016 review of the film "Hedren's performance is one of the greatest in the history of cinema."
Marnie was the second and last collaboration between Hedren and Hitchcock. In 1973, she admitted that a major lifestyle difference caused a split in their relationship. "He was too possessive and too demanding. I cannot be possessed by anyone. But, then, that's my own hangup". In 1983, author Donald Spoto published his second book about Hitchcock, The Dark Side of Genius, for which Hedren agreed to talk for the first time in detail about her relationship with the director.
The book was controversial, as several of Hitchcock's friends claimed the Hitchcock portrayed in the book was not the man they knew. For years after its release, Hedren was not keen to talk about it in interviews, but thought the chapter devoted to her story was "accurate as to just what he was". Hedren later explained her long silence before telling her story, "It was embarrassing and insulting—there were a lot of reasons why I didn't want to tell the story. I didn't want it to be taken advantage of, twisted, turned, and made into an even uglier situation than it was".
According to Spoto's book, Hitchcock brought in two members of his crew during the filming of The Birds and asked them to keep careful watch on the activities of Hedren, "when she left the set—where she went, who she visited, how she spent her free time". He then advised her on what she should eat, whom she should see, and how she should live. He told the cast and crew they were not allowed to talk to her. Hedren's co-star in The Birds, Rod Taylor, later remembered, "Hitch was becoming very domineering and covetous of 'Tippi', and it was very difficult for her. No one was permitted to come physically close to her during the production. 'Don't touch the girl after I call "Cut!"' he said to me repeatedly". Hitchcock also attempted, on one occasion, to grab and violently kiss Hedren in the back of a car as they drove onto the set. Hedren told his assistant, Peggy Robertson, and the studio chief, Lew Wasserman, that she was becoming very unhappy about the whole situation. "But he was Alfred Hitchcock, the great and famous director, and I was Tippi Hedren, an inexperienced actress who had no clout". She decided she could not quit her contract because she was afraid to be blacklisted and unable to find work. Hedren's own daughter, Melanie Griffith, remembered that while Hedren was doing The Birds, she thought Hitchcock was taking her mother away from her. "Suddenly, I wasn't allowed even to visit my mom at the studio".
During the filming of Marnie, Hedren found Hitchcock's behavior toward her increasingly difficult to bear as filming progressed. "Everyone—I mean everyone—knew he was obsessed with me. He always wanted a glass of wine or champagne, with me alone, at the end of the day. He was really isolating me from everyone". Hedren's co-star in Marnie, Diane Baker, later recalled, "She was never allowed to gather around with the rest of us, and he demanded that every conversation between her and Hitch be held in private... Nothing could have been more horrible for me than to arrive on that movie set and to see her being treated the way she was".
Hitchcock revealed to Hedren one day he had a recurring dream where she came up to him and said, "Hitch, I love you—I'll always love you". When she heard this, Hedren replied "But it was a dream. Just a dream", and excused herself from his presence. She believed Hitchcock had no consideration for her feelings and remembered she was humiliated after he asked her to touch him, just before shooting a scene. "He made sure no one else could hear, and his tone and glance made it clear exactly what he meant". Hedren asked Hitchcock's permission one day to travel to New York to appear on The Tonight Show, where she was supposed to be presented an award as the "Most Promising New Star". Hitchcock refused, according to his biographer, because he claimed the break would affect her performance. During that meeting, he apparently "made an overt sexual proposition" that Hedren "could neither ignore nor answer casually, as she could his previous gestures". In Spoto's third book about Hitchcock, Spellbound by Beauty (2008), Hedren revealed that Hitchcock actually made offensive demands on her. "He stared at me and simply said, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, that from this time on, he expected me to make myself sexually available and accessible to him—however and whenever and wherever he wanted". Hitchcock's demands led to a "horrible, horrible fight", according to Hedren. "He made these demands on me, and no way could I acquiesce to them".
Hedren then told him Marnie would be their last film together and later recalled how Hitchcock told her he would destroy her career. "I said I wanted to get out of my contract. He said: 'You can't. You have your daughter to support, and your parents are getting older'. I said: 'Nobody would want me to be in this situation, I want to get out'. And he said: 'I'll ruin your career'. I said: 'Do what you have to do'. And he did ruin my career. He kept me under contract, paid me to do nothing for close on two years". Hedren felt so humiliated, she called the director a "fat pig" in front of people on the set. Hitchcock made only a comment about it to his biographer, John Russell Taylor: "She did what no one is permitted to do. She referred to my weight". The two communicated only through a third party for the rest of the film. According to Marnie'''s screenwriter, Jay Presson Allen, Hitchcock was "mad" for Hedren. She felt unhappy for both and described the situation as "an old man's cri de coeur", adding that Hitchcock had a "Pygmalion complex about Tippi". She advised Hedren to finish the film and then get on with her life and be happy. Hedren's hairdresser, Virginia Darcy, even told Hitchcock he should not be possessive with Hedren. "Tippi felt rightly that she was not his property, but he'd say, 'You are, I have a contract'". Although Hitchcock thought he might mend fences with Hedren and make another film with her, she refused to reconsider her decision. Hedren's contract terms gave Hitchcock the final say as to any work she could take on and he used that power to turn down several film roles on her behalf. She was particularly disappointed when French director François Truffaut told her he had wanted her for one of them. In 1966, Hitchcock finally sold her contract to Universal Studios after Hedren appeared in two of their TV shows, Kraft Suspense Theatre (1965) and Run for Your Life (id.). The studio ultimately released her from her contract after she refused to appear on a television Western for them.
In 2012, The Girl, an HBO/BBC film about Hedren and Hitchcock's relationship, based on Donald Spoto's 2009 book Spellbound by Beauty: Alfred Hitchcock and His Leading Ladies, was released. When she was first told about the project, Hedren said she had mixed feelings about it, "To be still alive and have a film made about you is an awesome and incredibly frightening experience". Hedren and Hitchcock were respectively portrayed by Sienna Miller and Toby Jones.
Although she was thrilled with the choice of Miller, Hedren was worried she would not be portrayed "as strong a character as I was—and still am. I had to be extremely strong to fight off Mr. Hitchcock". She described the moment she saw the film as "probably one of the most involved, emotionally tense 90 minutes that I have ever lived". Upon the film's release, Hedren said although she believed the film accurately portrays Hitchcock's behavior towards her, the time constraints of a 90-minute film prevented telling the entire story of her career with him. "It wasn't a constant barrage of harassment. If it had been constantly the way we have had to do it in this film, I would have been long gone". She recalled there were times she described as "absolutely delightful and wonderful”, and insisted that “Hitchcock had a charm about him. He was very funny at times. He was incredibly brilliant in his field". The film was controversial, as others who knew and worked with Hitchcock responded to it negatively. Kim Novak, who worked on Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958), disputed Hitchcock's portrayal as a sexual predator in The Girl: "I never saw him make a pass at anybody or act strange to anybody. And wouldn't you think if he was that way, I would've seen it or at least seen him with somebody? I think it's unfortunate when someone's no longer around and can't defend themselves". Novak previously described Hitchcock as a gentleman, and when asked about reports of his behavior, she said, "Maybe I just wasn't his type". Novak also stated, "I won't dispute Tippi if that's what she saw."
Hedren herself was asked why her account of sexual harassment contrasted with the many interviews she gave about her time with Hitchcock, her presence at the AFI Life Achievement Award ceremony honoring him in 1979, and her presence at his funeral. She explained that, "He ruined my career, but he didn't ruin my life. That time of my life was over. I still admire the man for who he was". She also said, "I've been able to separate the two. The man who was the artist. I mean, what he gave to the motion picture industry can never be taken away from him and I certainly wouldn't want to try. But on the other side, there is that dark side that was really awful".
Career setbacks (1967–1973)
Hedren's first feature film appearance after Marnie was in A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), starring Marlon Brando and Sophia Loren. She was told by writer-director Charlie Chaplin that she was offered a major supporting role as Brando's estranged wife and had to accept the role without reading the script. However, when she arrived in England where the filming took place, she finally received the script and realized that her part was little more than a cameo. She asked Chaplin why he lied to her. "Every actor in the world was asking if they could do this film, to just do a walk-on, without even being paid for it. When I said, 'Why didn't you just tell me that it was a cameo? I would have done this film anyway,' he said, 'I didn't think you would come,' which was very sweet. He was a very clever man." Hedren asked Chaplin to expand the role, and although he tried to accommodate her, he could not, as the story mostly takes place on a ship, which Hedren's character boards near the end of the film. In the end, she remained in the film and later said that it was both amusing and strange to work with Chaplin. She found him to be a very serious man and loved his approach to directing. She later said, "I wish someone would have been allowed to do a documentary. The way he directed was unlike anyone I ever saw. He acted out all the parts himself. He did Sophia's part, then Marlon's part, then mine, and then he'd say, 'Okay, now you can do it.' Which would be impossible, to mimic the master. It was incredible. None of us believed it. Marlon hated it."
After the release of A Countess from Hong Kong, Hedren's career was described as "spectacular" by the press. She told a reporter at the time, "I don't want to wait myself out of this business, but working for Hitch and Charlie has been very special to me, and now I'm going to wait for something special to come along". In 1968, she signed on to do the American Civil War drama Five Against Kansas with Farley Granger and Jeffrey Hunter, but the project was never realized. In 1968, Hedren returned to film as a socialite who helps her boyfriend (played by George Armstrong) catch a killer, in Tiger by the Tail. From 1970 to 1971, she guest-starred twice on The Courtship of Eddie's Father. She agreed to take part in Satan's Harvest (1970) and Mister Kingstreet's War (1973)—which were shot back-to-back despite the discrepancy in their release dates—for the sole reason that they were being filmed in Africa. In 1973, Hedren played a teacher of an experimental sex school in The Harrad Experiment, which starred James Whitmore and Don Johnson—the latter who later became the husband of her daughter, Melanie Griffith. Hedren felt that the film "deals with vital themes—themes like the decline in importance of ideas like possession and jealousy and, by inference, marriage. I have four teenaged children and I think this picture says some valuable things to them." She confessed at the time she was occasionally depressed because she was not doing any major films and told a magazine, "My husband just cancelled all the trade magazines because he felt I should cut off the source of my discontent. He's the type who won't stand for sustained down feelings".
Roar (1974–1981)
Hedren and husband Noel Marshall watched a pride of lions move into a house after a game warden moved out in 1969, during the filming of Satan's Harvest in Africa. She said, "We were delighted with the way they adapted themselves to living there. And they were so funny we knew we had an idea for a picture." Marshall wrote a script titled Lions, Lions and More Lions based on their experience; it was retitled Roar and centered on a family's misadventures in a research park filled with lions, tigers, and other wild cats.
Hedren played the lead role and co-starred with her daughter Melanie, husband Marshall, and his own sons Jerry and John. They attempted to rent Hollywood animals for a nine-month shoot, but upon approaching animal trainers for support, they were discouraged and nobody would rent them 30 or 40 lions, as the script required, because of their natural tendency to fight. They were encouraged to start collecting and training their own exotic beasts. Animal trainer Ron Oxley told them, "to get to know about lions, you've got to live with them for a while". They started to raise a lion cub named Neil in their Sherman Oaks house and made sure that the animal slept in their bed. Life photographer Michael Rougier documented their life in 1971 and photographed the lion with the whole family inside and outside the house, from Hedren's daughter's bed to the living room to the swimming pool. After complaints from their neighbors, Hedren and Marshall bought a ranch outside of Los Angeles in Acton that would serve as the set for Roar. They got permission there to rescue and raise several lions, tigers, African elephants, and other exotic felines.
Filming started in 1974 and took five years just to complete the photography. Every scene involving lions was improvised and shot with four or sometimes eight cameras. More than 100 people worked on the film, as well as more than 150 untrained lions, tigers, leopards, and cheetahs. During production, no animals were hurt, but more than 70 members of the cast and crew were mauled. Hedren fractured a leg and also had scalp wounds when an elephant bucked her off its back while she was riding it. She was also bitten in the neck by a lion and required 38 stitches; this incident can be seen in the film. Melanie Griffith was also attacked, receiving 50 stitches to her face; it was feared that she would lose an eye, but she recovered and was not disfigured. Marshall was attacked so many times that he eventually was diagnosed with gangrene. In one of those incidents, he was clawed by a cheetah when protecting the animals during a bushfire that occurred in 1979. All animals were evacuated, and several years were needed for him to recover from his injuries. In 1978, a flood destroyed the movie sets and killed three of the lions. The project was set back several years. Hedren said that they were all determined to finish the film: "We were so sure the film was going to be a success that we thought everything (financing the ranch and the lions, etc.) would take care of itself."Roar was released worldwide in 1981 with the exception of the United States, because according to Hedren, "The United States distributors wanted the lion's share of the profits, and we thought it ought to go to the beautiful animals that made the movie." The film cost $17 million and grossed only $2 million, but it was a turning point in Hedren's life. In 1983, she established the nonprofit The Roar Foundation to take care of the big cats. "After our movie was over," she explained, "it was unconscionable to see the animals go any place else." Roar was re-released in 2015, but Hedren declined to discuss it, as she felt that promotion for the film was filled with "inaccuracies".
Later career (1982–present)
After Roar, Hedren accepted any low-budget television or cinema role that could help bring funds to her foundation to provide protection, shelter, care, and maintenance for the animals at the Shambala Preserve. In 1982, she co-starred with Leslie Nielsen in Foxfire Light. She appeared in several television series, including Hart to Hart in 1983 and the late-night horror series Tales from the Darkside in 1984. In the 1985 pilot episode of The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents, she made a brief appearance as a waitress in a bar who berates a customer, played by her daughter Melanie Griffith. In 1990, she had a nonspeaking, minor part as a wealthy widow romanced by Michael Keaton in the film Pacific Heights (1990), which also starred her daughter. That same year, she had a role on The Bold and the Beautiful, a daytime soap opera she said she was "proud to have in my resume".
In 1994, Hedren appeared in the made-for-cable sequel, The Birds II: Land's End, in a role different from the one she had played in the original. She was, however, disappointed that she did not get a starring role and admitted before the film's release, "I wish that it was more than a cameo. I think they made a mistake by not doing that, but it has helped me to feed my lions and tigers." When asked about what could have been Hitchcock's opinion on the film, she answered: "I'd hate to think what he would say!" In a 2007 interview, Hedren said of the film, "It's absolutely horrible, it embarrasses me horribly."
From 1994 to 1996, Hedren had a guest-starring role in Dream On. The sitcom gave her "the opportunity to do comedy. I'd never done comedy before and it was just wonderful for me to be able to do that. Everybody just thought of me as a serious actress, so I owe that to John Landis (the executive producer), giving me that opportunity." In 1996, she played an abortion rights activist in Alexander Payne's political satire Citizen Ruth with Laura Dern. In 1998, she co-starred alongside Billy Zane and Christina Ricci in I Woke Up Early the Day I Died, a film she felt was "incredible". "I must say I really love that film. It was a unique kind of film to do also, because of the fact that it had no dialogue in it. It was very, very different". That same year, she guest-starred in a special episode titled "Psychodrama" of the television series Chicago Hope, that paid tribute to the Hitchcock movies. Hedren's character, Alfreda Perkins, was a reference to Alfred Hitchcock and actor Anthony Perkins, who starred in the director's 1960 film Psycho.
After appearing in a number of little-exposed films between 1999 and 2003, Hedren had a small but showy role in the 2004 David O. Russell comedy I Heart Huckabees, as a foul-mouthed attractive older woman who slaps Jude Law in an elevator. She felt that the director, who had a reputation for being difficult, was "totally crazy", but also "very interesting. I was able to work well with him." She also added it was a strange experience as, "... all of a sudden, he'd be like, 'Now I'm going to do it this way,' and you'd think, 'How is he going to edit this? How is this going to work?' But he made it work." In 2006, Hedren was a cast member of the short-lived primetime soap opera Fashion House with Bo Derek and Morgan Fairchild, and continued to guest-star in television series such as The 4400 (2006) and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2008). In 2012, Hedren and her daughter guest-starred together on an episode of Raising Hope. That same year, she appeared in Free Samples, an indie film where she had a supporting role as an old movie star. In 2013, she made an appearance as herself in the fourth-season finale of Cougar Town.
Hedren published her autobiography, Tippi: A Memoir, co-written with Lindsay Harrison, in 2016 through William Morrow and Company, as she felt it was "about time I stop letting everyone else tell my story and finally tell it myself." In 2018, at age 88, Hedren became the new face of Gucci's timepieces and jewelry and starred as a mysterious fortune teller in the brand's commercial ad, The Fortune Teller.
Influence
A Louis Vuitton ad campaign in 2006 paid tribute to Hedren and Hitchcock with a modern-day interpretation of the deserted railway station opening sequence of Marnie. Her look from The Birds (1963) inspired designer Bill Gaytten to design for John Galliano Pre-Fall 2012 collection.
Naomi Watts stated that her character interpretation in Mulholland Drive (2001) was influenced by the look and performances of Hedren in Hitchcock films. Watts and Hedren both appeared in I ♥ Huckabees (2004), but did not share any scenes together. Off screen, the film's director David O. Russell introduced them both, and Watts said of Hedren: "I was pretty fascinated by her then, because people have often said we're alike." Watts dressed up as Hedren's title character from Marnie for a photo shoot for March 2008 issue of Vanity Fair. In the same issue, Jodie Foster dressed up as Hedren's character, Melanie Daniels, from The Birds.
Shambala Preserve
In 1981, Hedren produced Roar, an 11-year project that ended up costing $17 million and starred dozens of African lions. "This was probably one of the most dangerous films that Hollywood has ever seen", remarked the actress. "It's amazing no one was killed." During the production of Roar, Hedren, her husband at the time, Noel Marshall, and daughter Melanie were attacked by lions; Jan de Bont, the director of photography, was scalped. Hedren later co-wrote Cats of Shambala (1985) about the experience. Roar made only $2 million worldwide. Hedren ended her marriage to Marshall a year later in 1982. The film directly led to the 1983 establishment of the nonprofit The Roar Foundation and Hedren's Shambala Preserve, located at the edge of the Mojave Desert in Acton, California, between the Antelope Valley and the Santa Clarita Valley, northeast of Los Angeles. Shambala houses some 70 animals. Hedren lives on the Shambala site and conducts monthly tours of the preserve for the public. In a 2015 interview with magazine Ability, Hedren emphasized that there is no human contact with the animals and that all of the cats are spayed and neutered, since they are being raised in captivity. Hedren was the founding president of the American Sanctuary Association, a post she still holds.
She took in and cared for Togar, a lion that belonged to Anton LaVey, after he was told by San Francisco officials that he could not keep a fully grown lion as a house pet. Shambala became the new home for Michael Jackson's two Bengal tigers, Sabu and Thriller, after he decided to close his zoo at his Neverland Valley Ranch in Los Olivos. Thriller died in June 2012 of lung cancer.
On December 3, 2007, Shambala Preserve made headlines when Chris Orr, a caretaker for the animals, was mauled by a tiger named Alexander. Several documentaries have focused on Shambala Preserve, including the 30-minute Lions: Kings of the Serengeti (1995), narrated by Melanie Griffith, and Animal Planet's Life with Big Cats (1998), which won the Genesis Award for best documentary in 1999. The animals at the preserve served as the initial inspiration for the life's work of artist A.E. London, who started her career working for Hedren.
As of 2020, Hedren still maintains more than a dozen lions and tigers; her granddaughter Dakota Johnson is involved in their care.
Personal life
In 1952, Hedren met and married 18-year-old future advertising executive Peter Griffith. Their daughter, actress Melanie Griffith, was born on August 9, 1957. They were divorced in 1961. On September 27, 1964, Hedren married her then-agent Noel Marshall, who later produced three of her films; they divorced in 1982. In 1985, she married steel manufacturer Luis Barrenechea, but they divorced in 1992. Hedren was engaged to veterinarian Martin Dinnes from 2002 until their breakup in mid-2008. In September 2008, Hedren told The Sunday Times "I'm waiting for someone to sweep me off my feet." Hedren's granddaughter Dakota Johnson is also an actress.
Hedren played a role in the development of Vietnamese-American nail salons in the United States. In 1975, while an international relief coordinator with Food for the Hungry, she began visiting with refugees at Hope Village outside Sacramento, California. When she learned the women were interested in her manicured nails, she employed her manicurist to teach them the skills of the trade and worked with a local beauty school to help them find jobs. Hedren's work with the Vietnamese-Americans was the subject of several documentaries: Happy Hands, directed by Honey Lauren, which won Best Documentary Short at the Sonoma International Film Festival in 2014Sonoma International Film Festival website, sonomaportal.com; accessed March 10, 2015. and "Nailedit:
Vietnamese and the Nail Industry" which won the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) 2014 Documentary Fund Award. CND and Beauty Changes Lives Foundation (BCL) have announced the BCL CND Tippi Hedren Nail Scholarship Fund to support professional nail education and will be administered starting January 1, 2014.
Hedren was instrumental in helping a desperate Nguyen Thi Chinh to enter the US after the fall of the South Vietnam government in 1975, she arranged for an air ticket and a visa for her then invited her to stay in her house.
Hedren suffered from severe and persistent headaches for a long time, which rendered her unable to accept several projects, including a television series produced by and starring Betty White. After she got a titanium plate put in her neck, she improved and then agreed, with the blessing of her doctor, to take the part of a dying woman in the soap opera Fashion House. While she was rehearsing a scene, a gallon of water fell from the ceiling onto her head. The headaches returned after the incident and persisted. Hedren filed a suit to receive recompense following her inability to work. Hedren's lawyer, Joseph Allen, made a mistake in his discussions with the defendants that allowed them to block him from filing suit. Hedren sued Allen for malpractice. In 2013, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Hedren had been awarded a $1.5 million settlement, including $213,400 for past lost earnings and $440,308 for future lost earnings, against her former lawyer. Hedren was hurt by the report since she had not collected the award. She gave an interview to explain that her former lawyer does not have the money to pay her, and discussed how the report put her in a difficult situation since her foundation was in dire need of funds. She explained that she has to raise $75,000 monthly just to keep it going. "Chances are I won't ever even see the money, and that's what hurts so badly, that in all of this pain and suffering that publication ran with a swift and not researched story, which told people around the world who have been so gracious and thoughtful about sending donations, that I no longer needed them."
Filmography
Film
Television
Honours and awards
1964: Most Promising Newcomer Award by Photoplay
1964: Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actress (shared with Ursula Andress and Elke Sommer)
1994: Life Achievement Award in France at The Beauvais Film Festival Cinemalia
1995: Life Achievement Award in Spain, La Fundación Municipal de Cine
1995: The Helen Woodward Animal Center's Annual Humane Award
1996: Founder's Award from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
1997: Lion and Lamb Award from Wildhaven
1999: Woman of Vision Award from Women of Film and Video in Washington, D.C.
1999: Presidential Medal for her work in film from Hofstra University
1999: Humanitarian Award at the Las Vegas International Film Festival
2000: Best Actress in a Comedy Short Award in the short film Mulligans! at the Method Fest, Independent Film Festival
2002: Best Actress Award for the short film Tea with Grandma from the New York International Independent Film Festival
2003: Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
2003: Women of Los Angeles Annual Hope is a Woman Honor
2004: PAWS Companion for Life Award
2004: Best Actress Award for the short film Rose's Garden from the Los Angeles TV Short Film Festival
2004: Animal Rights Advocacy Award at Artivist Film Festival
2005: Living Legacy Award
2006: Conservationist of the Year—Dino Award from the Las Vegas Natural History Museum
2007: Lifetime Achievement Award—Riverside Film Festival
2007: Jules Verne "Nature" Award — the 1st Annual Jules Verne Adventure Film Festival of Los Angeles
2008: Academy of Art University's 2nd Epidemic Film Festival Award
2008: Jules Verne Legendaire Award
2008: Thespian Award - LA Femme Film Festival
2009: "When a Woman Wills She Will!" Award by the Woman's Club of Hollywood
2009: Workhouse's first Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award
2009: Received the First Star on the Orinda Theater Walk of Fame
2010: Received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 24th Annual Genesis Awards show from the Humane Society
2010: BraveHeart Award
2010: Who-Manitarian Award
2011: Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce at its 90th Annual Installation & Awards Luncheon
2011: "The Women Together Award" from the United Nations
2011: Vietnamese-American Marton Saint Award from the Boat People SOS Organization
2011: Omni Youth Humanitarian/Career Achievement Award
2012: Honorary Masters of Fine Arts Degree from the New York Film Academy
2012: Mayor Career Achievement Award from Starz Denver Film Festival
2013: Legacy of Style Award
2013: "People Helping People" Award by the Touching Live TV Award Show, broadwayworld.com; accessed November 14, 2015.
2014: Lifetime Achievement Award from Bel-Air Film Festival
2014: Special Recognition Award from Acton Women's Club
2014:The Women's International Film & Television Showcase Foundation International Visionary Award, thewifts.org; accessed November 14, 2015.
2015: Choreography of Desire (A Tribute to Tippi Hedren) by the Vienna International Film Festival, viennale.at; accessed November 14, 2015.
2015: Believe, Achieve, Empower Award
2017: Waggy Award recipient from the Tailwaggers Foundation
2017: The Icon Award
2018: "Friend for Life Award" from The Palm Springs Animal Shelter
Notes
References
Hedren, Tippi. Tippi: A Memoir, William Morrow, 2016, 288 p.
McGilligan, Patrick. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light, It Books, 2004 (Reprint), 864 p.
Moral, Tony Lee. Hitchcock and the Making of Marnie, Scarecrow Pres, 2013 (Revised Edition), 340 p.
Moral, Tony Lee. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds, Scarecrow Pres, 2013 (Revised Edition), 224 p.
Taylor, John Russell. Hitch: The Life and Times of Alfred Hitchcock, Bloomsbury Reader, 2013, 318 p. ASIN B00BWL8L0C
Spoto, Donald. Spellbound by Beauty, Three Rivers Press, 2009, 368 p.
Paul, Louis. Tales from the Cult Film Trenches: Interviews with 36 Actors from Horror, Science Fiction and Exploitation Cinema, McFarland, 2007, 336 p.
Gambin, Lee. Massacred By Mother Nature: Exploring the Natural Horror Film'', Midnight Marquee Press, Inc., October 8, 2012
External links
1930 births
Living people
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American actresses
Actresses from Minnesota
American film actresses
New Star of the Year (Actress) Golden Globe winners
American people of German descent
American people of Norwegian descent
American people of Swedish descent
Big cat attack victims
Keepers of animal sanctuaries
Apex Records artists
Challenge Records artists
Female models from Minnesota
People from New Ulm, Minnesota
Griffith family
| true |
[
"Married at First Sight is an American reality television series that first aired on July 8, 2014, on FYI (and later, Lifetime).\n\nThe series is based on a Danish series titled that first aired on September 4, 2013, on DR3. The original Danish series format has been sold to broadcasters throughout the world.\n\nProduction and broadcast\nThe series first aired in the United States on FYI. Beginning with season two, it aired in simulcast on sister network A&E. The series features three to five couples, paired up by relationship experts, who agree to marry when they first meet. For the first three seasons, the experts were clinical psychologist Dr. Joseph Cilona, sexologist Dr. Logan Levkoff, sociologist Dr. Pepper Schwartz, and humanist chaplain Greg Epstein. Starting with the fourth season, the experts were Schwartz, pastor and marriage counselor Calvin Roberson, and communication and relationship expert Rachel DeAlto. Rachel DeAlto was replaced with Dr. Jessica Griffin beginning with the sixth season. Dr. Griffin stayed until the ninth season and was replaced by Dr. Viviana Coles in seasons ten and eleven. The couples spend their wedding night in a hotel before leaving for a honeymoon. Upon returning home, they live together as a married couple for the remainder of the eight weeks. Thereafter they must choose to divorce or stay married. On October 25, 2016, FYI renewed the show for a fifth season. In 2017, for its fifth season, the show moved to sister network Lifetime. The following year, two spinoffs were announced to premiere that October, Married at First Sight: Honeymoon Island and Married at First Sight: Happily Ever After.\n\nSynopsis\nOver the thirteen completed seasons of MAFS, 49 couples have been matched. 29 of them (59%) chose to stay married on Decision Day, out of which more than half have since divorced, filed for divorce, or announced their divorce. As of December 2021, this left only 12 couples married, making for a current overall success rate of 24%.\n\nSeason 1\nThe first season took place in New York City and northern New Jersey. This season premiered July 8, 2014. The couples were:\n\nIn March 2019, Courtney and Jason divorced after five years of marriage. Since their divorce, Courtney and Jason have both moved on. Jason married actress Roxanne Pallett in January 2020. In June 2021, they announced they were expecting their first child together. Courtney married Sherm, an accountant, in October 2020. In April 2021, they announced they were expecting their first child together. In October 2021, Courtney gave birth to her and Sherm's first child, a baby boy.\n\nJamie and Doug are now a family of four. The couple lost their first son, Jonathan Edward, at 17 weeks gestation in July 2016, before going on to have daughter Henley Grace in August 2017. They have spoken about subsequent struggles to conceive, experiencing a chemical pregnancy in 2018 and a miscarriage at 10 weeks along in 2019. Their son, Hendrix Douglas, was born in May 2020.\n\nSeason 2\nThe second season, just like the first, took place in New York City and Northern New Jersey. This season premiered March 17, 2015. The couples were:\n\nConcluding Jaclyn's and Ryan's marriage, Jaclyn entered into another relationship in 2018 and announced she was expecting a child in 2019. She had a daughter in November 2019. As of 2021, Ryan is still single.\n\nDavina is now married with a son named Hudson. As of 2021, Sean is married with a daughter.\n\nJessica Castro and Ryan DeNino had a contentious relationship, with Ryan threatening to harm Jessica on multiple occasions. Jessica filed a restraining order against him in June 2015. As of 2021, Jessica Castro is in a relationship and has a son with him. As of 2021, Ryan's status is unknown.\n\nSeason 3\n\nThe third season took place in Atlanta, Georgia. This season premiered on December 1, 2015. The couples were:\n\nVanessa and Tres got divorced within six months of Decision Day. Vanessa appeared on Married At First Sight: Second Chances in 2017 and married Andre Forbes. Their marriage also ended in divorce. As of 2020, Tres was in a \"complicated\" relationship. As of 2021, Vanessa appeared to be single.\n\nAfter divorcing David, Ashley learned that he had a history of misdemeanors. In 2019, Ashley shared a photo from her wedding. In 2020, Ashley announced that she was pregnant and gave birth to a son in April 2021.\n\nIn April 2018, Samantha married Chris Wise and in September gave birth to a daughter. Samantha and Neil are still friends. In April 2020, Neil revealed that he is in a relationship.\n\nSeason 4\nThe fourth season of Married at First Sight premiered on Tuesday, July 26, 2016. The setting was South Florida (particularly Miami) and in this season, two new specialists joined along with sociologist Dr. Pepper Schwartz: communication and relationship expert Rachel DeAlto, and marriage counselor Pastor Calvin Roberson. Doctors Joseph Cilona and Logan Levkoff exited the series after season three. The couples were:\n\n1 Heather and Derek left in the middle of the experiment.\n\nSonia and Nick divorced after about a year of marriage. That same year, Nick announced that he was in a relationship and they were expecting twins. In 2019, Nick was in a work accident that left him partially paralyzed. He has recovered from the incident. Sonia has started a podcast and as of 2021 is still single.\n\nHeather and Derek left the show ten days after they got married.\n\nTom and Lillian announced their divorce in May 2017. As of 2021, Lillian was single. In 2019, Tom announced that he was engaged to Michelle, and they were married three months later. Tom is a step-father to Michelle's two children from a previous marriage.\n\nSeason 5\nThe fifth season of Married at First Sight was renewed on October 25, 2016. For this season, the show moved to the Lifetime channel. The first episode aired on April 20, 2017 and featured couples in Chicago. The couples were:\n\nAshley Petta and Anthony D'Amico are now a family of four. They announced they were expecting their first child in August 2018. They welcomed their first child, daughter Mila Rose, in January 2019. In July 2020, they announced they were expecting their second child, which was later revealed to be another girl. In February 2021, their second daughter, Vaeda Marie, was born.\n\nAs of October 2021, Cody is in a relationship. Danielle is still single.\n\nAs of October 2021, Nate is in a relationship, and has his own business. Sheila's status is unknown.\n\nSeason 6\nThe sixth season of Married at First Sight was renewed on the Lifetime channel. The first of the episodes aired on January 2, 2018 and featured couples in Boston. Relationship expert Dr. Jessica Griffin joined the show as a specialist, replacing Rachel DeAlto who left after Season 5. The couples were:\n\nShawniece Jackson and Jephte Pierre welcomed their first child, a baby girl named Laura Denise Pierre, in August 2018.\n\nJonathan Francetic and relationship expert Dr. Jessica Griffin revealed they had struck up a romance following his time on the show when Griffin announced she would not be returning to Married At First Sight as an expert for Season 9. They began dating more than five months after the season wrapped. The pair became engaged in April 2019. Their original wedding date was set for October 2020 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.\n\nIn September 2020, Jaclyn got married to Dane, who she had been in a relationship with since late 2018. As of 2021, Ryan is still single.\n\nSeason 7\nThe seventh season of Married at First Sight was renewed on the Lifetime channel, and featured couples from Dallas, with the first episode airing on July 10, 2018. The couples were:\n\nDanielle Bergman-Dodd and Bobby Dodd have two children together. Their first child, daughter Olivia Nicole, was born in February 2019. Their son, Bobby Dodd IV, was born in December 2020.\n\nIn July 2020, Tristan married Rachel, who he had been in a relationship with since early 2019. In March 2021, they welcomed their first child together, a baby boy named Phoenix. As of 2021, Mia is still single.\n\nAs of 2021, both Dave and Amber are still single.\n\nSeason 8\nThe eighth season of Married at First Sight featured couples from Philadelphia, was the first season that a fourth couple were added, and premiered on January 1, 2019. The couples were:\n\nStephanie and AJ are still married. In 2021, after 3 years of marriage, the couple relocated to Key West, Florida.\n\nKristine and Keith are still married. In April 2019, after 8 months of marriage, the couple bought a house.\n\nJasmine is now in a relationship, though her marital status in unknown. She welcomed her first child, a baby boy, in December 2020. As of 2021, Will is still single.\n\nAs of 2021, Kate is still single. In early 2021, Luke was in a relationship, however, due to lack of social media posts in recent months, the status of that relationship is currently unknown.\n\nSeason 9\nThe ninth season of Married at First Sight featured couples from Charlotte, North Carolina and premiered on June 12, 2019. Dr. Jessica Griffin did not return after revealing she was in a relationship with Season 6 cast member Jon Francetic, with the couple later getting engaged and going into business together. She was replaced by relationship expert Dr. Viviana Coles. The couples were:\n\nIn September 2020, Deonna McNeill and Greg Okotie announced that they are expecting their first child together. In February 2021, Deonna give birth to their son, Declan.\n\nElizabeth Bice and Jamie Thompson are still married. After decision day, the couple relocated to California.\n\nSeason 10\nThe tenth season of Married at First Sight featured couples from the suburbs outside of Washington, D.C., particularly Arlington and Alexandria, Virginia. This was the first season that a fifth couple was added. The first episode aired on January 1, 2020. The couples were:\n\nIn July 2021, Austin and Jessica revealed that they are expecting their first child, due in November 2021. In October 2021, Austin and Jessica revealed that their first child would be a boy. Their son, Westin Paul, was born in November 2021.\n\nWhile the season is marketed as taking place in DC and features shots in the tourist-heavy sections of the District, the majority of the show takes place in Northern Virginia with some areas in Montgomery County, Maryland. However, the weddings take place in the District neighborhood of Georgetown.\n\nSeason 11\nThe eleventh season of Married at First Sight featured couples from New Orleans. The first episode premiered on July 15, 2020. The couples were:\n\nMiles and Woody made Married At First Sight history by being the first best friends to apply together and be selected at the same time.\n\nSeason 12\nThe twelfth season of Married at First Sight takes place in Atlanta. It is the first to feature a divorced candidate. The first episode premiered January 13, 2021. The couples are:\n\nAnother first occurred in this season when Chris' former fiancée contacted him while he was on his honeymoon to let him know she was pregnant.\n\nSeason 13\nThe thirteenth season of Married at First Sight will feature couples from Houston and to be first aired on July 21, 2021.\n\nSeason 14\nThe fourteenth season of Married at First Sight will feature couples from Boston.\n\nTimeline of cast\n\nSpinoffs\nMarried at First Sight has had eight spinoffs:\nMarried at First Sight: The First Year\nMarried Life\nMarried at First Sight: Second Chances\nJamie and Doug Plus One\nMarried at First Sight: Honeymoon Island\nMarried at First Sight: Happily Ever After\nMarried at First Sight: Couples' Cam\nMarried at First Sight: Unmatchables\n\nMarried at First Sight: The First Year\nMarried at First Sight: The First Year follows the lives of the two Season 1 couples that remained married from the six-month mark to the one-year anniversary and beyond. The couples are Jamie Otis-Hehner and Doug Hehner, and Courtney Hendrix-Carrion and Jason Carrion. The first episode premiered on January 13, 2015. A total of two seasons have been shown for this spinoff.\n\nMarried Life\nMarried Life continues to follow the daily lives of two married couples from Season 1, Jamie Otis-Hehner and Doug Hehner and Courtney Hendrix-Carrion and Jason Carrion. The first season premiered May 5, 2015. The second season premiered January 24, 2017.\n\nMarried at First Sight: Second Chances\nTwo participants from Season 3, Vanessa Nelson and David Norton, both took part in the first season of the second spinoff Married at First Sight: Second Chances. Both David and Vanessa selected from a group of men (for Nelson) and women (for Norton) to date in a format similar to that of The Bachelor or The Bachelorette, ultimately ending with each of them choosing someone to marry. The groups were narrowed down from one hundred (in a speed dating-like situation) to twenty-five, to ten. After Vanessa and David each picked their top ten, they eliminated one person each episode (with the exception of one week's double elimination) until finding 'the one'. The first season premiered on 27 April 2017 and concluded on 6 July 2017 with Vanessa becoming engaged to Andre, although they ultimately ended their relationship, and David choosing to marry no one.\n\nJamie and Doug Plus One\nJamie and Doug Plus One continues to follow the lives of Jamie Otis-Hehner and Doug Hehner from the time right before the birth of their daughter Henley, through the first months of new parenthood. The series shows the couple's struggles with caring for their newborn while trying to maintain intimacy in their marriage.\n\nMarried at First Sight: Honeymoon Island\nMarried at First Sight: Honeymoon Island is an eight-episode series about sixteen singles on an exotic island attempting to match themselves. Casting includes unmatched singles from earlier seasons of the original, fan favorites, and new candidates. Married at First Sight: Honeymoon Island premiered on October 23, 2018, and the participants are:\n\nAt the end of the season, the following participants remain:\n\nMarried at First Sight: Happily Ever After\nMarried at First Sight: Happily Ever After follows the lives of couples from previous seasons who still remain married and are expecting children, including Ashley Petta and Anthony D'Amico from Season 5, Shawniece Jackson and Jephte Pierre from Season 6, and Danielle Bergman and Bobby Dodd from season 7. The first episode premiered on October 30, 2018.\n\nMarried at First Sight: Couples' Cam\nMarried at First Sight: Couples' Cam premiered on May 20, 2020.\n\nMarried at First Sight: Unmatchables\nMarried at First Sight: Unmatchables will premiere in 2021.\n\nInternational versions\nThe format created in Denmark has been adapted in several countries.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\n2010s American reality television series\n2014 American television series debuts\n2020s American reality television series\nAmerican television series based on Danish television series\nFYI (American TV channel) original programming\nLifetime (TV network) original programming\nAmerican dating and relationship reality television series\nTelevision shows filmed in New York City\nTelevision shows filmed in New Jersey\nTelevision shows filmed in Georgia (U.S. state)\nTelevision shows filmed in Florida\nTelevision shows filmed in Illinois\nTelevision shows filmed in Boston\nTelevision shows filmed in Texas\nTelevision shows filmed in Pennsylvania\nTelevision shows filmed in North Carolina\nTelevision shows filmed in Washington, D.C.\nTelevision shows filmed in Virginia\nTelevision shows filmed in New Orleans\nWedding television shows",
"Umuanigo is a kindred in Owellemba Village in Umana Ndiuno, which is in Ezeagu LGA of Enugu State in eastern Nigeria. Umuanigo has five major families: Umu-Ndida, Umu-Eze, Umu-Aboshi, Umu-Ngwu and Umu-Ani. These families are believed to be the descendants of a man who has five sons and went on to have their own families. These five major families are known as Umuanigo. Today, people from Umuanigo still keep trace of their roots and each individual knows which of the 5 families they belong to.\n\nHistory\nThe use of the word \"Umu\", which means \"children of\" in English, make it possible for one from Umuanigo to be able to trace one's family lineage.\n\nThe modern Umu-Ani have 5 families these are Aniakor, Mgbachi, Nweke, Ozoaham and Ozoanikwe. These five families expanded to 11 families and are still expanding. The same pattern of family expansion in Umu-Ani also took place in Umu-Ndida, Umu-Eze, Umu-Aboshi and Umu-Ngwu, making Umuanigo one big family that has different races and tribes being married into the family. Today, the new generation of Umuanigo has children born of mix culture, nationality and race.\n\nThe people of Umuanigo still recognize the fact that they are one big family; their internal problems are resolved within the family. They do not marry each other as they consider themselves as brothers and sisters.\n\nEzeagu,People of Umuanigo"
] |
[
"Tippi Hedren",
"Personal life",
"where was Tippi born?",
"I don't know.",
"is she married?",
"In 1952, Hedren met and married 18-year-old future advertising executive Peter Griffith.",
"did she have kids?",
"daughter, actress Melanie Griffith, was born on August 9, 1957.",
"how long was she married?",
"They were divorced in 1961.",
"did she have other relationships?",
"On September 22, 1964, Hedren married her then-agent Noel Marshall,",
"are they still married?",
"they divorced in 1982."
] |
C_6c10e713d0a04ea8bb308b48d98f3da6_0
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where does she live?
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Where does Tippi Hedren live?
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Tippi Hedren
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In 1952, Hedren met and married 18-year-old future advertising executive Peter Griffith. Their daughter, actress Melanie Griffith, was born on August 9, 1957. They were divorced in 1961. On September 22, 1964, Hedren married her then-agent Noel Marshall, who later produced three of her films; they divorced in 1982. In 1985, she married steel manufacturer Luis Barrenechea, but they divorced in 1995. Hedren was engaged to veterinarian Martin Dinnes from 2002 until their breakup in mid-2008. In September 2008, Hedren told The Sunday Times "I'm waiting for someone to sweep me off my feet." Hedren played a role in the development of Vietnamese-American nail salons in the United States. In 1975, while an international relief coordinator with Food for the Hungry, she began visiting with refugees at Hope Village outside Sacramento, California. When she learned the women were interested in her manicured nails, she employed her manicurist to teach them the skills of the trade and worked with a local beauty school to help them find jobs. Hedren's work with the Vietnamese-Americans was the subject of Happy Hands, directed by Honey Lauren, which won Best Documentary Short at the Sonoma International Film Festival in 2014. CND and Beauty Changes Lives Foundation (BCL) have announced the BCL CND Tippi Hedren Nail Scholarship Fund to support professional nail education and will be administered starting January 1, 2014. Hedren suffered from severe and persistent headaches for a long time and therefore was unable to accept several projects, including a television series produced by and starring Betty White. After she got a titanium plate put in her neck, she improved and then agreed, with the blessing of her doctor, to take the part of a dying woman in the soap opera Fashion House. While she was rehearsing a scene, a gallon of water fell from the ceiling onto her head. The headaches returned after the incident and persisted. Hedren filed a suit to receive recompense following her inability to work. Hedren's lawyer, Joseph Allen, made a mistake in his discussions with the defendants that allowed them to block him from filing suit. Hedren sued Allen for malpractice. In 2013, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Hedren had been awarded a $1.5 million settlement, including $213,400 for past lost earnings and $440,308 for future lost earnings, against her former lawyer. Hedren was hurt by the report since she had not collected the award. She gave an interview to explain that her former lawyer does not have the money to pay her, and discussed how the report put her in a difficult situation since her foundation was in dire need of funds. She explained that she has to raise $75,000 monthly just to keep it going. "Chances are I won't ever even see the money, and that what hurts so badly, that in all of this pain and suffering that publication ran with a swift and not researched story, which told people around the world who have been so gracious and thoughtful about sending donations, that I no longer needed them." CANNOTANSWER
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Nathalie Kay "Tippi" Hedren (born January 19, 1930) is an American actress, animal rights activist, and former fashion model. She achieved worldwide recognition for her work in two of Alfred Hitchcock's classics: The Birds (1963) and Marnie (1964). Hedren is noted as one of the most famous 'Hitchcock Blondes' and is now one of the last surviving leading stars from Hitchcock's filmography.
A successful fashion model who appeared on the front covers of Life and Glamour magazines, among others, Hedren became an actress after she was discovered by director Alfred Hitchcock while appearing on a television commercial in 1961. She achieved great praise for her work in two of his films: the suspense-thriller The Birds (1963), for which she won a Golden Globe, and the psychological drama Marnie (1964). She has appeared in over 80 films and television shows, including Charlie Chaplin's final film A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), the political satire Citizen Ruth (1996), and the existential comedy I Heart Huckabees (2004). Among other honors, her contributions to world cinema have been recognized with the Jules Verne Award and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Hedren's strong commitment to animal rescue began in 1969 while she was shooting two films in Africa and was introduced to the plight of African lions. In an attempt to raise awareness for wildlife, she spent over a decade bringing Roar (1981) to the screen. She started her own nonprofit organization, the Roar Foundation, in 1983; it supports the Shambala Preserve, an wildlife habitat that enables her to continue her work in the care and preservation of lions and tigers. Hedren has also set up relief programs worldwide following earthquakes, hurricanes, famine and war. She was also instrumental in the development of Vietnamese-American nail salons.
Early life
Nathalie Kay Hedren was born in New Ulm, Minnesota, on January 19, 1930, to Bernard Carl and Dorothea Henrietta (née Eckhardt) Hedren. For much of her career, her year of birth was reported as 1935. In 2004, however, she acknowledged that she was actually born in 1930 (which is consistent with the birth registration index at the Minnesota Historical Society). Her paternal grandparents were Swedish immigrants, while her mother was of German and Norwegian descent. Her father ran a small general store in Lafayette, Minnesota, and gave her the nickname "Tippi". When she was four, she moved with her parents to Minneapolis; she has an older sister, Patricia. As a teenager, she took part in department store fashion shows. Her parents relocated to California while she was a high school student at West High School in Minneapolis.
Career
Modeling success (1950–1960)
On reaching her 20th birthday, Hedren bought a ticket to New York City, where she joined the Eileen Ford Agency. Within a year, she made her unofficial film debut as "Miss Ice Box" in the musical comedy The Petty Girl. In interviews, she referred to The Birds, her first credited role, as her first film. Although she received several film offers during that time, Hedren had no interest in acting, as she knew it was very difficult to succeed.
She had a highly successful modeling career during the 1950s and early 1960s, appearing on the covers of Life, The Saturday Evening Post, McCall's, and Glamour, among others. In 1961, after seven years of marriage to the actor Peter Griffith, Hedren divorced and returned to California with her daughter, Melanie, and rented an expensive home in Sherman Oaks. She later said, "I thought I could continue my career as it had been in New York. I thought everything would be just fine, and it wasn't. So I thought, 'well, I don't type, what shall I do?'"
Transition to acting and collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock (1961–1966)
On October 13, 1961, she received a call from an agent who told her a producer was interested in working with her. When she was told it was Alfred Hitchcock, who while watching The Today Show, saw her in a commercial for a diet drink called Sego, she agreed to sign a seven-year contract. During their first meeting, the two talked about everything except the role for which he was considering her. Hedren was convinced for several weeks it was for his television series, Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Hitchcock later said, "I was not primarily concerned with how she looked in person. Most important was her appearance on the screen, and I liked that immediately. She has a touch of that high-style, lady-like quality which was once well-represented in films by actresses like Irene Dunne, Grace Kelly, Claudette Colbert, and others, but which is now quite rare."
Being an unknown actress with little training, Hitchcock put Hedren through an extensive color screen test that lasted two days and cost $25,000, doing scenes from his previous films, such as Rebecca, Notorious, and To Catch a Thief with actor Martin Balsam. According to Balsam, Hedren was very nervous, but studied every line, did every move she was asked to, and tried to do everything right. Hitchcock asked costume designer Edith Head to design clothes for Hedren's private life and he personally advised her about wine and food. He also insisted for publicity purposes that her name should be printed only in single quotes, 'Tippi'. The press mostly ignored this directive from the director, who felt that the single quotes added distinction and mystery to her name. Hitchcock was impressed with Hedren. As production designer Robert F. Boyle explained, "Hitch always liked women who behaved like well-bred ladies. Tippi generated that quality."
Afterward, Hedren was invited to lunch with Hitchcock, his wife, Alma, and Lew Wasserman, head of Universal, at one of Hitchcock's favorite restaurants, Chasen's. There, she was presented with a golden pin of three birds in flight, adorned by three tiny seed pearls, and was asked by Hitchcock to play the leading role in his upcoming film The Birds. "I was so stunned. It never occurred to me that I would be given a leading role in a major motion picture. I had great big tears in my eyes", Hedren later recalled.
The Birds (1963) was Hedren's screen debut. Hitchcock became her drama coach, and gave her an education in film-making, as she attended many of the production meetings such as script, music, or photography conferences. Hedren said, "I probably learned in three years what it would have taken me 15 years to learn otherwise." She learned how to break down a script, to become another character, and to study the relationship of different characters. Hedren portrayed her role of Melanie Daniels as Hitchcock requested. She said, "He gives his actors very little leeway. He'll listen, but he has a very definite plan in mind as to how he wants his characters to act. With me, it was understandable, because I was not an actress of stature. I welcomed his guidance."
During the six months of principal photography, Hedren's schedule was tight, as she was only given one afternoon off a week. At first, she found the shooting "wonderful". Hitchcock told a reporter, after a few weeks of filming, that she was remarkable, and said, "She's already reaching the lows and highs of terror." Nonetheless, Hedren recalled the week she did the final bird attack scene in a second-floor bedroom as the worst of her life. Before filming it, she asked Hitchcock about her character's motivations to go upstairs, and his response was, "Because I tell you to." She was then assured that the crew would use mechanical birds. Instead, Hedren endured five solid days of prop men, protected by thick leather gloves, flinging dozens of live gulls, ravens and crows at her (their beaks clamped shut with elastic bands). In a state of exhaustion, when one of the birds gouged her cheek and narrowly missed her eye, Hedren sat down on the set and began crying. A physician ordered a week's rest. Hitchcock protested, according to Hedren, saying nobody but her was left to film. The doctor's reply was, "Are you trying to kill her?" She said the week also appeared to be an ordeal for the director.
Universal's executives, who did not back Hitchcock's decision to hire Hedren in the first place, were impressed with her performance and Wasserman described it as "remarkable". While promoting The Birds, Hitchcock was full of praise for his new protégée, and compared her to Grace Kelly. "Tippi has a faster tempo, city glibness, more humor [than Grace Kelly]. She displayed jaunty assuredness, pertness, an attractive throw of the head. And she memorized and read lines extraordinarily well and is sharper in expression." The film was screened out of competition in May at a prestigious invitational showing at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival. Hedren's performance was praised in Varietys review: "Aside from the birds, the film belongs to Hedren, who makes an auspicious screen bow. She virtually has to carry the picture alone for the first 45-minute stretch, prior to the advent of the first wave of organized attackers from the sky. Miss Hedren has a star quality and Hitchcock has provided her with a potent vehicle to launch her career". Hedren received the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year, tied with Elke Sommer and Ursula Andress. Her role as Melanie Daniels was named by Premiere as one of the greatest movie characters of all time.
Hitchcock was so impressed with Hedren's acting abilities, he decided to offer her the leading role of his next film, Marnie (1964), a romantic drama and psychological thriller from the novel by Winston Graham, during the filming of The Birds. Hedren was stunned and felt extremely fortunate to be offered to play "such a complicated, sad, tragic woman", and later said, "I consider my acting, while not necessarily being method acting, but one that draws upon my own feelings. I thought Marnie was an extremely interesting role to play and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity". She voiced doubts about her ability to play the demanding role, but Hitchcock assured her she could do it. As opposed to The Birds, where she had received little acting guidance, for this film Hedren studied every scene with Hitchcock.
Hedren recalled Marnie as her favorite of the two films she did with Hitchcock for the challenge of playing an emotionally battered young woman who travels from city to city assuming various guises to rob her employers. During the filming, Hitchcock was quoted as saying about Hedren, "an Academy Award performance is in the making". On release, the film was greeted by mixed reviews and indifferent box-office returns, and received no Oscar nominations. Variety wrote, "Hedren returns in a particularly demanding role. Miss Hedren, undertaking a role originally offered Grace Kelly for a resumption of her screen career, lends credence to a part never sympathetic. It's a difficult assignment which she fulfills satisfactorily." Hedren later said that Marnie was "ahead of its time" because "people didn't talk about childhood and its effects on adult life. It was taboo to discuss sexuality and psychology and to put all that into a film was shocking." Despite its original lukewarm reception, the film was later acclaimed and described as a "masterpiece" and Hedren's performance is now regarded as one of the finest in any Hitchcock film. Richard Brody of The New Yorker wrote in his 2016 review of the film "Hedren's performance is one of the greatest in the history of cinema."
Marnie was the second and last collaboration between Hedren and Hitchcock. In 1973, she admitted that a major lifestyle difference caused a split in their relationship. "He was too possessive and too demanding. I cannot be possessed by anyone. But, then, that's my own hangup". In 1983, author Donald Spoto published his second book about Hitchcock, The Dark Side of Genius, for which Hedren agreed to talk for the first time in detail about her relationship with the director.
The book was controversial, as several of Hitchcock's friends claimed the Hitchcock portrayed in the book was not the man they knew. For years after its release, Hedren was not keen to talk about it in interviews, but thought the chapter devoted to her story was "accurate as to just what he was". Hedren later explained her long silence before telling her story, "It was embarrassing and insulting—there were a lot of reasons why I didn't want to tell the story. I didn't want it to be taken advantage of, twisted, turned, and made into an even uglier situation than it was".
According to Spoto's book, Hitchcock brought in two members of his crew during the filming of The Birds and asked them to keep careful watch on the activities of Hedren, "when she left the set—where she went, who she visited, how she spent her free time". He then advised her on what she should eat, whom she should see, and how she should live. He told the cast and crew they were not allowed to talk to her. Hedren's co-star in The Birds, Rod Taylor, later remembered, "Hitch was becoming very domineering and covetous of 'Tippi', and it was very difficult for her. No one was permitted to come physically close to her during the production. 'Don't touch the girl after I call "Cut!"' he said to me repeatedly". Hitchcock also attempted, on one occasion, to grab and violently kiss Hedren in the back of a car as they drove onto the set. Hedren told his assistant, Peggy Robertson, and the studio chief, Lew Wasserman, that she was becoming very unhappy about the whole situation. "But he was Alfred Hitchcock, the great and famous director, and I was Tippi Hedren, an inexperienced actress who had no clout". She decided she could not quit her contract because she was afraid to be blacklisted and unable to find work. Hedren's own daughter, Melanie Griffith, remembered that while Hedren was doing The Birds, she thought Hitchcock was taking her mother away from her. "Suddenly, I wasn't allowed even to visit my mom at the studio".
During the filming of Marnie, Hedren found Hitchcock's behavior toward her increasingly difficult to bear as filming progressed. "Everyone—I mean everyone—knew he was obsessed with me. He always wanted a glass of wine or champagne, with me alone, at the end of the day. He was really isolating me from everyone". Hedren's co-star in Marnie, Diane Baker, later recalled, "She was never allowed to gather around with the rest of us, and he demanded that every conversation between her and Hitch be held in private... Nothing could have been more horrible for me than to arrive on that movie set and to see her being treated the way she was".
Hitchcock revealed to Hedren one day he had a recurring dream where she came up to him and said, "Hitch, I love you—I'll always love you". When she heard this, Hedren replied "But it was a dream. Just a dream", and excused herself from his presence. She believed Hitchcock had no consideration for her feelings and remembered she was humiliated after he asked her to touch him, just before shooting a scene. "He made sure no one else could hear, and his tone and glance made it clear exactly what he meant". Hedren asked Hitchcock's permission one day to travel to New York to appear on The Tonight Show, where she was supposed to be presented an award as the "Most Promising New Star". Hitchcock refused, according to his biographer, because he claimed the break would affect her performance. During that meeting, he apparently "made an overt sexual proposition" that Hedren "could neither ignore nor answer casually, as she could his previous gestures". In Spoto's third book about Hitchcock, Spellbound by Beauty (2008), Hedren revealed that Hitchcock actually made offensive demands on her. "He stared at me and simply said, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, that from this time on, he expected me to make myself sexually available and accessible to him—however and whenever and wherever he wanted". Hitchcock's demands led to a "horrible, horrible fight", according to Hedren. "He made these demands on me, and no way could I acquiesce to them".
Hedren then told him Marnie would be their last film together and later recalled how Hitchcock told her he would destroy her career. "I said I wanted to get out of my contract. He said: 'You can't. You have your daughter to support, and your parents are getting older'. I said: 'Nobody would want me to be in this situation, I want to get out'. And he said: 'I'll ruin your career'. I said: 'Do what you have to do'. And he did ruin my career. He kept me under contract, paid me to do nothing for close on two years". Hedren felt so humiliated, she called the director a "fat pig" in front of people on the set. Hitchcock made only a comment about it to his biographer, John Russell Taylor: "She did what no one is permitted to do. She referred to my weight". The two communicated only through a third party for the rest of the film. According to Marnie'''s screenwriter, Jay Presson Allen, Hitchcock was "mad" for Hedren. She felt unhappy for both and described the situation as "an old man's cri de coeur", adding that Hitchcock had a "Pygmalion complex about Tippi". She advised Hedren to finish the film and then get on with her life and be happy. Hedren's hairdresser, Virginia Darcy, even told Hitchcock he should not be possessive with Hedren. "Tippi felt rightly that she was not his property, but he'd say, 'You are, I have a contract'". Although Hitchcock thought he might mend fences with Hedren and make another film with her, she refused to reconsider her decision. Hedren's contract terms gave Hitchcock the final say as to any work she could take on and he used that power to turn down several film roles on her behalf. She was particularly disappointed when French director François Truffaut told her he had wanted her for one of them. In 1966, Hitchcock finally sold her contract to Universal Studios after Hedren appeared in two of their TV shows, Kraft Suspense Theatre (1965) and Run for Your Life (id.). The studio ultimately released her from her contract after she refused to appear on a television Western for them.
In 2012, The Girl, an HBO/BBC film about Hedren and Hitchcock's relationship, based on Donald Spoto's 2009 book Spellbound by Beauty: Alfred Hitchcock and His Leading Ladies, was released. When she was first told about the project, Hedren said she had mixed feelings about it, "To be still alive and have a film made about you is an awesome and incredibly frightening experience". Hedren and Hitchcock were respectively portrayed by Sienna Miller and Toby Jones.
Although she was thrilled with the choice of Miller, Hedren was worried she would not be portrayed "as strong a character as I was—and still am. I had to be extremely strong to fight off Mr. Hitchcock". She described the moment she saw the film as "probably one of the most involved, emotionally tense 90 minutes that I have ever lived". Upon the film's release, Hedren said although she believed the film accurately portrays Hitchcock's behavior towards her, the time constraints of a 90-minute film prevented telling the entire story of her career with him. "It wasn't a constant barrage of harassment. If it had been constantly the way we have had to do it in this film, I would have been long gone". She recalled there were times she described as "absolutely delightful and wonderful”, and insisted that “Hitchcock had a charm about him. He was very funny at times. He was incredibly brilliant in his field". The film was controversial, as others who knew and worked with Hitchcock responded to it negatively. Kim Novak, who worked on Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958), disputed Hitchcock's portrayal as a sexual predator in The Girl: "I never saw him make a pass at anybody or act strange to anybody. And wouldn't you think if he was that way, I would've seen it or at least seen him with somebody? I think it's unfortunate when someone's no longer around and can't defend themselves". Novak previously described Hitchcock as a gentleman, and when asked about reports of his behavior, she said, "Maybe I just wasn't his type". Novak also stated, "I won't dispute Tippi if that's what she saw."
Hedren herself was asked why her account of sexual harassment contrasted with the many interviews she gave about her time with Hitchcock, her presence at the AFI Life Achievement Award ceremony honoring him in 1979, and her presence at his funeral. She explained that, "He ruined my career, but he didn't ruin my life. That time of my life was over. I still admire the man for who he was". She also said, "I've been able to separate the two. The man who was the artist. I mean, what he gave to the motion picture industry can never be taken away from him and I certainly wouldn't want to try. But on the other side, there is that dark side that was really awful".
Career setbacks (1967–1973)
Hedren's first feature film appearance after Marnie was in A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), starring Marlon Brando and Sophia Loren. She was told by writer-director Charlie Chaplin that she was offered a major supporting role as Brando's estranged wife and had to accept the role without reading the script. However, when she arrived in England where the filming took place, she finally received the script and realized that her part was little more than a cameo. She asked Chaplin why he lied to her. "Every actor in the world was asking if they could do this film, to just do a walk-on, without even being paid for it. When I said, 'Why didn't you just tell me that it was a cameo? I would have done this film anyway,' he said, 'I didn't think you would come,' which was very sweet. He was a very clever man." Hedren asked Chaplin to expand the role, and although he tried to accommodate her, he could not, as the story mostly takes place on a ship, which Hedren's character boards near the end of the film. In the end, she remained in the film and later said that it was both amusing and strange to work with Chaplin. She found him to be a very serious man and loved his approach to directing. She later said, "I wish someone would have been allowed to do a documentary. The way he directed was unlike anyone I ever saw. He acted out all the parts himself. He did Sophia's part, then Marlon's part, then mine, and then he'd say, 'Okay, now you can do it.' Which would be impossible, to mimic the master. It was incredible. None of us believed it. Marlon hated it."
After the release of A Countess from Hong Kong, Hedren's career was described as "spectacular" by the press. She told a reporter at the time, "I don't want to wait myself out of this business, but working for Hitch and Charlie has been very special to me, and now I'm going to wait for something special to come along". In 1968, she signed on to do the American Civil War drama Five Against Kansas with Farley Granger and Jeffrey Hunter, but the project was never realized. In 1968, Hedren returned to film as a socialite who helps her boyfriend (played by George Armstrong) catch a killer, in Tiger by the Tail. From 1970 to 1971, she guest-starred twice on The Courtship of Eddie's Father. She agreed to take part in Satan's Harvest (1970) and Mister Kingstreet's War (1973)—which were shot back-to-back despite the discrepancy in their release dates—for the sole reason that they were being filmed in Africa. In 1973, Hedren played a teacher of an experimental sex school in The Harrad Experiment, which starred James Whitmore and Don Johnson—the latter who later became the husband of her daughter, Melanie Griffith. Hedren felt that the film "deals with vital themes—themes like the decline in importance of ideas like possession and jealousy and, by inference, marriage. I have four teenaged children and I think this picture says some valuable things to them." She confessed at the time she was occasionally depressed because she was not doing any major films and told a magazine, "My husband just cancelled all the trade magazines because he felt I should cut off the source of my discontent. He's the type who won't stand for sustained down feelings".
Roar (1974–1981)
Hedren and husband Noel Marshall watched a pride of lions move into a house after a game warden moved out in 1969, during the filming of Satan's Harvest in Africa. She said, "We were delighted with the way they adapted themselves to living there. And they were so funny we knew we had an idea for a picture." Marshall wrote a script titled Lions, Lions and More Lions based on their experience; it was retitled Roar and centered on a family's misadventures in a research park filled with lions, tigers, and other wild cats.
Hedren played the lead role and co-starred with her daughter Melanie, husband Marshall, and his own sons Jerry and John. They attempted to rent Hollywood animals for a nine-month shoot, but upon approaching animal trainers for support, they were discouraged and nobody would rent them 30 or 40 lions, as the script required, because of their natural tendency to fight. They were encouraged to start collecting and training their own exotic beasts. Animal trainer Ron Oxley told them, "to get to know about lions, you've got to live with them for a while". They started to raise a lion cub named Neil in their Sherman Oaks house and made sure that the animal slept in their bed. Life photographer Michael Rougier documented their life in 1971 and photographed the lion with the whole family inside and outside the house, from Hedren's daughter's bed to the living room to the swimming pool. After complaints from their neighbors, Hedren and Marshall bought a ranch outside of Los Angeles in Acton that would serve as the set for Roar. They got permission there to rescue and raise several lions, tigers, African elephants, and other exotic felines.
Filming started in 1974 and took five years just to complete the photography. Every scene involving lions was improvised and shot with four or sometimes eight cameras. More than 100 people worked on the film, as well as more than 150 untrained lions, tigers, leopards, and cheetahs. During production, no animals were hurt, but more than 70 members of the cast and crew were mauled. Hedren fractured a leg and also had scalp wounds when an elephant bucked her off its back while she was riding it. She was also bitten in the neck by a lion and required 38 stitches; this incident can be seen in the film. Melanie Griffith was also attacked, receiving 50 stitches to her face; it was feared that she would lose an eye, but she recovered and was not disfigured. Marshall was attacked so many times that he eventually was diagnosed with gangrene. In one of those incidents, he was clawed by a cheetah when protecting the animals during a bushfire that occurred in 1979. All animals were evacuated, and several years were needed for him to recover from his injuries. In 1978, a flood destroyed the movie sets and killed three of the lions. The project was set back several years. Hedren said that they were all determined to finish the film: "We were so sure the film was going to be a success that we thought everything (financing the ranch and the lions, etc.) would take care of itself."Roar was released worldwide in 1981 with the exception of the United States, because according to Hedren, "The United States distributors wanted the lion's share of the profits, and we thought it ought to go to the beautiful animals that made the movie." The film cost $17 million and grossed only $2 million, but it was a turning point in Hedren's life. In 1983, she established the nonprofit The Roar Foundation to take care of the big cats. "After our movie was over," she explained, "it was unconscionable to see the animals go any place else." Roar was re-released in 2015, but Hedren declined to discuss it, as she felt that promotion for the film was filled with "inaccuracies".
Later career (1982–present)
After Roar, Hedren accepted any low-budget television or cinema role that could help bring funds to her foundation to provide protection, shelter, care, and maintenance for the animals at the Shambala Preserve. In 1982, she co-starred with Leslie Nielsen in Foxfire Light. She appeared in several television series, including Hart to Hart in 1983 and the late-night horror series Tales from the Darkside in 1984. In the 1985 pilot episode of The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents, she made a brief appearance as a waitress in a bar who berates a customer, played by her daughter Melanie Griffith. In 1990, she had a nonspeaking, minor part as a wealthy widow romanced by Michael Keaton in the film Pacific Heights (1990), which also starred her daughter. That same year, she had a role on The Bold and the Beautiful, a daytime soap opera she said she was "proud to have in my resume".
In 1994, Hedren appeared in the made-for-cable sequel, The Birds II: Land's End, in a role different from the one she had played in the original. She was, however, disappointed that she did not get a starring role and admitted before the film's release, "I wish that it was more than a cameo. I think they made a mistake by not doing that, but it has helped me to feed my lions and tigers." When asked about what could have been Hitchcock's opinion on the film, she answered: "I'd hate to think what he would say!" In a 2007 interview, Hedren said of the film, "It's absolutely horrible, it embarrasses me horribly."
From 1994 to 1996, Hedren had a guest-starring role in Dream On. The sitcom gave her "the opportunity to do comedy. I'd never done comedy before and it was just wonderful for me to be able to do that. Everybody just thought of me as a serious actress, so I owe that to John Landis (the executive producer), giving me that opportunity." In 1996, she played an abortion rights activist in Alexander Payne's political satire Citizen Ruth with Laura Dern. In 1998, she co-starred alongside Billy Zane and Christina Ricci in I Woke Up Early the Day I Died, a film she felt was "incredible". "I must say I really love that film. It was a unique kind of film to do also, because of the fact that it had no dialogue in it. It was very, very different". That same year, she guest-starred in a special episode titled "Psychodrama" of the television series Chicago Hope, that paid tribute to the Hitchcock movies. Hedren's character, Alfreda Perkins, was a reference to Alfred Hitchcock and actor Anthony Perkins, who starred in the director's 1960 film Psycho.
After appearing in a number of little-exposed films between 1999 and 2003, Hedren had a small but showy role in the 2004 David O. Russell comedy I Heart Huckabees, as a foul-mouthed attractive older woman who slaps Jude Law in an elevator. She felt that the director, who had a reputation for being difficult, was "totally crazy", but also "very interesting. I was able to work well with him." She also added it was a strange experience as, "... all of a sudden, he'd be like, 'Now I'm going to do it this way,' and you'd think, 'How is he going to edit this? How is this going to work?' But he made it work." In 2006, Hedren was a cast member of the short-lived primetime soap opera Fashion House with Bo Derek and Morgan Fairchild, and continued to guest-star in television series such as The 4400 (2006) and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2008). In 2012, Hedren and her daughter guest-starred together on an episode of Raising Hope. That same year, she appeared in Free Samples, an indie film where she had a supporting role as an old movie star. In 2013, she made an appearance as herself in the fourth-season finale of Cougar Town.
Hedren published her autobiography, Tippi: A Memoir, co-written with Lindsay Harrison, in 2016 through William Morrow and Company, as she felt it was "about time I stop letting everyone else tell my story and finally tell it myself." In 2018, at age 88, Hedren became the new face of Gucci's timepieces and jewelry and starred as a mysterious fortune teller in the brand's commercial ad, The Fortune Teller.
Influence
A Louis Vuitton ad campaign in 2006 paid tribute to Hedren and Hitchcock with a modern-day interpretation of the deserted railway station opening sequence of Marnie. Her look from The Birds (1963) inspired designer Bill Gaytten to design for John Galliano Pre-Fall 2012 collection.
Naomi Watts stated that her character interpretation in Mulholland Drive (2001) was influenced by the look and performances of Hedren in Hitchcock films. Watts and Hedren both appeared in I ♥ Huckabees (2004), but did not share any scenes together. Off screen, the film's director David O. Russell introduced them both, and Watts said of Hedren: "I was pretty fascinated by her then, because people have often said we're alike." Watts dressed up as Hedren's title character from Marnie for a photo shoot for March 2008 issue of Vanity Fair. In the same issue, Jodie Foster dressed up as Hedren's character, Melanie Daniels, from The Birds.
Shambala Preserve
In 1981, Hedren produced Roar, an 11-year project that ended up costing $17 million and starred dozens of African lions. "This was probably one of the most dangerous films that Hollywood has ever seen", remarked the actress. "It's amazing no one was killed." During the production of Roar, Hedren, her husband at the time, Noel Marshall, and daughter Melanie were attacked by lions; Jan de Bont, the director of photography, was scalped. Hedren later co-wrote Cats of Shambala (1985) about the experience. Roar made only $2 million worldwide. Hedren ended her marriage to Marshall a year later in 1982. The film directly led to the 1983 establishment of the nonprofit The Roar Foundation and Hedren's Shambala Preserve, located at the edge of the Mojave Desert in Acton, California, between the Antelope Valley and the Santa Clarita Valley, northeast of Los Angeles. Shambala houses some 70 animals. Hedren lives on the Shambala site and conducts monthly tours of the preserve for the public. In a 2015 interview with magazine Ability, Hedren emphasized that there is no human contact with the animals and that all of the cats are spayed and neutered, since they are being raised in captivity. Hedren was the founding president of the American Sanctuary Association, a post she still holds.
She took in and cared for Togar, a lion that belonged to Anton LaVey, after he was told by San Francisco officials that he could not keep a fully grown lion as a house pet. Shambala became the new home for Michael Jackson's two Bengal tigers, Sabu and Thriller, after he decided to close his zoo at his Neverland Valley Ranch in Los Olivos. Thriller died in June 2012 of lung cancer.
On December 3, 2007, Shambala Preserve made headlines when Chris Orr, a caretaker for the animals, was mauled by a tiger named Alexander. Several documentaries have focused on Shambala Preserve, including the 30-minute Lions: Kings of the Serengeti (1995), narrated by Melanie Griffith, and Animal Planet's Life with Big Cats (1998), which won the Genesis Award for best documentary in 1999. The animals at the preserve served as the initial inspiration for the life's work of artist A.E. London, who started her career working for Hedren.
As of 2020, Hedren still maintains more than a dozen lions and tigers; her granddaughter Dakota Johnson is involved in their care.
Personal life
In 1952, Hedren met and married 18-year-old future advertising executive Peter Griffith. Their daughter, actress Melanie Griffith, was born on August 9, 1957. They were divorced in 1961. On September 27, 1964, Hedren married her then-agent Noel Marshall, who later produced three of her films; they divorced in 1982. In 1985, she married steel manufacturer Luis Barrenechea, but they divorced in 1992. Hedren was engaged to veterinarian Martin Dinnes from 2002 until their breakup in mid-2008. In September 2008, Hedren told The Sunday Times "I'm waiting for someone to sweep me off my feet." Hedren's granddaughter Dakota Johnson is also an actress.
Hedren played a role in the development of Vietnamese-American nail salons in the United States. In 1975, while an international relief coordinator with Food for the Hungry, she began visiting with refugees at Hope Village outside Sacramento, California. When she learned the women were interested in her manicured nails, she employed her manicurist to teach them the skills of the trade and worked with a local beauty school to help them find jobs. Hedren's work with the Vietnamese-Americans was the subject of several documentaries: Happy Hands, directed by Honey Lauren, which won Best Documentary Short at the Sonoma International Film Festival in 2014Sonoma International Film Festival website, sonomaportal.com; accessed March 10, 2015. and "Nailedit:
Vietnamese and the Nail Industry" which won the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) 2014 Documentary Fund Award. CND and Beauty Changes Lives Foundation (BCL) have announced the BCL CND Tippi Hedren Nail Scholarship Fund to support professional nail education and will be administered starting January 1, 2014.
Hedren was instrumental in helping a desperate Nguyen Thi Chinh to enter the US after the fall of the South Vietnam government in 1975, she arranged for an air ticket and a visa for her then invited her to stay in her house.
Hedren suffered from severe and persistent headaches for a long time, which rendered her unable to accept several projects, including a television series produced by and starring Betty White. After she got a titanium plate put in her neck, she improved and then agreed, with the blessing of her doctor, to take the part of a dying woman in the soap opera Fashion House. While she was rehearsing a scene, a gallon of water fell from the ceiling onto her head. The headaches returned after the incident and persisted. Hedren filed a suit to receive recompense following her inability to work. Hedren's lawyer, Joseph Allen, made a mistake in his discussions with the defendants that allowed them to block him from filing suit. Hedren sued Allen for malpractice. In 2013, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Hedren had been awarded a $1.5 million settlement, including $213,400 for past lost earnings and $440,308 for future lost earnings, against her former lawyer. Hedren was hurt by the report since she had not collected the award. She gave an interview to explain that her former lawyer does not have the money to pay her, and discussed how the report put her in a difficult situation since her foundation was in dire need of funds. She explained that she has to raise $75,000 monthly just to keep it going. "Chances are I won't ever even see the money, and that's what hurts so badly, that in all of this pain and suffering that publication ran with a swift and not researched story, which told people around the world who have been so gracious and thoughtful about sending donations, that I no longer needed them."
Filmography
Film
Television
Honours and awards
1964: Most Promising Newcomer Award by Photoplay
1964: Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actress (shared with Ursula Andress and Elke Sommer)
1994: Life Achievement Award in France at The Beauvais Film Festival Cinemalia
1995: Life Achievement Award in Spain, La Fundación Municipal de Cine
1995: The Helen Woodward Animal Center's Annual Humane Award
1996: Founder's Award from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
1997: Lion and Lamb Award from Wildhaven
1999: Woman of Vision Award from Women of Film and Video in Washington, D.C.
1999: Presidential Medal for her work in film from Hofstra University
1999: Humanitarian Award at the Las Vegas International Film Festival
2000: Best Actress in a Comedy Short Award in the short film Mulligans! at the Method Fest, Independent Film Festival
2002: Best Actress Award for the short film Tea with Grandma from the New York International Independent Film Festival
2003: Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
2003: Women of Los Angeles Annual Hope is a Woman Honor
2004: PAWS Companion for Life Award
2004: Best Actress Award for the short film Rose's Garden from the Los Angeles TV Short Film Festival
2004: Animal Rights Advocacy Award at Artivist Film Festival
2005: Living Legacy Award
2006: Conservationist of the Year—Dino Award from the Las Vegas Natural History Museum
2007: Lifetime Achievement Award—Riverside Film Festival
2007: Jules Verne "Nature" Award — the 1st Annual Jules Verne Adventure Film Festival of Los Angeles
2008: Academy of Art University's 2nd Epidemic Film Festival Award
2008: Jules Verne Legendaire Award
2008: Thespian Award - LA Femme Film Festival
2009: "When a Woman Wills She Will!" Award by the Woman's Club of Hollywood
2009: Workhouse's first Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award
2009: Received the First Star on the Orinda Theater Walk of Fame
2010: Received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 24th Annual Genesis Awards show from the Humane Society
2010: BraveHeart Award
2010: Who-Manitarian Award
2011: Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce at its 90th Annual Installation & Awards Luncheon
2011: "The Women Together Award" from the United Nations
2011: Vietnamese-American Marton Saint Award from the Boat People SOS Organization
2011: Omni Youth Humanitarian/Career Achievement Award
2012: Honorary Masters of Fine Arts Degree from the New York Film Academy
2012: Mayor Career Achievement Award from Starz Denver Film Festival
2013: Legacy of Style Award
2013: "People Helping People" Award by the Touching Live TV Award Show, broadwayworld.com; accessed November 14, 2015.
2014: Lifetime Achievement Award from Bel-Air Film Festival
2014: Special Recognition Award from Acton Women's Club
2014:The Women's International Film & Television Showcase Foundation International Visionary Award, thewifts.org; accessed November 14, 2015.
2015: Choreography of Desire (A Tribute to Tippi Hedren) by the Vienna International Film Festival, viennale.at; accessed November 14, 2015.
2015: Believe, Achieve, Empower Award
2017: Waggy Award recipient from the Tailwaggers Foundation
2017: The Icon Award
2018: "Friend for Life Award" from The Palm Springs Animal Shelter
Notes
References
Hedren, Tippi. Tippi: A Memoir, William Morrow, 2016, 288 p.
McGilligan, Patrick. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light, It Books, 2004 (Reprint), 864 p.
Moral, Tony Lee. Hitchcock and the Making of Marnie, Scarecrow Pres, 2013 (Revised Edition), 340 p.
Moral, Tony Lee. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds, Scarecrow Pres, 2013 (Revised Edition), 224 p.
Taylor, John Russell. Hitch: The Life and Times of Alfred Hitchcock, Bloomsbury Reader, 2013, 318 p. ASIN B00BWL8L0C
Spoto, Donald. Spellbound by Beauty, Three Rivers Press, 2009, 368 p.
Paul, Louis. Tales from the Cult Film Trenches: Interviews with 36 Actors from Horror, Science Fiction and Exploitation Cinema, McFarland, 2007, 336 p.
Gambin, Lee. Massacred By Mother Nature: Exploring the Natural Horror Film'', Midnight Marquee Press, Inc., October 8, 2012
External links
1930 births
Living people
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American actresses
Actresses from Minnesota
American film actresses
New Star of the Year (Actress) Golden Globe winners
American people of German descent
American people of Norwegian descent
American people of Swedish descent
Big cat attack victims
Keepers of animal sanctuaries
Apex Records artists
Challenge Records artists
Female models from Minnesota
People from New Ulm, Minnesota
Griffith family
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"Strontium 90: Police Academy is the only album by Strontium 90, released by Mike Howlett in 1997. This album consists of live tracks recorded at Gong's reunion concert in Paris on 28 May 1977, five studio tracks recorded in London just before the concert, and Sting's solo demo of \"Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic\".\n\nThe back cover of the album falsely claims that these recordings \"resulted in the birth of The Police.\" In fact, The Police had been active for months before any of the recordings were made, save the \"Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic\" demo (which features only Sting). However, it was at these recording sessions that Sting and Copeland first played with Andy Summers, who later became the Police's guitarist.\n\nThe Police would later re-record \"Visions of the Night\" and use parts of \"3 O'Clock Shit\" in two of their later compositions, \"Be My Girl\" and \"O My God\".\n\nTrack listing\nAll songs written by Mike Howlett, except where noted.\n\n\"Visions of the Night\" (Sting)\n\"New World Blues\"\n\"3 O'Clock Shit\" (Live) [incorrectly listed as \"3 O'Clock Shot\"] (Sting)\n\"Lady of Delight\"\n\"Electron Romance\"\n\"Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic\" (Demo) (Sting)\n\"Towers Tumbled\"\n\"Electron Romance\" (Live)\n\"Lady of Delight\" (Live)\n\nThe Japanese release (TOCP-50242) and the 2011 reissue contain two extra tracks:\n\"New World Blues\" (Live)\n\"Towers Tumbled\" (Live)\n\nPersonnel\nStrontium 90\nMike Howlett – lead bass (tracks 5, 7, 8, 11), lead vocals (tracks 7–11), backing vocals (tracks 2 and 4)\nSting – bass (tracks 1, 6, 8, 11), lead vocals (tracks 1–6 and 8), backing vocals, acoustic guitar (track 2 and 6), African drum (track 6)\nAndy Summers – electric guitars\nStewart Copeland – drums, miscellaneous percussion\n\nReferences\n\n1997 albums\nAlbums produced by Mike Howlett\nThe Police\nStrontium 90 (band) albums\nArk 21 Records albums\nArk 21 Records live albums",
"Down by the Jetty is the debut album by English rock band Dr. Feelgood, released in January 1975.\n\nThe band's Johnny Kidd & the Pirates-influenced originals (\"Keep It Out of Sight\") appear alongside covers material like \"Bonie Maronie\" and \"Tequila\".\n\nThe album was re-released as a double CD in 2006 (EMI 0946 363951 2 8).\n\nLegacy\nPaul Weller and Bob Geldof have acknowledged the influence of Down by the Jetty, as have Blondie, the Ramones and Richard Hell, who were introduced to the album by Blondie's drummer Clem Burke. In 1976, prior to being signed, Paul Weller's band The Jam demoed a cover of \"Cheque Book\". A copy of the album is also glimpsed on the sleeve of the 1985 album Our Favourite Shop by his later band The Style Council.\n\nThe album was a primary influence on The Strypes, who covered \"I'm a Hog for You Baby\" on their 2013 debut album Snapshot.\n\nIn 2006, Uncut magazine listed the album at number 87 on its list of the 100 greatest debut albums.\n\nTrack listing\nAll tracks composed by Wilko Johnson; except where indicated\n\n\"She Does It Right\" - 3:25\n\"Boom Boom\" (John Lee Hooker) - 2:45\n\"The More I Give\" - 3:27\n\"Roxette\" - 2:58\n\"One Weekend\" - 2:17\n\"That Ain't the Way to Behave\" - 3:58\n\"I Don't Mind\" - 2:37\n\"Twenty Yards Behind\" - 2:13\n\"Keep It Out of Sight\" - 3:02\n\"All Through the City\" - 3:04\n\"Cheque Book\" (Mickey Jupp) - 4:08\n\"Oyeh!\" (Mick Green) - 2:32\n\"Bony Moronie\" / \"Tequila\" (Larry Williams) / (Danny Flores) - live recording - 4:50\n\nRe-release\nCD 1\nThe original album remastered, in mono, with five bonus tracks.\nAll tracks composed by Wilko Johnson; except where indicated.\n\n\"She Does It Right\"\n\"Boom Boom\" (Hooker)\n\"The More I Give\"\n\"Roxette\"\n\"One Weekend\"\n\"That Ain't the Way to Behave\"\n\"I Don't Mind\"\n\"Twenty Yards Behind\"\n\"Keep It Out of Sight\"\n\"All Through the City\"\n\"Cheque Book\" (Jupp)\n\"Oyeh!\" (Green)\n\"Bonie Moronie\" / \"Tequila\" (Williams) / (Flores) - (Live)\n\"(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66\" (Bobby Troup)\n\"I'm a Hog for You Baby\" (Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller)\n\"Stupidity\" (Solomon Burke)\n\"She Said Alright\"\n\"Oyeh!\" - alternative version\n\nCD 2\nThe original album and bonus tracks as above (excluding \"Route 66\"), remastered in stereo, using several alternative versions, plus six more bonus tracks.\nAll tracks composed by Wilko Johnson; except where indicated.\n\n\"She Does It Right\"\n\"Boom Boom\" (Hooker)\n\"The More I Give\" - alternative version\n\"Roxette\"\n\"One Weekend\"\n\"That Ain't the Way to Behave\"\n\"I Don't Mind\" - alternative version\n\"Twenty Yards Behind\" - alternative version\n\"Keep It Out of Sight\"\n\"All Through the City\"\n\"Cheque Book\" (Jupp)\n\"Oyeh!\" (Green)\n\"I'm a Hog for You Baby\" (Leiber, Stoller)\n\"Stupidity\" (Burke)\n\"She Said Alright\"\n\"Oyeh!\" - alternative version\n\"Tore Down\" (Sonny Thompson) - (Live)\n\"Don't You Just Know It\" (Huey \"Piano\" Smith/Johnny Vincent) - (Live)\n\"My Babe\" (Willie Dixon) - (Live)\n\"The More I Give\" - (Live)\n\"It's My Own Fault Darlin'\" (B.B. King/Jules Taub) - (Live)\n\"Bonie Moronie\" / \"Tequila\" (Williams) / (Flores) - (Live)\n\"Rock Me Baby\" (B. B. King/Joe Josea) - (Live)\n\nPersonnel\nDr. Feelgood\nLee Brilleaux - lead vocals (1, 3-5, 7, 9-13), guitar, harmonica, slide guitar\nWilko Johnson - guitar, piano, backing and lead (2, 6, 8) vocals\nJohn B. Sparks - bass\nJohn Martin, aka \"The Big Figure\" - drums\nwith:\n Bob Andrews - organ (3), saxophone (13)\n Brinsley Schwarz - saxophone (13)\nTechnical\n Vic Maile - producer\n Dave Charles, Kingsley Ward, Pat Moran - engineers\n\nReferences\n\n1975 debut albums\nAlbums produced by Vic Maile\nUnited Artists Records albums\nDr. Feelgood (band) albums"
] |
[
"Tippi Hedren",
"Personal life",
"where was Tippi born?",
"I don't know.",
"is she married?",
"In 1952, Hedren met and married 18-year-old future advertising executive Peter Griffith.",
"did she have kids?",
"daughter, actress Melanie Griffith, was born on August 9, 1957.",
"how long was she married?",
"They were divorced in 1961.",
"did she have other relationships?",
"On September 22, 1964, Hedren married her then-agent Noel Marshall,",
"are they still married?",
"they divorced in 1982.",
"where does she live?",
"I don't know."
] |
C_6c10e713d0a04ea8bb308b48d98f3da6_0
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is there anything else interesting about her personal life?
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Is there anything else interesting about Tippi Hedren personal life along with Noel Marshall?
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Tippi Hedren
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In 1952, Hedren met and married 18-year-old future advertising executive Peter Griffith. Their daughter, actress Melanie Griffith, was born on August 9, 1957. They were divorced in 1961. On September 22, 1964, Hedren married her then-agent Noel Marshall, who later produced three of her films; they divorced in 1982. In 1985, she married steel manufacturer Luis Barrenechea, but they divorced in 1995. Hedren was engaged to veterinarian Martin Dinnes from 2002 until their breakup in mid-2008. In September 2008, Hedren told The Sunday Times "I'm waiting for someone to sweep me off my feet." Hedren played a role in the development of Vietnamese-American nail salons in the United States. In 1975, while an international relief coordinator with Food for the Hungry, she began visiting with refugees at Hope Village outside Sacramento, California. When she learned the women were interested in her manicured nails, she employed her manicurist to teach them the skills of the trade and worked with a local beauty school to help them find jobs. Hedren's work with the Vietnamese-Americans was the subject of Happy Hands, directed by Honey Lauren, which won Best Documentary Short at the Sonoma International Film Festival in 2014. CND and Beauty Changes Lives Foundation (BCL) have announced the BCL CND Tippi Hedren Nail Scholarship Fund to support professional nail education and will be administered starting January 1, 2014. Hedren suffered from severe and persistent headaches for a long time and therefore was unable to accept several projects, including a television series produced by and starring Betty White. After she got a titanium plate put in her neck, she improved and then agreed, with the blessing of her doctor, to take the part of a dying woman in the soap opera Fashion House. While she was rehearsing a scene, a gallon of water fell from the ceiling onto her head. The headaches returned after the incident and persisted. Hedren filed a suit to receive recompense following her inability to work. Hedren's lawyer, Joseph Allen, made a mistake in his discussions with the defendants that allowed them to block him from filing suit. Hedren sued Allen for malpractice. In 2013, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Hedren had been awarded a $1.5 million settlement, including $213,400 for past lost earnings and $440,308 for future lost earnings, against her former lawyer. Hedren was hurt by the report since she had not collected the award. She gave an interview to explain that her former lawyer does not have the money to pay her, and discussed how the report put her in a difficult situation since her foundation was in dire need of funds. She explained that she has to raise $75,000 monthly just to keep it going. "Chances are I won't ever even see the money, and that what hurts so badly, that in all of this pain and suffering that publication ran with a swift and not researched story, which told people around the world who have been so gracious and thoughtful about sending donations, that I no longer needed them." CANNOTANSWER
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Hedren played a role in the development of Vietnamese-American nail salons in the United States.
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Nathalie Kay "Tippi" Hedren (born January 19, 1930) is an American actress, animal rights activist, and former fashion model. She achieved worldwide recognition for her work in two of Alfred Hitchcock's classics: The Birds (1963) and Marnie (1964). Hedren is noted as one of the most famous 'Hitchcock Blondes' and is now one of the last surviving leading stars from Hitchcock's filmography.
A successful fashion model who appeared on the front covers of Life and Glamour magazines, among others, Hedren became an actress after she was discovered by director Alfred Hitchcock while appearing on a television commercial in 1961. She achieved great praise for her work in two of his films: the suspense-thriller The Birds (1963), for which she won a Golden Globe, and the psychological drama Marnie (1964). She has appeared in over 80 films and television shows, including Charlie Chaplin's final film A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), the political satire Citizen Ruth (1996), and the existential comedy I Heart Huckabees (2004). Among other honors, her contributions to world cinema have been recognized with the Jules Verne Award and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Hedren's strong commitment to animal rescue began in 1969 while she was shooting two films in Africa and was introduced to the plight of African lions. In an attempt to raise awareness for wildlife, she spent over a decade bringing Roar (1981) to the screen. She started her own nonprofit organization, the Roar Foundation, in 1983; it supports the Shambala Preserve, an wildlife habitat that enables her to continue her work in the care and preservation of lions and tigers. Hedren has also set up relief programs worldwide following earthquakes, hurricanes, famine and war. She was also instrumental in the development of Vietnamese-American nail salons.
Early life
Nathalie Kay Hedren was born in New Ulm, Minnesota, on January 19, 1930, to Bernard Carl and Dorothea Henrietta (née Eckhardt) Hedren. For much of her career, her year of birth was reported as 1935. In 2004, however, she acknowledged that she was actually born in 1930 (which is consistent with the birth registration index at the Minnesota Historical Society). Her paternal grandparents were Swedish immigrants, while her mother was of German and Norwegian descent. Her father ran a small general store in Lafayette, Minnesota, and gave her the nickname "Tippi". When she was four, she moved with her parents to Minneapolis; she has an older sister, Patricia. As a teenager, she took part in department store fashion shows. Her parents relocated to California while she was a high school student at West High School in Minneapolis.
Career
Modeling success (1950–1960)
On reaching her 20th birthday, Hedren bought a ticket to New York City, where she joined the Eileen Ford Agency. Within a year, she made her unofficial film debut as "Miss Ice Box" in the musical comedy The Petty Girl. In interviews, she referred to The Birds, her first credited role, as her first film. Although she received several film offers during that time, Hedren had no interest in acting, as she knew it was very difficult to succeed.
She had a highly successful modeling career during the 1950s and early 1960s, appearing on the covers of Life, The Saturday Evening Post, McCall's, and Glamour, among others. In 1961, after seven years of marriage to the actor Peter Griffith, Hedren divorced and returned to California with her daughter, Melanie, and rented an expensive home in Sherman Oaks. She later said, "I thought I could continue my career as it had been in New York. I thought everything would be just fine, and it wasn't. So I thought, 'well, I don't type, what shall I do?'"
Transition to acting and collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock (1961–1966)
On October 13, 1961, she received a call from an agent who told her a producer was interested in working with her. When she was told it was Alfred Hitchcock, who while watching The Today Show, saw her in a commercial for a diet drink called Sego, she agreed to sign a seven-year contract. During their first meeting, the two talked about everything except the role for which he was considering her. Hedren was convinced for several weeks it was for his television series, Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Hitchcock later said, "I was not primarily concerned with how she looked in person. Most important was her appearance on the screen, and I liked that immediately. She has a touch of that high-style, lady-like quality which was once well-represented in films by actresses like Irene Dunne, Grace Kelly, Claudette Colbert, and others, but which is now quite rare."
Being an unknown actress with little training, Hitchcock put Hedren through an extensive color screen test that lasted two days and cost $25,000, doing scenes from his previous films, such as Rebecca, Notorious, and To Catch a Thief with actor Martin Balsam. According to Balsam, Hedren was very nervous, but studied every line, did every move she was asked to, and tried to do everything right. Hitchcock asked costume designer Edith Head to design clothes for Hedren's private life and he personally advised her about wine and food. He also insisted for publicity purposes that her name should be printed only in single quotes, 'Tippi'. The press mostly ignored this directive from the director, who felt that the single quotes added distinction and mystery to her name. Hitchcock was impressed with Hedren. As production designer Robert F. Boyle explained, "Hitch always liked women who behaved like well-bred ladies. Tippi generated that quality."
Afterward, Hedren was invited to lunch with Hitchcock, his wife, Alma, and Lew Wasserman, head of Universal, at one of Hitchcock's favorite restaurants, Chasen's. There, she was presented with a golden pin of three birds in flight, adorned by three tiny seed pearls, and was asked by Hitchcock to play the leading role in his upcoming film The Birds. "I was so stunned. It never occurred to me that I would be given a leading role in a major motion picture. I had great big tears in my eyes", Hedren later recalled.
The Birds (1963) was Hedren's screen debut. Hitchcock became her drama coach, and gave her an education in film-making, as she attended many of the production meetings such as script, music, or photography conferences. Hedren said, "I probably learned in three years what it would have taken me 15 years to learn otherwise." She learned how to break down a script, to become another character, and to study the relationship of different characters. Hedren portrayed her role of Melanie Daniels as Hitchcock requested. She said, "He gives his actors very little leeway. He'll listen, but he has a very definite plan in mind as to how he wants his characters to act. With me, it was understandable, because I was not an actress of stature. I welcomed his guidance."
During the six months of principal photography, Hedren's schedule was tight, as she was only given one afternoon off a week. At first, she found the shooting "wonderful". Hitchcock told a reporter, after a few weeks of filming, that she was remarkable, and said, "She's already reaching the lows and highs of terror." Nonetheless, Hedren recalled the week she did the final bird attack scene in a second-floor bedroom as the worst of her life. Before filming it, she asked Hitchcock about her character's motivations to go upstairs, and his response was, "Because I tell you to." She was then assured that the crew would use mechanical birds. Instead, Hedren endured five solid days of prop men, protected by thick leather gloves, flinging dozens of live gulls, ravens and crows at her (their beaks clamped shut with elastic bands). In a state of exhaustion, when one of the birds gouged her cheek and narrowly missed her eye, Hedren sat down on the set and began crying. A physician ordered a week's rest. Hitchcock protested, according to Hedren, saying nobody but her was left to film. The doctor's reply was, "Are you trying to kill her?" She said the week also appeared to be an ordeal for the director.
Universal's executives, who did not back Hitchcock's decision to hire Hedren in the first place, were impressed with her performance and Wasserman described it as "remarkable". While promoting The Birds, Hitchcock was full of praise for his new protégée, and compared her to Grace Kelly. "Tippi has a faster tempo, city glibness, more humor [than Grace Kelly]. She displayed jaunty assuredness, pertness, an attractive throw of the head. And she memorized and read lines extraordinarily well and is sharper in expression." The film was screened out of competition in May at a prestigious invitational showing at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival. Hedren's performance was praised in Varietys review: "Aside from the birds, the film belongs to Hedren, who makes an auspicious screen bow. She virtually has to carry the picture alone for the first 45-minute stretch, prior to the advent of the first wave of organized attackers from the sky. Miss Hedren has a star quality and Hitchcock has provided her with a potent vehicle to launch her career". Hedren received the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year, tied with Elke Sommer and Ursula Andress. Her role as Melanie Daniels was named by Premiere as one of the greatest movie characters of all time.
Hitchcock was so impressed with Hedren's acting abilities, he decided to offer her the leading role of his next film, Marnie (1964), a romantic drama and psychological thriller from the novel by Winston Graham, during the filming of The Birds. Hedren was stunned and felt extremely fortunate to be offered to play "such a complicated, sad, tragic woman", and later said, "I consider my acting, while not necessarily being method acting, but one that draws upon my own feelings. I thought Marnie was an extremely interesting role to play and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity". She voiced doubts about her ability to play the demanding role, but Hitchcock assured her she could do it. As opposed to The Birds, where she had received little acting guidance, for this film Hedren studied every scene with Hitchcock.
Hedren recalled Marnie as her favorite of the two films she did with Hitchcock for the challenge of playing an emotionally battered young woman who travels from city to city assuming various guises to rob her employers. During the filming, Hitchcock was quoted as saying about Hedren, "an Academy Award performance is in the making". On release, the film was greeted by mixed reviews and indifferent box-office returns, and received no Oscar nominations. Variety wrote, "Hedren returns in a particularly demanding role. Miss Hedren, undertaking a role originally offered Grace Kelly for a resumption of her screen career, lends credence to a part never sympathetic. It's a difficult assignment which she fulfills satisfactorily." Hedren later said that Marnie was "ahead of its time" because "people didn't talk about childhood and its effects on adult life. It was taboo to discuss sexuality and psychology and to put all that into a film was shocking." Despite its original lukewarm reception, the film was later acclaimed and described as a "masterpiece" and Hedren's performance is now regarded as one of the finest in any Hitchcock film. Richard Brody of The New Yorker wrote in his 2016 review of the film "Hedren's performance is one of the greatest in the history of cinema."
Marnie was the second and last collaboration between Hedren and Hitchcock. In 1973, she admitted that a major lifestyle difference caused a split in their relationship. "He was too possessive and too demanding. I cannot be possessed by anyone. But, then, that's my own hangup". In 1983, author Donald Spoto published his second book about Hitchcock, The Dark Side of Genius, for which Hedren agreed to talk for the first time in detail about her relationship with the director.
The book was controversial, as several of Hitchcock's friends claimed the Hitchcock portrayed in the book was not the man they knew. For years after its release, Hedren was not keen to talk about it in interviews, but thought the chapter devoted to her story was "accurate as to just what he was". Hedren later explained her long silence before telling her story, "It was embarrassing and insulting—there were a lot of reasons why I didn't want to tell the story. I didn't want it to be taken advantage of, twisted, turned, and made into an even uglier situation than it was".
According to Spoto's book, Hitchcock brought in two members of his crew during the filming of The Birds and asked them to keep careful watch on the activities of Hedren, "when she left the set—where she went, who she visited, how she spent her free time". He then advised her on what she should eat, whom she should see, and how she should live. He told the cast and crew they were not allowed to talk to her. Hedren's co-star in The Birds, Rod Taylor, later remembered, "Hitch was becoming very domineering and covetous of 'Tippi', and it was very difficult for her. No one was permitted to come physically close to her during the production. 'Don't touch the girl after I call "Cut!"' he said to me repeatedly". Hitchcock also attempted, on one occasion, to grab and violently kiss Hedren in the back of a car as they drove onto the set. Hedren told his assistant, Peggy Robertson, and the studio chief, Lew Wasserman, that she was becoming very unhappy about the whole situation. "But he was Alfred Hitchcock, the great and famous director, and I was Tippi Hedren, an inexperienced actress who had no clout". She decided she could not quit her contract because she was afraid to be blacklisted and unable to find work. Hedren's own daughter, Melanie Griffith, remembered that while Hedren was doing The Birds, she thought Hitchcock was taking her mother away from her. "Suddenly, I wasn't allowed even to visit my mom at the studio".
During the filming of Marnie, Hedren found Hitchcock's behavior toward her increasingly difficult to bear as filming progressed. "Everyone—I mean everyone—knew he was obsessed with me. He always wanted a glass of wine or champagne, with me alone, at the end of the day. He was really isolating me from everyone". Hedren's co-star in Marnie, Diane Baker, later recalled, "She was never allowed to gather around with the rest of us, and he demanded that every conversation between her and Hitch be held in private... Nothing could have been more horrible for me than to arrive on that movie set and to see her being treated the way she was".
Hitchcock revealed to Hedren one day he had a recurring dream where she came up to him and said, "Hitch, I love you—I'll always love you". When she heard this, Hedren replied "But it was a dream. Just a dream", and excused herself from his presence. She believed Hitchcock had no consideration for her feelings and remembered she was humiliated after he asked her to touch him, just before shooting a scene. "He made sure no one else could hear, and his tone and glance made it clear exactly what he meant". Hedren asked Hitchcock's permission one day to travel to New York to appear on The Tonight Show, where she was supposed to be presented an award as the "Most Promising New Star". Hitchcock refused, according to his biographer, because he claimed the break would affect her performance. During that meeting, he apparently "made an overt sexual proposition" that Hedren "could neither ignore nor answer casually, as she could his previous gestures". In Spoto's third book about Hitchcock, Spellbound by Beauty (2008), Hedren revealed that Hitchcock actually made offensive demands on her. "He stared at me and simply said, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, that from this time on, he expected me to make myself sexually available and accessible to him—however and whenever and wherever he wanted". Hitchcock's demands led to a "horrible, horrible fight", according to Hedren. "He made these demands on me, and no way could I acquiesce to them".
Hedren then told him Marnie would be their last film together and later recalled how Hitchcock told her he would destroy her career. "I said I wanted to get out of my contract. He said: 'You can't. You have your daughter to support, and your parents are getting older'. I said: 'Nobody would want me to be in this situation, I want to get out'. And he said: 'I'll ruin your career'. I said: 'Do what you have to do'. And he did ruin my career. He kept me under contract, paid me to do nothing for close on two years". Hedren felt so humiliated, she called the director a "fat pig" in front of people on the set. Hitchcock made only a comment about it to his biographer, John Russell Taylor: "She did what no one is permitted to do. She referred to my weight". The two communicated only through a third party for the rest of the film. According to Marnie'''s screenwriter, Jay Presson Allen, Hitchcock was "mad" for Hedren. She felt unhappy for both and described the situation as "an old man's cri de coeur", adding that Hitchcock had a "Pygmalion complex about Tippi". She advised Hedren to finish the film and then get on with her life and be happy. Hedren's hairdresser, Virginia Darcy, even told Hitchcock he should not be possessive with Hedren. "Tippi felt rightly that she was not his property, but he'd say, 'You are, I have a contract'". Although Hitchcock thought he might mend fences with Hedren and make another film with her, she refused to reconsider her decision. Hedren's contract terms gave Hitchcock the final say as to any work she could take on and he used that power to turn down several film roles on her behalf. She was particularly disappointed when French director François Truffaut told her he had wanted her for one of them. In 1966, Hitchcock finally sold her contract to Universal Studios after Hedren appeared in two of their TV shows, Kraft Suspense Theatre (1965) and Run for Your Life (id.). The studio ultimately released her from her contract after she refused to appear on a television Western for them.
In 2012, The Girl, an HBO/BBC film about Hedren and Hitchcock's relationship, based on Donald Spoto's 2009 book Spellbound by Beauty: Alfred Hitchcock and His Leading Ladies, was released. When she was first told about the project, Hedren said she had mixed feelings about it, "To be still alive and have a film made about you is an awesome and incredibly frightening experience". Hedren and Hitchcock were respectively portrayed by Sienna Miller and Toby Jones.
Although she was thrilled with the choice of Miller, Hedren was worried she would not be portrayed "as strong a character as I was—and still am. I had to be extremely strong to fight off Mr. Hitchcock". She described the moment she saw the film as "probably one of the most involved, emotionally tense 90 minutes that I have ever lived". Upon the film's release, Hedren said although she believed the film accurately portrays Hitchcock's behavior towards her, the time constraints of a 90-minute film prevented telling the entire story of her career with him. "It wasn't a constant barrage of harassment. If it had been constantly the way we have had to do it in this film, I would have been long gone". She recalled there were times she described as "absolutely delightful and wonderful”, and insisted that “Hitchcock had a charm about him. He was very funny at times. He was incredibly brilliant in his field". The film was controversial, as others who knew and worked with Hitchcock responded to it negatively. Kim Novak, who worked on Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958), disputed Hitchcock's portrayal as a sexual predator in The Girl: "I never saw him make a pass at anybody or act strange to anybody. And wouldn't you think if he was that way, I would've seen it or at least seen him with somebody? I think it's unfortunate when someone's no longer around and can't defend themselves". Novak previously described Hitchcock as a gentleman, and when asked about reports of his behavior, she said, "Maybe I just wasn't his type". Novak also stated, "I won't dispute Tippi if that's what she saw."
Hedren herself was asked why her account of sexual harassment contrasted with the many interviews she gave about her time with Hitchcock, her presence at the AFI Life Achievement Award ceremony honoring him in 1979, and her presence at his funeral. She explained that, "He ruined my career, but he didn't ruin my life. That time of my life was over. I still admire the man for who he was". She also said, "I've been able to separate the two. The man who was the artist. I mean, what he gave to the motion picture industry can never be taken away from him and I certainly wouldn't want to try. But on the other side, there is that dark side that was really awful".
Career setbacks (1967–1973)
Hedren's first feature film appearance after Marnie was in A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), starring Marlon Brando and Sophia Loren. She was told by writer-director Charlie Chaplin that she was offered a major supporting role as Brando's estranged wife and had to accept the role without reading the script. However, when she arrived in England where the filming took place, she finally received the script and realized that her part was little more than a cameo. She asked Chaplin why he lied to her. "Every actor in the world was asking if they could do this film, to just do a walk-on, without even being paid for it. When I said, 'Why didn't you just tell me that it was a cameo? I would have done this film anyway,' he said, 'I didn't think you would come,' which was very sweet. He was a very clever man." Hedren asked Chaplin to expand the role, and although he tried to accommodate her, he could not, as the story mostly takes place on a ship, which Hedren's character boards near the end of the film. In the end, she remained in the film and later said that it was both amusing and strange to work with Chaplin. She found him to be a very serious man and loved his approach to directing. She later said, "I wish someone would have been allowed to do a documentary. The way he directed was unlike anyone I ever saw. He acted out all the parts himself. He did Sophia's part, then Marlon's part, then mine, and then he'd say, 'Okay, now you can do it.' Which would be impossible, to mimic the master. It was incredible. None of us believed it. Marlon hated it."
After the release of A Countess from Hong Kong, Hedren's career was described as "spectacular" by the press. She told a reporter at the time, "I don't want to wait myself out of this business, but working for Hitch and Charlie has been very special to me, and now I'm going to wait for something special to come along". In 1968, she signed on to do the American Civil War drama Five Against Kansas with Farley Granger and Jeffrey Hunter, but the project was never realized. In 1968, Hedren returned to film as a socialite who helps her boyfriend (played by George Armstrong) catch a killer, in Tiger by the Tail. From 1970 to 1971, she guest-starred twice on The Courtship of Eddie's Father. She agreed to take part in Satan's Harvest (1970) and Mister Kingstreet's War (1973)—which were shot back-to-back despite the discrepancy in their release dates—for the sole reason that they were being filmed in Africa. In 1973, Hedren played a teacher of an experimental sex school in The Harrad Experiment, which starred James Whitmore and Don Johnson—the latter who later became the husband of her daughter, Melanie Griffith. Hedren felt that the film "deals with vital themes—themes like the decline in importance of ideas like possession and jealousy and, by inference, marriage. I have four teenaged children and I think this picture says some valuable things to them." She confessed at the time she was occasionally depressed because she was not doing any major films and told a magazine, "My husband just cancelled all the trade magazines because he felt I should cut off the source of my discontent. He's the type who won't stand for sustained down feelings".
Roar (1974–1981)
Hedren and husband Noel Marshall watched a pride of lions move into a house after a game warden moved out in 1969, during the filming of Satan's Harvest in Africa. She said, "We were delighted with the way they adapted themselves to living there. And they were so funny we knew we had an idea for a picture." Marshall wrote a script titled Lions, Lions and More Lions based on their experience; it was retitled Roar and centered on a family's misadventures in a research park filled with lions, tigers, and other wild cats.
Hedren played the lead role and co-starred with her daughter Melanie, husband Marshall, and his own sons Jerry and John. They attempted to rent Hollywood animals for a nine-month shoot, but upon approaching animal trainers for support, they were discouraged and nobody would rent them 30 or 40 lions, as the script required, because of their natural tendency to fight. They were encouraged to start collecting and training their own exotic beasts. Animal trainer Ron Oxley told them, "to get to know about lions, you've got to live with them for a while". They started to raise a lion cub named Neil in their Sherman Oaks house and made sure that the animal slept in their bed. Life photographer Michael Rougier documented their life in 1971 and photographed the lion with the whole family inside and outside the house, from Hedren's daughter's bed to the living room to the swimming pool. After complaints from their neighbors, Hedren and Marshall bought a ranch outside of Los Angeles in Acton that would serve as the set for Roar. They got permission there to rescue and raise several lions, tigers, African elephants, and other exotic felines.
Filming started in 1974 and took five years just to complete the photography. Every scene involving lions was improvised and shot with four or sometimes eight cameras. More than 100 people worked on the film, as well as more than 150 untrained lions, tigers, leopards, and cheetahs. During production, no animals were hurt, but more than 70 members of the cast and crew were mauled. Hedren fractured a leg and also had scalp wounds when an elephant bucked her off its back while she was riding it. She was also bitten in the neck by a lion and required 38 stitches; this incident can be seen in the film. Melanie Griffith was also attacked, receiving 50 stitches to her face; it was feared that she would lose an eye, but she recovered and was not disfigured. Marshall was attacked so many times that he eventually was diagnosed with gangrene. In one of those incidents, he was clawed by a cheetah when protecting the animals during a bushfire that occurred in 1979. All animals were evacuated, and several years were needed for him to recover from his injuries. In 1978, a flood destroyed the movie sets and killed three of the lions. The project was set back several years. Hedren said that they were all determined to finish the film: "We were so sure the film was going to be a success that we thought everything (financing the ranch and the lions, etc.) would take care of itself."Roar was released worldwide in 1981 with the exception of the United States, because according to Hedren, "The United States distributors wanted the lion's share of the profits, and we thought it ought to go to the beautiful animals that made the movie." The film cost $17 million and grossed only $2 million, but it was a turning point in Hedren's life. In 1983, she established the nonprofit The Roar Foundation to take care of the big cats. "After our movie was over," she explained, "it was unconscionable to see the animals go any place else." Roar was re-released in 2015, but Hedren declined to discuss it, as she felt that promotion for the film was filled with "inaccuracies".
Later career (1982–present)
After Roar, Hedren accepted any low-budget television or cinema role that could help bring funds to her foundation to provide protection, shelter, care, and maintenance for the animals at the Shambala Preserve. In 1982, she co-starred with Leslie Nielsen in Foxfire Light. She appeared in several television series, including Hart to Hart in 1983 and the late-night horror series Tales from the Darkside in 1984. In the 1985 pilot episode of The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents, she made a brief appearance as a waitress in a bar who berates a customer, played by her daughter Melanie Griffith. In 1990, she had a nonspeaking, minor part as a wealthy widow romanced by Michael Keaton in the film Pacific Heights (1990), which also starred her daughter. That same year, she had a role on The Bold and the Beautiful, a daytime soap opera she said she was "proud to have in my resume".
In 1994, Hedren appeared in the made-for-cable sequel, The Birds II: Land's End, in a role different from the one she had played in the original. She was, however, disappointed that she did not get a starring role and admitted before the film's release, "I wish that it was more than a cameo. I think they made a mistake by not doing that, but it has helped me to feed my lions and tigers." When asked about what could have been Hitchcock's opinion on the film, she answered: "I'd hate to think what he would say!" In a 2007 interview, Hedren said of the film, "It's absolutely horrible, it embarrasses me horribly."
From 1994 to 1996, Hedren had a guest-starring role in Dream On. The sitcom gave her "the opportunity to do comedy. I'd never done comedy before and it was just wonderful for me to be able to do that. Everybody just thought of me as a serious actress, so I owe that to John Landis (the executive producer), giving me that opportunity." In 1996, she played an abortion rights activist in Alexander Payne's political satire Citizen Ruth with Laura Dern. In 1998, she co-starred alongside Billy Zane and Christina Ricci in I Woke Up Early the Day I Died, a film she felt was "incredible". "I must say I really love that film. It was a unique kind of film to do also, because of the fact that it had no dialogue in it. It was very, very different". That same year, she guest-starred in a special episode titled "Psychodrama" of the television series Chicago Hope, that paid tribute to the Hitchcock movies. Hedren's character, Alfreda Perkins, was a reference to Alfred Hitchcock and actor Anthony Perkins, who starred in the director's 1960 film Psycho.
After appearing in a number of little-exposed films between 1999 and 2003, Hedren had a small but showy role in the 2004 David O. Russell comedy I Heart Huckabees, as a foul-mouthed attractive older woman who slaps Jude Law in an elevator. She felt that the director, who had a reputation for being difficult, was "totally crazy", but also "very interesting. I was able to work well with him." She also added it was a strange experience as, "... all of a sudden, he'd be like, 'Now I'm going to do it this way,' and you'd think, 'How is he going to edit this? How is this going to work?' But he made it work." In 2006, Hedren was a cast member of the short-lived primetime soap opera Fashion House with Bo Derek and Morgan Fairchild, and continued to guest-star in television series such as The 4400 (2006) and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2008). In 2012, Hedren and her daughter guest-starred together on an episode of Raising Hope. That same year, she appeared in Free Samples, an indie film where she had a supporting role as an old movie star. In 2013, she made an appearance as herself in the fourth-season finale of Cougar Town.
Hedren published her autobiography, Tippi: A Memoir, co-written with Lindsay Harrison, in 2016 through William Morrow and Company, as she felt it was "about time I stop letting everyone else tell my story and finally tell it myself." In 2018, at age 88, Hedren became the new face of Gucci's timepieces and jewelry and starred as a mysterious fortune teller in the brand's commercial ad, The Fortune Teller.
Influence
A Louis Vuitton ad campaign in 2006 paid tribute to Hedren and Hitchcock with a modern-day interpretation of the deserted railway station opening sequence of Marnie. Her look from The Birds (1963) inspired designer Bill Gaytten to design for John Galliano Pre-Fall 2012 collection.
Naomi Watts stated that her character interpretation in Mulholland Drive (2001) was influenced by the look and performances of Hedren in Hitchcock films. Watts and Hedren both appeared in I ♥ Huckabees (2004), but did not share any scenes together. Off screen, the film's director David O. Russell introduced them both, and Watts said of Hedren: "I was pretty fascinated by her then, because people have often said we're alike." Watts dressed up as Hedren's title character from Marnie for a photo shoot for March 2008 issue of Vanity Fair. In the same issue, Jodie Foster dressed up as Hedren's character, Melanie Daniels, from The Birds.
Shambala Preserve
In 1981, Hedren produced Roar, an 11-year project that ended up costing $17 million and starred dozens of African lions. "This was probably one of the most dangerous films that Hollywood has ever seen", remarked the actress. "It's amazing no one was killed." During the production of Roar, Hedren, her husband at the time, Noel Marshall, and daughter Melanie were attacked by lions; Jan de Bont, the director of photography, was scalped. Hedren later co-wrote Cats of Shambala (1985) about the experience. Roar made only $2 million worldwide. Hedren ended her marriage to Marshall a year later in 1982. The film directly led to the 1983 establishment of the nonprofit The Roar Foundation and Hedren's Shambala Preserve, located at the edge of the Mojave Desert in Acton, California, between the Antelope Valley and the Santa Clarita Valley, northeast of Los Angeles. Shambala houses some 70 animals. Hedren lives on the Shambala site and conducts monthly tours of the preserve for the public. In a 2015 interview with magazine Ability, Hedren emphasized that there is no human contact with the animals and that all of the cats are spayed and neutered, since they are being raised in captivity. Hedren was the founding president of the American Sanctuary Association, a post she still holds.
She took in and cared for Togar, a lion that belonged to Anton LaVey, after he was told by San Francisco officials that he could not keep a fully grown lion as a house pet. Shambala became the new home for Michael Jackson's two Bengal tigers, Sabu and Thriller, after he decided to close his zoo at his Neverland Valley Ranch in Los Olivos. Thriller died in June 2012 of lung cancer.
On December 3, 2007, Shambala Preserve made headlines when Chris Orr, a caretaker for the animals, was mauled by a tiger named Alexander. Several documentaries have focused on Shambala Preserve, including the 30-minute Lions: Kings of the Serengeti (1995), narrated by Melanie Griffith, and Animal Planet's Life with Big Cats (1998), which won the Genesis Award for best documentary in 1999. The animals at the preserve served as the initial inspiration for the life's work of artist A.E. London, who started her career working for Hedren.
As of 2020, Hedren still maintains more than a dozen lions and tigers; her granddaughter Dakota Johnson is involved in their care.
Personal life
In 1952, Hedren met and married 18-year-old future advertising executive Peter Griffith. Their daughter, actress Melanie Griffith, was born on August 9, 1957. They were divorced in 1961. On September 27, 1964, Hedren married her then-agent Noel Marshall, who later produced three of her films; they divorced in 1982. In 1985, she married steel manufacturer Luis Barrenechea, but they divorced in 1992. Hedren was engaged to veterinarian Martin Dinnes from 2002 until their breakup in mid-2008. In September 2008, Hedren told The Sunday Times "I'm waiting for someone to sweep me off my feet." Hedren's granddaughter Dakota Johnson is also an actress.
Hedren played a role in the development of Vietnamese-American nail salons in the United States. In 1975, while an international relief coordinator with Food for the Hungry, she began visiting with refugees at Hope Village outside Sacramento, California. When she learned the women were interested in her manicured nails, she employed her manicurist to teach them the skills of the trade and worked with a local beauty school to help them find jobs. Hedren's work with the Vietnamese-Americans was the subject of several documentaries: Happy Hands, directed by Honey Lauren, which won Best Documentary Short at the Sonoma International Film Festival in 2014Sonoma International Film Festival website, sonomaportal.com; accessed March 10, 2015. and "Nailedit:
Vietnamese and the Nail Industry" which won the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) 2014 Documentary Fund Award. CND and Beauty Changes Lives Foundation (BCL) have announced the BCL CND Tippi Hedren Nail Scholarship Fund to support professional nail education and will be administered starting January 1, 2014.
Hedren was instrumental in helping a desperate Nguyen Thi Chinh to enter the US after the fall of the South Vietnam government in 1975, she arranged for an air ticket and a visa for her then invited her to stay in her house.
Hedren suffered from severe and persistent headaches for a long time, which rendered her unable to accept several projects, including a television series produced by and starring Betty White. After she got a titanium plate put in her neck, she improved and then agreed, with the blessing of her doctor, to take the part of a dying woman in the soap opera Fashion House. While she was rehearsing a scene, a gallon of water fell from the ceiling onto her head. The headaches returned after the incident and persisted. Hedren filed a suit to receive recompense following her inability to work. Hedren's lawyer, Joseph Allen, made a mistake in his discussions with the defendants that allowed them to block him from filing suit. Hedren sued Allen for malpractice. In 2013, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Hedren had been awarded a $1.5 million settlement, including $213,400 for past lost earnings and $440,308 for future lost earnings, against her former lawyer. Hedren was hurt by the report since she had not collected the award. She gave an interview to explain that her former lawyer does not have the money to pay her, and discussed how the report put her in a difficult situation since her foundation was in dire need of funds. She explained that she has to raise $75,000 monthly just to keep it going. "Chances are I won't ever even see the money, and that's what hurts so badly, that in all of this pain and suffering that publication ran with a swift and not researched story, which told people around the world who have been so gracious and thoughtful about sending donations, that I no longer needed them."
Filmography
Film
Television
Honours and awards
1964: Most Promising Newcomer Award by Photoplay
1964: Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actress (shared with Ursula Andress and Elke Sommer)
1994: Life Achievement Award in France at The Beauvais Film Festival Cinemalia
1995: Life Achievement Award in Spain, La Fundación Municipal de Cine
1995: The Helen Woodward Animal Center's Annual Humane Award
1996: Founder's Award from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
1997: Lion and Lamb Award from Wildhaven
1999: Woman of Vision Award from Women of Film and Video in Washington, D.C.
1999: Presidential Medal for her work in film from Hofstra University
1999: Humanitarian Award at the Las Vegas International Film Festival
2000: Best Actress in a Comedy Short Award in the short film Mulligans! at the Method Fest, Independent Film Festival
2002: Best Actress Award for the short film Tea with Grandma from the New York International Independent Film Festival
2003: Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
2003: Women of Los Angeles Annual Hope is a Woman Honor
2004: PAWS Companion for Life Award
2004: Best Actress Award for the short film Rose's Garden from the Los Angeles TV Short Film Festival
2004: Animal Rights Advocacy Award at Artivist Film Festival
2005: Living Legacy Award
2006: Conservationist of the Year—Dino Award from the Las Vegas Natural History Museum
2007: Lifetime Achievement Award—Riverside Film Festival
2007: Jules Verne "Nature" Award — the 1st Annual Jules Verne Adventure Film Festival of Los Angeles
2008: Academy of Art University's 2nd Epidemic Film Festival Award
2008: Jules Verne Legendaire Award
2008: Thespian Award - LA Femme Film Festival
2009: "When a Woman Wills She Will!" Award by the Woman's Club of Hollywood
2009: Workhouse's first Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award
2009: Received the First Star on the Orinda Theater Walk of Fame
2010: Received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 24th Annual Genesis Awards show from the Humane Society
2010: BraveHeart Award
2010: Who-Manitarian Award
2011: Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce at its 90th Annual Installation & Awards Luncheon
2011: "The Women Together Award" from the United Nations
2011: Vietnamese-American Marton Saint Award from the Boat People SOS Organization
2011: Omni Youth Humanitarian/Career Achievement Award
2012: Honorary Masters of Fine Arts Degree from the New York Film Academy
2012: Mayor Career Achievement Award from Starz Denver Film Festival
2013: Legacy of Style Award
2013: "People Helping People" Award by the Touching Live TV Award Show, broadwayworld.com; accessed November 14, 2015.
2014: Lifetime Achievement Award from Bel-Air Film Festival
2014: Special Recognition Award from Acton Women's Club
2014:The Women's International Film & Television Showcase Foundation International Visionary Award, thewifts.org; accessed November 14, 2015.
2015: Choreography of Desire (A Tribute to Tippi Hedren) by the Vienna International Film Festival, viennale.at; accessed November 14, 2015.
2015: Believe, Achieve, Empower Award
2017: Waggy Award recipient from the Tailwaggers Foundation
2017: The Icon Award
2018: "Friend for Life Award" from The Palm Springs Animal Shelter
Notes
References
Hedren, Tippi. Tippi: A Memoir, William Morrow, 2016, 288 p.
McGilligan, Patrick. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light, It Books, 2004 (Reprint), 864 p.
Moral, Tony Lee. Hitchcock and the Making of Marnie, Scarecrow Pres, 2013 (Revised Edition), 340 p.
Moral, Tony Lee. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds, Scarecrow Pres, 2013 (Revised Edition), 224 p.
Taylor, John Russell. Hitch: The Life and Times of Alfred Hitchcock, Bloomsbury Reader, 2013, 318 p. ASIN B00BWL8L0C
Spoto, Donald. Spellbound by Beauty, Three Rivers Press, 2009, 368 p.
Paul, Louis. Tales from the Cult Film Trenches: Interviews with 36 Actors from Horror, Science Fiction and Exploitation Cinema, McFarland, 2007, 336 p.
Gambin, Lee. Massacred By Mother Nature: Exploring the Natural Horror Film'', Midnight Marquee Press, Inc., October 8, 2012
External links
1930 births
Living people
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American actresses
Actresses from Minnesota
American film actresses
New Star of the Year (Actress) Golden Globe winners
American people of German descent
American people of Norwegian descent
American people of Swedish descent
Big cat attack victims
Keepers of animal sanctuaries
Apex Records artists
Challenge Records artists
Female models from Minnesota
People from New Ulm, Minnesota
Griffith family
| true |
[
"\"If You Can Do Anything Else\" is a song written by Billy Livsey and Don Schlitz, and recorded by American country music artist George Strait. It was released in February 2001 as the third and final single from his self-titled album. The song reached number 5 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in July 2001. It also peaked at number 51 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.\n\nContent\nThe song is about man who is giving his woman the option to leave him. He gives her many different options for all the things she can do. At the end he gives her the option to stay with him if she really can’t find anything else to do. He says he will be alright if she leaves, but really it seems he wants her to stay.\n\nChart performance\n\"If You Can Do Anything Else\" debuted at number 60 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the week of March 3, 2001.\n\nYear-end charts\n\nReferences\n\n2001 singles\n2000 songs\nGeorge Strait songs\nSongs written by Billy Livsey\nSongs written by Don Schlitz\nSong recordings produced by Tony Brown (record producer)\nMCA Nashville Records singles",
"\"How Interesting: A Tiny Man\" is a 2010 science fiction/magical realism short story by American writer Harlan Ellison. It was first published in Realms of Fantasy.\n\nPlot summary\nA scientist creates a tiny man. The tiny man is initially very popular, but then draws the hatred of the world, and so the tiny man must flee, together with the scientist (who is now likewise hated, for having created the tiny man).\n\nReception\n\"How Interesting: A Tiny Man\" won the 2010 Nebula Award for Best Short Story, tied with Kij Johnson's \"Ponies\". It was Ellison's final Nebula nomination and win, of his record-setting eight nominations and three wins.\n\nTor.com calls the story \"deceptively simple\", with \"execution (that) is flawless\" and a \"Geppetto-like\" narrator, while Publishers Weekly describes it as \"memorably depict(ing) humanity's smallness of spirit\". The SF Site, however, felt it was \"contrived and less than profound\".\n\nNick Mamatas compared \"How Interesting: A Tiny Man\" negatively to Ellison's other Nebula-winning short stories, and stated that the story's two mutually exclusive endings (in one, the tiny man is killed; in the other, he becomes God) are evocative of the process of writing short stories. Ben Peek considered it to be \"more allegory than (...) anything else\", and interpreted it as being about how the media \"give(s) everyone a voice\", and also about how Ellison was treated by science fiction fandom.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nAudio version of ''How Interesting: A Tiny Man, at StarShipSofa\nHow Interesting: A Tiny Man, at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database\n\nNebula Award for Best Short Story-winning works\nShort stories by Harlan Ellison"
] |
[
"The Cribs",
"Payola (2013)"
] |
C_ebaf51b477a74a4884cb659b07039674_0
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What is Payola?
| 1 |
What is Payola?
|
The Cribs
|
On 20 November 2012 the Cribs announced details of their first 'Best Of' compilation, Payola, which was released on 11 March 2013 via Wichita Recordings to mark the group's 10th anniversary. The 22 track album saw the first official release of "Leather Jacket Love Song" - recorded at sessions in early 2010, it is the final Cribs song to feature Johnny Marr. A special 40-track 'Anthology Edition' was released with an additional 18 track disc containing B-sides and rarities. On the 29th of February, the band made their fourth appearance on the cover of NME magazine, which came with an additional CD release "Payola: The Demos". This companion disc to "Payola" featured demo versions of most of the significant songs featured on "Payola", as well as 3 unheard and unreleased tracks harking back as far as 2001. Around the same time the band played an NME Awards show at Shepherds Bush Empire and several other headline dates around the country. Over the summer, the Cribs played numerous festivals in the UK and Europe, including headline slots at Y Not Festival and a show at the Olympic Park (London), as well as a short tour of Scottish venues. Autumn saw the band head back to Australia for an "Anniversary Tour", before venturing into Asia for a lengthy tour there. Cities and countries visited on this trip would include Thailand (Bangkok), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Vietnam (Saigon), two shows in Japan (Tokyo), a show at the Kowloonbay International Trade & Exhibition Centre in Hong Kong, and a large outdoor show in the meadow at the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. The year was rounded out by two sold out Christmas shows at the Leeds Academy 2014 began quietly, as the band began writing sessions for their next studio album. The only shows announced would be as part of the Weezer cruise from Florida to the Bahamas in February. Later in the year, the Cribs returned to the UK for some UK festival slots, including headlining Truck Festival and Tramlines Festival amongst others, and an Italian tour with Franz Ferdinand. CANNOTANSWER
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On 20 November 2012 the Cribs announced details of their first 'Best Of' compilation, Payola,
|
The Cribs are a British indie rock band originally from Wakefield, West Yorkshire that formed in 2001. The band consists of twins Gary and Ryan Jarman and their younger brother Ross Jarman. They were subsequently joined by ex-The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr who was a formal member of the group from 2008 until 2011.
The band, who first became active on the concert circuit in 2002, were initially tied to other like-minded UK bands of that time, most notably The Libertines, by a British music press that were looking for a 'British rearguard' to the wave of popular US alternative rock bands of the time. They had outgrown this tag by the time of the commercial success of their third LP. In 2008, Q magazine described the band as "The biggest cult band in the UK".
In 2012, the band's 10th anniversary year, they were honoured with the Spirit of Independence award at the annual Q Awards. Several months later, they received the Outstanding Contribution to Music award at the annual NME Awards.
As of 2017, their last 4 albums have charted in the UK Top 10.
History
Formation and early years (2001–2003)
The Cribs were formed in late 2001 as a recording project for the three brothers. After recording a demo and garnering label interest, the band started playing live around this time, at venues like the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds, and "squats and warehouse parties" with artists such as Calvin Johnston, Subway Sect, Herman Dune, and Ballboy. They also released a split 7" single on Leeds based garage/riot grrrl/punk label Squirrel Records during this period with former Shove/Boyskout member Jen Schande. Limited to 300 copies on blue vinyl the record is now a rarity that sells for upwards of $150 on eBay. According to Mojo magazine, 'On the strength of one demo, the rush to find the UK Strokes saw the three-piece fielding calls from major labels, pluggers and label managers' in 2002. After several high-profile support slots, the band signed to the fledgling independent label Wichita Recordings in 2003 "we thought (they) were great because they sounded a bit like Pavement and had a big hook. We went to see them at the Metro on Oxford Street and completely fell in love with them. They seemed like such an obvious pop band. Every song sounded like a single" – Mark Bowen, Wichita Recordings.
The Cribs (2004)
After signing with Wichita Recordings, the band began re-recording many of the songs from the original demo, as well as several new tracks for what would be their debut record. Sessions began in London with Chicago based avant-garde musician Bobby Conn producing, after the band had supported him on some UK dates and impressed him "They had this cassette demo they had recorded on a boom-box, I suggested overdubs, they were too kitchen-sink for overdubs. I tried handclaps, they were 'not sure about handclaps'. It was all 'Keep it real'" – Bobby Conn. Then sessions moved to Toe Rag Studios in Hackney with the band self-producing. The album was completed in 7 days, live to 8-track tape, with Ed Deegan engineering.
Released on 8 March 2004, the album found early supporters in the NME, who commented on its "supreme pop melodies", and referred to it as "lo-fi, hi fun" giving it an 8/10 review. Lo-fi would be a term that would follow the band around for the next few years, and something that became synonymous with the group. Again, from the NME in 2011: "Recorded in a week, it's the definition of indie lo-fi. But not willful indie lo-fi; the scratches, clangs and gawwumps all heard here are genuinely the product of the trio's shoestring methods rather than the usual contrived fuzz that bands spend ages poring over beaten up eight-tracks to achieve". Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamacq was also an early champion. Lois Wilson of Mojo magazine described the album in 2009 as "intelligent lyrics on a background of clipped guitars and tumbling drums, with nods to The Strokes, Beat Happening, and C86's inept charm"
Three singles were released from the album – the limited edition 7" only "Another Number"/"Baby Don't Sweat" in November 2003, followed by first single proper "You Were Always the One", which climbed to No. 2 in the indie charts. "What About Me" was the third and final single from the album, again making the indie top 10. The Cribs toured extensively throughout 2004 and into 2005, both as headliners as well as supporting artists like old friend Bobby Conn, Death Cab For Cutie and The Libertines. Over the campaign they toured the UK and Ireland, Europe, Japan, and the United States, as well as several significant international festival appearances such as Reading and Leeds Festivals, Summersonic, T in the Park and Pukkelpop amongst others. Though only a moderate underground success at the time "Another Number" has gone on to become one of the band's most enduring 'hits' – seldom being left off the set-list and usually accompanied by a full crowd sing-along of the signature, repeated guitar riff.
The New Fellas (2005–2006)
After concluding touring duties for the first record, the band were taken off the road to start writing the follow up. However, the Cribs decided they still wanted to tour and took to posting their phone numbers and email addresses on the internet, professing to play anywhere for fuel money and a crate of beer. This DIY approach is something the band and label now feel was a key factor in their success, as it helped nurture a very strong, passionate fanbase.
The New Fellas, the band's second album release, was recorded with Edwyn Collins, the singer-songwriter and guitarist from Glasgow's influential Orange Juice in London at his own West Heath Studios. Again, it was a comparatively unpolished record sonically, as both the producer Collins and the band themselves were achieving sounds similar to those heard on the Orange Juice records. This was, however, the intention and the reason the band and producer were put together. "They had definite ideas what they wanted the record to sound like...They had this work ethic, there was nothing spoiled about them – they were proper indie; everything done on a shoe-string and they just got on with it....they were tremendous" – Edwyn Collins. One song, "Haunted", was even recorded on Scarborough beach on a whim, after hearing a Steve Martin ukulele duet recorded on a beach.
The first release from the record was the single "Hey Scenesters!" on 18 April 2005. It reached no. 27 in the UK charts, and started their run of 7 consecutive top 40 singles. The album followed on 20 June 2005 although it had leaked onto the internet several months prior to the official release date, hampering its first week sales. The record has however, gone on to be certified Silver by the BPI, and in a recent poll held by the NME was proved to be the overall fans favourite record. The other singles released from the record were "Mirror Kissers", "Martell", and non-album track "You're Gonna Lose Us" (produced by Bernard Butler), which was paired with "The Wrong Way To Be" as a AA side. The extensive New Fellas world tour took in several UK tours, Europe, United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, Scandinavia, and their first trip to Iceland. They appeared at numerous festivals at this time, including an appearance on the main stage at Reading and Leeds Festivals (becoming the first band to ever progress through all three stages in consecutive years), headlining the tent at T in the Park, Fuji Rock festival in Japan as well as an extensive USA arena tour with Death Cab for Cutie and Franz Ferdinand. A European tour during this period with ex Pavement man Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks would introduce Gary to his future wife Joanna Bolme.
Shortly before their appearance at the Fuji Rock festival, the Cribs released a Japan-only mini album called Arigato Cockers, made up of B-sides and rarities from both the first and second albums.
In their year-end issue, the NME made The New Fellas the No. 11 album of the year, and Hey Scenesters a single of the year.
Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever (2007–2008)
At the conclusion of The New Fellas campaign, the Cribs signed a major label deal with Warner Bros. Records – though they remained on Wichita in the UK at the bands insistence. The subsequent album, Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever saw the band finally take steps to progress forth from their 'lo-fi' roots, being recorded in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada with Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand as producer. The band and producer had met during the US tour the bands did together with Death Cab for Cutie, and hit it off immediately. The album was mixed by Andy Wallace (Nirvana, Foo Fighters). They collaborated with Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth on the track "Be Safe" – Ranaldo contributing his spoken word poetry to the band's music.
Prior to the record's release the Cribs took in a run of small UK club dates to preview songs from the new record. This is documented in the first Cribs documentary Leave Too Neat. The first cut from the album was the single 'Men's Needs', released on 7 May. It proved to be the band's first breakthrough with mainstream radio and reached no. 17 in the UK charts, becoming their biggest hit to date. The accompanying video, filmed in Hollywood by director Diane Martel has achieved over 7 million YouTube views to date.
The album was released on 21 May 2007, and entered the UK album charts at No. 13.
Touring began at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 30 March for the Teenage Cancer Trust. The rest of 2007 and most of 2008 was spent on the road promoting the record, taking in extensive UK and European touring, several United States and Canada tours, Japan, and the band's first trip out to Mexico for a main stage appearance at the MX Beat Festival, as well as some later headline shows. During their US touring schedules they appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, the Late Show with David Letterman, and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.
The second single to be released from the record was 'Moving Pictures', again charting in the UK Top 40, and then later a 7" only release of "I'm a Realist". The latter was backed with a cover of The Replacements song "Bastards of Young", a band the Cribs cite as a large influence. Another non-album single 'Don't You Wanna be Relevant?' was paired with album cut "Our Bovine Public" and again climbed to the UK top 40. There were numerous festival slots around this time including main stage slots at Lollapalooza, T in the Park, and V festival, as well as returning to Fuji Rock, and a first time appearance at Coachella amongst others. In November 2007 the Cribs were invited by a re-formed The Sex Pistols to play with them for three nights at Brixton Academy in celebration of the 30-year anniversary of Never Mind the Bollocks In December the band announced three intimate shows at their old haunt the Brudenell Social Club in aid of cystic fibrosis where they would play all three albums to date in sequence with secret unannounced support bands each night (Franz Ferdinand, Kate Nash, and Kaiser Chiefs respectively). This was documented for the band's second DVD, the 3 disc Live at the Brudenell Social Club.
In the year-end issues "Men's Needs" was named third-best track of 2007 by NME with the album coming in at No. 9, Track of the Year 2007 by the Metro newspaper and making the annual 100 best tracks list in Rolling Stone magazine in the USA.
2008 began with the Cribs being nominated for 4 awards at the annual NME awards ceremony (Best British Band, Best Live Band, Best Track and Hero of the Year for Ryan Jarman). Through this they were asked to headline the annual NME Awards Tour, which they undertook through January and February featuring some of the band's largest headline shows up to that point and culminating in a show at the o2 Arena in London. They also made a live appearance at the Awards ceremony itself, playing new single 'I'm a Realist' and a cover of 'Panic' by the Smiths, featuring their new guitarist Johnny Marr (of the aforementioned band), who had been guesting with them throughout the tour.
Another USA tour followed this, and then some more festival appearances including main stage slots at the Isle of Wight Festival, Rockness, Primavera Festival, Fuji Rock and Sziget, as well as a headline appearance on the John Peel Stage at Glastonbury, and headlining the second stage at Reading and Leeds Festivals.
In April 2018, the album was certified Gold in the UK by the British Phonographic Industry for sales over 100,000, becoming the first album certified Gold by the BRIT Awards.
Ignore the Ignorant (2009–2010)
After a chance meeting with Johnny Marr (at the time a member of Modest Mouse) in Portland, OR the Cribs and Johnny became close friends. Once Modest Mouse completed touring duties for their record, the Cribs and Johnny started to hang around and jam together – "It's been going well and it would be shame to cut it short, the original intention was to be doing an EP" the band told BBC 6 Music in January 2008. However it was later announced that they would be working on an album together and that Johnny had joined as a full-time member of the group.
Much of the remainder of 2008 was spent writing new material in Portland, OR, Manchester and Wakefield, followed by a short UK tour taking in Glasgow ABC, Bradford St. Georges Hall, two nights at Manchester Ritz, and Heaven in London to road-test some of the new songs before recording commenced. Studio time was booked for March 2009 in Los Angeles with veteran producer Nick Launay (Nick Cave, PIL, Yeah Yeah Yeahs). Ross Jarman performed most of the drum tracks for the recording with a broken wrist after a skateboard accident. Promotion for the Ignore the Ignorant album came in the form of an intimate "alternative Leeds/Reading show" at HMV in Leeds. This was scheduled as the same weekend as the Reading Leeds festival. The band played several songs from their new album as well as some old favourites. Afterwards, Ryan Jarman could be seen browsing the CD's in HMV and being available for fans to meet him.
Preceded by the single 'Cheat on Me', the album Ignore the Ignorant was released on 7 September 2009, and scored the Cribs their first UK Top Ten album. Released the same week that The Beatles re-issued their entire 13 LP back-catalogue, Ignore the Ignorant managed to out-sell all but two of them to chart at number 8, something the band described as "surreal". Touring began with a headline slot at the White Air festival in Brighton followed by a UK tour of large halls. The band then went on to tour Japan (including a show at Budokan with Arctic Monkeys) then on to South Korea where they headlined the Grand Mint festival at the Olympic Park, Seoul. Next was a United States/Canada tour, as well as a European arena tour with Franz Ferdinand before the Cribs returned to the UK for their largest headline shows to date.
In December 2009, Ignore the Ignorant was placed at number 11 in Mojo magazine's "Albums of the Year", and at number 7 in The Fly's "Albums of the Year". NME also placed it at No. 30 in their end of year list, as well as making "Cheat on Me" a track of the year. In Japan, Crossbeat magazine placed it at No. 8 in its "Albums of 2009" list, whilst Music Magazine called it the No. 1 album of 2009. Both magazines are leading publications in Japan. At the same time, The New Fellas was named an "Album of the Century" by Q.
2010 began with another extensive United States and Canada tour, before heading off for dates in Australia and New Zealand. Festival appearances including Glastonbury, Lollapalooza, Fuji Rock, Benecassim, Sziget and Pukkelpop amongst others followed.
During this time the band were invited to support Aerosmith at two arena shows in Spain and France.
For Record Store Day 2010 the Cribs released "So Hot Now" as a split 7" single with Portland, OR band The Thermals on legendary riot grrrl label Kill Rock Stars.
On 9 August 2010, BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe announced during his show that he would be playing a brand new Cribs song that night. The very next day, 'Housewife' was released officially on iTunes. No one, from music industry insiders to the band's fans, had any idea that a new single was being geared up until that moment. The cover art featured Ryan and Gary in drag. Later that month the band appeared on the main stage once again at the Reading and Leeds festivals to close the album campaign. These would be Marr's last shows with the Cribs.
In the Belly of the Brazen Bull (2011–2012)
After announcing Marr's departure from the group on 11 April 2011, The Cribs started work on writing the follow up to Ignore the Ignorant, mooted for a spring 2012 release. During this time, they recorded a cover of original 70's Canadian punk band The Dishrags 'Death in the Family' for a Canadian Mint Records compilation. Over the summer they played several headlining slots at UK festivals in 2011, as well as a show at Le Zenith in Paris with The Strokes. In June 2011 they made their first trip to Brazil, playing two shows in São Paulo. In December 2011 they headlined the Clockenflap festival in Hong Kong, debuting new songs 'Come On, Be A No-One', and 'Anna' for the first time.
The Cribs announced the title of their fifth studio album as In the Belly of the Brazen Bull and its track-listing on 14 February 2012. The album was recorded at Tarbox Road studio in New York with David Fridmann, London's Abbey Road and Chicago's EAR studio with engineer Steve Albini. On 14 February, BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe premiered the first taster from the album, 'Chi-Town' on his radio show and played the song 3 times. During this time, both the band and the song title were trending on Twitter. Shortly after the announcement was made, the band embarked on a quick UK tour, to preview the new material and promote the upcoming single, slated for April. In March, the band headed out on a tour of the United States, concluding in April, and later that month released the first official single from the new album 'Come On, Be A No-One'. A European tour followed, and then a full-scale UK tour in May – kicking off with a performance at the 2012 Camden Crawl. It was during this tour that the band were introduced to Turner Prize winning artist Martin Creed, who was acting as support band. The album was released on 7 May 2012 and would provide the band with their second UK Top 10 record, charting at number 9.
The next month, the band headed out for another tour of the United States and Canada, before flying to Japan to headline the Hostess Weekender festival at the Yebisu Garden Hall in Tokyo, as well as a show in Osaka. In July, the second official single from the album, 'Glitters Like Gold' would be released on a special gold glitter vinyl. The band toured Italy, and then toured the European festival circuit throughout most of the summer, including a large outdoor show with the Foo Fighters in Belfast Boucher playing fields, and another engagement at the Reading and Leeds festival, where the band would destroy the instruments and stage set at the climax of the Reading show.
September would see the release of the third and final single from the album. 'Anna', unlike the prior singles, was made available as a download only, and featured a collaboration with the aforementioned Martin Creed. The band and Creed had been looking for a project to collaborate on since meeting on tour earlier in the year, and the artist provided Work #1431 as the video to the single. In October the Cribs headlined Sŵn Festival in Cardiff, and then headed out on another UK and Irish tour. During this tour, the Cribs were awarded the 'Spirit of Independence' award at the Q Awards 2012 on 22 October. At the conclusion of the UK tour, the band headed to eastern Europe where, amongst other dates, they would visit Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece and Turkey for the first time. Following these dates, the band headed to South America to play a show in Brazil, and then on to Argentina for a show at the open air hockey arena Club Ciudad de Buenos Aires for the Personal Fest festival. 2013 would see the band visit Australia for 3 shows in January, effectively concluding live touring for 'In The Belly of The Brazen Bull'.
In the end of year lists, the album was placed by The Guardian (#22), NME (#8), The Fly (#21), This Is Fake DIY (#3) amongst others in the UK.
Payola (2013)
On 20 November 2012 the Cribs announced details of their first 'Best Of' compilation, Payola, which was released on 11 March 2013 via Wichita Recordings to mark the group's 10th anniversary. The 22 track album saw the first official release of "Leather Jacket Love Song" – recorded at sessions in early 2010, it is the final Cribs song to feature Johnny Marr. A special 40-track 'Anthology Edition' was released with an additional 18 track disc containing B-sides and rarities.
On 29 February, the band made their fourth appearance on the cover of NME magazine, which came with an additional CD release "Payola: The Demos". This companion disc to "Payola" featured demo versions of most of the significant songs featured on "Payola", as well as 3 unheard and unreleased tracks harking back as far as 2001.
Around the same time the band played an NME Awards show at Shepherd's Bush Empire and several other headline dates around the country. Over the summer, the Cribs played numerous festivals in the UK and Europe, including headline slots at Y Not Festival and a show at the Olympic Park (London), as well as a short tour of Scottish venues. Autumn saw the band head back to Australia for an "Anniversary Tour", before venturing into Asia for a lengthy tour there. Cities and countries visited on this trip would include Thailand (Bangkok), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Vietnam (Saigon), two shows in Japan (Tokyo), a show at the Kowloonbay International Trade & Exhibition Centre in Hong Kong, and a large outdoor show in the meadow at the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. The year was rounded out by two sold out Christmas shows at the Leeds Academy
2014 began quietly, as the band began writing sessions for their next studio album. The only shows announced would be as part of the Weezer cruise from Florida to the Bahamas in February. Later in the year, the Cribs returned to the UK for some UK festival slots, including headlining Truck Festival and Tramlines Festival amongst others, and an Italian tour with Franz Ferdinand.
For All My Sisters (2014–2016)
In August 2014, Music Week reported that the band had signed with Sony RED. This followed news that the band's sixth album was to be produced by former The Cars frontman Ric Ocasek, known for his work with artists including Weezer, Nada Surf and Guided by Voices. Frenchkiss Records was also named by Music Week as the band's new label for North America, but the band would ultimately later announce their signing with Arts & Crafts. "An Ivory Hand", a teaser track for the upcoming album had a midnight digital release on 19 January 2015. It received its first radio play later that day from the BBC's Steve Lamacq. It would later be made 'Single of the Week' by the NME. The album, For All My Sisters, was released in the UK on 23 March 2015; although due in North America on 24 March 2015, it was released the same day. It would go on to become the Cribs' third consecutive UK Top 10 album.
The first single from the album "Burning For No One", was debuted by BBC Radio 1 on 2 February, by Zane Lowe who made it his 'Hottest Record in the World'. The accompanying video, shot on the Bahamian island of Exuma was released on 16 February and clocked up over 200,000 views on YouTube in its first week.
The new songs were road tested on a quick UK tour of sold-out shows, and then the band went to New York City to play a 3 night residency across 3 different venues (2 in Brooklyn, 1 in Manhattan), before heading to Austin, Texas for the annual SXSW showcase, playing 4 shows across 3 days. Immediately after returning from SXSW, The Cribs embarked on a week-long tour of in-store performances and signings at independent record stores throughout the UK.
US touring began a few weeks later in San Francisco for a tour of the west coast, and would include a second appearance at the Coachella Festival, playing the Sunday of both weekends and playing headline shows throughout the state and Las Vegas in the intervening week. For this outing, the band was joined on stage by Michael Cummings of the NYC band Skaters.
Back in the UK, The Cribs headlined Leeds Town Hall as part of the Live at Leeds festival in May, before headlining The Great Escape Festival in Brighton with 2 performances, and then two shows in Ireland. That summer they would play on the main stages at the Liverpool Sound City festival and T in the Park, and made their third appearance on The Other Stage at Glastonbury. They would also play at Festival Internacional de Benicassim in Spain.
The Cribs then went out to Asia, for a headline show in Tokyo, and a main stage appearance at the Pentaport Rock Festival in Incheon, South Korea. Later that month they would appear on the Main Stage at the Reading and Leeds Festivals for the third time before heading out to North America for a full tour there. During the band's performance at the Fairmount Theatre in Montreal as part of the Pop Montreal festival, the band would perform 'Be Safe' with Lee Ranaldo performing his spoken word part live in person for only the second time since the song's release (the first coming in 2008 at the Music Hall of Williamsburg).
A full UK tour was announced during this period, and took place in October and November, which included dates at Glasgow Barrowlands, Manchester Albert Hall, and The Roundhouse in Camden amongst others.
In 2016 The Cribs were announced as headliners of the Camden Rocks Festival taking place in June. Over the summer The Cribs would play the main stage at Isle of Wight Festival, Y Not Festival, and were the secret unannounced headliners of In The Woods Festival in Kent. During the summer, The Cribs played their largest headline show to date, at the 8,000 capacity open air Millennium Square in Leeds.
Another tour of Asia followed, including stops in S. Korea (Seoul), Japan (Tokyo and Osaka) and the band's first engagement in China, where they would play the Shanghai Rugby Football Stadium for the Concrete and Grass Festival. Shortly after the show The Cribs announced that this would be the final show of the "For All My Sisters" tour.
24–7 Rock Star Shit (2017–2018)
On 3 February 2017 it was announced that The Cribs would be the subject to their own exhibition in their hometown at Wakefield Museum. The exhibit featured 3 large glass containers dedicated to each of the band members with their chosen instruments as well as various memorabilia such as early gig posters, awards, touring paraphernalia and original records. The exhibit was unveiled on 14 February 2017 by Ross, who appeared on BBC Look North playing the drum kit within his respective glass container. The exhibition ran until July 2017.
On 7 February 2017 The Cribs announced a 10th anniversary tour in honour of their third album. The "Men's Needs, Women's Needs, FOREVER" tour was initially scheduled to consist of seven dates in large venues across the UK. A second London date at the Forum was later added due to popular demand. The tour commenced on 11 May at Glasgow Academy and finished on 20 May with a show at Leeds First Direct Arena where they were joined live on stage by Lee Ranaldo for his spoken word part in Be Safe. The band also performed the album in full for their headlining slot on the Baltic Stage at Liverpool Sound City festival.
Following the final night of this tour, at midnight on 21 May, The Cribs tweeted a series of code which the next day revealed itself to be coordinates for various record stores across the UK and the US, along with specific timestamp for each store. Arriving at the location at the specified time would allow customers to purchase a white label single entitled "Year of Hate". Each single was hand numbered and the edition number totaled 247. This process continued with handfuls of co-ordinates for record stores being announced each day for the next week. The cryptic coordinate approach was dropped on 22 May due to the recent attack in Manchester. Despite the limited run number and obscure release method the single entered the UK vinyl singles chart at number 3 on the week commencing 26 May 2017. The song eventually saw a digital release on 16 June – until that time the only way to hear it was by playing the vinyl or via BBC iPlayer on-demand, after Steve Lamacq aired the song on his show.
A second single "In Your Palace" was shock released digitally on 2 June 2017 with a music video released on 13 June. It was then announced on 24 July 2017 that the album "24–7 Rock Star Shit" would be released 2 weeks later on 11 August 2017, alongside a music video for another new song – "Rainbow Ridge", which was available as a free download with a pre-order of the album. Exclusive launch parties were announced for Leeds and London – with the London party being a curated event at House of Vans, featuring an art display, Q&A with the band, and a full live performance on the night the album was released. Entrants were selected by a free-to-enter ballot via the Vans website.
After spending three days at number 1 in the UK charts, the album mid-weeked at number 5, before officially entering the charts at number 8 – the band's fourth consecutive Top 10 album.
Following this, The Cribs began a tour of the United States and Canada. At the conclusion of this tour they returned to Mexico to headline the Sala Corona in Mexico City, and to play the main stages at Live Out Festival in Monterrey and Festival Coordenada in Guadalajara. In December, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the original 'Cribsmas' event, the band booked Christmas residency shows in the UK – 4 nights in Glasgow, 4 nights in Manchester, 3 nights in London, and 5 nights in Leeds – performing over 80 songs from their back catalogue. In 2018 the band continued their UK tour with the '24–7 Rock Star Shit in the UK' tour – a 14 date tour of secondary markets throughout January.
In April the band went to Australia to play shows in Newcastle, Brisbane, Perth, Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne. Following this was a 4 date tour of China in May – visiting Chengdu, Wuhan, Shanghai, and Beijing. A show in Hong Kong followed as well as two shows in Japan.
Summer saw The Cribs invited to support Foo Fighters at City of Manchester Stadium alongside several other UK festival appearances.
Night Network (2019–present)
Following the release of their fourth consecutive UK top 10 album 24-7 Rock Star Shit, the band almost immediately parted company with their long time UK management and found themselves stuck in what Gary described as "legal morass", unable to record or release new music. This is because the band had belatedly discovered that the rights to the back catalogue from earlier in their career was owned by other parties thanks to various deals that they were unaware of. As a result, the band – who were now managing themselves – decided to focus on gaining ownership because there would be no point in signing a new deal, making a new record and touring as long as someone else owned their music.
What followed was an eighteen month period of inactivity, resulting in 2019 being the only year since the band's inception in 2002 whereby the band did not play a live concert, following their final gig of the 24-7 Rock Star Shit tour in Glasgow in September 2018.
In a position of uncertainty about how to continue beyond the already-booked gigs, following a show where The Cribs had supported Foo Fighters in Manchester at the Etihad Stadium in June 2018, Dave Grohl learned of the band's struggles and offered for the band to use his Studio 606.
Following the successful resolution of their back catalogue ownership, the band was set to sign a major label deal. But then it emerged that there was yet other people claiming ownership of their music, and so they had to go through another legal battle from September 2019 to February 2020 while working on the new album.
During 2020, the band was active on Twitter to participate in Tim Burgess' "Listening Parties", offering behind the scenes insight for their most commercially successful album Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever on 7 April and due to the positive response, followed up with another listening party of fan favourite The New Fellas on 28 May.
On 8 June, the band announced on their social media pages, with four hours notice, their first live performance in nearly two years. This turned out to be a pre-recorded webcam broadcast of "Be Safe", featuring Lee Ranaldo performing his spoken word part, from their residences across the world (Ryan in Queens, New York, Gary in Portland, Oregon, Ross in Wakefield and Lee in Manhattan, New York).
On 12 August 2020, a day over three years since their last new material 24-7 Rock Star Shit, the band's social media profile pictures changed to a stylised test card. The following day on 13 August 2020, the band announced their return with a new song to be broadcast on BBC Radio 6 Music. The song turned out to be lead single "Running Into You" and subsequently the band announced new album Night Network to be released on 13 November 2020, along with artwork, tracklisting and a video for "Running Into You" starring Sam Riley.
Released into the UK COVID-19 lockdown of 2020, the band had all of their scheduled headline touring to support the album delayed. The album release was therefore celebrated with a socially distanced performance at Liverpools legendary Cavern Club on the 21st November. This performance was streamed worldwide as a PPV via the Veeps platform.
On July 15, 2021, The Cribs released a cover of the Comet Gain song "Fingernailed For You" as part of the Kill Rock Stars label's 30th anniversary covers compilation "Stars Rock Kill (Rock Stars)".
Band members
Current members
Gary Jarman – bass, vocals (2001–present)
Ryan Jarman – guitar, vocals (2001–present)
Ross Jarman – drums (2001–present)
Former members
Johnny Marr – guitar (2008–2011)
Touring musicians
David Jones – guitar (2011–2015)
Michael Cummings – guitar, keyboard, Bass VI (March/April 2015 U.S. dates)
Russell Searle – guitar, keyboard (May 2015 – present)
Awards and nominations
Discography
The Cribs (2004)
The New Fellas (2005)
Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever (2007)
Ignore the Ignorant (2009)
In the Belly of the Brazen Bull (2012)
For All My Sisters (2015)
24-7 Rock Star Shit (2017)
Night Network (2020)
Fanzine
A group of between fifty and one-hundred committed fans aimed to 'collect thoughtful, dedicated and passionate written work' on the band beginning in early summer 2011. Kind Words from the Broken Hearted 'outlines a range of responses to the Cribs...with many otherwise "ordinary" men and women contributing ideas and views' that fill the pages of the fanzine. Pieces within the fanzine emphasise the importance of Wichita Recordings, Domino Recording Company, Kill Rock Stars and Fortuna Pop!, amongst others, in providing a vibrant and supportive environment for independent bands to hone their work and retain an ethical stance in the music industry. The fanzine also shares close links with fellow Wakefield independent music fans at Rhubarb Bomb, in addition to Bonus Cupped, a left-leaning, travel and punk publication from Bristol. Moreover, Kind Words from the Broken Hearted supports other forms of independent music, including Comet Gain, Edwyn Collins and Pavement to name but three, welcoming diverse forms of the art but keen to eschew a celebratory tone that pervades contemporary music journalism. Notable readers, and upcoming contributors include band collaborator Nick Scott at Narcsville and Eddie Argos and Jasper Future from Art Brut. Support from within contemporary music journalism has come from influential The Smiths and David Bowie writer and broadcaster Simon Goddard, in addition to Tim Jonze at The Guardian. Those interested by independent journalism can find the fanzine through a regular address or alternatively through an Edinburgh-based social media site.
References
External links
The Cribs official site
And then there were three: An interview with Ryan Jarman (via Talk Rock To Me), 11 May 2012
English indie rock groups
NME Awards winners
V2 Records artists
Wichita Recordings artists
Sibling musical groups
Musical groups established in 2002
2002 establishments in England
Musical groups from Wakefield
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"Payola is a legal term for a payment or fund.\n\nPayola may also refer to:\n\nPayolas, a Canadian rock band\nPayola (New Zealand band) \nPayola (Northern Irish band) \nPayola (The Cribs album), 2013\nPayola (Desaparecidos album), 2015",
"Payola, in the music industry, is the illegal practice of paying a commercial radio station to play a song without the station disclosing the payment. Under US law, a radio station must disclose songs they were paid to play on the air as sponsored airtime. The number of times the songs are played can influence the perceived popularity of a song, and payola may be used to influence these meters. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) treats payola as a violation of the Sponsorship Identification Rules, which requires any broadcast of paid material to include a disclosure.\n\nThe term payola is a combination of \"pay\" and \"ola\", which is a suffix of product names common in the early 20th century, such as Pianola, Victrola, Amberola, Crayola, Rock-Ola, Shinola, or brands such as the radio equipment manufacturer Motorola.\n\nHistory \nPrior to the 1930s, there was little public scrutiny of the reasoning behind a song's popularity. The advertising agencies which sponsored NBC's radio/TV show Your Hit Parade refused to reveal the specific methods that were used to determine top hits. Only general and vague statements were offered; that determining top hits was based on \"readings of radio requests, sheet music sales, dance hall favorites and jukebox tabulations\". Early attempts to stop payola were met with silence by publishers.\n\nProsecution for payola in the 1950s was in part a reaction of the traditional music establishment against newcomers. The emergence of hit radio had become a threat to the wages of song-pluggers and publisher's revenue streams. By the mid-1940s, three-quarters of the records produced in the United States went into jukeboxes. Attempts were made to link all payola to rock-and-roll music. In the 1950s, independent record companies or music publishers frequently used payola to promote rock and roll on American radio. This practice promoted cultural diversity because disc jockeys (DJs) were less inclined to indulge their own personal and racial biases.\n\nWhile the amount of money involved remains largely unpublished, Phil Lind of Chicago's WAIT disclosed in Congressional hearings that he had taken US$22,000 to play a record.\n\nUS investigations and aftermath\nThe first US Congressional Payola Investigations occurred in 1959, carried out by the House Subcommittee on Legislative Oversight into payola, and prompted by a parallel investigation in the US Senate.\n\nDJ Alan Freed, who was uncooperative in committee hearings, was fired as a result. Dick Clark also testified before the committee, but avoided repercussions, partially due to the fact that he had divested his ownership interest in music-industry holdings.\n\nFollowing the investigation, radio DJs were stripped of the authority to make programming decisions and payola became a misdemeanor offense. Programming decisions became the responsibility of station program directors. However, this had the result of simplifying the process of payola: instead of reaching numerous DJs, record labels only had to persuade the station's program director. Labels could circumvent payola allegations by utilizing independent third parties (see below).\n\nIn 1976, inner-city urban soul DJ Frankie Crocker was indicted in a payola scandal, causing him to leave New York radio, where his influence was greatest. The charges were later dropped and he returned to New York, hosting MTV's video jukebox.\n\nFollowing the creation of music sharing websites in the late 1990s, the power of independent promoters declined and labels returned to dealing with stations directly.\n\nModus operandi\nPayola is used by record labels to promote their artists, and can be in the form of monetary rewards or other types of reimbursement. This can include purchasing advertising, requiring bands to play station-sponsored concerts, or paying stations to hold \"meet the band\" contests. In exchange, the band gains a place on a station's playlist or a lesser-known band of the label may gain air time.\n\nThird-party loophole\n\nA loophole in US payola laws is for labels to utilize a third-party or independent promoter (not to be confused with independent record label). The promoter would offer \"promotion payments\" to station directors for putting their client's artists on the station's playlist, sidestepping Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations. As it was seen as falling outside the payola rules, stations did not deem it necessary to report to authorities. This practice became widespread until a 1986 NBC News investigation called \"The New Payola\" instigated another round of Congressional investigations.\n\nIn 2002, investigations by the office of then-New York District Attorney Eliot Spitzer uncovered evidence that executives at Sony BMG music labels had made deals with several large commercial radio chains. Spitzer's office settled out of court with Sony BMG Music Entertainment in July 2005, Warner Music Group in November 2005 and Universal Music Group in May 2006. The three conglomerates agreed to pay $10 million, $5 million, and $12 million respectively to New York State non-profit organizations that will fund music education and appreciation programs. EMI remains under investigation.\n\nConcerns about contemporary forms of payola in the US prompted an investigation during which the FCC established firmly that the \"loophole\" was still a violation of the law. In 2007, four companies (CBS Radio, Citadel, Clear Channel, and Entercom) settled on paying $12.5 million in fines and accepting tougher restrictions for three years, although no company admitted any wrongdoing. Due to increased legal scrutiny, some larger radio companies (including industry giant Clear Channel) now refuse to have any contact with independent promoters.\n\nClear Channel Radio, through iHeartRadio, launched a program called On the Verge that required the stations to play a given song at least 150 times in order to give a new artist exposure. Brand managers at the top of the Clear Channel chain, after listening to hundreds of songs and filtering them down to about five or six favorites from various formats, send those selections to program directors across the country. These program directors vote on which ones they think radio listeners will like the most. Songs that benefited with the exposure were Iggy Azalea's \"Fancy\". Tinashe's \"2 On\", Anthony Lewis' \"Candy Rain\", and Jhené Aiko's \"The Worst\". Tom Poleman, president of national programming platforms for the company, stated that the acts selected are based solely on the quality of their music and not on label pressure.\n\nOn Spotify, labels can pay for tracks to appear in user play-lists as \"Sponsored Songs\". It is possible for users to opt out of this in their account settings.\n\nAs money laundering scheme\nIn Mexico, South America, and some regions along the US southern border, payola is used to launder money from illegal operations. In this practice, unknown \"new artists\" will suddenly appear on multiple formats and be aggressively promoted by producers of dubious origin, then disappear from the music scene or change their stage name.\n\nCriticism\nOn 25 September 2007, the U.S. Congress held a hearing on hip hop music entitled From Imus to Industry: The Business of Stereotypes and Degrading Images. In her testimony, Lisa Fager Bediako, co-founder and President of media watchdog group Industry Ears, argued that misogynistic and racist stereotypes permeate hip hop music because record labels, radio stations, and music video channels profit from allowing such material to air while censoring other material. In that context, Fager stated:\n\nSatire of payola practices\n\nIn 1960, Stan Freberg did a parody on the Payola Scandal, by calling it \"Old Payola Roll Blues\", a two-sided single, where the promoter gets an ordinary teenager, named Clyde Ankle, to record a song, for Obscurity Records, entitled \"High School OO OO\", and then tries to offer the song to a Jazz radio station with phony deals that the Disc Jockey just won't buy it. It ends with an anti-rock song, saying hello to Jazz and Swing, and goodbye to amateur nights, including Rock and Roll.\n\nThe Vancouver, BC, new wave band the Payola$ chose their moniker during the punk explosion of the late 1970s.\n\nThe practice is criticized in the chorus of the Dead Kennedys song \"Pull My Strings\", a parody of the song \"My Sharona\" (\"My Payola\") sung to a crowd of music industry leaders during a music award ceremony.\n\nThe They Might Be Giants song \"Hey, Mr. DJ, I Thought You Said We Had a Deal\" is about the practice. It is narrated from the point of view of a naive and inexperienced musician who has been coerced by a disc jockey into paying for airplaythe disc jockey then disappears and does not deliver on his promise.\n\nThe practice is satirized in song \"Payola Blues\" by Neil Young, from his 1983 album Everybody's Rockin'. It opens by saying \"This one's for you, Alan Freed\" and then states \"'Cause the things they're doing today would make a saint out of you,\" implying that Payola corruption is bigger now (or was bigger in the 1980s) than it was in the '50s.\n\nPayola was referenced in Billy Joel's song \"We Didn't Start the Fire,\" during the verse dealing with the events of 1960.\n\nOn a Washington, D.C. radio station in 1999, the disc jockeys announced that they were debuting the Lou Bega song \"Mambo Number 5\", by saying that they had accepted a large amount of payola to play the song. Ironically, if they had actually been paid to play the song on the air, it would not have been payola, because payola is the unannounced acceptance of a payment to run a song. If the song is identified before being played as being done because the talent or station is being paid to do so, the playing of the song and acceptance of money to do so is perfectly legal, and does not constitute payola.\n\nPayola was depicted in the film The Harder They Come, released in 1972, where a record producer, not the recording artist, controls the airwaves. The portrayal of its protagonist (Jimmy Cliff) as an aspiring musician who is forced to sign away his rights to make a hit record depicts the role of record producers and radio DJs as a dominance – the musician ends up with no aspirations or living the same lifestyle, as in the case of the film Rockers.\n\nIn an installment of Mathnet from PBS's Square One Television, the detectives George Frankly and Pat Tuesday investigated a case of suspected payola by forming a fictitious group called \"The Googols\" and creating their own song titled \"Without Math.\" Payola was eventually ruled out as a cause of increased sales of particular songs at a company.\n\nCriticism of US laws\nThe FCC and the Communications Act of 1934 both have strict requirements and rules regarding payola. These demand that:\n\nEven with these requirements in place, however, record companies have found loopholes within the phrasing of the regulations to continue the practice. These loopholes have created a situation which isolates independent artists from mainstream media. A current example of this is the lengths that artists Macklemore and Ryan Lewis went to get their music heard. Because Lewis and Macklemore belonged to an independent label, they feared payola laws would interfere with their airtime. So they hired an independent arm of Warner Music Group, the Alternative Distribution Alliance, which assists independent acts to get their music on radio. Zach Quillen, manager of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, discussed how \"they paid the alliance a flat monthly fee to help promote the album.\"\n\nOne side effect of the vagueness of the law and the creation of the loophole is the expansion of the concept at the hands of online music sharing websites. In 2009, the website Jango created a plan to accept promotion fees legally by disclosing that they are paid to play the songs. \"For as little as $30, a band can buy 1,000 plays on the music-streaming service, slotted in between established artists. The artists themselves choose what other music they'd like to be played next to.\"\n\nSee also\n Frankie Crocker\n Tommy Smalls\n Radio promotion\n Telling Lies in America\n Cash for comment scandal\n Claque\n Plugola\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading\n \n \n \n Cartwright, Robin (31 August 2004). \"What's the story on the radio payola scandal of the 1950s?.\" The Straight Dope.\n Coase, Ronald (1979). \"Payola in Radio and Television Broadcasting.\" Journal of Law and Economics 22: 269–328.\n McCarthy, Jamie (5 June 2001). \"Payola: Another Brick in the Wall.\" Slashdot Features.\n Boehlert, Eric (14 March 2001). \"Pay for play.\" Salon.\n Dannen, Frederic (1991). Hit Men: Power Brokers & Fast Money Inside the Music Business. New York: Random House. .\n The FCC's Payola Rules \"Sponsorship Identification Rules\" FCC's consumer publications.\n Palmer, Robert(1995). Rock & Roll: An Unruly History. New York: Harmony Books. 325 pages. .\n\nCriminal law\nExtortion\nMusic industry\nEconomics of the arts and literature"
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"The Cribs",
"Payola (2013)",
"What is Payola?",
"On 20 November 2012 the Cribs announced details of their first 'Best Of' compilation, Payola,"
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The Cribs
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On 20 November 2012 the Cribs announced details of their first 'Best Of' compilation, Payola, which was released on 11 March 2013 via Wichita Recordings to mark the group's 10th anniversary. The 22 track album saw the first official release of "Leather Jacket Love Song" - recorded at sessions in early 2010, it is the final Cribs song to feature Johnny Marr. A special 40-track 'Anthology Edition' was released with an additional 18 track disc containing B-sides and rarities. On the 29th of February, the band made their fourth appearance on the cover of NME magazine, which came with an additional CD release "Payola: The Demos". This companion disc to "Payola" featured demo versions of most of the significant songs featured on "Payola", as well as 3 unheard and unreleased tracks harking back as far as 2001. Around the same time the band played an NME Awards show at Shepherds Bush Empire and several other headline dates around the country. Over the summer, the Cribs played numerous festivals in the UK and Europe, including headline slots at Y Not Festival and a show at the Olympic Park (London), as well as a short tour of Scottish venues. Autumn saw the band head back to Australia for an "Anniversary Tour", before venturing into Asia for a lengthy tour there. Cities and countries visited on this trip would include Thailand (Bangkok), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Vietnam (Saigon), two shows in Japan (Tokyo), a show at the Kowloonbay International Trade & Exhibition Centre in Hong Kong, and a large outdoor show in the meadow at the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. The year was rounded out by two sold out Christmas shows at the Leeds Academy 2014 began quietly, as the band began writing sessions for their next studio album. The only shows announced would be as part of the Weezer cruise from Florida to the Bahamas in February. Later in the year, the Cribs returned to the UK for some UK festival slots, including headlining Truck Festival and Tramlines Festival amongst others, and an Italian tour with Franz Ferdinand. CANNOTANSWER
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CANNOTANSWER
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The Cribs are a British indie rock band originally from Wakefield, West Yorkshire that formed in 2001. The band consists of twins Gary and Ryan Jarman and their younger brother Ross Jarman. They were subsequently joined by ex-The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr who was a formal member of the group from 2008 until 2011.
The band, who first became active on the concert circuit in 2002, were initially tied to other like-minded UK bands of that time, most notably The Libertines, by a British music press that were looking for a 'British rearguard' to the wave of popular US alternative rock bands of the time. They had outgrown this tag by the time of the commercial success of their third LP. In 2008, Q magazine described the band as "The biggest cult band in the UK".
In 2012, the band's 10th anniversary year, they were honoured with the Spirit of Independence award at the annual Q Awards. Several months later, they received the Outstanding Contribution to Music award at the annual NME Awards.
As of 2017, their last 4 albums have charted in the UK Top 10.
History
Formation and early years (2001–2003)
The Cribs were formed in late 2001 as a recording project for the three brothers. After recording a demo and garnering label interest, the band started playing live around this time, at venues like the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds, and "squats and warehouse parties" with artists such as Calvin Johnston, Subway Sect, Herman Dune, and Ballboy. They also released a split 7" single on Leeds based garage/riot grrrl/punk label Squirrel Records during this period with former Shove/Boyskout member Jen Schande. Limited to 300 copies on blue vinyl the record is now a rarity that sells for upwards of $150 on eBay. According to Mojo magazine, 'On the strength of one demo, the rush to find the UK Strokes saw the three-piece fielding calls from major labels, pluggers and label managers' in 2002. After several high-profile support slots, the band signed to the fledgling independent label Wichita Recordings in 2003 "we thought (they) were great because they sounded a bit like Pavement and had a big hook. We went to see them at the Metro on Oxford Street and completely fell in love with them. They seemed like such an obvious pop band. Every song sounded like a single" – Mark Bowen, Wichita Recordings.
The Cribs (2004)
After signing with Wichita Recordings, the band began re-recording many of the songs from the original demo, as well as several new tracks for what would be their debut record. Sessions began in London with Chicago based avant-garde musician Bobby Conn producing, after the band had supported him on some UK dates and impressed him "They had this cassette demo they had recorded on a boom-box, I suggested overdubs, they were too kitchen-sink for overdubs. I tried handclaps, they were 'not sure about handclaps'. It was all 'Keep it real'" – Bobby Conn. Then sessions moved to Toe Rag Studios in Hackney with the band self-producing. The album was completed in 7 days, live to 8-track tape, with Ed Deegan engineering.
Released on 8 March 2004, the album found early supporters in the NME, who commented on its "supreme pop melodies", and referred to it as "lo-fi, hi fun" giving it an 8/10 review. Lo-fi would be a term that would follow the band around for the next few years, and something that became synonymous with the group. Again, from the NME in 2011: "Recorded in a week, it's the definition of indie lo-fi. But not willful indie lo-fi; the scratches, clangs and gawwumps all heard here are genuinely the product of the trio's shoestring methods rather than the usual contrived fuzz that bands spend ages poring over beaten up eight-tracks to achieve". Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamacq was also an early champion. Lois Wilson of Mojo magazine described the album in 2009 as "intelligent lyrics on a background of clipped guitars and tumbling drums, with nods to The Strokes, Beat Happening, and C86's inept charm"
Three singles were released from the album – the limited edition 7" only "Another Number"/"Baby Don't Sweat" in November 2003, followed by first single proper "You Were Always the One", which climbed to No. 2 in the indie charts. "What About Me" was the third and final single from the album, again making the indie top 10. The Cribs toured extensively throughout 2004 and into 2005, both as headliners as well as supporting artists like old friend Bobby Conn, Death Cab For Cutie and The Libertines. Over the campaign they toured the UK and Ireland, Europe, Japan, and the United States, as well as several significant international festival appearances such as Reading and Leeds Festivals, Summersonic, T in the Park and Pukkelpop amongst others. Though only a moderate underground success at the time "Another Number" has gone on to become one of the band's most enduring 'hits' – seldom being left off the set-list and usually accompanied by a full crowd sing-along of the signature, repeated guitar riff.
The New Fellas (2005–2006)
After concluding touring duties for the first record, the band were taken off the road to start writing the follow up. However, the Cribs decided they still wanted to tour and took to posting their phone numbers and email addresses on the internet, professing to play anywhere for fuel money and a crate of beer. This DIY approach is something the band and label now feel was a key factor in their success, as it helped nurture a very strong, passionate fanbase.
The New Fellas, the band's second album release, was recorded with Edwyn Collins, the singer-songwriter and guitarist from Glasgow's influential Orange Juice in London at his own West Heath Studios. Again, it was a comparatively unpolished record sonically, as both the producer Collins and the band themselves were achieving sounds similar to those heard on the Orange Juice records. This was, however, the intention and the reason the band and producer were put together. "They had definite ideas what they wanted the record to sound like...They had this work ethic, there was nothing spoiled about them – they were proper indie; everything done on a shoe-string and they just got on with it....they were tremendous" – Edwyn Collins. One song, "Haunted", was even recorded on Scarborough beach on a whim, after hearing a Steve Martin ukulele duet recorded on a beach.
The first release from the record was the single "Hey Scenesters!" on 18 April 2005. It reached no. 27 in the UK charts, and started their run of 7 consecutive top 40 singles. The album followed on 20 June 2005 although it had leaked onto the internet several months prior to the official release date, hampering its first week sales. The record has however, gone on to be certified Silver by the BPI, and in a recent poll held by the NME was proved to be the overall fans favourite record. The other singles released from the record were "Mirror Kissers", "Martell", and non-album track "You're Gonna Lose Us" (produced by Bernard Butler), which was paired with "The Wrong Way To Be" as a AA side. The extensive New Fellas world tour took in several UK tours, Europe, United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, Scandinavia, and their first trip to Iceland. They appeared at numerous festivals at this time, including an appearance on the main stage at Reading and Leeds Festivals (becoming the first band to ever progress through all three stages in consecutive years), headlining the tent at T in the Park, Fuji Rock festival in Japan as well as an extensive USA arena tour with Death Cab for Cutie and Franz Ferdinand. A European tour during this period with ex Pavement man Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks would introduce Gary to his future wife Joanna Bolme.
Shortly before their appearance at the Fuji Rock festival, the Cribs released a Japan-only mini album called Arigato Cockers, made up of B-sides and rarities from both the first and second albums.
In their year-end issue, the NME made The New Fellas the No. 11 album of the year, and Hey Scenesters a single of the year.
Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever (2007–2008)
At the conclusion of The New Fellas campaign, the Cribs signed a major label deal with Warner Bros. Records – though they remained on Wichita in the UK at the bands insistence. The subsequent album, Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever saw the band finally take steps to progress forth from their 'lo-fi' roots, being recorded in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada with Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand as producer. The band and producer had met during the US tour the bands did together with Death Cab for Cutie, and hit it off immediately. The album was mixed by Andy Wallace (Nirvana, Foo Fighters). They collaborated with Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth on the track "Be Safe" – Ranaldo contributing his spoken word poetry to the band's music.
Prior to the record's release the Cribs took in a run of small UK club dates to preview songs from the new record. This is documented in the first Cribs documentary Leave Too Neat. The first cut from the album was the single 'Men's Needs', released on 7 May. It proved to be the band's first breakthrough with mainstream radio and reached no. 17 in the UK charts, becoming their biggest hit to date. The accompanying video, filmed in Hollywood by director Diane Martel has achieved over 7 million YouTube views to date.
The album was released on 21 May 2007, and entered the UK album charts at No. 13.
Touring began at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 30 March for the Teenage Cancer Trust. The rest of 2007 and most of 2008 was spent on the road promoting the record, taking in extensive UK and European touring, several United States and Canada tours, Japan, and the band's first trip out to Mexico for a main stage appearance at the MX Beat Festival, as well as some later headline shows. During their US touring schedules they appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, the Late Show with David Letterman, and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.
The second single to be released from the record was 'Moving Pictures', again charting in the UK Top 40, and then later a 7" only release of "I'm a Realist". The latter was backed with a cover of The Replacements song "Bastards of Young", a band the Cribs cite as a large influence. Another non-album single 'Don't You Wanna be Relevant?' was paired with album cut "Our Bovine Public" and again climbed to the UK top 40. There were numerous festival slots around this time including main stage slots at Lollapalooza, T in the Park, and V festival, as well as returning to Fuji Rock, and a first time appearance at Coachella amongst others. In November 2007 the Cribs were invited by a re-formed The Sex Pistols to play with them for three nights at Brixton Academy in celebration of the 30-year anniversary of Never Mind the Bollocks In December the band announced three intimate shows at their old haunt the Brudenell Social Club in aid of cystic fibrosis where they would play all three albums to date in sequence with secret unannounced support bands each night (Franz Ferdinand, Kate Nash, and Kaiser Chiefs respectively). This was documented for the band's second DVD, the 3 disc Live at the Brudenell Social Club.
In the year-end issues "Men's Needs" was named third-best track of 2007 by NME with the album coming in at No. 9, Track of the Year 2007 by the Metro newspaper and making the annual 100 best tracks list in Rolling Stone magazine in the USA.
2008 began with the Cribs being nominated for 4 awards at the annual NME awards ceremony (Best British Band, Best Live Band, Best Track and Hero of the Year for Ryan Jarman). Through this they were asked to headline the annual NME Awards Tour, which they undertook through January and February featuring some of the band's largest headline shows up to that point and culminating in a show at the o2 Arena in London. They also made a live appearance at the Awards ceremony itself, playing new single 'I'm a Realist' and a cover of 'Panic' by the Smiths, featuring their new guitarist Johnny Marr (of the aforementioned band), who had been guesting with them throughout the tour.
Another USA tour followed this, and then some more festival appearances including main stage slots at the Isle of Wight Festival, Rockness, Primavera Festival, Fuji Rock and Sziget, as well as a headline appearance on the John Peel Stage at Glastonbury, and headlining the second stage at Reading and Leeds Festivals.
In April 2018, the album was certified Gold in the UK by the British Phonographic Industry for sales over 100,000, becoming the first album certified Gold by the BRIT Awards.
Ignore the Ignorant (2009–2010)
After a chance meeting with Johnny Marr (at the time a member of Modest Mouse) in Portland, OR the Cribs and Johnny became close friends. Once Modest Mouse completed touring duties for their record, the Cribs and Johnny started to hang around and jam together – "It's been going well and it would be shame to cut it short, the original intention was to be doing an EP" the band told BBC 6 Music in January 2008. However it was later announced that they would be working on an album together and that Johnny had joined as a full-time member of the group.
Much of the remainder of 2008 was spent writing new material in Portland, OR, Manchester and Wakefield, followed by a short UK tour taking in Glasgow ABC, Bradford St. Georges Hall, two nights at Manchester Ritz, and Heaven in London to road-test some of the new songs before recording commenced. Studio time was booked for March 2009 in Los Angeles with veteran producer Nick Launay (Nick Cave, PIL, Yeah Yeah Yeahs). Ross Jarman performed most of the drum tracks for the recording with a broken wrist after a skateboard accident. Promotion for the Ignore the Ignorant album came in the form of an intimate "alternative Leeds/Reading show" at HMV in Leeds. This was scheduled as the same weekend as the Reading Leeds festival. The band played several songs from their new album as well as some old favourites. Afterwards, Ryan Jarman could be seen browsing the CD's in HMV and being available for fans to meet him.
Preceded by the single 'Cheat on Me', the album Ignore the Ignorant was released on 7 September 2009, and scored the Cribs their first UK Top Ten album. Released the same week that The Beatles re-issued their entire 13 LP back-catalogue, Ignore the Ignorant managed to out-sell all but two of them to chart at number 8, something the band described as "surreal". Touring began with a headline slot at the White Air festival in Brighton followed by a UK tour of large halls. The band then went on to tour Japan (including a show at Budokan with Arctic Monkeys) then on to South Korea where they headlined the Grand Mint festival at the Olympic Park, Seoul. Next was a United States/Canada tour, as well as a European arena tour with Franz Ferdinand before the Cribs returned to the UK for their largest headline shows to date.
In December 2009, Ignore the Ignorant was placed at number 11 in Mojo magazine's "Albums of the Year", and at number 7 in The Fly's "Albums of the Year". NME also placed it at No. 30 in their end of year list, as well as making "Cheat on Me" a track of the year. In Japan, Crossbeat magazine placed it at No. 8 in its "Albums of 2009" list, whilst Music Magazine called it the No. 1 album of 2009. Both magazines are leading publications in Japan. At the same time, The New Fellas was named an "Album of the Century" by Q.
2010 began with another extensive United States and Canada tour, before heading off for dates in Australia and New Zealand. Festival appearances including Glastonbury, Lollapalooza, Fuji Rock, Benecassim, Sziget and Pukkelpop amongst others followed.
During this time the band were invited to support Aerosmith at two arena shows in Spain and France.
For Record Store Day 2010 the Cribs released "So Hot Now" as a split 7" single with Portland, OR band The Thermals on legendary riot grrrl label Kill Rock Stars.
On 9 August 2010, BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe announced during his show that he would be playing a brand new Cribs song that night. The very next day, 'Housewife' was released officially on iTunes. No one, from music industry insiders to the band's fans, had any idea that a new single was being geared up until that moment. The cover art featured Ryan and Gary in drag. Later that month the band appeared on the main stage once again at the Reading and Leeds festivals to close the album campaign. These would be Marr's last shows with the Cribs.
In the Belly of the Brazen Bull (2011–2012)
After announcing Marr's departure from the group on 11 April 2011, The Cribs started work on writing the follow up to Ignore the Ignorant, mooted for a spring 2012 release. During this time, they recorded a cover of original 70's Canadian punk band The Dishrags 'Death in the Family' for a Canadian Mint Records compilation. Over the summer they played several headlining slots at UK festivals in 2011, as well as a show at Le Zenith in Paris with The Strokes. In June 2011 they made their first trip to Brazil, playing two shows in São Paulo. In December 2011 they headlined the Clockenflap festival in Hong Kong, debuting new songs 'Come On, Be A No-One', and 'Anna' for the first time.
The Cribs announced the title of their fifth studio album as In the Belly of the Brazen Bull and its track-listing on 14 February 2012. The album was recorded at Tarbox Road studio in New York with David Fridmann, London's Abbey Road and Chicago's EAR studio with engineer Steve Albini. On 14 February, BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe premiered the first taster from the album, 'Chi-Town' on his radio show and played the song 3 times. During this time, both the band and the song title were trending on Twitter. Shortly after the announcement was made, the band embarked on a quick UK tour, to preview the new material and promote the upcoming single, slated for April. In March, the band headed out on a tour of the United States, concluding in April, and later that month released the first official single from the new album 'Come On, Be A No-One'. A European tour followed, and then a full-scale UK tour in May – kicking off with a performance at the 2012 Camden Crawl. It was during this tour that the band were introduced to Turner Prize winning artist Martin Creed, who was acting as support band. The album was released on 7 May 2012 and would provide the band with their second UK Top 10 record, charting at number 9.
The next month, the band headed out for another tour of the United States and Canada, before flying to Japan to headline the Hostess Weekender festival at the Yebisu Garden Hall in Tokyo, as well as a show in Osaka. In July, the second official single from the album, 'Glitters Like Gold' would be released on a special gold glitter vinyl. The band toured Italy, and then toured the European festival circuit throughout most of the summer, including a large outdoor show with the Foo Fighters in Belfast Boucher playing fields, and another engagement at the Reading and Leeds festival, where the band would destroy the instruments and stage set at the climax of the Reading show.
September would see the release of the third and final single from the album. 'Anna', unlike the prior singles, was made available as a download only, and featured a collaboration with the aforementioned Martin Creed. The band and Creed had been looking for a project to collaborate on since meeting on tour earlier in the year, and the artist provided Work #1431 as the video to the single. In October the Cribs headlined Sŵn Festival in Cardiff, and then headed out on another UK and Irish tour. During this tour, the Cribs were awarded the 'Spirit of Independence' award at the Q Awards 2012 on 22 October. At the conclusion of the UK tour, the band headed to eastern Europe where, amongst other dates, they would visit Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece and Turkey for the first time. Following these dates, the band headed to South America to play a show in Brazil, and then on to Argentina for a show at the open air hockey arena Club Ciudad de Buenos Aires for the Personal Fest festival. 2013 would see the band visit Australia for 3 shows in January, effectively concluding live touring for 'In The Belly of The Brazen Bull'.
In the end of year lists, the album was placed by The Guardian (#22), NME (#8), The Fly (#21), This Is Fake DIY (#3) amongst others in the UK.
Payola (2013)
On 20 November 2012 the Cribs announced details of their first 'Best Of' compilation, Payola, which was released on 11 March 2013 via Wichita Recordings to mark the group's 10th anniversary. The 22 track album saw the first official release of "Leather Jacket Love Song" – recorded at sessions in early 2010, it is the final Cribs song to feature Johnny Marr. A special 40-track 'Anthology Edition' was released with an additional 18 track disc containing B-sides and rarities.
On 29 February, the band made their fourth appearance on the cover of NME magazine, which came with an additional CD release "Payola: The Demos". This companion disc to "Payola" featured demo versions of most of the significant songs featured on "Payola", as well as 3 unheard and unreleased tracks harking back as far as 2001.
Around the same time the band played an NME Awards show at Shepherd's Bush Empire and several other headline dates around the country. Over the summer, the Cribs played numerous festivals in the UK and Europe, including headline slots at Y Not Festival and a show at the Olympic Park (London), as well as a short tour of Scottish venues. Autumn saw the band head back to Australia for an "Anniversary Tour", before venturing into Asia for a lengthy tour there. Cities and countries visited on this trip would include Thailand (Bangkok), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Vietnam (Saigon), two shows in Japan (Tokyo), a show at the Kowloonbay International Trade & Exhibition Centre in Hong Kong, and a large outdoor show in the meadow at the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. The year was rounded out by two sold out Christmas shows at the Leeds Academy
2014 began quietly, as the band began writing sessions for their next studio album. The only shows announced would be as part of the Weezer cruise from Florida to the Bahamas in February. Later in the year, the Cribs returned to the UK for some UK festival slots, including headlining Truck Festival and Tramlines Festival amongst others, and an Italian tour with Franz Ferdinand.
For All My Sisters (2014–2016)
In August 2014, Music Week reported that the band had signed with Sony RED. This followed news that the band's sixth album was to be produced by former The Cars frontman Ric Ocasek, known for his work with artists including Weezer, Nada Surf and Guided by Voices. Frenchkiss Records was also named by Music Week as the band's new label for North America, but the band would ultimately later announce their signing with Arts & Crafts. "An Ivory Hand", a teaser track for the upcoming album had a midnight digital release on 19 January 2015. It received its first radio play later that day from the BBC's Steve Lamacq. It would later be made 'Single of the Week' by the NME. The album, For All My Sisters, was released in the UK on 23 March 2015; although due in North America on 24 March 2015, it was released the same day. It would go on to become the Cribs' third consecutive UK Top 10 album.
The first single from the album "Burning For No One", was debuted by BBC Radio 1 on 2 February, by Zane Lowe who made it his 'Hottest Record in the World'. The accompanying video, shot on the Bahamian island of Exuma was released on 16 February and clocked up over 200,000 views on YouTube in its first week.
The new songs were road tested on a quick UK tour of sold-out shows, and then the band went to New York City to play a 3 night residency across 3 different venues (2 in Brooklyn, 1 in Manhattan), before heading to Austin, Texas for the annual SXSW showcase, playing 4 shows across 3 days. Immediately after returning from SXSW, The Cribs embarked on a week-long tour of in-store performances and signings at independent record stores throughout the UK.
US touring began a few weeks later in San Francisco for a tour of the west coast, and would include a second appearance at the Coachella Festival, playing the Sunday of both weekends and playing headline shows throughout the state and Las Vegas in the intervening week. For this outing, the band was joined on stage by Michael Cummings of the NYC band Skaters.
Back in the UK, The Cribs headlined Leeds Town Hall as part of the Live at Leeds festival in May, before headlining The Great Escape Festival in Brighton with 2 performances, and then two shows in Ireland. That summer they would play on the main stages at the Liverpool Sound City festival and T in the Park, and made their third appearance on The Other Stage at Glastonbury. They would also play at Festival Internacional de Benicassim in Spain.
The Cribs then went out to Asia, for a headline show in Tokyo, and a main stage appearance at the Pentaport Rock Festival in Incheon, South Korea. Later that month they would appear on the Main Stage at the Reading and Leeds Festivals for the third time before heading out to North America for a full tour there. During the band's performance at the Fairmount Theatre in Montreal as part of the Pop Montreal festival, the band would perform 'Be Safe' with Lee Ranaldo performing his spoken word part live in person for only the second time since the song's release (the first coming in 2008 at the Music Hall of Williamsburg).
A full UK tour was announced during this period, and took place in October and November, which included dates at Glasgow Barrowlands, Manchester Albert Hall, and The Roundhouse in Camden amongst others.
In 2016 The Cribs were announced as headliners of the Camden Rocks Festival taking place in June. Over the summer The Cribs would play the main stage at Isle of Wight Festival, Y Not Festival, and were the secret unannounced headliners of In The Woods Festival in Kent. During the summer, The Cribs played their largest headline show to date, at the 8,000 capacity open air Millennium Square in Leeds.
Another tour of Asia followed, including stops in S. Korea (Seoul), Japan (Tokyo and Osaka) and the band's first engagement in China, where they would play the Shanghai Rugby Football Stadium for the Concrete and Grass Festival. Shortly after the show The Cribs announced that this would be the final show of the "For All My Sisters" tour.
24–7 Rock Star Shit (2017–2018)
On 3 February 2017 it was announced that The Cribs would be the subject to their own exhibition in their hometown at Wakefield Museum. The exhibit featured 3 large glass containers dedicated to each of the band members with their chosen instruments as well as various memorabilia such as early gig posters, awards, touring paraphernalia and original records. The exhibit was unveiled on 14 February 2017 by Ross, who appeared on BBC Look North playing the drum kit within his respective glass container. The exhibition ran until July 2017.
On 7 February 2017 The Cribs announced a 10th anniversary tour in honour of their third album. The "Men's Needs, Women's Needs, FOREVER" tour was initially scheduled to consist of seven dates in large venues across the UK. A second London date at the Forum was later added due to popular demand. The tour commenced on 11 May at Glasgow Academy and finished on 20 May with a show at Leeds First Direct Arena where they were joined live on stage by Lee Ranaldo for his spoken word part in Be Safe. The band also performed the album in full for their headlining slot on the Baltic Stage at Liverpool Sound City festival.
Following the final night of this tour, at midnight on 21 May, The Cribs tweeted a series of code which the next day revealed itself to be coordinates for various record stores across the UK and the US, along with specific timestamp for each store. Arriving at the location at the specified time would allow customers to purchase a white label single entitled "Year of Hate". Each single was hand numbered and the edition number totaled 247. This process continued with handfuls of co-ordinates for record stores being announced each day for the next week. The cryptic coordinate approach was dropped on 22 May due to the recent attack in Manchester. Despite the limited run number and obscure release method the single entered the UK vinyl singles chart at number 3 on the week commencing 26 May 2017. The song eventually saw a digital release on 16 June – until that time the only way to hear it was by playing the vinyl or via BBC iPlayer on-demand, after Steve Lamacq aired the song on his show.
A second single "In Your Palace" was shock released digitally on 2 June 2017 with a music video released on 13 June. It was then announced on 24 July 2017 that the album "24–7 Rock Star Shit" would be released 2 weeks later on 11 August 2017, alongside a music video for another new song – "Rainbow Ridge", which was available as a free download with a pre-order of the album. Exclusive launch parties were announced for Leeds and London – with the London party being a curated event at House of Vans, featuring an art display, Q&A with the band, and a full live performance on the night the album was released. Entrants were selected by a free-to-enter ballot via the Vans website.
After spending three days at number 1 in the UK charts, the album mid-weeked at number 5, before officially entering the charts at number 8 – the band's fourth consecutive Top 10 album.
Following this, The Cribs began a tour of the United States and Canada. At the conclusion of this tour they returned to Mexico to headline the Sala Corona in Mexico City, and to play the main stages at Live Out Festival in Monterrey and Festival Coordenada in Guadalajara. In December, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the original 'Cribsmas' event, the band booked Christmas residency shows in the UK – 4 nights in Glasgow, 4 nights in Manchester, 3 nights in London, and 5 nights in Leeds – performing over 80 songs from their back catalogue. In 2018 the band continued their UK tour with the '24–7 Rock Star Shit in the UK' tour – a 14 date tour of secondary markets throughout January.
In April the band went to Australia to play shows in Newcastle, Brisbane, Perth, Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne. Following this was a 4 date tour of China in May – visiting Chengdu, Wuhan, Shanghai, and Beijing. A show in Hong Kong followed as well as two shows in Japan.
Summer saw The Cribs invited to support Foo Fighters at City of Manchester Stadium alongside several other UK festival appearances.
Night Network (2019–present)
Following the release of their fourth consecutive UK top 10 album 24-7 Rock Star Shit, the band almost immediately parted company with their long time UK management and found themselves stuck in what Gary described as "legal morass", unable to record or release new music. This is because the band had belatedly discovered that the rights to the back catalogue from earlier in their career was owned by other parties thanks to various deals that they were unaware of. As a result, the band – who were now managing themselves – decided to focus on gaining ownership because there would be no point in signing a new deal, making a new record and touring as long as someone else owned their music.
What followed was an eighteen month period of inactivity, resulting in 2019 being the only year since the band's inception in 2002 whereby the band did not play a live concert, following their final gig of the 24-7 Rock Star Shit tour in Glasgow in September 2018.
In a position of uncertainty about how to continue beyond the already-booked gigs, following a show where The Cribs had supported Foo Fighters in Manchester at the Etihad Stadium in June 2018, Dave Grohl learned of the band's struggles and offered for the band to use his Studio 606.
Following the successful resolution of their back catalogue ownership, the band was set to sign a major label deal. But then it emerged that there was yet other people claiming ownership of their music, and so they had to go through another legal battle from September 2019 to February 2020 while working on the new album.
During 2020, the band was active on Twitter to participate in Tim Burgess' "Listening Parties", offering behind the scenes insight for their most commercially successful album Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever on 7 April and due to the positive response, followed up with another listening party of fan favourite The New Fellas on 28 May.
On 8 June, the band announced on their social media pages, with four hours notice, their first live performance in nearly two years. This turned out to be a pre-recorded webcam broadcast of "Be Safe", featuring Lee Ranaldo performing his spoken word part, from their residences across the world (Ryan in Queens, New York, Gary in Portland, Oregon, Ross in Wakefield and Lee in Manhattan, New York).
On 12 August 2020, a day over three years since their last new material 24-7 Rock Star Shit, the band's social media profile pictures changed to a stylised test card. The following day on 13 August 2020, the band announced their return with a new song to be broadcast on BBC Radio 6 Music. The song turned out to be lead single "Running Into You" and subsequently the band announced new album Night Network to be released on 13 November 2020, along with artwork, tracklisting and a video for "Running Into You" starring Sam Riley.
Released into the UK COVID-19 lockdown of 2020, the band had all of their scheduled headline touring to support the album delayed. The album release was therefore celebrated with a socially distanced performance at Liverpools legendary Cavern Club on the 21st November. This performance was streamed worldwide as a PPV via the Veeps platform.
On July 15, 2021, The Cribs released a cover of the Comet Gain song "Fingernailed For You" as part of the Kill Rock Stars label's 30th anniversary covers compilation "Stars Rock Kill (Rock Stars)".
Band members
Current members
Gary Jarman – bass, vocals (2001–present)
Ryan Jarman – guitar, vocals (2001–present)
Ross Jarman – drums (2001–present)
Former members
Johnny Marr – guitar (2008–2011)
Touring musicians
David Jones – guitar (2011–2015)
Michael Cummings – guitar, keyboard, Bass VI (March/April 2015 U.S. dates)
Russell Searle – guitar, keyboard (May 2015 – present)
Awards and nominations
Discography
The Cribs (2004)
The New Fellas (2005)
Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever (2007)
Ignore the Ignorant (2009)
In the Belly of the Brazen Bull (2012)
For All My Sisters (2015)
24-7 Rock Star Shit (2017)
Night Network (2020)
Fanzine
A group of between fifty and one-hundred committed fans aimed to 'collect thoughtful, dedicated and passionate written work' on the band beginning in early summer 2011. Kind Words from the Broken Hearted 'outlines a range of responses to the Cribs...with many otherwise "ordinary" men and women contributing ideas and views' that fill the pages of the fanzine. Pieces within the fanzine emphasise the importance of Wichita Recordings, Domino Recording Company, Kill Rock Stars and Fortuna Pop!, amongst others, in providing a vibrant and supportive environment for independent bands to hone their work and retain an ethical stance in the music industry. The fanzine also shares close links with fellow Wakefield independent music fans at Rhubarb Bomb, in addition to Bonus Cupped, a left-leaning, travel and punk publication from Bristol. Moreover, Kind Words from the Broken Hearted supports other forms of independent music, including Comet Gain, Edwyn Collins and Pavement to name but three, welcoming diverse forms of the art but keen to eschew a celebratory tone that pervades contemporary music journalism. Notable readers, and upcoming contributors include band collaborator Nick Scott at Narcsville and Eddie Argos and Jasper Future from Art Brut. Support from within contemporary music journalism has come from influential The Smiths and David Bowie writer and broadcaster Simon Goddard, in addition to Tim Jonze at The Guardian. Those interested by independent journalism can find the fanzine through a regular address or alternatively through an Edinburgh-based social media site.
References
External links
The Cribs official site
And then there were three: An interview with Ryan Jarman (via Talk Rock To Me), 11 May 2012
English indie rock groups
NME Awards winners
V2 Records artists
Wichita Recordings artists
Sibling musical groups
Musical groups established in 2002
2002 establishments in England
Musical groups from Wakefield
| false |
[
"The Migraine Disability Assessment Test (MIDAS) is a test used by doctors to determine how severely migraines affect a patient's life. Patients are asked questions about the frequency and duration of their headaches, as well as how often these headaches limited their ability to participate in activities at work, at school, or at home.\n\nThe test was evaluated by the professional journal Neurology in 2001; it was found to be both reliable and valid.\n\nQuestions\nThe MIDAS contains the following questions:\n\n On how many days in the last 3 months did you miss work or school because of your headaches?\n How many days in the last 3 months was your productivity at work or school reduced by half or more because of your headaches? (Do not include days you counted in question 1 where you missed work or school.)\n On how many days in the last 3 months did you not do household work because of your headaches?\n How many days in the last three months was your productivity in household work reduced by half of more because of your headaches? (Do not include days you counted in question 3 where you did not do household work.)\n On how many days in the last 3 months did you miss family, social or leisure activities because of your headaches?\n\nThe patient's score consists of the total of these five questions. Additionally, there is a section for patients to share with their doctors:\n\nWhat your Physician will need to know about your headache:\n\nA. On how many days in the last 3 months did you have a headache?\n(If a headache lasted more than 1 day, count each day.)\t\n\nB. On a scale of 0 - 10, on average how painful were these headaches? \n(where 0 = no pain at all and 10 = pain as bad as it can be.)\n\nScoring\nOnce scored, the test gives the patient an idea of how debilitating his/her migraines are based on this scale:\n\n0 to 5, MIDAS Grade I, Little or no disability \n\n6 to 10, MIDAS Grade II, Mild disability\n\n11 to 20, MIDAS Grade III, Moderate disability\n\n21+, MIDAS Grade IV, Severe disability\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nMigraine Treatment\n\nMigraine",
"Reflections is the third and last studio album by After 7 before the group split in 1997. The album reunites them with producer Babyface, who along with his then partner L.A. Reid, wrote and produced the majority of their self-titled debut. They also enlist the production talents of Babyface proteges Jon B and Keith Andes as well as newcomers The Boom Brothers. Reflections is the first album where the members of the group have credits as songwriters as well as executive producers. The music video for the first single \"'Til You Do Me Right\" was directed by photographer Randee St. Nicholas. Reflections peaked at #40 on the Billboard 200 and was certified gold by the RIAA on November 16, 1995.\n\nTrack listing\n\"'Til You Do Me Right\" (Babyface, Kevon Edmonds, Melvin Edmonds) (4:55)\n\"Cryin' for It\" (Babyface) (5:02)\n\"Save It Up\" (Jon B.) (4:09)\n\"Damn Thing Called Love\" (Jon B.) (5:30)\n\"How Did He Love You\" (Jon B.) (5:17)\n\"What U R 2 Me\" (Jon B.) (4:38)\n\"How Do You Tell the One\" (Babyface) (4:47)\n\"Sprung On It\" (Tony Boom, Chuck Boom) (4:06)\n\"How Could You Leave\" (Keith Andes, Ricky Jones) (5:01)\n\"Givin Up This Good Thing\" (Keith Andes, Ricky Jones) (4:49)\n\"I Like It Like That\" (Keith Andes, Melvin Edmonds, Kevon Edmonds) (4:24)\n\"Honey (Oh How I Need You)\" (Keith Andes, Ricky Jones, Warres Casey) (3:39)\n\nPersonnel\nKeyboards: Babyface, Jon B., Keith Andes, The Boom Brothers\nDrum Programming: Babyface, Jon B., Keith Andes, The Boom Brothers\nBass: Reggie Hamilton on \"'Til You Do Me Right\" and \"How Do You Tell The One\", Babyface on \"Cryin' for It\"\nMidi Programming: Randy Walker, Keith Andes, The Boom Brothers\nGuest vocals: Babyface on \"Honey (Oh How I Need You)\"\nBackground vocals: After 7, Jon B. on \"Save It Up\", Babyface on \"What U R 2 Me\", The Boom Brothers on \"Sprung On It\"\nSaxophone: Everette Harp on \"What U R 2 Me\"\n\nReferences\n\n1995 albums\nAfter 7 albums"
] |
[
"The Cribs",
"Payola (2013)",
"What is Payola?",
"On 20 November 2012 the Cribs announced details of their first 'Best Of' compilation, Payola,",
"How well did it do?",
"I don't know."
] |
C_ebaf51b477a74a4884cb659b07039674_0
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What songs are included in Payola?
| 3 |
What songs are included in Payola?
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The Cribs
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On 20 November 2012 the Cribs announced details of their first 'Best Of' compilation, Payola, which was released on 11 March 2013 via Wichita Recordings to mark the group's 10th anniversary. The 22 track album saw the first official release of "Leather Jacket Love Song" - recorded at sessions in early 2010, it is the final Cribs song to feature Johnny Marr. A special 40-track 'Anthology Edition' was released with an additional 18 track disc containing B-sides and rarities. On the 29th of February, the band made their fourth appearance on the cover of NME magazine, which came with an additional CD release "Payola: The Demos". This companion disc to "Payola" featured demo versions of most of the significant songs featured on "Payola", as well as 3 unheard and unreleased tracks harking back as far as 2001. Around the same time the band played an NME Awards show at Shepherds Bush Empire and several other headline dates around the country. Over the summer, the Cribs played numerous festivals in the UK and Europe, including headline slots at Y Not Festival and a show at the Olympic Park (London), as well as a short tour of Scottish venues. Autumn saw the band head back to Australia for an "Anniversary Tour", before venturing into Asia for a lengthy tour there. Cities and countries visited on this trip would include Thailand (Bangkok), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Vietnam (Saigon), two shows in Japan (Tokyo), a show at the Kowloonbay International Trade & Exhibition Centre in Hong Kong, and a large outdoor show in the meadow at the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. The year was rounded out by two sold out Christmas shows at the Leeds Academy 2014 began quietly, as the band began writing sessions for their next studio album. The only shows announced would be as part of the Weezer cruise from Florida to the Bahamas in February. Later in the year, the Cribs returned to the UK for some UK festival slots, including headlining Truck Festival and Tramlines Festival amongst others, and an Italian tour with Franz Ferdinand. CANNOTANSWER
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The 22 track album saw the first official release of "Leather Jacket Love Song" - recorded at sessions in early 2010,
|
The Cribs are a British indie rock band originally from Wakefield, West Yorkshire that formed in 2001. The band consists of twins Gary and Ryan Jarman and their younger brother Ross Jarman. They were subsequently joined by ex-The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr who was a formal member of the group from 2008 until 2011.
The band, who first became active on the concert circuit in 2002, were initially tied to other like-minded UK bands of that time, most notably The Libertines, by a British music press that were looking for a 'British rearguard' to the wave of popular US alternative rock bands of the time. They had outgrown this tag by the time of the commercial success of their third LP. In 2008, Q magazine described the band as "The biggest cult band in the UK".
In 2012, the band's 10th anniversary year, they were honoured with the Spirit of Independence award at the annual Q Awards. Several months later, they received the Outstanding Contribution to Music award at the annual NME Awards.
As of 2017, their last 4 albums have charted in the UK Top 10.
History
Formation and early years (2001–2003)
The Cribs were formed in late 2001 as a recording project for the three brothers. After recording a demo and garnering label interest, the band started playing live around this time, at venues like the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds, and "squats and warehouse parties" with artists such as Calvin Johnston, Subway Sect, Herman Dune, and Ballboy. They also released a split 7" single on Leeds based garage/riot grrrl/punk label Squirrel Records during this period with former Shove/Boyskout member Jen Schande. Limited to 300 copies on blue vinyl the record is now a rarity that sells for upwards of $150 on eBay. According to Mojo magazine, 'On the strength of one demo, the rush to find the UK Strokes saw the three-piece fielding calls from major labels, pluggers and label managers' in 2002. After several high-profile support slots, the band signed to the fledgling independent label Wichita Recordings in 2003 "we thought (they) were great because they sounded a bit like Pavement and had a big hook. We went to see them at the Metro on Oxford Street and completely fell in love with them. They seemed like such an obvious pop band. Every song sounded like a single" – Mark Bowen, Wichita Recordings.
The Cribs (2004)
After signing with Wichita Recordings, the band began re-recording many of the songs from the original demo, as well as several new tracks for what would be their debut record. Sessions began in London with Chicago based avant-garde musician Bobby Conn producing, after the band had supported him on some UK dates and impressed him "They had this cassette demo they had recorded on a boom-box, I suggested overdubs, they were too kitchen-sink for overdubs. I tried handclaps, they were 'not sure about handclaps'. It was all 'Keep it real'" – Bobby Conn. Then sessions moved to Toe Rag Studios in Hackney with the band self-producing. The album was completed in 7 days, live to 8-track tape, with Ed Deegan engineering.
Released on 8 March 2004, the album found early supporters in the NME, who commented on its "supreme pop melodies", and referred to it as "lo-fi, hi fun" giving it an 8/10 review. Lo-fi would be a term that would follow the band around for the next few years, and something that became synonymous with the group. Again, from the NME in 2011: "Recorded in a week, it's the definition of indie lo-fi. But not willful indie lo-fi; the scratches, clangs and gawwumps all heard here are genuinely the product of the trio's shoestring methods rather than the usual contrived fuzz that bands spend ages poring over beaten up eight-tracks to achieve". Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamacq was also an early champion. Lois Wilson of Mojo magazine described the album in 2009 as "intelligent lyrics on a background of clipped guitars and tumbling drums, with nods to The Strokes, Beat Happening, and C86's inept charm"
Three singles were released from the album – the limited edition 7" only "Another Number"/"Baby Don't Sweat" in November 2003, followed by first single proper "You Were Always the One", which climbed to No. 2 in the indie charts. "What About Me" was the third and final single from the album, again making the indie top 10. The Cribs toured extensively throughout 2004 and into 2005, both as headliners as well as supporting artists like old friend Bobby Conn, Death Cab For Cutie and The Libertines. Over the campaign they toured the UK and Ireland, Europe, Japan, and the United States, as well as several significant international festival appearances such as Reading and Leeds Festivals, Summersonic, T in the Park and Pukkelpop amongst others. Though only a moderate underground success at the time "Another Number" has gone on to become one of the band's most enduring 'hits' – seldom being left off the set-list and usually accompanied by a full crowd sing-along of the signature, repeated guitar riff.
The New Fellas (2005–2006)
After concluding touring duties for the first record, the band were taken off the road to start writing the follow up. However, the Cribs decided they still wanted to tour and took to posting their phone numbers and email addresses on the internet, professing to play anywhere for fuel money and a crate of beer. This DIY approach is something the band and label now feel was a key factor in their success, as it helped nurture a very strong, passionate fanbase.
The New Fellas, the band's second album release, was recorded with Edwyn Collins, the singer-songwriter and guitarist from Glasgow's influential Orange Juice in London at his own West Heath Studios. Again, it was a comparatively unpolished record sonically, as both the producer Collins and the band themselves were achieving sounds similar to those heard on the Orange Juice records. This was, however, the intention and the reason the band and producer were put together. "They had definite ideas what they wanted the record to sound like...They had this work ethic, there was nothing spoiled about them – they were proper indie; everything done on a shoe-string and they just got on with it....they were tremendous" – Edwyn Collins. One song, "Haunted", was even recorded on Scarborough beach on a whim, after hearing a Steve Martin ukulele duet recorded on a beach.
The first release from the record was the single "Hey Scenesters!" on 18 April 2005. It reached no. 27 in the UK charts, and started their run of 7 consecutive top 40 singles. The album followed on 20 June 2005 although it had leaked onto the internet several months prior to the official release date, hampering its first week sales. The record has however, gone on to be certified Silver by the BPI, and in a recent poll held by the NME was proved to be the overall fans favourite record. The other singles released from the record were "Mirror Kissers", "Martell", and non-album track "You're Gonna Lose Us" (produced by Bernard Butler), which was paired with "The Wrong Way To Be" as a AA side. The extensive New Fellas world tour took in several UK tours, Europe, United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, Scandinavia, and their first trip to Iceland. They appeared at numerous festivals at this time, including an appearance on the main stage at Reading and Leeds Festivals (becoming the first band to ever progress through all three stages in consecutive years), headlining the tent at T in the Park, Fuji Rock festival in Japan as well as an extensive USA arena tour with Death Cab for Cutie and Franz Ferdinand. A European tour during this period with ex Pavement man Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks would introduce Gary to his future wife Joanna Bolme.
Shortly before their appearance at the Fuji Rock festival, the Cribs released a Japan-only mini album called Arigato Cockers, made up of B-sides and rarities from both the first and second albums.
In their year-end issue, the NME made The New Fellas the No. 11 album of the year, and Hey Scenesters a single of the year.
Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever (2007–2008)
At the conclusion of The New Fellas campaign, the Cribs signed a major label deal with Warner Bros. Records – though they remained on Wichita in the UK at the bands insistence. The subsequent album, Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever saw the band finally take steps to progress forth from their 'lo-fi' roots, being recorded in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada with Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand as producer. The band and producer had met during the US tour the bands did together with Death Cab for Cutie, and hit it off immediately. The album was mixed by Andy Wallace (Nirvana, Foo Fighters). They collaborated with Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth on the track "Be Safe" – Ranaldo contributing his spoken word poetry to the band's music.
Prior to the record's release the Cribs took in a run of small UK club dates to preview songs from the new record. This is documented in the first Cribs documentary Leave Too Neat. The first cut from the album was the single 'Men's Needs', released on 7 May. It proved to be the band's first breakthrough with mainstream radio and reached no. 17 in the UK charts, becoming their biggest hit to date. The accompanying video, filmed in Hollywood by director Diane Martel has achieved over 7 million YouTube views to date.
The album was released on 21 May 2007, and entered the UK album charts at No. 13.
Touring began at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 30 March for the Teenage Cancer Trust. The rest of 2007 and most of 2008 was spent on the road promoting the record, taking in extensive UK and European touring, several United States and Canada tours, Japan, and the band's first trip out to Mexico for a main stage appearance at the MX Beat Festival, as well as some later headline shows. During their US touring schedules they appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, the Late Show with David Letterman, and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.
The second single to be released from the record was 'Moving Pictures', again charting in the UK Top 40, and then later a 7" only release of "I'm a Realist". The latter was backed with a cover of The Replacements song "Bastards of Young", a band the Cribs cite as a large influence. Another non-album single 'Don't You Wanna be Relevant?' was paired with album cut "Our Bovine Public" and again climbed to the UK top 40. There were numerous festival slots around this time including main stage slots at Lollapalooza, T in the Park, and V festival, as well as returning to Fuji Rock, and a first time appearance at Coachella amongst others. In November 2007 the Cribs were invited by a re-formed The Sex Pistols to play with them for three nights at Brixton Academy in celebration of the 30-year anniversary of Never Mind the Bollocks In December the band announced three intimate shows at their old haunt the Brudenell Social Club in aid of cystic fibrosis where they would play all three albums to date in sequence with secret unannounced support bands each night (Franz Ferdinand, Kate Nash, and Kaiser Chiefs respectively). This was documented for the band's second DVD, the 3 disc Live at the Brudenell Social Club.
In the year-end issues "Men's Needs" was named third-best track of 2007 by NME with the album coming in at No. 9, Track of the Year 2007 by the Metro newspaper and making the annual 100 best tracks list in Rolling Stone magazine in the USA.
2008 began with the Cribs being nominated for 4 awards at the annual NME awards ceremony (Best British Band, Best Live Band, Best Track and Hero of the Year for Ryan Jarman). Through this they were asked to headline the annual NME Awards Tour, which they undertook through January and February featuring some of the band's largest headline shows up to that point and culminating in a show at the o2 Arena in London. They also made a live appearance at the Awards ceremony itself, playing new single 'I'm a Realist' and a cover of 'Panic' by the Smiths, featuring their new guitarist Johnny Marr (of the aforementioned band), who had been guesting with them throughout the tour.
Another USA tour followed this, and then some more festival appearances including main stage slots at the Isle of Wight Festival, Rockness, Primavera Festival, Fuji Rock and Sziget, as well as a headline appearance on the John Peel Stage at Glastonbury, and headlining the second stage at Reading and Leeds Festivals.
In April 2018, the album was certified Gold in the UK by the British Phonographic Industry for sales over 100,000, becoming the first album certified Gold by the BRIT Awards.
Ignore the Ignorant (2009–2010)
After a chance meeting with Johnny Marr (at the time a member of Modest Mouse) in Portland, OR the Cribs and Johnny became close friends. Once Modest Mouse completed touring duties for their record, the Cribs and Johnny started to hang around and jam together – "It's been going well and it would be shame to cut it short, the original intention was to be doing an EP" the band told BBC 6 Music in January 2008. However it was later announced that they would be working on an album together and that Johnny had joined as a full-time member of the group.
Much of the remainder of 2008 was spent writing new material in Portland, OR, Manchester and Wakefield, followed by a short UK tour taking in Glasgow ABC, Bradford St. Georges Hall, two nights at Manchester Ritz, and Heaven in London to road-test some of the new songs before recording commenced. Studio time was booked for March 2009 in Los Angeles with veteran producer Nick Launay (Nick Cave, PIL, Yeah Yeah Yeahs). Ross Jarman performed most of the drum tracks for the recording with a broken wrist after a skateboard accident. Promotion for the Ignore the Ignorant album came in the form of an intimate "alternative Leeds/Reading show" at HMV in Leeds. This was scheduled as the same weekend as the Reading Leeds festival. The band played several songs from their new album as well as some old favourites. Afterwards, Ryan Jarman could be seen browsing the CD's in HMV and being available for fans to meet him.
Preceded by the single 'Cheat on Me', the album Ignore the Ignorant was released on 7 September 2009, and scored the Cribs their first UK Top Ten album. Released the same week that The Beatles re-issued their entire 13 LP back-catalogue, Ignore the Ignorant managed to out-sell all but two of them to chart at number 8, something the band described as "surreal". Touring began with a headline slot at the White Air festival in Brighton followed by a UK tour of large halls. The band then went on to tour Japan (including a show at Budokan with Arctic Monkeys) then on to South Korea where they headlined the Grand Mint festival at the Olympic Park, Seoul. Next was a United States/Canada tour, as well as a European arena tour with Franz Ferdinand before the Cribs returned to the UK for their largest headline shows to date.
In December 2009, Ignore the Ignorant was placed at number 11 in Mojo magazine's "Albums of the Year", and at number 7 in The Fly's "Albums of the Year". NME also placed it at No. 30 in their end of year list, as well as making "Cheat on Me" a track of the year. In Japan, Crossbeat magazine placed it at No. 8 in its "Albums of 2009" list, whilst Music Magazine called it the No. 1 album of 2009. Both magazines are leading publications in Japan. At the same time, The New Fellas was named an "Album of the Century" by Q.
2010 began with another extensive United States and Canada tour, before heading off for dates in Australia and New Zealand. Festival appearances including Glastonbury, Lollapalooza, Fuji Rock, Benecassim, Sziget and Pukkelpop amongst others followed.
During this time the band were invited to support Aerosmith at two arena shows in Spain and France.
For Record Store Day 2010 the Cribs released "So Hot Now" as a split 7" single with Portland, OR band The Thermals on legendary riot grrrl label Kill Rock Stars.
On 9 August 2010, BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe announced during his show that he would be playing a brand new Cribs song that night. The very next day, 'Housewife' was released officially on iTunes. No one, from music industry insiders to the band's fans, had any idea that a new single was being geared up until that moment. The cover art featured Ryan and Gary in drag. Later that month the band appeared on the main stage once again at the Reading and Leeds festivals to close the album campaign. These would be Marr's last shows with the Cribs.
In the Belly of the Brazen Bull (2011–2012)
After announcing Marr's departure from the group on 11 April 2011, The Cribs started work on writing the follow up to Ignore the Ignorant, mooted for a spring 2012 release. During this time, they recorded a cover of original 70's Canadian punk band The Dishrags 'Death in the Family' for a Canadian Mint Records compilation. Over the summer they played several headlining slots at UK festivals in 2011, as well as a show at Le Zenith in Paris with The Strokes. In June 2011 they made their first trip to Brazil, playing two shows in São Paulo. In December 2011 they headlined the Clockenflap festival in Hong Kong, debuting new songs 'Come On, Be A No-One', and 'Anna' for the first time.
The Cribs announced the title of their fifth studio album as In the Belly of the Brazen Bull and its track-listing on 14 February 2012. The album was recorded at Tarbox Road studio in New York with David Fridmann, London's Abbey Road and Chicago's EAR studio with engineer Steve Albini. On 14 February, BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe premiered the first taster from the album, 'Chi-Town' on his radio show and played the song 3 times. During this time, both the band and the song title were trending on Twitter. Shortly after the announcement was made, the band embarked on a quick UK tour, to preview the new material and promote the upcoming single, slated for April. In March, the band headed out on a tour of the United States, concluding in April, and later that month released the first official single from the new album 'Come On, Be A No-One'. A European tour followed, and then a full-scale UK tour in May – kicking off with a performance at the 2012 Camden Crawl. It was during this tour that the band were introduced to Turner Prize winning artist Martin Creed, who was acting as support band. The album was released on 7 May 2012 and would provide the band with their second UK Top 10 record, charting at number 9.
The next month, the band headed out for another tour of the United States and Canada, before flying to Japan to headline the Hostess Weekender festival at the Yebisu Garden Hall in Tokyo, as well as a show in Osaka. In July, the second official single from the album, 'Glitters Like Gold' would be released on a special gold glitter vinyl. The band toured Italy, and then toured the European festival circuit throughout most of the summer, including a large outdoor show with the Foo Fighters in Belfast Boucher playing fields, and another engagement at the Reading and Leeds festival, where the band would destroy the instruments and stage set at the climax of the Reading show.
September would see the release of the third and final single from the album. 'Anna', unlike the prior singles, was made available as a download only, and featured a collaboration with the aforementioned Martin Creed. The band and Creed had been looking for a project to collaborate on since meeting on tour earlier in the year, and the artist provided Work #1431 as the video to the single. In October the Cribs headlined Sŵn Festival in Cardiff, and then headed out on another UK and Irish tour. During this tour, the Cribs were awarded the 'Spirit of Independence' award at the Q Awards 2012 on 22 October. At the conclusion of the UK tour, the band headed to eastern Europe where, amongst other dates, they would visit Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece and Turkey for the first time. Following these dates, the band headed to South America to play a show in Brazil, and then on to Argentina for a show at the open air hockey arena Club Ciudad de Buenos Aires for the Personal Fest festival. 2013 would see the band visit Australia for 3 shows in January, effectively concluding live touring for 'In The Belly of The Brazen Bull'.
In the end of year lists, the album was placed by The Guardian (#22), NME (#8), The Fly (#21), This Is Fake DIY (#3) amongst others in the UK.
Payola (2013)
On 20 November 2012 the Cribs announced details of their first 'Best Of' compilation, Payola, which was released on 11 March 2013 via Wichita Recordings to mark the group's 10th anniversary. The 22 track album saw the first official release of "Leather Jacket Love Song" – recorded at sessions in early 2010, it is the final Cribs song to feature Johnny Marr. A special 40-track 'Anthology Edition' was released with an additional 18 track disc containing B-sides and rarities.
On 29 February, the band made their fourth appearance on the cover of NME magazine, which came with an additional CD release "Payola: The Demos". This companion disc to "Payola" featured demo versions of most of the significant songs featured on "Payola", as well as 3 unheard and unreleased tracks harking back as far as 2001.
Around the same time the band played an NME Awards show at Shepherd's Bush Empire and several other headline dates around the country. Over the summer, the Cribs played numerous festivals in the UK and Europe, including headline slots at Y Not Festival and a show at the Olympic Park (London), as well as a short tour of Scottish venues. Autumn saw the band head back to Australia for an "Anniversary Tour", before venturing into Asia for a lengthy tour there. Cities and countries visited on this trip would include Thailand (Bangkok), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Vietnam (Saigon), two shows in Japan (Tokyo), a show at the Kowloonbay International Trade & Exhibition Centre in Hong Kong, and a large outdoor show in the meadow at the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. The year was rounded out by two sold out Christmas shows at the Leeds Academy
2014 began quietly, as the band began writing sessions for their next studio album. The only shows announced would be as part of the Weezer cruise from Florida to the Bahamas in February. Later in the year, the Cribs returned to the UK for some UK festival slots, including headlining Truck Festival and Tramlines Festival amongst others, and an Italian tour with Franz Ferdinand.
For All My Sisters (2014–2016)
In August 2014, Music Week reported that the band had signed with Sony RED. This followed news that the band's sixth album was to be produced by former The Cars frontman Ric Ocasek, known for his work with artists including Weezer, Nada Surf and Guided by Voices. Frenchkiss Records was also named by Music Week as the band's new label for North America, but the band would ultimately later announce their signing with Arts & Crafts. "An Ivory Hand", a teaser track for the upcoming album had a midnight digital release on 19 January 2015. It received its first radio play later that day from the BBC's Steve Lamacq. It would later be made 'Single of the Week' by the NME. The album, For All My Sisters, was released in the UK on 23 March 2015; although due in North America on 24 March 2015, it was released the same day. It would go on to become the Cribs' third consecutive UK Top 10 album.
The first single from the album "Burning For No One", was debuted by BBC Radio 1 on 2 February, by Zane Lowe who made it his 'Hottest Record in the World'. The accompanying video, shot on the Bahamian island of Exuma was released on 16 February and clocked up over 200,000 views on YouTube in its first week.
The new songs were road tested on a quick UK tour of sold-out shows, and then the band went to New York City to play a 3 night residency across 3 different venues (2 in Brooklyn, 1 in Manhattan), before heading to Austin, Texas for the annual SXSW showcase, playing 4 shows across 3 days. Immediately after returning from SXSW, The Cribs embarked on a week-long tour of in-store performances and signings at independent record stores throughout the UK.
US touring began a few weeks later in San Francisco for a tour of the west coast, and would include a second appearance at the Coachella Festival, playing the Sunday of both weekends and playing headline shows throughout the state and Las Vegas in the intervening week. For this outing, the band was joined on stage by Michael Cummings of the NYC band Skaters.
Back in the UK, The Cribs headlined Leeds Town Hall as part of the Live at Leeds festival in May, before headlining The Great Escape Festival in Brighton with 2 performances, and then two shows in Ireland. That summer they would play on the main stages at the Liverpool Sound City festival and T in the Park, and made their third appearance on The Other Stage at Glastonbury. They would also play at Festival Internacional de Benicassim in Spain.
The Cribs then went out to Asia, for a headline show in Tokyo, and a main stage appearance at the Pentaport Rock Festival in Incheon, South Korea. Later that month they would appear on the Main Stage at the Reading and Leeds Festivals for the third time before heading out to North America for a full tour there. During the band's performance at the Fairmount Theatre in Montreal as part of the Pop Montreal festival, the band would perform 'Be Safe' with Lee Ranaldo performing his spoken word part live in person for only the second time since the song's release (the first coming in 2008 at the Music Hall of Williamsburg).
A full UK tour was announced during this period, and took place in October and November, which included dates at Glasgow Barrowlands, Manchester Albert Hall, and The Roundhouse in Camden amongst others.
In 2016 The Cribs were announced as headliners of the Camden Rocks Festival taking place in June. Over the summer The Cribs would play the main stage at Isle of Wight Festival, Y Not Festival, and were the secret unannounced headliners of In The Woods Festival in Kent. During the summer, The Cribs played their largest headline show to date, at the 8,000 capacity open air Millennium Square in Leeds.
Another tour of Asia followed, including stops in S. Korea (Seoul), Japan (Tokyo and Osaka) and the band's first engagement in China, where they would play the Shanghai Rugby Football Stadium for the Concrete and Grass Festival. Shortly after the show The Cribs announced that this would be the final show of the "For All My Sisters" tour.
24–7 Rock Star Shit (2017–2018)
On 3 February 2017 it was announced that The Cribs would be the subject to their own exhibition in their hometown at Wakefield Museum. The exhibit featured 3 large glass containers dedicated to each of the band members with their chosen instruments as well as various memorabilia such as early gig posters, awards, touring paraphernalia and original records. The exhibit was unveiled on 14 February 2017 by Ross, who appeared on BBC Look North playing the drum kit within his respective glass container. The exhibition ran until July 2017.
On 7 February 2017 The Cribs announced a 10th anniversary tour in honour of their third album. The "Men's Needs, Women's Needs, FOREVER" tour was initially scheduled to consist of seven dates in large venues across the UK. A second London date at the Forum was later added due to popular demand. The tour commenced on 11 May at Glasgow Academy and finished on 20 May with a show at Leeds First Direct Arena where they were joined live on stage by Lee Ranaldo for his spoken word part in Be Safe. The band also performed the album in full for their headlining slot on the Baltic Stage at Liverpool Sound City festival.
Following the final night of this tour, at midnight on 21 May, The Cribs tweeted a series of code which the next day revealed itself to be coordinates for various record stores across the UK and the US, along with specific timestamp for each store. Arriving at the location at the specified time would allow customers to purchase a white label single entitled "Year of Hate". Each single was hand numbered and the edition number totaled 247. This process continued with handfuls of co-ordinates for record stores being announced each day for the next week. The cryptic coordinate approach was dropped on 22 May due to the recent attack in Manchester. Despite the limited run number and obscure release method the single entered the UK vinyl singles chart at number 3 on the week commencing 26 May 2017. The song eventually saw a digital release on 16 June – until that time the only way to hear it was by playing the vinyl or via BBC iPlayer on-demand, after Steve Lamacq aired the song on his show.
A second single "In Your Palace" was shock released digitally on 2 June 2017 with a music video released on 13 June. It was then announced on 24 July 2017 that the album "24–7 Rock Star Shit" would be released 2 weeks later on 11 August 2017, alongside a music video for another new song – "Rainbow Ridge", which was available as a free download with a pre-order of the album. Exclusive launch parties were announced for Leeds and London – with the London party being a curated event at House of Vans, featuring an art display, Q&A with the band, and a full live performance on the night the album was released. Entrants were selected by a free-to-enter ballot via the Vans website.
After spending three days at number 1 in the UK charts, the album mid-weeked at number 5, before officially entering the charts at number 8 – the band's fourth consecutive Top 10 album.
Following this, The Cribs began a tour of the United States and Canada. At the conclusion of this tour they returned to Mexico to headline the Sala Corona in Mexico City, and to play the main stages at Live Out Festival in Monterrey and Festival Coordenada in Guadalajara. In December, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the original 'Cribsmas' event, the band booked Christmas residency shows in the UK – 4 nights in Glasgow, 4 nights in Manchester, 3 nights in London, and 5 nights in Leeds – performing over 80 songs from their back catalogue. In 2018 the band continued their UK tour with the '24–7 Rock Star Shit in the UK' tour – a 14 date tour of secondary markets throughout January.
In April the band went to Australia to play shows in Newcastle, Brisbane, Perth, Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne. Following this was a 4 date tour of China in May – visiting Chengdu, Wuhan, Shanghai, and Beijing. A show in Hong Kong followed as well as two shows in Japan.
Summer saw The Cribs invited to support Foo Fighters at City of Manchester Stadium alongside several other UK festival appearances.
Night Network (2019–present)
Following the release of their fourth consecutive UK top 10 album 24-7 Rock Star Shit, the band almost immediately parted company with their long time UK management and found themselves stuck in what Gary described as "legal morass", unable to record or release new music. This is because the band had belatedly discovered that the rights to the back catalogue from earlier in their career was owned by other parties thanks to various deals that they were unaware of. As a result, the band – who were now managing themselves – decided to focus on gaining ownership because there would be no point in signing a new deal, making a new record and touring as long as someone else owned their music.
What followed was an eighteen month period of inactivity, resulting in 2019 being the only year since the band's inception in 2002 whereby the band did not play a live concert, following their final gig of the 24-7 Rock Star Shit tour in Glasgow in September 2018.
In a position of uncertainty about how to continue beyond the already-booked gigs, following a show where The Cribs had supported Foo Fighters in Manchester at the Etihad Stadium in June 2018, Dave Grohl learned of the band's struggles and offered for the band to use his Studio 606.
Following the successful resolution of their back catalogue ownership, the band was set to sign a major label deal. But then it emerged that there was yet other people claiming ownership of their music, and so they had to go through another legal battle from September 2019 to February 2020 while working on the new album.
During 2020, the band was active on Twitter to participate in Tim Burgess' "Listening Parties", offering behind the scenes insight for their most commercially successful album Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever on 7 April and due to the positive response, followed up with another listening party of fan favourite The New Fellas on 28 May.
On 8 June, the band announced on their social media pages, with four hours notice, their first live performance in nearly two years. This turned out to be a pre-recorded webcam broadcast of "Be Safe", featuring Lee Ranaldo performing his spoken word part, from their residences across the world (Ryan in Queens, New York, Gary in Portland, Oregon, Ross in Wakefield and Lee in Manhattan, New York).
On 12 August 2020, a day over three years since their last new material 24-7 Rock Star Shit, the band's social media profile pictures changed to a stylised test card. The following day on 13 August 2020, the band announced their return with a new song to be broadcast on BBC Radio 6 Music. The song turned out to be lead single "Running Into You" and subsequently the band announced new album Night Network to be released on 13 November 2020, along with artwork, tracklisting and a video for "Running Into You" starring Sam Riley.
Released into the UK COVID-19 lockdown of 2020, the band had all of their scheduled headline touring to support the album delayed. The album release was therefore celebrated with a socially distanced performance at Liverpools legendary Cavern Club on the 21st November. This performance was streamed worldwide as a PPV via the Veeps platform.
On July 15, 2021, The Cribs released a cover of the Comet Gain song "Fingernailed For You" as part of the Kill Rock Stars label's 30th anniversary covers compilation "Stars Rock Kill (Rock Stars)".
Band members
Current members
Gary Jarman – bass, vocals (2001–present)
Ryan Jarman – guitar, vocals (2001–present)
Ross Jarman – drums (2001–present)
Former members
Johnny Marr – guitar (2008–2011)
Touring musicians
David Jones – guitar (2011–2015)
Michael Cummings – guitar, keyboard, Bass VI (March/April 2015 U.S. dates)
Russell Searle – guitar, keyboard (May 2015 – present)
Awards and nominations
Discography
The Cribs (2004)
The New Fellas (2005)
Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever (2007)
Ignore the Ignorant (2009)
In the Belly of the Brazen Bull (2012)
For All My Sisters (2015)
24-7 Rock Star Shit (2017)
Night Network (2020)
Fanzine
A group of between fifty and one-hundred committed fans aimed to 'collect thoughtful, dedicated and passionate written work' on the band beginning in early summer 2011. Kind Words from the Broken Hearted 'outlines a range of responses to the Cribs...with many otherwise "ordinary" men and women contributing ideas and views' that fill the pages of the fanzine. Pieces within the fanzine emphasise the importance of Wichita Recordings, Domino Recording Company, Kill Rock Stars and Fortuna Pop!, amongst others, in providing a vibrant and supportive environment for independent bands to hone their work and retain an ethical stance in the music industry. The fanzine also shares close links with fellow Wakefield independent music fans at Rhubarb Bomb, in addition to Bonus Cupped, a left-leaning, travel and punk publication from Bristol. Moreover, Kind Words from the Broken Hearted supports other forms of independent music, including Comet Gain, Edwyn Collins and Pavement to name but three, welcoming diverse forms of the art but keen to eschew a celebratory tone that pervades contemporary music journalism. Notable readers, and upcoming contributors include band collaborator Nick Scott at Narcsville and Eddie Argos and Jasper Future from Art Brut. Support from within contemporary music journalism has come from influential The Smiths and David Bowie writer and broadcaster Simon Goddard, in addition to Tim Jonze at The Guardian. Those interested by independent journalism can find the fanzine through a regular address or alternatively through an Edinburgh-based social media site.
References
External links
The Cribs official site
And then there were three: An interview with Ryan Jarman (via Talk Rock To Me), 11 May 2012
English indie rock groups
NME Awards winners
V2 Records artists
Wichita Recordings artists
Sibling musical groups
Musical groups established in 2002
2002 establishments in England
Musical groups from Wakefield
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"Paul Reginald Nelson (born 21 May 1955), known by the stage name Paul Hyde, is a British-born Canadian musician and record producer. Born in Yorkshire, Hyde emigrated to Canada as a teenager.\n\nCareer\n\nHyde in the Payola$, Phase One (1978–1988)\nHyde was a founding member, with Bob Rock, of the Payola$. Hyde and Rock formed the band in 1978, naming it after the U.S. radio scandal of the 1950s. Rock would also start engineering and producing at Little Mountain Sound in Vancouver, where Payola$ relocated from Langford, British Columbia.\n\nThe band's major label EP, Introducing Payola$, was released on A&M in 1980. The band had made a few DIY recordings in 1979 before signing to A&M. Their other A&M releases were 1981's In a Place Like This, 1982's No Stranger to Danger and 1983's Hammer on a Drum.\n\nIn 1985, Hyde was a co-writer of the No. 1 Canadian charity single \"Tears Are Not Enough\" by Northern Lights. He also sang in the song's chorus. For Here's the World for Ya (1985), the band changed its name to Paul Hyde and the Payolas, but disappointing sales resulted in their being dropped by the label. The team resigned with Capitol/EMI and put out one album, Under the Volcano (1987), as Rock And Hyde.\n\nThese attempts to increase radio play in the U.S. by changing their band name met with limited success, although they gave Hyde his only two US Hot 100 entries. Rock and Hyde went their separate ways in 1988: Hyde became a solo artist, and Rock an hard rock/metal producer including of Metallica and Rockhead.\n\nHyde out of the Payola$ (1989–2002)\nIn 1988, with Murray McLauchlan and Tom Cochrane, Hyde recorded a benefit single and video for UNICEF called \"Let the Good Guys Win\". In 1989, Hyde's solo single \"America is Sexy\" reached No. 28 on the RPM 100 Singles chart of 23–28 October.\n\nIn December 1988, the song was ranked as No. 23 of the top 25 Cancon songs of the year. The single was from Hyde's debut solo album, Turtle Island, which appeared on the RPM Top 100 Albums chart in 1989. Some of the album's other songs were co-written with his first wife, Myriam Nelson.\n\nDespite the respectable chart success of the song, there was to be an eleven-year gap between Turtle Island and Hyde's next major label album. During this interval, he completed an album for the small Broken Records label: Love and the Great Depression was released in 1996.\n\nRock produced Hyde's 2000 EMI Music Canada album, Living off the Radar, which included some songs that the two co-wrote for the project. in 2002 Hyde released The Big Book of Sad Songs, Volume 1 on the small Bongo Beat label.\n\nHyde in the Payola$, Phase Two (2003–2008)\nHyde and Rock reunited again as Payola$ in 2003 for a gig in Vancouver, after which they decided to write more material together. Linus Entertainment released a Payola$ Live DVD in 2005.\n\nPayola$ performed at EMI's post-Juno Award party April 1, 2007, in Saskatoon after Rock was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. The line-up included the final 1980s configuration of band personnel, drummer Chris Taylor and bassist Alexander \"A-train\" Boynton.\n\nThe Payola$ became active again as recording artists when the long-time musical partners released a seven-track CD EP, Langford (Part One), on July 17, 2007, through EMI Music Canada. Named for the Victoria, British Columbia suburb where Hyde and Rock met, the EP has a cover featuring Belmont Secondary School in Langford, which they attended together.\n\nThe Payola$ ceased operation in 2008. Rock and Hyde have not announced whether they will be working together again or whether they will complete the full album that was supposed to follow their 2007 CD EP Langford (Part One).\n\nHyde's solo career resumes (2009–present)\nHyde released a second album for Bongo Beat on 20 October 2009, called Peace Sign. In January 2018, Hyde released a third album for Bongo Beat called No Gods, Just Men, which is currently a digital-only release.\n\nDiscography\n\nSolo albums\n Turtle Island (1989)\n Love and the Great Depression (1996)\n Living off the Radar (2000)\n The Big Book of Sad Songs, Volume 1 (2002)\n Peace Sign (2009)\n No Gods, Just Men (2018)\n\nPersonal life\nPaul has three children with ex-wife Myriam Nelson. He has a son and twin daughters.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n \n\nCanadian male singers\nCanadian rock singers\nCanadian singer-songwriters\nCanadian record producers\nJuno Award for Songwriter of the Year winners\nBritish emigrants to Canada\nCanadian film score composers\nMale film score composers\nCanadian new wave musicians\nLiving people\n1955 births\nCanadian male singer-songwriters",
"Payola, in the music industry, is the illegal practice of paying a commercial radio station to play a song without the station disclosing the payment. Under US law, a radio station must disclose songs they were paid to play on the air as sponsored airtime. The number of times the songs are played can influence the perceived popularity of a song, and payola may be used to influence these meters. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) treats payola as a violation of the Sponsorship Identification Rules, which requires any broadcast of paid material to include a disclosure.\n\nThe term payola is a combination of \"pay\" and \"ola\", which is a suffix of product names common in the early 20th century, such as Pianola, Victrola, Amberola, Crayola, Rock-Ola, Shinola, or brands such as the radio equipment manufacturer Motorola.\n\nHistory \nPrior to the 1930s, there was little public scrutiny of the reasoning behind a song's popularity. The advertising agencies which sponsored NBC's radio/TV show Your Hit Parade refused to reveal the specific methods that were used to determine top hits. Only general and vague statements were offered; that determining top hits was based on \"readings of radio requests, sheet music sales, dance hall favorites and jukebox tabulations\". Early attempts to stop payola were met with silence by publishers.\n\nProsecution for payola in the 1950s was in part a reaction of the traditional music establishment against newcomers. The emergence of hit radio had become a threat to the wages of song-pluggers and publisher's revenue streams. By the mid-1940s, three-quarters of the records produced in the United States went into jukeboxes. Attempts were made to link all payola to rock-and-roll music. In the 1950s, independent record companies or music publishers frequently used payola to promote rock and roll on American radio. This practice promoted cultural diversity because disc jockeys (DJs) were less inclined to indulge their own personal and racial biases.\n\nWhile the amount of money involved remains largely unpublished, Phil Lind of Chicago's WAIT disclosed in Congressional hearings that he had taken US$22,000 to play a record.\n\nUS investigations and aftermath\nThe first US Congressional Payola Investigations occurred in 1959, carried out by the House Subcommittee on Legislative Oversight into payola, and prompted by a parallel investigation in the US Senate.\n\nDJ Alan Freed, who was uncooperative in committee hearings, was fired as a result. Dick Clark also testified before the committee, but avoided repercussions, partially due to the fact that he had divested his ownership interest in music-industry holdings.\n\nFollowing the investigation, radio DJs were stripped of the authority to make programming decisions and payola became a misdemeanor offense. Programming decisions became the responsibility of station program directors. However, this had the result of simplifying the process of payola: instead of reaching numerous DJs, record labels only had to persuade the station's program director. Labels could circumvent payola allegations by utilizing independent third parties (see below).\n\nIn 1976, inner-city urban soul DJ Frankie Crocker was indicted in a payola scandal, causing him to leave New York radio, where his influence was greatest. The charges were later dropped and he returned to New York, hosting MTV's video jukebox.\n\nFollowing the creation of music sharing websites in the late 1990s, the power of independent promoters declined and labels returned to dealing with stations directly.\n\nModus operandi\nPayola is used by record labels to promote their artists, and can be in the form of monetary rewards or other types of reimbursement. This can include purchasing advertising, requiring bands to play station-sponsored concerts, or paying stations to hold \"meet the band\" contests. In exchange, the band gains a place on a station's playlist or a lesser-known band of the label may gain air time.\n\nThird-party loophole\n\nA loophole in US payola laws is for labels to utilize a third-party or independent promoter (not to be confused with independent record label). The promoter would offer \"promotion payments\" to station directors for putting their client's artists on the station's playlist, sidestepping Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations. As it was seen as falling outside the payola rules, stations did not deem it necessary to report to authorities. This practice became widespread until a 1986 NBC News investigation called \"The New Payola\" instigated another round of Congressional investigations.\n\nIn 2002, investigations by the office of then-New York District Attorney Eliot Spitzer uncovered evidence that executives at Sony BMG music labels had made deals with several large commercial radio chains. Spitzer's office settled out of court with Sony BMG Music Entertainment in July 2005, Warner Music Group in November 2005 and Universal Music Group in May 2006. The three conglomerates agreed to pay $10 million, $5 million, and $12 million respectively to New York State non-profit organizations that will fund music education and appreciation programs. EMI remains under investigation.\n\nConcerns about contemporary forms of payola in the US prompted an investigation during which the FCC established firmly that the \"loophole\" was still a violation of the law. In 2007, four companies (CBS Radio, Citadel, Clear Channel, and Entercom) settled on paying $12.5 million in fines and accepting tougher restrictions for three years, although no company admitted any wrongdoing. Due to increased legal scrutiny, some larger radio companies (including industry giant Clear Channel) now refuse to have any contact with independent promoters.\n\nClear Channel Radio, through iHeartRadio, launched a program called On the Verge that required the stations to play a given song at least 150 times in order to give a new artist exposure. Brand managers at the top of the Clear Channel chain, after listening to hundreds of songs and filtering them down to about five or six favorites from various formats, send those selections to program directors across the country. These program directors vote on which ones they think radio listeners will like the most. Songs that benefited with the exposure were Iggy Azalea's \"Fancy\". Tinashe's \"2 On\", Anthony Lewis' \"Candy Rain\", and Jhené Aiko's \"The Worst\". Tom Poleman, president of national programming platforms for the company, stated that the acts selected are based solely on the quality of their music and not on label pressure.\n\nOn Spotify, labels can pay for tracks to appear in user play-lists as \"Sponsored Songs\". It is possible for users to opt out of this in their account settings.\n\nAs money laundering scheme\nIn Mexico, South America, and some regions along the US southern border, payola is used to launder money from illegal operations. In this practice, unknown \"new artists\" will suddenly appear on multiple formats and be aggressively promoted by producers of dubious origin, then disappear from the music scene or change their stage name.\n\nCriticism\nOn 25 September 2007, the U.S. Congress held a hearing on hip hop music entitled From Imus to Industry: The Business of Stereotypes and Degrading Images. In her testimony, Lisa Fager Bediako, co-founder and President of media watchdog group Industry Ears, argued that misogynistic and racist stereotypes permeate hip hop music because record labels, radio stations, and music video channels profit from allowing such material to air while censoring other material. In that context, Fager stated:\n\nSatire of payola practices\n\nIn 1960, Stan Freberg did a parody on the Payola Scandal, by calling it \"Old Payola Roll Blues\", a two-sided single, where the promoter gets an ordinary teenager, named Clyde Ankle, to record a song, for Obscurity Records, entitled \"High School OO OO\", and then tries to offer the song to a Jazz radio station with phony deals that the Disc Jockey just won't buy it. It ends with an anti-rock song, saying hello to Jazz and Swing, and goodbye to amateur nights, including Rock and Roll.\n\nThe Vancouver, BC, new wave band the Payola$ chose their moniker during the punk explosion of the late 1970s.\n\nThe practice is criticized in the chorus of the Dead Kennedys song \"Pull My Strings\", a parody of the song \"My Sharona\" (\"My Payola\") sung to a crowd of music industry leaders during a music award ceremony.\n\nThe They Might Be Giants song \"Hey, Mr. DJ, I Thought You Said We Had a Deal\" is about the practice. It is narrated from the point of view of a naive and inexperienced musician who has been coerced by a disc jockey into paying for airplaythe disc jockey then disappears and does not deliver on his promise.\n\nThe practice is satirized in song \"Payola Blues\" by Neil Young, from his 1983 album Everybody's Rockin'. It opens by saying \"This one's for you, Alan Freed\" and then states \"'Cause the things they're doing today would make a saint out of you,\" implying that Payola corruption is bigger now (or was bigger in the 1980s) than it was in the '50s.\n\nPayola was referenced in Billy Joel's song \"We Didn't Start the Fire,\" during the verse dealing with the events of 1960.\n\nOn a Washington, D.C. radio station in 1999, the disc jockeys announced that they were debuting the Lou Bega song \"Mambo Number 5\", by saying that they had accepted a large amount of payola to play the song. Ironically, if they had actually been paid to play the song on the air, it would not have been payola, because payola is the unannounced acceptance of a payment to run a song. If the song is identified before being played as being done because the talent or station is being paid to do so, the playing of the song and acceptance of money to do so is perfectly legal, and does not constitute payola.\n\nPayola was depicted in the film The Harder They Come, released in 1972, where a record producer, not the recording artist, controls the airwaves. The portrayal of its protagonist (Jimmy Cliff) as an aspiring musician who is forced to sign away his rights to make a hit record depicts the role of record producers and radio DJs as a dominance – the musician ends up with no aspirations or living the same lifestyle, as in the case of the film Rockers.\n\nIn an installment of Mathnet from PBS's Square One Television, the detectives George Frankly and Pat Tuesday investigated a case of suspected payola by forming a fictitious group called \"The Googols\" and creating their own song titled \"Without Math.\" Payola was eventually ruled out as a cause of increased sales of particular songs at a company.\n\nCriticism of US laws\nThe FCC and the Communications Act of 1934 both have strict requirements and rules regarding payola. These demand that:\n\nEven with these requirements in place, however, record companies have found loopholes within the phrasing of the regulations to continue the practice. These loopholes have created a situation which isolates independent artists from mainstream media. A current example of this is the lengths that artists Macklemore and Ryan Lewis went to get their music heard. Because Lewis and Macklemore belonged to an independent label, they feared payola laws would interfere with their airtime. So they hired an independent arm of Warner Music Group, the Alternative Distribution Alliance, which assists independent acts to get their music on radio. Zach Quillen, manager of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, discussed how \"they paid the alliance a flat monthly fee to help promote the album.\"\n\nOne side effect of the vagueness of the law and the creation of the loophole is the expansion of the concept at the hands of online music sharing websites. In 2009, the website Jango created a plan to accept promotion fees legally by disclosing that they are paid to play the songs. \"For as little as $30, a band can buy 1,000 plays on the music-streaming service, slotted in between established artists. The artists themselves choose what other music they'd like to be played next to.\"\n\nSee also\n Frankie Crocker\n Tommy Smalls\n Radio promotion\n Telling Lies in America\n Cash for comment scandal\n Claque\n Plugola\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading\n \n \n \n Cartwright, Robin (31 August 2004). \"What's the story on the radio payola scandal of the 1950s?.\" The Straight Dope.\n Coase, Ronald (1979). \"Payola in Radio and Television Broadcasting.\" Journal of Law and Economics 22: 269–328.\n McCarthy, Jamie (5 June 2001). \"Payola: Another Brick in the Wall.\" Slashdot Features.\n Boehlert, Eric (14 March 2001). \"Pay for play.\" Salon.\n Dannen, Frederic (1991). Hit Men: Power Brokers & Fast Money Inside the Music Business. New York: Random House. .\n The FCC's Payola Rules \"Sponsorship Identification Rules\" FCC's consumer publications.\n Palmer, Robert(1995). Rock & Roll: An Unruly History. New York: Harmony Books. 325 pages. .\n\nCriminal law\nExtortion\nMusic industry\nEconomics of the arts and literature"
] |
[
"The Cribs",
"Payola (2013)",
"What is Payola?",
"On 20 November 2012 the Cribs announced details of their first 'Best Of' compilation, Payola,",
"How well did it do?",
"I don't know.",
"What songs are included in Payola?",
"The 22 track album saw the first official release of \"Leather Jacket Love Song\" - recorded at sessions in early 2010,"
] |
C_ebaf51b477a74a4884cb659b07039674_0
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Any other songs?
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In addition to "Leather Jacket Love Song", is there any other songs included in Payola?
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The Cribs
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On 20 November 2012 the Cribs announced details of their first 'Best Of' compilation, Payola, which was released on 11 March 2013 via Wichita Recordings to mark the group's 10th anniversary. The 22 track album saw the first official release of "Leather Jacket Love Song" - recorded at sessions in early 2010, it is the final Cribs song to feature Johnny Marr. A special 40-track 'Anthology Edition' was released with an additional 18 track disc containing B-sides and rarities. On the 29th of February, the band made their fourth appearance on the cover of NME magazine, which came with an additional CD release "Payola: The Demos". This companion disc to "Payola" featured demo versions of most of the significant songs featured on "Payola", as well as 3 unheard and unreleased tracks harking back as far as 2001. Around the same time the band played an NME Awards show at Shepherds Bush Empire and several other headline dates around the country. Over the summer, the Cribs played numerous festivals in the UK and Europe, including headline slots at Y Not Festival and a show at the Olympic Park (London), as well as a short tour of Scottish venues. Autumn saw the band head back to Australia for an "Anniversary Tour", before venturing into Asia for a lengthy tour there. Cities and countries visited on this trip would include Thailand (Bangkok), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Vietnam (Saigon), two shows in Japan (Tokyo), a show at the Kowloonbay International Trade & Exhibition Centre in Hong Kong, and a large outdoor show in the meadow at the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. The year was rounded out by two sold out Christmas shows at the Leeds Academy 2014 began quietly, as the band began writing sessions for their next studio album. The only shows announced would be as part of the Weezer cruise from Florida to the Bahamas in February. Later in the year, the Cribs returned to the UK for some UK festival slots, including headlining Truck Festival and Tramlines Festival amongst others, and an Italian tour with Franz Ferdinand. CANNOTANSWER
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A special 40-track 'Anthology Edition' was released with an additional 18 track disc containing B-sides and rarities.
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The Cribs are a British indie rock band originally from Wakefield, West Yorkshire that formed in 2001. The band consists of twins Gary and Ryan Jarman and their younger brother Ross Jarman. They were subsequently joined by ex-The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr who was a formal member of the group from 2008 until 2011.
The band, who first became active on the concert circuit in 2002, were initially tied to other like-minded UK bands of that time, most notably The Libertines, by a British music press that were looking for a 'British rearguard' to the wave of popular US alternative rock bands of the time. They had outgrown this tag by the time of the commercial success of their third LP. In 2008, Q magazine described the band as "The biggest cult band in the UK".
In 2012, the band's 10th anniversary year, they were honoured with the Spirit of Independence award at the annual Q Awards. Several months later, they received the Outstanding Contribution to Music award at the annual NME Awards.
As of 2017, their last 4 albums have charted in the UK Top 10.
History
Formation and early years (2001–2003)
The Cribs were formed in late 2001 as a recording project for the three brothers. After recording a demo and garnering label interest, the band started playing live around this time, at venues like the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds, and "squats and warehouse parties" with artists such as Calvin Johnston, Subway Sect, Herman Dune, and Ballboy. They also released a split 7" single on Leeds based garage/riot grrrl/punk label Squirrel Records during this period with former Shove/Boyskout member Jen Schande. Limited to 300 copies on blue vinyl the record is now a rarity that sells for upwards of $150 on eBay. According to Mojo magazine, 'On the strength of one demo, the rush to find the UK Strokes saw the three-piece fielding calls from major labels, pluggers and label managers' in 2002. After several high-profile support slots, the band signed to the fledgling independent label Wichita Recordings in 2003 "we thought (they) were great because they sounded a bit like Pavement and had a big hook. We went to see them at the Metro on Oxford Street and completely fell in love with them. They seemed like such an obvious pop band. Every song sounded like a single" – Mark Bowen, Wichita Recordings.
The Cribs (2004)
After signing with Wichita Recordings, the band began re-recording many of the songs from the original demo, as well as several new tracks for what would be their debut record. Sessions began in London with Chicago based avant-garde musician Bobby Conn producing, after the band had supported him on some UK dates and impressed him "They had this cassette demo they had recorded on a boom-box, I suggested overdubs, they were too kitchen-sink for overdubs. I tried handclaps, they were 'not sure about handclaps'. It was all 'Keep it real'" – Bobby Conn. Then sessions moved to Toe Rag Studios in Hackney with the band self-producing. The album was completed in 7 days, live to 8-track tape, with Ed Deegan engineering.
Released on 8 March 2004, the album found early supporters in the NME, who commented on its "supreme pop melodies", and referred to it as "lo-fi, hi fun" giving it an 8/10 review. Lo-fi would be a term that would follow the band around for the next few years, and something that became synonymous with the group. Again, from the NME in 2011: "Recorded in a week, it's the definition of indie lo-fi. But not willful indie lo-fi; the scratches, clangs and gawwumps all heard here are genuinely the product of the trio's shoestring methods rather than the usual contrived fuzz that bands spend ages poring over beaten up eight-tracks to achieve". Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamacq was also an early champion. Lois Wilson of Mojo magazine described the album in 2009 as "intelligent lyrics on a background of clipped guitars and tumbling drums, with nods to The Strokes, Beat Happening, and C86's inept charm"
Three singles were released from the album – the limited edition 7" only "Another Number"/"Baby Don't Sweat" in November 2003, followed by first single proper "You Were Always the One", which climbed to No. 2 in the indie charts. "What About Me" was the third and final single from the album, again making the indie top 10. The Cribs toured extensively throughout 2004 and into 2005, both as headliners as well as supporting artists like old friend Bobby Conn, Death Cab For Cutie and The Libertines. Over the campaign they toured the UK and Ireland, Europe, Japan, and the United States, as well as several significant international festival appearances such as Reading and Leeds Festivals, Summersonic, T in the Park and Pukkelpop amongst others. Though only a moderate underground success at the time "Another Number" has gone on to become one of the band's most enduring 'hits' – seldom being left off the set-list and usually accompanied by a full crowd sing-along of the signature, repeated guitar riff.
The New Fellas (2005–2006)
After concluding touring duties for the first record, the band were taken off the road to start writing the follow up. However, the Cribs decided they still wanted to tour and took to posting their phone numbers and email addresses on the internet, professing to play anywhere for fuel money and a crate of beer. This DIY approach is something the band and label now feel was a key factor in their success, as it helped nurture a very strong, passionate fanbase.
The New Fellas, the band's second album release, was recorded with Edwyn Collins, the singer-songwriter and guitarist from Glasgow's influential Orange Juice in London at his own West Heath Studios. Again, it was a comparatively unpolished record sonically, as both the producer Collins and the band themselves were achieving sounds similar to those heard on the Orange Juice records. This was, however, the intention and the reason the band and producer were put together. "They had definite ideas what they wanted the record to sound like...They had this work ethic, there was nothing spoiled about them – they were proper indie; everything done on a shoe-string and they just got on with it....they were tremendous" – Edwyn Collins. One song, "Haunted", was even recorded on Scarborough beach on a whim, after hearing a Steve Martin ukulele duet recorded on a beach.
The first release from the record was the single "Hey Scenesters!" on 18 April 2005. It reached no. 27 in the UK charts, and started their run of 7 consecutive top 40 singles. The album followed on 20 June 2005 although it had leaked onto the internet several months prior to the official release date, hampering its first week sales. The record has however, gone on to be certified Silver by the BPI, and in a recent poll held by the NME was proved to be the overall fans favourite record. The other singles released from the record were "Mirror Kissers", "Martell", and non-album track "You're Gonna Lose Us" (produced by Bernard Butler), which was paired with "The Wrong Way To Be" as a AA side. The extensive New Fellas world tour took in several UK tours, Europe, United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, Scandinavia, and their first trip to Iceland. They appeared at numerous festivals at this time, including an appearance on the main stage at Reading and Leeds Festivals (becoming the first band to ever progress through all three stages in consecutive years), headlining the tent at T in the Park, Fuji Rock festival in Japan as well as an extensive USA arena tour with Death Cab for Cutie and Franz Ferdinand. A European tour during this period with ex Pavement man Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks would introduce Gary to his future wife Joanna Bolme.
Shortly before their appearance at the Fuji Rock festival, the Cribs released a Japan-only mini album called Arigato Cockers, made up of B-sides and rarities from both the first and second albums.
In their year-end issue, the NME made The New Fellas the No. 11 album of the year, and Hey Scenesters a single of the year.
Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever (2007–2008)
At the conclusion of The New Fellas campaign, the Cribs signed a major label deal with Warner Bros. Records – though they remained on Wichita in the UK at the bands insistence. The subsequent album, Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever saw the band finally take steps to progress forth from their 'lo-fi' roots, being recorded in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada with Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand as producer. The band and producer had met during the US tour the bands did together with Death Cab for Cutie, and hit it off immediately. The album was mixed by Andy Wallace (Nirvana, Foo Fighters). They collaborated with Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth on the track "Be Safe" – Ranaldo contributing his spoken word poetry to the band's music.
Prior to the record's release the Cribs took in a run of small UK club dates to preview songs from the new record. This is documented in the first Cribs documentary Leave Too Neat. The first cut from the album was the single 'Men's Needs', released on 7 May. It proved to be the band's first breakthrough with mainstream radio and reached no. 17 in the UK charts, becoming their biggest hit to date. The accompanying video, filmed in Hollywood by director Diane Martel has achieved over 7 million YouTube views to date.
The album was released on 21 May 2007, and entered the UK album charts at No. 13.
Touring began at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 30 March for the Teenage Cancer Trust. The rest of 2007 and most of 2008 was spent on the road promoting the record, taking in extensive UK and European touring, several United States and Canada tours, Japan, and the band's first trip out to Mexico for a main stage appearance at the MX Beat Festival, as well as some later headline shows. During their US touring schedules they appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, the Late Show with David Letterman, and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.
The second single to be released from the record was 'Moving Pictures', again charting in the UK Top 40, and then later a 7" only release of "I'm a Realist". The latter was backed with a cover of The Replacements song "Bastards of Young", a band the Cribs cite as a large influence. Another non-album single 'Don't You Wanna be Relevant?' was paired with album cut "Our Bovine Public" and again climbed to the UK top 40. There were numerous festival slots around this time including main stage slots at Lollapalooza, T in the Park, and V festival, as well as returning to Fuji Rock, and a first time appearance at Coachella amongst others. In November 2007 the Cribs were invited by a re-formed The Sex Pistols to play with them for three nights at Brixton Academy in celebration of the 30-year anniversary of Never Mind the Bollocks In December the band announced three intimate shows at their old haunt the Brudenell Social Club in aid of cystic fibrosis where they would play all three albums to date in sequence with secret unannounced support bands each night (Franz Ferdinand, Kate Nash, and Kaiser Chiefs respectively). This was documented for the band's second DVD, the 3 disc Live at the Brudenell Social Club.
In the year-end issues "Men's Needs" was named third-best track of 2007 by NME with the album coming in at No. 9, Track of the Year 2007 by the Metro newspaper and making the annual 100 best tracks list in Rolling Stone magazine in the USA.
2008 began with the Cribs being nominated for 4 awards at the annual NME awards ceremony (Best British Band, Best Live Band, Best Track and Hero of the Year for Ryan Jarman). Through this they were asked to headline the annual NME Awards Tour, which they undertook through January and February featuring some of the band's largest headline shows up to that point and culminating in a show at the o2 Arena in London. They also made a live appearance at the Awards ceremony itself, playing new single 'I'm a Realist' and a cover of 'Panic' by the Smiths, featuring their new guitarist Johnny Marr (of the aforementioned band), who had been guesting with them throughout the tour.
Another USA tour followed this, and then some more festival appearances including main stage slots at the Isle of Wight Festival, Rockness, Primavera Festival, Fuji Rock and Sziget, as well as a headline appearance on the John Peel Stage at Glastonbury, and headlining the second stage at Reading and Leeds Festivals.
In April 2018, the album was certified Gold in the UK by the British Phonographic Industry for sales over 100,000, becoming the first album certified Gold by the BRIT Awards.
Ignore the Ignorant (2009–2010)
After a chance meeting with Johnny Marr (at the time a member of Modest Mouse) in Portland, OR the Cribs and Johnny became close friends. Once Modest Mouse completed touring duties for their record, the Cribs and Johnny started to hang around and jam together – "It's been going well and it would be shame to cut it short, the original intention was to be doing an EP" the band told BBC 6 Music in January 2008. However it was later announced that they would be working on an album together and that Johnny had joined as a full-time member of the group.
Much of the remainder of 2008 was spent writing new material in Portland, OR, Manchester and Wakefield, followed by a short UK tour taking in Glasgow ABC, Bradford St. Georges Hall, two nights at Manchester Ritz, and Heaven in London to road-test some of the new songs before recording commenced. Studio time was booked for March 2009 in Los Angeles with veteran producer Nick Launay (Nick Cave, PIL, Yeah Yeah Yeahs). Ross Jarman performed most of the drum tracks for the recording with a broken wrist after a skateboard accident. Promotion for the Ignore the Ignorant album came in the form of an intimate "alternative Leeds/Reading show" at HMV in Leeds. This was scheduled as the same weekend as the Reading Leeds festival. The band played several songs from their new album as well as some old favourites. Afterwards, Ryan Jarman could be seen browsing the CD's in HMV and being available for fans to meet him.
Preceded by the single 'Cheat on Me', the album Ignore the Ignorant was released on 7 September 2009, and scored the Cribs their first UK Top Ten album. Released the same week that The Beatles re-issued their entire 13 LP back-catalogue, Ignore the Ignorant managed to out-sell all but two of them to chart at number 8, something the band described as "surreal". Touring began with a headline slot at the White Air festival in Brighton followed by a UK tour of large halls. The band then went on to tour Japan (including a show at Budokan with Arctic Monkeys) then on to South Korea where they headlined the Grand Mint festival at the Olympic Park, Seoul. Next was a United States/Canada tour, as well as a European arena tour with Franz Ferdinand before the Cribs returned to the UK for their largest headline shows to date.
In December 2009, Ignore the Ignorant was placed at number 11 in Mojo magazine's "Albums of the Year", and at number 7 in The Fly's "Albums of the Year". NME also placed it at No. 30 in their end of year list, as well as making "Cheat on Me" a track of the year. In Japan, Crossbeat magazine placed it at No. 8 in its "Albums of 2009" list, whilst Music Magazine called it the No. 1 album of 2009. Both magazines are leading publications in Japan. At the same time, The New Fellas was named an "Album of the Century" by Q.
2010 began with another extensive United States and Canada tour, before heading off for dates in Australia and New Zealand. Festival appearances including Glastonbury, Lollapalooza, Fuji Rock, Benecassim, Sziget and Pukkelpop amongst others followed.
During this time the band were invited to support Aerosmith at two arena shows in Spain and France.
For Record Store Day 2010 the Cribs released "So Hot Now" as a split 7" single with Portland, OR band The Thermals on legendary riot grrrl label Kill Rock Stars.
On 9 August 2010, BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe announced during his show that he would be playing a brand new Cribs song that night. The very next day, 'Housewife' was released officially on iTunes. No one, from music industry insiders to the band's fans, had any idea that a new single was being geared up until that moment. The cover art featured Ryan and Gary in drag. Later that month the band appeared on the main stage once again at the Reading and Leeds festivals to close the album campaign. These would be Marr's last shows with the Cribs.
In the Belly of the Brazen Bull (2011–2012)
After announcing Marr's departure from the group on 11 April 2011, The Cribs started work on writing the follow up to Ignore the Ignorant, mooted for a spring 2012 release. During this time, they recorded a cover of original 70's Canadian punk band The Dishrags 'Death in the Family' for a Canadian Mint Records compilation. Over the summer they played several headlining slots at UK festivals in 2011, as well as a show at Le Zenith in Paris with The Strokes. In June 2011 they made their first trip to Brazil, playing two shows in São Paulo. In December 2011 they headlined the Clockenflap festival in Hong Kong, debuting new songs 'Come On, Be A No-One', and 'Anna' for the first time.
The Cribs announced the title of their fifth studio album as In the Belly of the Brazen Bull and its track-listing on 14 February 2012. The album was recorded at Tarbox Road studio in New York with David Fridmann, London's Abbey Road and Chicago's EAR studio with engineer Steve Albini. On 14 February, BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe premiered the first taster from the album, 'Chi-Town' on his radio show and played the song 3 times. During this time, both the band and the song title were trending on Twitter. Shortly after the announcement was made, the band embarked on a quick UK tour, to preview the new material and promote the upcoming single, slated for April. In March, the band headed out on a tour of the United States, concluding in April, and later that month released the first official single from the new album 'Come On, Be A No-One'. A European tour followed, and then a full-scale UK tour in May – kicking off with a performance at the 2012 Camden Crawl. It was during this tour that the band were introduced to Turner Prize winning artist Martin Creed, who was acting as support band. The album was released on 7 May 2012 and would provide the band with their second UK Top 10 record, charting at number 9.
The next month, the band headed out for another tour of the United States and Canada, before flying to Japan to headline the Hostess Weekender festival at the Yebisu Garden Hall in Tokyo, as well as a show in Osaka. In July, the second official single from the album, 'Glitters Like Gold' would be released on a special gold glitter vinyl. The band toured Italy, and then toured the European festival circuit throughout most of the summer, including a large outdoor show with the Foo Fighters in Belfast Boucher playing fields, and another engagement at the Reading and Leeds festival, where the band would destroy the instruments and stage set at the climax of the Reading show.
September would see the release of the third and final single from the album. 'Anna', unlike the prior singles, was made available as a download only, and featured a collaboration with the aforementioned Martin Creed. The band and Creed had been looking for a project to collaborate on since meeting on tour earlier in the year, and the artist provided Work #1431 as the video to the single. In October the Cribs headlined Sŵn Festival in Cardiff, and then headed out on another UK and Irish tour. During this tour, the Cribs were awarded the 'Spirit of Independence' award at the Q Awards 2012 on 22 October. At the conclusion of the UK tour, the band headed to eastern Europe where, amongst other dates, they would visit Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece and Turkey for the first time. Following these dates, the band headed to South America to play a show in Brazil, and then on to Argentina for a show at the open air hockey arena Club Ciudad de Buenos Aires for the Personal Fest festival. 2013 would see the band visit Australia for 3 shows in January, effectively concluding live touring for 'In The Belly of The Brazen Bull'.
In the end of year lists, the album was placed by The Guardian (#22), NME (#8), The Fly (#21), This Is Fake DIY (#3) amongst others in the UK.
Payola (2013)
On 20 November 2012 the Cribs announced details of their first 'Best Of' compilation, Payola, which was released on 11 March 2013 via Wichita Recordings to mark the group's 10th anniversary. The 22 track album saw the first official release of "Leather Jacket Love Song" – recorded at sessions in early 2010, it is the final Cribs song to feature Johnny Marr. A special 40-track 'Anthology Edition' was released with an additional 18 track disc containing B-sides and rarities.
On 29 February, the band made their fourth appearance on the cover of NME magazine, which came with an additional CD release "Payola: The Demos". This companion disc to "Payola" featured demo versions of most of the significant songs featured on "Payola", as well as 3 unheard and unreleased tracks harking back as far as 2001.
Around the same time the band played an NME Awards show at Shepherd's Bush Empire and several other headline dates around the country. Over the summer, the Cribs played numerous festivals in the UK and Europe, including headline slots at Y Not Festival and a show at the Olympic Park (London), as well as a short tour of Scottish venues. Autumn saw the band head back to Australia for an "Anniversary Tour", before venturing into Asia for a lengthy tour there. Cities and countries visited on this trip would include Thailand (Bangkok), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Vietnam (Saigon), two shows in Japan (Tokyo), a show at the Kowloonbay International Trade & Exhibition Centre in Hong Kong, and a large outdoor show in the meadow at the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. The year was rounded out by two sold out Christmas shows at the Leeds Academy
2014 began quietly, as the band began writing sessions for their next studio album. The only shows announced would be as part of the Weezer cruise from Florida to the Bahamas in February. Later in the year, the Cribs returned to the UK for some UK festival slots, including headlining Truck Festival and Tramlines Festival amongst others, and an Italian tour with Franz Ferdinand.
For All My Sisters (2014–2016)
In August 2014, Music Week reported that the band had signed with Sony RED. This followed news that the band's sixth album was to be produced by former The Cars frontman Ric Ocasek, known for his work with artists including Weezer, Nada Surf and Guided by Voices. Frenchkiss Records was also named by Music Week as the band's new label for North America, but the band would ultimately later announce their signing with Arts & Crafts. "An Ivory Hand", a teaser track for the upcoming album had a midnight digital release on 19 January 2015. It received its first radio play later that day from the BBC's Steve Lamacq. It would later be made 'Single of the Week' by the NME. The album, For All My Sisters, was released in the UK on 23 March 2015; although due in North America on 24 March 2015, it was released the same day. It would go on to become the Cribs' third consecutive UK Top 10 album.
The first single from the album "Burning For No One", was debuted by BBC Radio 1 on 2 February, by Zane Lowe who made it his 'Hottest Record in the World'. The accompanying video, shot on the Bahamian island of Exuma was released on 16 February and clocked up over 200,000 views on YouTube in its first week.
The new songs were road tested on a quick UK tour of sold-out shows, and then the band went to New York City to play a 3 night residency across 3 different venues (2 in Brooklyn, 1 in Manhattan), before heading to Austin, Texas for the annual SXSW showcase, playing 4 shows across 3 days. Immediately after returning from SXSW, The Cribs embarked on a week-long tour of in-store performances and signings at independent record stores throughout the UK.
US touring began a few weeks later in San Francisco for a tour of the west coast, and would include a second appearance at the Coachella Festival, playing the Sunday of both weekends and playing headline shows throughout the state and Las Vegas in the intervening week. For this outing, the band was joined on stage by Michael Cummings of the NYC band Skaters.
Back in the UK, The Cribs headlined Leeds Town Hall as part of the Live at Leeds festival in May, before headlining The Great Escape Festival in Brighton with 2 performances, and then two shows in Ireland. That summer they would play on the main stages at the Liverpool Sound City festival and T in the Park, and made their third appearance on The Other Stage at Glastonbury. They would also play at Festival Internacional de Benicassim in Spain.
The Cribs then went out to Asia, for a headline show in Tokyo, and a main stage appearance at the Pentaport Rock Festival in Incheon, South Korea. Later that month they would appear on the Main Stage at the Reading and Leeds Festivals for the third time before heading out to North America for a full tour there. During the band's performance at the Fairmount Theatre in Montreal as part of the Pop Montreal festival, the band would perform 'Be Safe' with Lee Ranaldo performing his spoken word part live in person for only the second time since the song's release (the first coming in 2008 at the Music Hall of Williamsburg).
A full UK tour was announced during this period, and took place in October and November, which included dates at Glasgow Barrowlands, Manchester Albert Hall, and The Roundhouse in Camden amongst others.
In 2016 The Cribs were announced as headliners of the Camden Rocks Festival taking place in June. Over the summer The Cribs would play the main stage at Isle of Wight Festival, Y Not Festival, and were the secret unannounced headliners of In The Woods Festival in Kent. During the summer, The Cribs played their largest headline show to date, at the 8,000 capacity open air Millennium Square in Leeds.
Another tour of Asia followed, including stops in S. Korea (Seoul), Japan (Tokyo and Osaka) and the band's first engagement in China, where they would play the Shanghai Rugby Football Stadium for the Concrete and Grass Festival. Shortly after the show The Cribs announced that this would be the final show of the "For All My Sisters" tour.
24–7 Rock Star Shit (2017–2018)
On 3 February 2017 it was announced that The Cribs would be the subject to their own exhibition in their hometown at Wakefield Museum. The exhibit featured 3 large glass containers dedicated to each of the band members with their chosen instruments as well as various memorabilia such as early gig posters, awards, touring paraphernalia and original records. The exhibit was unveiled on 14 February 2017 by Ross, who appeared on BBC Look North playing the drum kit within his respective glass container. The exhibition ran until July 2017.
On 7 February 2017 The Cribs announced a 10th anniversary tour in honour of their third album. The "Men's Needs, Women's Needs, FOREVER" tour was initially scheduled to consist of seven dates in large venues across the UK. A second London date at the Forum was later added due to popular demand. The tour commenced on 11 May at Glasgow Academy and finished on 20 May with a show at Leeds First Direct Arena where they were joined live on stage by Lee Ranaldo for his spoken word part in Be Safe. The band also performed the album in full for their headlining slot on the Baltic Stage at Liverpool Sound City festival.
Following the final night of this tour, at midnight on 21 May, The Cribs tweeted a series of code which the next day revealed itself to be coordinates for various record stores across the UK and the US, along with specific timestamp for each store. Arriving at the location at the specified time would allow customers to purchase a white label single entitled "Year of Hate". Each single was hand numbered and the edition number totaled 247. This process continued with handfuls of co-ordinates for record stores being announced each day for the next week. The cryptic coordinate approach was dropped on 22 May due to the recent attack in Manchester. Despite the limited run number and obscure release method the single entered the UK vinyl singles chart at number 3 on the week commencing 26 May 2017. The song eventually saw a digital release on 16 June – until that time the only way to hear it was by playing the vinyl or via BBC iPlayer on-demand, after Steve Lamacq aired the song on his show.
A second single "In Your Palace" was shock released digitally on 2 June 2017 with a music video released on 13 June. It was then announced on 24 July 2017 that the album "24–7 Rock Star Shit" would be released 2 weeks later on 11 August 2017, alongside a music video for another new song – "Rainbow Ridge", which was available as a free download with a pre-order of the album. Exclusive launch parties were announced for Leeds and London – with the London party being a curated event at House of Vans, featuring an art display, Q&A with the band, and a full live performance on the night the album was released. Entrants were selected by a free-to-enter ballot via the Vans website.
After spending three days at number 1 in the UK charts, the album mid-weeked at number 5, before officially entering the charts at number 8 – the band's fourth consecutive Top 10 album.
Following this, The Cribs began a tour of the United States and Canada. At the conclusion of this tour they returned to Mexico to headline the Sala Corona in Mexico City, and to play the main stages at Live Out Festival in Monterrey and Festival Coordenada in Guadalajara. In December, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the original 'Cribsmas' event, the band booked Christmas residency shows in the UK – 4 nights in Glasgow, 4 nights in Manchester, 3 nights in London, and 5 nights in Leeds – performing over 80 songs from their back catalogue. In 2018 the band continued their UK tour with the '24–7 Rock Star Shit in the UK' tour – a 14 date tour of secondary markets throughout January.
In April the band went to Australia to play shows in Newcastle, Brisbane, Perth, Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne. Following this was a 4 date tour of China in May – visiting Chengdu, Wuhan, Shanghai, and Beijing. A show in Hong Kong followed as well as two shows in Japan.
Summer saw The Cribs invited to support Foo Fighters at City of Manchester Stadium alongside several other UK festival appearances.
Night Network (2019–present)
Following the release of their fourth consecutive UK top 10 album 24-7 Rock Star Shit, the band almost immediately parted company with their long time UK management and found themselves stuck in what Gary described as "legal morass", unable to record or release new music. This is because the band had belatedly discovered that the rights to the back catalogue from earlier in their career was owned by other parties thanks to various deals that they were unaware of. As a result, the band – who were now managing themselves – decided to focus on gaining ownership because there would be no point in signing a new deal, making a new record and touring as long as someone else owned their music.
What followed was an eighteen month period of inactivity, resulting in 2019 being the only year since the band's inception in 2002 whereby the band did not play a live concert, following their final gig of the 24-7 Rock Star Shit tour in Glasgow in September 2018.
In a position of uncertainty about how to continue beyond the already-booked gigs, following a show where The Cribs had supported Foo Fighters in Manchester at the Etihad Stadium in June 2018, Dave Grohl learned of the band's struggles and offered for the band to use his Studio 606.
Following the successful resolution of their back catalogue ownership, the band was set to sign a major label deal. But then it emerged that there was yet other people claiming ownership of their music, and so they had to go through another legal battle from September 2019 to February 2020 while working on the new album.
During 2020, the band was active on Twitter to participate in Tim Burgess' "Listening Parties", offering behind the scenes insight for their most commercially successful album Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever on 7 April and due to the positive response, followed up with another listening party of fan favourite The New Fellas on 28 May.
On 8 June, the band announced on their social media pages, with four hours notice, their first live performance in nearly two years. This turned out to be a pre-recorded webcam broadcast of "Be Safe", featuring Lee Ranaldo performing his spoken word part, from their residences across the world (Ryan in Queens, New York, Gary in Portland, Oregon, Ross in Wakefield and Lee in Manhattan, New York).
On 12 August 2020, a day over three years since their last new material 24-7 Rock Star Shit, the band's social media profile pictures changed to a stylised test card. The following day on 13 August 2020, the band announced their return with a new song to be broadcast on BBC Radio 6 Music. The song turned out to be lead single "Running Into You" and subsequently the band announced new album Night Network to be released on 13 November 2020, along with artwork, tracklisting and a video for "Running Into You" starring Sam Riley.
Released into the UK COVID-19 lockdown of 2020, the band had all of their scheduled headline touring to support the album delayed. The album release was therefore celebrated with a socially distanced performance at Liverpools legendary Cavern Club on the 21st November. This performance was streamed worldwide as a PPV via the Veeps platform.
On July 15, 2021, The Cribs released a cover of the Comet Gain song "Fingernailed For You" as part of the Kill Rock Stars label's 30th anniversary covers compilation "Stars Rock Kill (Rock Stars)".
Band members
Current members
Gary Jarman – bass, vocals (2001–present)
Ryan Jarman – guitar, vocals (2001–present)
Ross Jarman – drums (2001–present)
Former members
Johnny Marr – guitar (2008–2011)
Touring musicians
David Jones – guitar (2011–2015)
Michael Cummings – guitar, keyboard, Bass VI (March/April 2015 U.S. dates)
Russell Searle – guitar, keyboard (May 2015 – present)
Awards and nominations
Discography
The Cribs (2004)
The New Fellas (2005)
Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever (2007)
Ignore the Ignorant (2009)
In the Belly of the Brazen Bull (2012)
For All My Sisters (2015)
24-7 Rock Star Shit (2017)
Night Network (2020)
Fanzine
A group of between fifty and one-hundred committed fans aimed to 'collect thoughtful, dedicated and passionate written work' on the band beginning in early summer 2011. Kind Words from the Broken Hearted 'outlines a range of responses to the Cribs...with many otherwise "ordinary" men and women contributing ideas and views' that fill the pages of the fanzine. Pieces within the fanzine emphasise the importance of Wichita Recordings, Domino Recording Company, Kill Rock Stars and Fortuna Pop!, amongst others, in providing a vibrant and supportive environment for independent bands to hone their work and retain an ethical stance in the music industry. The fanzine also shares close links with fellow Wakefield independent music fans at Rhubarb Bomb, in addition to Bonus Cupped, a left-leaning, travel and punk publication from Bristol. Moreover, Kind Words from the Broken Hearted supports other forms of independent music, including Comet Gain, Edwyn Collins and Pavement to name but three, welcoming diverse forms of the art but keen to eschew a celebratory tone that pervades contemporary music journalism. Notable readers, and upcoming contributors include band collaborator Nick Scott at Narcsville and Eddie Argos and Jasper Future from Art Brut. Support from within contemporary music journalism has come from influential The Smiths and David Bowie writer and broadcaster Simon Goddard, in addition to Tim Jonze at The Guardian. Those interested by independent journalism can find the fanzine through a regular address or alternatively through an Edinburgh-based social media site.
References
External links
The Cribs official site
And then there were three: An interview with Ryan Jarman (via Talk Rock To Me), 11 May 2012
English indie rock groups
NME Awards winners
V2 Records artists
Wichita Recordings artists
Sibling musical groups
Musical groups established in 2002
2002 establishments in England
Musical groups from Wakefield
| true |
[
"This is an alphabetical list of lists of known Hindi songs performed, sung and/or recorded by Mohammed Rafi between 1942 and 1980. Over 5,000 of his songs are listed here. Mohammed Rafi also sang in several other different languages, which might not be included here. The genre of song is first, followed by any other singers and the music director or lyricist, then Album name and Year released.\n\nList of Songs\n\nSee also \n\n List of songs recorded by Mohammed Rafi\n Recorded Songs (A)\n Recorded songs (D-F)\n Recorded songs (G)\n Recorded songs (H-I)\n Recorded songs (J)\n Recorded songs (K)\n Recorded songs (L)\n Recorded songs (M)\n Recorded songs (N)\n Recorded songs (O)\n Recorded songs (P-R)\n Recorded songs (S)\n Recorded songs (T)\n Recorded songs (U-Z)\n\nB-C",
"Cupid? is the first album by Canadian rock band Stabilo with a major record label and their first with their new modified name (originally \"Stabilo Boss\"). It contains seven songs, including the hit \"Everybody\". The songs \"Stone\", \"Any Other Girl\" and \"Enemy\" were new songs recorded specifically for the album. \"Paperboy\", \"Everybody\", \"One More Pill\" and \"?\" were re-recordings of older material.\n\nTrack listing\n\"Paperboy\" – 3:26\n\"Everybody\" – 3:35\n\"Stone\" – 3:53\n\"Any Other Girl\" – 4:44\n\"One More Pill\" – 3:49\n\"?\" – 4:27\n\"Enemy\" – 3:42\n\nStabilo (band) albums\n2004 albums\nCupid in music"
] |
[
"The Cribs",
"Payola (2013)",
"What is Payola?",
"On 20 November 2012 the Cribs announced details of their first 'Best Of' compilation, Payola,",
"How well did it do?",
"I don't know.",
"What songs are included in Payola?",
"The 22 track album saw the first official release of \"Leather Jacket Love Song\" - recorded at sessions in early 2010,",
"Any other songs?",
"A special 40-track 'Anthology Edition' was released with an additional 18 track disc containing B-sides and rarities."
] |
C_ebaf51b477a74a4884cb659b07039674_0
|
Did they have any other albums?
| 5 |
In addition to "Anthology Edition", did Payola have any other albums?
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The Cribs
|
On 20 November 2012 the Cribs announced details of their first 'Best Of' compilation, Payola, which was released on 11 March 2013 via Wichita Recordings to mark the group's 10th anniversary. The 22 track album saw the first official release of "Leather Jacket Love Song" - recorded at sessions in early 2010, it is the final Cribs song to feature Johnny Marr. A special 40-track 'Anthology Edition' was released with an additional 18 track disc containing B-sides and rarities. On the 29th of February, the band made their fourth appearance on the cover of NME magazine, which came with an additional CD release "Payola: The Demos". This companion disc to "Payola" featured demo versions of most of the significant songs featured on "Payola", as well as 3 unheard and unreleased tracks harking back as far as 2001. Around the same time the band played an NME Awards show at Shepherds Bush Empire and several other headline dates around the country. Over the summer, the Cribs played numerous festivals in the UK and Europe, including headline slots at Y Not Festival and a show at the Olympic Park (London), as well as a short tour of Scottish venues. Autumn saw the band head back to Australia for an "Anniversary Tour", before venturing into Asia for a lengthy tour there. Cities and countries visited on this trip would include Thailand (Bangkok), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Vietnam (Saigon), two shows in Japan (Tokyo), a show at the Kowloonbay International Trade & Exhibition Centre in Hong Kong, and a large outdoor show in the meadow at the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. The year was rounded out by two sold out Christmas shows at the Leeds Academy 2014 began quietly, as the band began writing sessions for their next studio album. The only shows announced would be as part of the Weezer cruise from Florida to the Bahamas in February. Later in the year, the Cribs returned to the UK for some UK festival slots, including headlining Truck Festival and Tramlines Festival amongst others, and an Italian tour with Franz Ferdinand. CANNOTANSWER
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2014 began quietly, as the band began writing sessions for their next studio album.
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The Cribs are a British indie rock band originally from Wakefield, West Yorkshire that formed in 2001. The band consists of twins Gary and Ryan Jarman and their younger brother Ross Jarman. They were subsequently joined by ex-The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr who was a formal member of the group from 2008 until 2011.
The band, who first became active on the concert circuit in 2002, were initially tied to other like-minded UK bands of that time, most notably The Libertines, by a British music press that were looking for a 'British rearguard' to the wave of popular US alternative rock bands of the time. They had outgrown this tag by the time of the commercial success of their third LP. In 2008, Q magazine described the band as "The biggest cult band in the UK".
In 2012, the band's 10th anniversary year, they were honoured with the Spirit of Independence award at the annual Q Awards. Several months later, they received the Outstanding Contribution to Music award at the annual NME Awards.
As of 2017, their last 4 albums have charted in the UK Top 10.
History
Formation and early years (2001–2003)
The Cribs were formed in late 2001 as a recording project for the three brothers. After recording a demo and garnering label interest, the band started playing live around this time, at venues like the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds, and "squats and warehouse parties" with artists such as Calvin Johnston, Subway Sect, Herman Dune, and Ballboy. They also released a split 7" single on Leeds based garage/riot grrrl/punk label Squirrel Records during this period with former Shove/Boyskout member Jen Schande. Limited to 300 copies on blue vinyl the record is now a rarity that sells for upwards of $150 on eBay. According to Mojo magazine, 'On the strength of one demo, the rush to find the UK Strokes saw the three-piece fielding calls from major labels, pluggers and label managers' in 2002. After several high-profile support slots, the band signed to the fledgling independent label Wichita Recordings in 2003 "we thought (they) were great because they sounded a bit like Pavement and had a big hook. We went to see them at the Metro on Oxford Street and completely fell in love with them. They seemed like such an obvious pop band. Every song sounded like a single" – Mark Bowen, Wichita Recordings.
The Cribs (2004)
After signing with Wichita Recordings, the band began re-recording many of the songs from the original demo, as well as several new tracks for what would be their debut record. Sessions began in London with Chicago based avant-garde musician Bobby Conn producing, after the band had supported him on some UK dates and impressed him "They had this cassette demo they had recorded on a boom-box, I suggested overdubs, they were too kitchen-sink for overdubs. I tried handclaps, they were 'not sure about handclaps'. It was all 'Keep it real'" – Bobby Conn. Then sessions moved to Toe Rag Studios in Hackney with the band self-producing. The album was completed in 7 days, live to 8-track tape, with Ed Deegan engineering.
Released on 8 March 2004, the album found early supporters in the NME, who commented on its "supreme pop melodies", and referred to it as "lo-fi, hi fun" giving it an 8/10 review. Lo-fi would be a term that would follow the band around for the next few years, and something that became synonymous with the group. Again, from the NME in 2011: "Recorded in a week, it's the definition of indie lo-fi. But not willful indie lo-fi; the scratches, clangs and gawwumps all heard here are genuinely the product of the trio's shoestring methods rather than the usual contrived fuzz that bands spend ages poring over beaten up eight-tracks to achieve". Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamacq was also an early champion. Lois Wilson of Mojo magazine described the album in 2009 as "intelligent lyrics on a background of clipped guitars and tumbling drums, with nods to The Strokes, Beat Happening, and C86's inept charm"
Three singles were released from the album – the limited edition 7" only "Another Number"/"Baby Don't Sweat" in November 2003, followed by first single proper "You Were Always the One", which climbed to No. 2 in the indie charts. "What About Me" was the third and final single from the album, again making the indie top 10. The Cribs toured extensively throughout 2004 and into 2005, both as headliners as well as supporting artists like old friend Bobby Conn, Death Cab For Cutie and The Libertines. Over the campaign they toured the UK and Ireland, Europe, Japan, and the United States, as well as several significant international festival appearances such as Reading and Leeds Festivals, Summersonic, T in the Park and Pukkelpop amongst others. Though only a moderate underground success at the time "Another Number" has gone on to become one of the band's most enduring 'hits' – seldom being left off the set-list and usually accompanied by a full crowd sing-along of the signature, repeated guitar riff.
The New Fellas (2005–2006)
After concluding touring duties for the first record, the band were taken off the road to start writing the follow up. However, the Cribs decided they still wanted to tour and took to posting their phone numbers and email addresses on the internet, professing to play anywhere for fuel money and a crate of beer. This DIY approach is something the band and label now feel was a key factor in their success, as it helped nurture a very strong, passionate fanbase.
The New Fellas, the band's second album release, was recorded with Edwyn Collins, the singer-songwriter and guitarist from Glasgow's influential Orange Juice in London at his own West Heath Studios. Again, it was a comparatively unpolished record sonically, as both the producer Collins and the band themselves were achieving sounds similar to those heard on the Orange Juice records. This was, however, the intention and the reason the band and producer were put together. "They had definite ideas what they wanted the record to sound like...They had this work ethic, there was nothing spoiled about them – they were proper indie; everything done on a shoe-string and they just got on with it....they were tremendous" – Edwyn Collins. One song, "Haunted", was even recorded on Scarborough beach on a whim, after hearing a Steve Martin ukulele duet recorded on a beach.
The first release from the record was the single "Hey Scenesters!" on 18 April 2005. It reached no. 27 in the UK charts, and started their run of 7 consecutive top 40 singles. The album followed on 20 June 2005 although it had leaked onto the internet several months prior to the official release date, hampering its first week sales. The record has however, gone on to be certified Silver by the BPI, and in a recent poll held by the NME was proved to be the overall fans favourite record. The other singles released from the record were "Mirror Kissers", "Martell", and non-album track "You're Gonna Lose Us" (produced by Bernard Butler), which was paired with "The Wrong Way To Be" as a AA side. The extensive New Fellas world tour took in several UK tours, Europe, United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, Scandinavia, and their first trip to Iceland. They appeared at numerous festivals at this time, including an appearance on the main stage at Reading and Leeds Festivals (becoming the first band to ever progress through all three stages in consecutive years), headlining the tent at T in the Park, Fuji Rock festival in Japan as well as an extensive USA arena tour with Death Cab for Cutie and Franz Ferdinand. A European tour during this period with ex Pavement man Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks would introduce Gary to his future wife Joanna Bolme.
Shortly before their appearance at the Fuji Rock festival, the Cribs released a Japan-only mini album called Arigato Cockers, made up of B-sides and rarities from both the first and second albums.
In their year-end issue, the NME made The New Fellas the No. 11 album of the year, and Hey Scenesters a single of the year.
Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever (2007–2008)
At the conclusion of The New Fellas campaign, the Cribs signed a major label deal with Warner Bros. Records – though they remained on Wichita in the UK at the bands insistence. The subsequent album, Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever saw the band finally take steps to progress forth from their 'lo-fi' roots, being recorded in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada with Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand as producer. The band and producer had met during the US tour the bands did together with Death Cab for Cutie, and hit it off immediately. The album was mixed by Andy Wallace (Nirvana, Foo Fighters). They collaborated with Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth on the track "Be Safe" – Ranaldo contributing his spoken word poetry to the band's music.
Prior to the record's release the Cribs took in a run of small UK club dates to preview songs from the new record. This is documented in the first Cribs documentary Leave Too Neat. The first cut from the album was the single 'Men's Needs', released on 7 May. It proved to be the band's first breakthrough with mainstream radio and reached no. 17 in the UK charts, becoming their biggest hit to date. The accompanying video, filmed in Hollywood by director Diane Martel has achieved over 7 million YouTube views to date.
The album was released on 21 May 2007, and entered the UK album charts at No. 13.
Touring began at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 30 March for the Teenage Cancer Trust. The rest of 2007 and most of 2008 was spent on the road promoting the record, taking in extensive UK and European touring, several United States and Canada tours, Japan, and the band's first trip out to Mexico for a main stage appearance at the MX Beat Festival, as well as some later headline shows. During their US touring schedules they appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, the Late Show with David Letterman, and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.
The second single to be released from the record was 'Moving Pictures', again charting in the UK Top 40, and then later a 7" only release of "I'm a Realist". The latter was backed with a cover of The Replacements song "Bastards of Young", a band the Cribs cite as a large influence. Another non-album single 'Don't You Wanna be Relevant?' was paired with album cut "Our Bovine Public" and again climbed to the UK top 40. There were numerous festival slots around this time including main stage slots at Lollapalooza, T in the Park, and V festival, as well as returning to Fuji Rock, and a first time appearance at Coachella amongst others. In November 2007 the Cribs were invited by a re-formed The Sex Pistols to play with them for three nights at Brixton Academy in celebration of the 30-year anniversary of Never Mind the Bollocks In December the band announced three intimate shows at their old haunt the Brudenell Social Club in aid of cystic fibrosis where they would play all three albums to date in sequence with secret unannounced support bands each night (Franz Ferdinand, Kate Nash, and Kaiser Chiefs respectively). This was documented for the band's second DVD, the 3 disc Live at the Brudenell Social Club.
In the year-end issues "Men's Needs" was named third-best track of 2007 by NME with the album coming in at No. 9, Track of the Year 2007 by the Metro newspaper and making the annual 100 best tracks list in Rolling Stone magazine in the USA.
2008 began with the Cribs being nominated for 4 awards at the annual NME awards ceremony (Best British Band, Best Live Band, Best Track and Hero of the Year for Ryan Jarman). Through this they were asked to headline the annual NME Awards Tour, which they undertook through January and February featuring some of the band's largest headline shows up to that point and culminating in a show at the o2 Arena in London. They also made a live appearance at the Awards ceremony itself, playing new single 'I'm a Realist' and a cover of 'Panic' by the Smiths, featuring their new guitarist Johnny Marr (of the aforementioned band), who had been guesting with them throughout the tour.
Another USA tour followed this, and then some more festival appearances including main stage slots at the Isle of Wight Festival, Rockness, Primavera Festival, Fuji Rock and Sziget, as well as a headline appearance on the John Peel Stage at Glastonbury, and headlining the second stage at Reading and Leeds Festivals.
In April 2018, the album was certified Gold in the UK by the British Phonographic Industry for sales over 100,000, becoming the first album certified Gold by the BRIT Awards.
Ignore the Ignorant (2009–2010)
After a chance meeting with Johnny Marr (at the time a member of Modest Mouse) in Portland, OR the Cribs and Johnny became close friends. Once Modest Mouse completed touring duties for their record, the Cribs and Johnny started to hang around and jam together – "It's been going well and it would be shame to cut it short, the original intention was to be doing an EP" the band told BBC 6 Music in January 2008. However it was later announced that they would be working on an album together and that Johnny had joined as a full-time member of the group.
Much of the remainder of 2008 was spent writing new material in Portland, OR, Manchester and Wakefield, followed by a short UK tour taking in Glasgow ABC, Bradford St. Georges Hall, two nights at Manchester Ritz, and Heaven in London to road-test some of the new songs before recording commenced. Studio time was booked for March 2009 in Los Angeles with veteran producer Nick Launay (Nick Cave, PIL, Yeah Yeah Yeahs). Ross Jarman performed most of the drum tracks for the recording with a broken wrist after a skateboard accident. Promotion for the Ignore the Ignorant album came in the form of an intimate "alternative Leeds/Reading show" at HMV in Leeds. This was scheduled as the same weekend as the Reading Leeds festival. The band played several songs from their new album as well as some old favourites. Afterwards, Ryan Jarman could be seen browsing the CD's in HMV and being available for fans to meet him.
Preceded by the single 'Cheat on Me', the album Ignore the Ignorant was released on 7 September 2009, and scored the Cribs their first UK Top Ten album. Released the same week that The Beatles re-issued their entire 13 LP back-catalogue, Ignore the Ignorant managed to out-sell all but two of them to chart at number 8, something the band described as "surreal". Touring began with a headline slot at the White Air festival in Brighton followed by a UK tour of large halls. The band then went on to tour Japan (including a show at Budokan with Arctic Monkeys) then on to South Korea where they headlined the Grand Mint festival at the Olympic Park, Seoul. Next was a United States/Canada tour, as well as a European arena tour with Franz Ferdinand before the Cribs returned to the UK for their largest headline shows to date.
In December 2009, Ignore the Ignorant was placed at number 11 in Mojo magazine's "Albums of the Year", and at number 7 in The Fly's "Albums of the Year". NME also placed it at No. 30 in their end of year list, as well as making "Cheat on Me" a track of the year. In Japan, Crossbeat magazine placed it at No. 8 in its "Albums of 2009" list, whilst Music Magazine called it the No. 1 album of 2009. Both magazines are leading publications in Japan. At the same time, The New Fellas was named an "Album of the Century" by Q.
2010 began with another extensive United States and Canada tour, before heading off for dates in Australia and New Zealand. Festival appearances including Glastonbury, Lollapalooza, Fuji Rock, Benecassim, Sziget and Pukkelpop amongst others followed.
During this time the band were invited to support Aerosmith at two arena shows in Spain and France.
For Record Store Day 2010 the Cribs released "So Hot Now" as a split 7" single with Portland, OR band The Thermals on legendary riot grrrl label Kill Rock Stars.
On 9 August 2010, BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe announced during his show that he would be playing a brand new Cribs song that night. The very next day, 'Housewife' was released officially on iTunes. No one, from music industry insiders to the band's fans, had any idea that a new single was being geared up until that moment. The cover art featured Ryan and Gary in drag. Later that month the band appeared on the main stage once again at the Reading and Leeds festivals to close the album campaign. These would be Marr's last shows with the Cribs.
In the Belly of the Brazen Bull (2011–2012)
After announcing Marr's departure from the group on 11 April 2011, The Cribs started work on writing the follow up to Ignore the Ignorant, mooted for a spring 2012 release. During this time, they recorded a cover of original 70's Canadian punk band The Dishrags 'Death in the Family' for a Canadian Mint Records compilation. Over the summer they played several headlining slots at UK festivals in 2011, as well as a show at Le Zenith in Paris with The Strokes. In June 2011 they made their first trip to Brazil, playing two shows in São Paulo. In December 2011 they headlined the Clockenflap festival in Hong Kong, debuting new songs 'Come On, Be A No-One', and 'Anna' for the first time.
The Cribs announced the title of their fifth studio album as In the Belly of the Brazen Bull and its track-listing on 14 February 2012. The album was recorded at Tarbox Road studio in New York with David Fridmann, London's Abbey Road and Chicago's EAR studio with engineer Steve Albini. On 14 February, BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe premiered the first taster from the album, 'Chi-Town' on his radio show and played the song 3 times. During this time, both the band and the song title were trending on Twitter. Shortly after the announcement was made, the band embarked on a quick UK tour, to preview the new material and promote the upcoming single, slated for April. In March, the band headed out on a tour of the United States, concluding in April, and later that month released the first official single from the new album 'Come On, Be A No-One'. A European tour followed, and then a full-scale UK tour in May – kicking off with a performance at the 2012 Camden Crawl. It was during this tour that the band were introduced to Turner Prize winning artist Martin Creed, who was acting as support band. The album was released on 7 May 2012 and would provide the band with their second UK Top 10 record, charting at number 9.
The next month, the band headed out for another tour of the United States and Canada, before flying to Japan to headline the Hostess Weekender festival at the Yebisu Garden Hall in Tokyo, as well as a show in Osaka. In July, the second official single from the album, 'Glitters Like Gold' would be released on a special gold glitter vinyl. The band toured Italy, and then toured the European festival circuit throughout most of the summer, including a large outdoor show with the Foo Fighters in Belfast Boucher playing fields, and another engagement at the Reading and Leeds festival, where the band would destroy the instruments and stage set at the climax of the Reading show.
September would see the release of the third and final single from the album. 'Anna', unlike the prior singles, was made available as a download only, and featured a collaboration with the aforementioned Martin Creed. The band and Creed had been looking for a project to collaborate on since meeting on tour earlier in the year, and the artist provided Work #1431 as the video to the single. In October the Cribs headlined Sŵn Festival in Cardiff, and then headed out on another UK and Irish tour. During this tour, the Cribs were awarded the 'Spirit of Independence' award at the Q Awards 2012 on 22 October. At the conclusion of the UK tour, the band headed to eastern Europe where, amongst other dates, they would visit Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece and Turkey for the first time. Following these dates, the band headed to South America to play a show in Brazil, and then on to Argentina for a show at the open air hockey arena Club Ciudad de Buenos Aires for the Personal Fest festival. 2013 would see the band visit Australia for 3 shows in January, effectively concluding live touring for 'In The Belly of The Brazen Bull'.
In the end of year lists, the album was placed by The Guardian (#22), NME (#8), The Fly (#21), This Is Fake DIY (#3) amongst others in the UK.
Payola (2013)
On 20 November 2012 the Cribs announced details of their first 'Best Of' compilation, Payola, which was released on 11 March 2013 via Wichita Recordings to mark the group's 10th anniversary. The 22 track album saw the first official release of "Leather Jacket Love Song" – recorded at sessions in early 2010, it is the final Cribs song to feature Johnny Marr. A special 40-track 'Anthology Edition' was released with an additional 18 track disc containing B-sides and rarities.
On 29 February, the band made their fourth appearance on the cover of NME magazine, which came with an additional CD release "Payola: The Demos". This companion disc to "Payola" featured demo versions of most of the significant songs featured on "Payola", as well as 3 unheard and unreleased tracks harking back as far as 2001.
Around the same time the band played an NME Awards show at Shepherd's Bush Empire and several other headline dates around the country. Over the summer, the Cribs played numerous festivals in the UK and Europe, including headline slots at Y Not Festival and a show at the Olympic Park (London), as well as a short tour of Scottish venues. Autumn saw the band head back to Australia for an "Anniversary Tour", before venturing into Asia for a lengthy tour there. Cities and countries visited on this trip would include Thailand (Bangkok), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Vietnam (Saigon), two shows in Japan (Tokyo), a show at the Kowloonbay International Trade & Exhibition Centre in Hong Kong, and a large outdoor show in the meadow at the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. The year was rounded out by two sold out Christmas shows at the Leeds Academy
2014 began quietly, as the band began writing sessions for their next studio album. The only shows announced would be as part of the Weezer cruise from Florida to the Bahamas in February. Later in the year, the Cribs returned to the UK for some UK festival slots, including headlining Truck Festival and Tramlines Festival amongst others, and an Italian tour with Franz Ferdinand.
For All My Sisters (2014–2016)
In August 2014, Music Week reported that the band had signed with Sony RED. This followed news that the band's sixth album was to be produced by former The Cars frontman Ric Ocasek, known for his work with artists including Weezer, Nada Surf and Guided by Voices. Frenchkiss Records was also named by Music Week as the band's new label for North America, but the band would ultimately later announce their signing with Arts & Crafts. "An Ivory Hand", a teaser track for the upcoming album had a midnight digital release on 19 January 2015. It received its first radio play later that day from the BBC's Steve Lamacq. It would later be made 'Single of the Week' by the NME. The album, For All My Sisters, was released in the UK on 23 March 2015; although due in North America on 24 March 2015, it was released the same day. It would go on to become the Cribs' third consecutive UK Top 10 album.
The first single from the album "Burning For No One", was debuted by BBC Radio 1 on 2 February, by Zane Lowe who made it his 'Hottest Record in the World'. The accompanying video, shot on the Bahamian island of Exuma was released on 16 February and clocked up over 200,000 views on YouTube in its first week.
The new songs were road tested on a quick UK tour of sold-out shows, and then the band went to New York City to play a 3 night residency across 3 different venues (2 in Brooklyn, 1 in Manhattan), before heading to Austin, Texas for the annual SXSW showcase, playing 4 shows across 3 days. Immediately after returning from SXSW, The Cribs embarked on a week-long tour of in-store performances and signings at independent record stores throughout the UK.
US touring began a few weeks later in San Francisco for a tour of the west coast, and would include a second appearance at the Coachella Festival, playing the Sunday of both weekends and playing headline shows throughout the state and Las Vegas in the intervening week. For this outing, the band was joined on stage by Michael Cummings of the NYC band Skaters.
Back in the UK, The Cribs headlined Leeds Town Hall as part of the Live at Leeds festival in May, before headlining The Great Escape Festival in Brighton with 2 performances, and then two shows in Ireland. That summer they would play on the main stages at the Liverpool Sound City festival and T in the Park, and made their third appearance on The Other Stage at Glastonbury. They would also play at Festival Internacional de Benicassim in Spain.
The Cribs then went out to Asia, for a headline show in Tokyo, and a main stage appearance at the Pentaport Rock Festival in Incheon, South Korea. Later that month they would appear on the Main Stage at the Reading and Leeds Festivals for the third time before heading out to North America for a full tour there. During the band's performance at the Fairmount Theatre in Montreal as part of the Pop Montreal festival, the band would perform 'Be Safe' with Lee Ranaldo performing his spoken word part live in person for only the second time since the song's release (the first coming in 2008 at the Music Hall of Williamsburg).
A full UK tour was announced during this period, and took place in October and November, which included dates at Glasgow Barrowlands, Manchester Albert Hall, and The Roundhouse in Camden amongst others.
In 2016 The Cribs were announced as headliners of the Camden Rocks Festival taking place in June. Over the summer The Cribs would play the main stage at Isle of Wight Festival, Y Not Festival, and were the secret unannounced headliners of In The Woods Festival in Kent. During the summer, The Cribs played their largest headline show to date, at the 8,000 capacity open air Millennium Square in Leeds.
Another tour of Asia followed, including stops in S. Korea (Seoul), Japan (Tokyo and Osaka) and the band's first engagement in China, where they would play the Shanghai Rugby Football Stadium for the Concrete and Grass Festival. Shortly after the show The Cribs announced that this would be the final show of the "For All My Sisters" tour.
24–7 Rock Star Shit (2017–2018)
On 3 February 2017 it was announced that The Cribs would be the subject to their own exhibition in their hometown at Wakefield Museum. The exhibit featured 3 large glass containers dedicated to each of the band members with their chosen instruments as well as various memorabilia such as early gig posters, awards, touring paraphernalia and original records. The exhibit was unveiled on 14 February 2017 by Ross, who appeared on BBC Look North playing the drum kit within his respective glass container. The exhibition ran until July 2017.
On 7 February 2017 The Cribs announced a 10th anniversary tour in honour of their third album. The "Men's Needs, Women's Needs, FOREVER" tour was initially scheduled to consist of seven dates in large venues across the UK. A second London date at the Forum was later added due to popular demand. The tour commenced on 11 May at Glasgow Academy and finished on 20 May with a show at Leeds First Direct Arena where they were joined live on stage by Lee Ranaldo for his spoken word part in Be Safe. The band also performed the album in full for their headlining slot on the Baltic Stage at Liverpool Sound City festival.
Following the final night of this tour, at midnight on 21 May, The Cribs tweeted a series of code which the next day revealed itself to be coordinates for various record stores across the UK and the US, along with specific timestamp for each store. Arriving at the location at the specified time would allow customers to purchase a white label single entitled "Year of Hate". Each single was hand numbered and the edition number totaled 247. This process continued with handfuls of co-ordinates for record stores being announced each day for the next week. The cryptic coordinate approach was dropped on 22 May due to the recent attack in Manchester. Despite the limited run number and obscure release method the single entered the UK vinyl singles chart at number 3 on the week commencing 26 May 2017. The song eventually saw a digital release on 16 June – until that time the only way to hear it was by playing the vinyl or via BBC iPlayer on-demand, after Steve Lamacq aired the song on his show.
A second single "In Your Palace" was shock released digitally on 2 June 2017 with a music video released on 13 June. It was then announced on 24 July 2017 that the album "24–7 Rock Star Shit" would be released 2 weeks later on 11 August 2017, alongside a music video for another new song – "Rainbow Ridge", which was available as a free download with a pre-order of the album. Exclusive launch parties were announced for Leeds and London – with the London party being a curated event at House of Vans, featuring an art display, Q&A with the band, and a full live performance on the night the album was released. Entrants were selected by a free-to-enter ballot via the Vans website.
After spending three days at number 1 in the UK charts, the album mid-weeked at number 5, before officially entering the charts at number 8 – the band's fourth consecutive Top 10 album.
Following this, The Cribs began a tour of the United States and Canada. At the conclusion of this tour they returned to Mexico to headline the Sala Corona in Mexico City, and to play the main stages at Live Out Festival in Monterrey and Festival Coordenada in Guadalajara. In December, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the original 'Cribsmas' event, the band booked Christmas residency shows in the UK – 4 nights in Glasgow, 4 nights in Manchester, 3 nights in London, and 5 nights in Leeds – performing over 80 songs from their back catalogue. In 2018 the band continued their UK tour with the '24–7 Rock Star Shit in the UK' tour – a 14 date tour of secondary markets throughout January.
In April the band went to Australia to play shows in Newcastle, Brisbane, Perth, Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne. Following this was a 4 date tour of China in May – visiting Chengdu, Wuhan, Shanghai, and Beijing. A show in Hong Kong followed as well as two shows in Japan.
Summer saw The Cribs invited to support Foo Fighters at City of Manchester Stadium alongside several other UK festival appearances.
Night Network (2019–present)
Following the release of their fourth consecutive UK top 10 album 24-7 Rock Star Shit, the band almost immediately parted company with their long time UK management and found themselves stuck in what Gary described as "legal morass", unable to record or release new music. This is because the band had belatedly discovered that the rights to the back catalogue from earlier in their career was owned by other parties thanks to various deals that they were unaware of. As a result, the band – who were now managing themselves – decided to focus on gaining ownership because there would be no point in signing a new deal, making a new record and touring as long as someone else owned their music.
What followed was an eighteen month period of inactivity, resulting in 2019 being the only year since the band's inception in 2002 whereby the band did not play a live concert, following their final gig of the 24-7 Rock Star Shit tour in Glasgow in September 2018.
In a position of uncertainty about how to continue beyond the already-booked gigs, following a show where The Cribs had supported Foo Fighters in Manchester at the Etihad Stadium in June 2018, Dave Grohl learned of the band's struggles and offered for the band to use his Studio 606.
Following the successful resolution of their back catalogue ownership, the band was set to sign a major label deal. But then it emerged that there was yet other people claiming ownership of their music, and so they had to go through another legal battle from September 2019 to February 2020 while working on the new album.
During 2020, the band was active on Twitter to participate in Tim Burgess' "Listening Parties", offering behind the scenes insight for their most commercially successful album Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever on 7 April and due to the positive response, followed up with another listening party of fan favourite The New Fellas on 28 May.
On 8 June, the band announced on their social media pages, with four hours notice, their first live performance in nearly two years. This turned out to be a pre-recorded webcam broadcast of "Be Safe", featuring Lee Ranaldo performing his spoken word part, from their residences across the world (Ryan in Queens, New York, Gary in Portland, Oregon, Ross in Wakefield and Lee in Manhattan, New York).
On 12 August 2020, a day over three years since their last new material 24-7 Rock Star Shit, the band's social media profile pictures changed to a stylised test card. The following day on 13 August 2020, the band announced their return with a new song to be broadcast on BBC Radio 6 Music. The song turned out to be lead single "Running Into You" and subsequently the band announced new album Night Network to be released on 13 November 2020, along with artwork, tracklisting and a video for "Running Into You" starring Sam Riley.
Released into the UK COVID-19 lockdown of 2020, the band had all of their scheduled headline touring to support the album delayed. The album release was therefore celebrated with a socially distanced performance at Liverpools legendary Cavern Club on the 21st November. This performance was streamed worldwide as a PPV via the Veeps platform.
On July 15, 2021, The Cribs released a cover of the Comet Gain song "Fingernailed For You" as part of the Kill Rock Stars label's 30th anniversary covers compilation "Stars Rock Kill (Rock Stars)".
Band members
Current members
Gary Jarman – bass, vocals (2001–present)
Ryan Jarman – guitar, vocals (2001–present)
Ross Jarman – drums (2001–present)
Former members
Johnny Marr – guitar (2008–2011)
Touring musicians
David Jones – guitar (2011–2015)
Michael Cummings – guitar, keyboard, Bass VI (March/April 2015 U.S. dates)
Russell Searle – guitar, keyboard (May 2015 – present)
Awards and nominations
Discography
The Cribs (2004)
The New Fellas (2005)
Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever (2007)
Ignore the Ignorant (2009)
In the Belly of the Brazen Bull (2012)
For All My Sisters (2015)
24-7 Rock Star Shit (2017)
Night Network (2020)
Fanzine
A group of between fifty and one-hundred committed fans aimed to 'collect thoughtful, dedicated and passionate written work' on the band beginning in early summer 2011. Kind Words from the Broken Hearted 'outlines a range of responses to the Cribs...with many otherwise "ordinary" men and women contributing ideas and views' that fill the pages of the fanzine. Pieces within the fanzine emphasise the importance of Wichita Recordings, Domino Recording Company, Kill Rock Stars and Fortuna Pop!, amongst others, in providing a vibrant and supportive environment for independent bands to hone their work and retain an ethical stance in the music industry. The fanzine also shares close links with fellow Wakefield independent music fans at Rhubarb Bomb, in addition to Bonus Cupped, a left-leaning, travel and punk publication from Bristol. Moreover, Kind Words from the Broken Hearted supports other forms of independent music, including Comet Gain, Edwyn Collins and Pavement to name but three, welcoming diverse forms of the art but keen to eschew a celebratory tone that pervades contemporary music journalism. Notable readers, and upcoming contributors include band collaborator Nick Scott at Narcsville and Eddie Argos and Jasper Future from Art Brut. Support from within contemporary music journalism has come from influential The Smiths and David Bowie writer and broadcaster Simon Goddard, in addition to Tim Jonze at The Guardian. Those interested by independent journalism can find the fanzine through a regular address or alternatively through an Edinburgh-based social media site.
References
External links
The Cribs official site
And then there were three: An interview with Ryan Jarman (via Talk Rock To Me), 11 May 2012
English indie rock groups
NME Awards winners
V2 Records artists
Wichita Recordings artists
Sibling musical groups
Musical groups established in 2002
2002 establishments in England
Musical groups from Wakefield
| true |
[
"The discography of Mallu Magalhães, a Brazilian Folk singer, consists of two studio albums, one live albums, five singles as a lead artist, one collaborations with Marcelo Camelo and one video albums.\n\nIn 2008 she released her first eponymous album and in 2009 she released her second album, also self-titled.\n\nShe already has five singles released, and the most famous is Tchubaruba.\n\nAlbums\n\nStudio albums\n\nCompilations\n\nVideo albums\n\nNotes\n These albums did not reach any of the charts in Brazil.\n\nSingles\n\nAs lead artist\n\nOther appearances\n\nNotes\n These albums did not reach any of the charts in Brazil.\n\nMusic videos \n J1 (2008)\n Tchubaruba (2008)\n O Preço da Flor (2009)\n Vanguart (2009)\n Shine Yellow (2009)\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nMallu Magalhães's official website\nMallu Magalhães's official MySpace\n\nFolk music discographies\nDiscography\nDiscographies of Brazilian artists\nLatin music discographies",
"This is the discography of the hard rock band Magnum, which is headed by vocalist Bob Catley and guitarist/songwriter Tony Clarkin. Originally formed around 1972 they released their first single in 1975 (a cover of Sweets for My Sweet that did not chart) and their first album Kingdom of Madness in 1978. They continued recording and releasing albums until 1995 when they split. However, they re-formed in 2001 and have released albums every few years since. Many compilations and live albums were released in the gap, as well as Bob and Tony forming Hard Rain before re-forming Magnum with long-time keyboard player Mark Stanway.\n\nStudio albums\n\nLive albums\n\nCompilation albums\n\nThere have also been many other compilations across various labels.\n\nCharted singles\n\nVideos and DVDs\n\nReferences\n\nDiscographies of British artists\nRock music group discographies"
] |
[
"The Cribs",
"Payola (2013)",
"What is Payola?",
"On 20 November 2012 the Cribs announced details of their first 'Best Of' compilation, Payola,",
"How well did it do?",
"I don't know.",
"What songs are included in Payola?",
"The 22 track album saw the first official release of \"Leather Jacket Love Song\" - recorded at sessions in early 2010,",
"Any other songs?",
"A special 40-track 'Anthology Edition' was released with an additional 18 track disc containing B-sides and rarities.",
"Did they have any other albums?",
"2014 began quietly, as the band began writing sessions for their next studio album."
] |
C_ebaf51b477a74a4884cb659b07039674_0
|
What is their most famous song?
| 6 |
What is the most famous song of Payola?
|
The Cribs
|
On 20 November 2012 the Cribs announced details of their first 'Best Of' compilation, Payola, which was released on 11 March 2013 via Wichita Recordings to mark the group's 10th anniversary. The 22 track album saw the first official release of "Leather Jacket Love Song" - recorded at sessions in early 2010, it is the final Cribs song to feature Johnny Marr. A special 40-track 'Anthology Edition' was released with an additional 18 track disc containing B-sides and rarities. On the 29th of February, the band made their fourth appearance on the cover of NME magazine, which came with an additional CD release "Payola: The Demos". This companion disc to "Payola" featured demo versions of most of the significant songs featured on "Payola", as well as 3 unheard and unreleased tracks harking back as far as 2001. Around the same time the band played an NME Awards show at Shepherds Bush Empire and several other headline dates around the country. Over the summer, the Cribs played numerous festivals in the UK and Europe, including headline slots at Y Not Festival and a show at the Olympic Park (London), as well as a short tour of Scottish venues. Autumn saw the band head back to Australia for an "Anniversary Tour", before venturing into Asia for a lengthy tour there. Cities and countries visited on this trip would include Thailand (Bangkok), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Vietnam (Saigon), two shows in Japan (Tokyo), a show at the Kowloonbay International Trade & Exhibition Centre in Hong Kong, and a large outdoor show in the meadow at the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. The year was rounded out by two sold out Christmas shows at the Leeds Academy 2014 began quietly, as the band began writing sessions for their next studio album. The only shows announced would be as part of the Weezer cruise from Florida to the Bahamas in February. Later in the year, the Cribs returned to the UK for some UK festival slots, including headlining Truck Festival and Tramlines Festival amongst others, and an Italian tour with Franz Ferdinand. CANNOTANSWER
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"Leather Jacket Love Song" - recorded at sessions in early 2010, it is the final Cribs song to feature Johnny Marr.
|
The Cribs are a British indie rock band originally from Wakefield, West Yorkshire that formed in 2001. The band consists of twins Gary and Ryan Jarman and their younger brother Ross Jarman. They were subsequently joined by ex-The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr who was a formal member of the group from 2008 until 2011.
The band, who first became active on the concert circuit in 2002, were initially tied to other like-minded UK bands of that time, most notably The Libertines, by a British music press that were looking for a 'British rearguard' to the wave of popular US alternative rock bands of the time. They had outgrown this tag by the time of the commercial success of their third LP. In 2008, Q magazine described the band as "The biggest cult band in the UK".
In 2012, the band's 10th anniversary year, they were honoured with the Spirit of Independence award at the annual Q Awards. Several months later, they received the Outstanding Contribution to Music award at the annual NME Awards.
As of 2017, their last 4 albums have charted in the UK Top 10.
History
Formation and early years (2001–2003)
The Cribs were formed in late 2001 as a recording project for the three brothers. After recording a demo and garnering label interest, the band started playing live around this time, at venues like the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds, and "squats and warehouse parties" with artists such as Calvin Johnston, Subway Sect, Herman Dune, and Ballboy. They also released a split 7" single on Leeds based garage/riot grrrl/punk label Squirrel Records during this period with former Shove/Boyskout member Jen Schande. Limited to 300 copies on blue vinyl the record is now a rarity that sells for upwards of $150 on eBay. According to Mojo magazine, 'On the strength of one demo, the rush to find the UK Strokes saw the three-piece fielding calls from major labels, pluggers and label managers' in 2002. After several high-profile support slots, the band signed to the fledgling independent label Wichita Recordings in 2003 "we thought (they) were great because they sounded a bit like Pavement and had a big hook. We went to see them at the Metro on Oxford Street and completely fell in love with them. They seemed like such an obvious pop band. Every song sounded like a single" – Mark Bowen, Wichita Recordings.
The Cribs (2004)
After signing with Wichita Recordings, the band began re-recording many of the songs from the original demo, as well as several new tracks for what would be their debut record. Sessions began in London with Chicago based avant-garde musician Bobby Conn producing, after the band had supported him on some UK dates and impressed him "They had this cassette demo they had recorded on a boom-box, I suggested overdubs, they were too kitchen-sink for overdubs. I tried handclaps, they were 'not sure about handclaps'. It was all 'Keep it real'" – Bobby Conn. Then sessions moved to Toe Rag Studios in Hackney with the band self-producing. The album was completed in 7 days, live to 8-track tape, with Ed Deegan engineering.
Released on 8 March 2004, the album found early supporters in the NME, who commented on its "supreme pop melodies", and referred to it as "lo-fi, hi fun" giving it an 8/10 review. Lo-fi would be a term that would follow the band around for the next few years, and something that became synonymous with the group. Again, from the NME in 2011: "Recorded in a week, it's the definition of indie lo-fi. But not willful indie lo-fi; the scratches, clangs and gawwumps all heard here are genuinely the product of the trio's shoestring methods rather than the usual contrived fuzz that bands spend ages poring over beaten up eight-tracks to achieve". Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamacq was also an early champion. Lois Wilson of Mojo magazine described the album in 2009 as "intelligent lyrics on a background of clipped guitars and tumbling drums, with nods to The Strokes, Beat Happening, and C86's inept charm"
Three singles were released from the album – the limited edition 7" only "Another Number"/"Baby Don't Sweat" in November 2003, followed by first single proper "You Were Always the One", which climbed to No. 2 in the indie charts. "What About Me" was the third and final single from the album, again making the indie top 10. The Cribs toured extensively throughout 2004 and into 2005, both as headliners as well as supporting artists like old friend Bobby Conn, Death Cab For Cutie and The Libertines. Over the campaign they toured the UK and Ireland, Europe, Japan, and the United States, as well as several significant international festival appearances such as Reading and Leeds Festivals, Summersonic, T in the Park and Pukkelpop amongst others. Though only a moderate underground success at the time "Another Number" has gone on to become one of the band's most enduring 'hits' – seldom being left off the set-list and usually accompanied by a full crowd sing-along of the signature, repeated guitar riff.
The New Fellas (2005–2006)
After concluding touring duties for the first record, the band were taken off the road to start writing the follow up. However, the Cribs decided they still wanted to tour and took to posting their phone numbers and email addresses on the internet, professing to play anywhere for fuel money and a crate of beer. This DIY approach is something the band and label now feel was a key factor in their success, as it helped nurture a very strong, passionate fanbase.
The New Fellas, the band's second album release, was recorded with Edwyn Collins, the singer-songwriter and guitarist from Glasgow's influential Orange Juice in London at his own West Heath Studios. Again, it was a comparatively unpolished record sonically, as both the producer Collins and the band themselves were achieving sounds similar to those heard on the Orange Juice records. This was, however, the intention and the reason the band and producer were put together. "They had definite ideas what they wanted the record to sound like...They had this work ethic, there was nothing spoiled about them – they were proper indie; everything done on a shoe-string and they just got on with it....they were tremendous" – Edwyn Collins. One song, "Haunted", was even recorded on Scarborough beach on a whim, after hearing a Steve Martin ukulele duet recorded on a beach.
The first release from the record was the single "Hey Scenesters!" on 18 April 2005. It reached no. 27 in the UK charts, and started their run of 7 consecutive top 40 singles. The album followed on 20 June 2005 although it had leaked onto the internet several months prior to the official release date, hampering its first week sales. The record has however, gone on to be certified Silver by the BPI, and in a recent poll held by the NME was proved to be the overall fans favourite record. The other singles released from the record were "Mirror Kissers", "Martell", and non-album track "You're Gonna Lose Us" (produced by Bernard Butler), which was paired with "The Wrong Way To Be" as a AA side. The extensive New Fellas world tour took in several UK tours, Europe, United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, Scandinavia, and their first trip to Iceland. They appeared at numerous festivals at this time, including an appearance on the main stage at Reading and Leeds Festivals (becoming the first band to ever progress through all three stages in consecutive years), headlining the tent at T in the Park, Fuji Rock festival in Japan as well as an extensive USA arena tour with Death Cab for Cutie and Franz Ferdinand. A European tour during this period with ex Pavement man Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks would introduce Gary to his future wife Joanna Bolme.
Shortly before their appearance at the Fuji Rock festival, the Cribs released a Japan-only mini album called Arigato Cockers, made up of B-sides and rarities from both the first and second albums.
In their year-end issue, the NME made The New Fellas the No. 11 album of the year, and Hey Scenesters a single of the year.
Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever (2007–2008)
At the conclusion of The New Fellas campaign, the Cribs signed a major label deal with Warner Bros. Records – though they remained on Wichita in the UK at the bands insistence. The subsequent album, Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever saw the band finally take steps to progress forth from their 'lo-fi' roots, being recorded in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada with Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand as producer. The band and producer had met during the US tour the bands did together with Death Cab for Cutie, and hit it off immediately. The album was mixed by Andy Wallace (Nirvana, Foo Fighters). They collaborated with Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth on the track "Be Safe" – Ranaldo contributing his spoken word poetry to the band's music.
Prior to the record's release the Cribs took in a run of small UK club dates to preview songs from the new record. This is documented in the first Cribs documentary Leave Too Neat. The first cut from the album was the single 'Men's Needs', released on 7 May. It proved to be the band's first breakthrough with mainstream radio and reached no. 17 in the UK charts, becoming their biggest hit to date. The accompanying video, filmed in Hollywood by director Diane Martel has achieved over 7 million YouTube views to date.
The album was released on 21 May 2007, and entered the UK album charts at No. 13.
Touring began at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 30 March for the Teenage Cancer Trust. The rest of 2007 and most of 2008 was spent on the road promoting the record, taking in extensive UK and European touring, several United States and Canada tours, Japan, and the band's first trip out to Mexico for a main stage appearance at the MX Beat Festival, as well as some later headline shows. During their US touring schedules they appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, the Late Show with David Letterman, and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.
The second single to be released from the record was 'Moving Pictures', again charting in the UK Top 40, and then later a 7" only release of "I'm a Realist". The latter was backed with a cover of The Replacements song "Bastards of Young", a band the Cribs cite as a large influence. Another non-album single 'Don't You Wanna be Relevant?' was paired with album cut "Our Bovine Public" and again climbed to the UK top 40. There were numerous festival slots around this time including main stage slots at Lollapalooza, T in the Park, and V festival, as well as returning to Fuji Rock, and a first time appearance at Coachella amongst others. In November 2007 the Cribs were invited by a re-formed The Sex Pistols to play with them for three nights at Brixton Academy in celebration of the 30-year anniversary of Never Mind the Bollocks In December the band announced three intimate shows at their old haunt the Brudenell Social Club in aid of cystic fibrosis where they would play all three albums to date in sequence with secret unannounced support bands each night (Franz Ferdinand, Kate Nash, and Kaiser Chiefs respectively). This was documented for the band's second DVD, the 3 disc Live at the Brudenell Social Club.
In the year-end issues "Men's Needs" was named third-best track of 2007 by NME with the album coming in at No. 9, Track of the Year 2007 by the Metro newspaper and making the annual 100 best tracks list in Rolling Stone magazine in the USA.
2008 began with the Cribs being nominated for 4 awards at the annual NME awards ceremony (Best British Band, Best Live Band, Best Track and Hero of the Year for Ryan Jarman). Through this they were asked to headline the annual NME Awards Tour, which they undertook through January and February featuring some of the band's largest headline shows up to that point and culminating in a show at the o2 Arena in London. They also made a live appearance at the Awards ceremony itself, playing new single 'I'm a Realist' and a cover of 'Panic' by the Smiths, featuring their new guitarist Johnny Marr (of the aforementioned band), who had been guesting with them throughout the tour.
Another USA tour followed this, and then some more festival appearances including main stage slots at the Isle of Wight Festival, Rockness, Primavera Festival, Fuji Rock and Sziget, as well as a headline appearance on the John Peel Stage at Glastonbury, and headlining the second stage at Reading and Leeds Festivals.
In April 2018, the album was certified Gold in the UK by the British Phonographic Industry for sales over 100,000, becoming the first album certified Gold by the BRIT Awards.
Ignore the Ignorant (2009–2010)
After a chance meeting with Johnny Marr (at the time a member of Modest Mouse) in Portland, OR the Cribs and Johnny became close friends. Once Modest Mouse completed touring duties for their record, the Cribs and Johnny started to hang around and jam together – "It's been going well and it would be shame to cut it short, the original intention was to be doing an EP" the band told BBC 6 Music in January 2008. However it was later announced that they would be working on an album together and that Johnny had joined as a full-time member of the group.
Much of the remainder of 2008 was spent writing new material in Portland, OR, Manchester and Wakefield, followed by a short UK tour taking in Glasgow ABC, Bradford St. Georges Hall, two nights at Manchester Ritz, and Heaven in London to road-test some of the new songs before recording commenced. Studio time was booked for March 2009 in Los Angeles with veteran producer Nick Launay (Nick Cave, PIL, Yeah Yeah Yeahs). Ross Jarman performed most of the drum tracks for the recording with a broken wrist after a skateboard accident. Promotion for the Ignore the Ignorant album came in the form of an intimate "alternative Leeds/Reading show" at HMV in Leeds. This was scheduled as the same weekend as the Reading Leeds festival. The band played several songs from their new album as well as some old favourites. Afterwards, Ryan Jarman could be seen browsing the CD's in HMV and being available for fans to meet him.
Preceded by the single 'Cheat on Me', the album Ignore the Ignorant was released on 7 September 2009, and scored the Cribs their first UK Top Ten album. Released the same week that The Beatles re-issued their entire 13 LP back-catalogue, Ignore the Ignorant managed to out-sell all but two of them to chart at number 8, something the band described as "surreal". Touring began with a headline slot at the White Air festival in Brighton followed by a UK tour of large halls. The band then went on to tour Japan (including a show at Budokan with Arctic Monkeys) then on to South Korea where they headlined the Grand Mint festival at the Olympic Park, Seoul. Next was a United States/Canada tour, as well as a European arena tour with Franz Ferdinand before the Cribs returned to the UK for their largest headline shows to date.
In December 2009, Ignore the Ignorant was placed at number 11 in Mojo magazine's "Albums of the Year", and at number 7 in The Fly's "Albums of the Year". NME also placed it at No. 30 in their end of year list, as well as making "Cheat on Me" a track of the year. In Japan, Crossbeat magazine placed it at No. 8 in its "Albums of 2009" list, whilst Music Magazine called it the No. 1 album of 2009. Both magazines are leading publications in Japan. At the same time, The New Fellas was named an "Album of the Century" by Q.
2010 began with another extensive United States and Canada tour, before heading off for dates in Australia and New Zealand. Festival appearances including Glastonbury, Lollapalooza, Fuji Rock, Benecassim, Sziget and Pukkelpop amongst others followed.
During this time the band were invited to support Aerosmith at two arena shows in Spain and France.
For Record Store Day 2010 the Cribs released "So Hot Now" as a split 7" single with Portland, OR band The Thermals on legendary riot grrrl label Kill Rock Stars.
On 9 August 2010, BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe announced during his show that he would be playing a brand new Cribs song that night. The very next day, 'Housewife' was released officially on iTunes. No one, from music industry insiders to the band's fans, had any idea that a new single was being geared up until that moment. The cover art featured Ryan and Gary in drag. Later that month the band appeared on the main stage once again at the Reading and Leeds festivals to close the album campaign. These would be Marr's last shows with the Cribs.
In the Belly of the Brazen Bull (2011–2012)
After announcing Marr's departure from the group on 11 April 2011, The Cribs started work on writing the follow up to Ignore the Ignorant, mooted for a spring 2012 release. During this time, they recorded a cover of original 70's Canadian punk band The Dishrags 'Death in the Family' for a Canadian Mint Records compilation. Over the summer they played several headlining slots at UK festivals in 2011, as well as a show at Le Zenith in Paris with The Strokes. In June 2011 they made their first trip to Brazil, playing two shows in São Paulo. In December 2011 they headlined the Clockenflap festival in Hong Kong, debuting new songs 'Come On, Be A No-One', and 'Anna' for the first time.
The Cribs announced the title of their fifth studio album as In the Belly of the Brazen Bull and its track-listing on 14 February 2012. The album was recorded at Tarbox Road studio in New York with David Fridmann, London's Abbey Road and Chicago's EAR studio with engineer Steve Albini. On 14 February, BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe premiered the first taster from the album, 'Chi-Town' on his radio show and played the song 3 times. During this time, both the band and the song title were trending on Twitter. Shortly after the announcement was made, the band embarked on a quick UK tour, to preview the new material and promote the upcoming single, slated for April. In March, the band headed out on a tour of the United States, concluding in April, and later that month released the first official single from the new album 'Come On, Be A No-One'. A European tour followed, and then a full-scale UK tour in May – kicking off with a performance at the 2012 Camden Crawl. It was during this tour that the band were introduced to Turner Prize winning artist Martin Creed, who was acting as support band. The album was released on 7 May 2012 and would provide the band with their second UK Top 10 record, charting at number 9.
The next month, the band headed out for another tour of the United States and Canada, before flying to Japan to headline the Hostess Weekender festival at the Yebisu Garden Hall in Tokyo, as well as a show in Osaka. In July, the second official single from the album, 'Glitters Like Gold' would be released on a special gold glitter vinyl. The band toured Italy, and then toured the European festival circuit throughout most of the summer, including a large outdoor show with the Foo Fighters in Belfast Boucher playing fields, and another engagement at the Reading and Leeds festival, where the band would destroy the instruments and stage set at the climax of the Reading show.
September would see the release of the third and final single from the album. 'Anna', unlike the prior singles, was made available as a download only, and featured a collaboration with the aforementioned Martin Creed. The band and Creed had been looking for a project to collaborate on since meeting on tour earlier in the year, and the artist provided Work #1431 as the video to the single. In October the Cribs headlined Sŵn Festival in Cardiff, and then headed out on another UK and Irish tour. During this tour, the Cribs were awarded the 'Spirit of Independence' award at the Q Awards 2012 on 22 October. At the conclusion of the UK tour, the band headed to eastern Europe where, amongst other dates, they would visit Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece and Turkey for the first time. Following these dates, the band headed to South America to play a show in Brazil, and then on to Argentina for a show at the open air hockey arena Club Ciudad de Buenos Aires for the Personal Fest festival. 2013 would see the band visit Australia for 3 shows in January, effectively concluding live touring for 'In The Belly of The Brazen Bull'.
In the end of year lists, the album was placed by The Guardian (#22), NME (#8), The Fly (#21), This Is Fake DIY (#3) amongst others in the UK.
Payola (2013)
On 20 November 2012 the Cribs announced details of their first 'Best Of' compilation, Payola, which was released on 11 March 2013 via Wichita Recordings to mark the group's 10th anniversary. The 22 track album saw the first official release of "Leather Jacket Love Song" – recorded at sessions in early 2010, it is the final Cribs song to feature Johnny Marr. A special 40-track 'Anthology Edition' was released with an additional 18 track disc containing B-sides and rarities.
On 29 February, the band made their fourth appearance on the cover of NME magazine, which came with an additional CD release "Payola: The Demos". This companion disc to "Payola" featured demo versions of most of the significant songs featured on "Payola", as well as 3 unheard and unreleased tracks harking back as far as 2001.
Around the same time the band played an NME Awards show at Shepherd's Bush Empire and several other headline dates around the country. Over the summer, the Cribs played numerous festivals in the UK and Europe, including headline slots at Y Not Festival and a show at the Olympic Park (London), as well as a short tour of Scottish venues. Autumn saw the band head back to Australia for an "Anniversary Tour", before venturing into Asia for a lengthy tour there. Cities and countries visited on this trip would include Thailand (Bangkok), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Vietnam (Saigon), two shows in Japan (Tokyo), a show at the Kowloonbay International Trade & Exhibition Centre in Hong Kong, and a large outdoor show in the meadow at the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. The year was rounded out by two sold out Christmas shows at the Leeds Academy
2014 began quietly, as the band began writing sessions for their next studio album. The only shows announced would be as part of the Weezer cruise from Florida to the Bahamas in February. Later in the year, the Cribs returned to the UK for some UK festival slots, including headlining Truck Festival and Tramlines Festival amongst others, and an Italian tour with Franz Ferdinand.
For All My Sisters (2014–2016)
In August 2014, Music Week reported that the band had signed with Sony RED. This followed news that the band's sixth album was to be produced by former The Cars frontman Ric Ocasek, known for his work with artists including Weezer, Nada Surf and Guided by Voices. Frenchkiss Records was also named by Music Week as the band's new label for North America, but the band would ultimately later announce their signing with Arts & Crafts. "An Ivory Hand", a teaser track for the upcoming album had a midnight digital release on 19 January 2015. It received its first radio play later that day from the BBC's Steve Lamacq. It would later be made 'Single of the Week' by the NME. The album, For All My Sisters, was released in the UK on 23 March 2015; although due in North America on 24 March 2015, it was released the same day. It would go on to become the Cribs' third consecutive UK Top 10 album.
The first single from the album "Burning For No One", was debuted by BBC Radio 1 on 2 February, by Zane Lowe who made it his 'Hottest Record in the World'. The accompanying video, shot on the Bahamian island of Exuma was released on 16 February and clocked up over 200,000 views on YouTube in its first week.
The new songs were road tested on a quick UK tour of sold-out shows, and then the band went to New York City to play a 3 night residency across 3 different venues (2 in Brooklyn, 1 in Manhattan), before heading to Austin, Texas for the annual SXSW showcase, playing 4 shows across 3 days. Immediately after returning from SXSW, The Cribs embarked on a week-long tour of in-store performances and signings at independent record stores throughout the UK.
US touring began a few weeks later in San Francisco for a tour of the west coast, and would include a second appearance at the Coachella Festival, playing the Sunday of both weekends and playing headline shows throughout the state and Las Vegas in the intervening week. For this outing, the band was joined on stage by Michael Cummings of the NYC band Skaters.
Back in the UK, The Cribs headlined Leeds Town Hall as part of the Live at Leeds festival in May, before headlining The Great Escape Festival in Brighton with 2 performances, and then two shows in Ireland. That summer they would play on the main stages at the Liverpool Sound City festival and T in the Park, and made their third appearance on The Other Stage at Glastonbury. They would also play at Festival Internacional de Benicassim in Spain.
The Cribs then went out to Asia, for a headline show in Tokyo, and a main stage appearance at the Pentaport Rock Festival in Incheon, South Korea. Later that month they would appear on the Main Stage at the Reading and Leeds Festivals for the third time before heading out to North America for a full tour there. During the band's performance at the Fairmount Theatre in Montreal as part of the Pop Montreal festival, the band would perform 'Be Safe' with Lee Ranaldo performing his spoken word part live in person for only the second time since the song's release (the first coming in 2008 at the Music Hall of Williamsburg).
A full UK tour was announced during this period, and took place in October and November, which included dates at Glasgow Barrowlands, Manchester Albert Hall, and The Roundhouse in Camden amongst others.
In 2016 The Cribs were announced as headliners of the Camden Rocks Festival taking place in June. Over the summer The Cribs would play the main stage at Isle of Wight Festival, Y Not Festival, and were the secret unannounced headliners of In The Woods Festival in Kent. During the summer, The Cribs played their largest headline show to date, at the 8,000 capacity open air Millennium Square in Leeds.
Another tour of Asia followed, including stops in S. Korea (Seoul), Japan (Tokyo and Osaka) and the band's first engagement in China, where they would play the Shanghai Rugby Football Stadium for the Concrete and Grass Festival. Shortly after the show The Cribs announced that this would be the final show of the "For All My Sisters" tour.
24–7 Rock Star Shit (2017–2018)
On 3 February 2017 it was announced that The Cribs would be the subject to their own exhibition in their hometown at Wakefield Museum. The exhibit featured 3 large glass containers dedicated to each of the band members with their chosen instruments as well as various memorabilia such as early gig posters, awards, touring paraphernalia and original records. The exhibit was unveiled on 14 February 2017 by Ross, who appeared on BBC Look North playing the drum kit within his respective glass container. The exhibition ran until July 2017.
On 7 February 2017 The Cribs announced a 10th anniversary tour in honour of their third album. The "Men's Needs, Women's Needs, FOREVER" tour was initially scheduled to consist of seven dates in large venues across the UK. A second London date at the Forum was later added due to popular demand. The tour commenced on 11 May at Glasgow Academy and finished on 20 May with a show at Leeds First Direct Arena where they were joined live on stage by Lee Ranaldo for his spoken word part in Be Safe. The band also performed the album in full for their headlining slot on the Baltic Stage at Liverpool Sound City festival.
Following the final night of this tour, at midnight on 21 May, The Cribs tweeted a series of code which the next day revealed itself to be coordinates for various record stores across the UK and the US, along with specific timestamp for each store. Arriving at the location at the specified time would allow customers to purchase a white label single entitled "Year of Hate". Each single was hand numbered and the edition number totaled 247. This process continued with handfuls of co-ordinates for record stores being announced each day for the next week. The cryptic coordinate approach was dropped on 22 May due to the recent attack in Manchester. Despite the limited run number and obscure release method the single entered the UK vinyl singles chart at number 3 on the week commencing 26 May 2017. The song eventually saw a digital release on 16 June – until that time the only way to hear it was by playing the vinyl or via BBC iPlayer on-demand, after Steve Lamacq aired the song on his show.
A second single "In Your Palace" was shock released digitally on 2 June 2017 with a music video released on 13 June. It was then announced on 24 July 2017 that the album "24–7 Rock Star Shit" would be released 2 weeks later on 11 August 2017, alongside a music video for another new song – "Rainbow Ridge", which was available as a free download with a pre-order of the album. Exclusive launch parties were announced for Leeds and London – with the London party being a curated event at House of Vans, featuring an art display, Q&A with the band, and a full live performance on the night the album was released. Entrants were selected by a free-to-enter ballot via the Vans website.
After spending three days at number 1 in the UK charts, the album mid-weeked at number 5, before officially entering the charts at number 8 – the band's fourth consecutive Top 10 album.
Following this, The Cribs began a tour of the United States and Canada. At the conclusion of this tour they returned to Mexico to headline the Sala Corona in Mexico City, and to play the main stages at Live Out Festival in Monterrey and Festival Coordenada in Guadalajara. In December, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the original 'Cribsmas' event, the band booked Christmas residency shows in the UK – 4 nights in Glasgow, 4 nights in Manchester, 3 nights in London, and 5 nights in Leeds – performing over 80 songs from their back catalogue. In 2018 the band continued their UK tour with the '24–7 Rock Star Shit in the UK' tour – a 14 date tour of secondary markets throughout January.
In April the band went to Australia to play shows in Newcastle, Brisbane, Perth, Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne. Following this was a 4 date tour of China in May – visiting Chengdu, Wuhan, Shanghai, and Beijing. A show in Hong Kong followed as well as two shows in Japan.
Summer saw The Cribs invited to support Foo Fighters at City of Manchester Stadium alongside several other UK festival appearances.
Night Network (2019–present)
Following the release of their fourth consecutive UK top 10 album 24-7 Rock Star Shit, the band almost immediately parted company with their long time UK management and found themselves stuck in what Gary described as "legal morass", unable to record or release new music. This is because the band had belatedly discovered that the rights to the back catalogue from earlier in their career was owned by other parties thanks to various deals that they were unaware of. As a result, the band – who were now managing themselves – decided to focus on gaining ownership because there would be no point in signing a new deal, making a new record and touring as long as someone else owned their music.
What followed was an eighteen month period of inactivity, resulting in 2019 being the only year since the band's inception in 2002 whereby the band did not play a live concert, following their final gig of the 24-7 Rock Star Shit tour in Glasgow in September 2018.
In a position of uncertainty about how to continue beyond the already-booked gigs, following a show where The Cribs had supported Foo Fighters in Manchester at the Etihad Stadium in June 2018, Dave Grohl learned of the band's struggles and offered for the band to use his Studio 606.
Following the successful resolution of their back catalogue ownership, the band was set to sign a major label deal. But then it emerged that there was yet other people claiming ownership of their music, and so they had to go through another legal battle from September 2019 to February 2020 while working on the new album.
During 2020, the band was active on Twitter to participate in Tim Burgess' "Listening Parties", offering behind the scenes insight for their most commercially successful album Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever on 7 April and due to the positive response, followed up with another listening party of fan favourite The New Fellas on 28 May.
On 8 June, the band announced on their social media pages, with four hours notice, their first live performance in nearly two years. This turned out to be a pre-recorded webcam broadcast of "Be Safe", featuring Lee Ranaldo performing his spoken word part, from their residences across the world (Ryan in Queens, New York, Gary in Portland, Oregon, Ross in Wakefield and Lee in Manhattan, New York).
On 12 August 2020, a day over three years since their last new material 24-7 Rock Star Shit, the band's social media profile pictures changed to a stylised test card. The following day on 13 August 2020, the band announced their return with a new song to be broadcast on BBC Radio 6 Music. The song turned out to be lead single "Running Into You" and subsequently the band announced new album Night Network to be released on 13 November 2020, along with artwork, tracklisting and a video for "Running Into You" starring Sam Riley.
Released into the UK COVID-19 lockdown of 2020, the band had all of their scheduled headline touring to support the album delayed. The album release was therefore celebrated with a socially distanced performance at Liverpools legendary Cavern Club on the 21st November. This performance was streamed worldwide as a PPV via the Veeps platform.
On July 15, 2021, The Cribs released a cover of the Comet Gain song "Fingernailed For You" as part of the Kill Rock Stars label's 30th anniversary covers compilation "Stars Rock Kill (Rock Stars)".
Band members
Current members
Gary Jarman – bass, vocals (2001–present)
Ryan Jarman – guitar, vocals (2001–present)
Ross Jarman – drums (2001–present)
Former members
Johnny Marr – guitar (2008–2011)
Touring musicians
David Jones – guitar (2011–2015)
Michael Cummings – guitar, keyboard, Bass VI (March/April 2015 U.S. dates)
Russell Searle – guitar, keyboard (May 2015 – present)
Awards and nominations
Discography
The Cribs (2004)
The New Fellas (2005)
Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever (2007)
Ignore the Ignorant (2009)
In the Belly of the Brazen Bull (2012)
For All My Sisters (2015)
24-7 Rock Star Shit (2017)
Night Network (2020)
Fanzine
A group of between fifty and one-hundred committed fans aimed to 'collect thoughtful, dedicated and passionate written work' on the band beginning in early summer 2011. Kind Words from the Broken Hearted 'outlines a range of responses to the Cribs...with many otherwise "ordinary" men and women contributing ideas and views' that fill the pages of the fanzine. Pieces within the fanzine emphasise the importance of Wichita Recordings, Domino Recording Company, Kill Rock Stars and Fortuna Pop!, amongst others, in providing a vibrant and supportive environment for independent bands to hone their work and retain an ethical stance in the music industry. The fanzine also shares close links with fellow Wakefield independent music fans at Rhubarb Bomb, in addition to Bonus Cupped, a left-leaning, travel and punk publication from Bristol. Moreover, Kind Words from the Broken Hearted supports other forms of independent music, including Comet Gain, Edwyn Collins and Pavement to name but three, welcoming diverse forms of the art but keen to eschew a celebratory tone that pervades contemporary music journalism. Notable readers, and upcoming contributors include band collaborator Nick Scott at Narcsville and Eddie Argos and Jasper Future from Art Brut. Support from within contemporary music journalism has come from influential The Smiths and David Bowie writer and broadcaster Simon Goddard, in addition to Tim Jonze at The Guardian. Those interested by independent journalism can find the fanzine through a regular address or alternatively through an Edinburgh-based social media site.
References
External links
The Cribs official site
And then there were three: An interview with Ryan Jarman (via Talk Rock To Me), 11 May 2012
English indie rock groups
NME Awards winners
V2 Records artists
Wichita Recordings artists
Sibling musical groups
Musical groups established in 2002
2002 establishments in England
Musical groups from Wakefield
| false |
[
"\"Practice What You Preach\" is a song by American thrash metal band Testament, taken from their 1989 album Practice What You Preach. It was released as a promotional single to support the album. Due to being one of the band's most famous and popular songs, and for being one of the most frequently played songs at live concerts, \"Practice What You Preach\" can be considered to be Testament's signature song.\n\nLive performances\n\"Practice What You Preach\" is one of Testament's most played songs of all time, first played a month prior to the album's release, on July 1, 1989 in São Paulo, Brazil. As of 2015, the song has been performed over 500 times. Live versions of \"Practice What You Preach\" appear on the albums Live at the Fillmore, Live in London, and Dark Roots of Thrash.\n\nReception\n\"Practice What You Preach\" received heavy rotation on MTV's Headbangers Ball.\n\nTrack listing\n\nPersonnel\n Chuck Billy – vocals\n Eric Peterson – guitars\n Alex Skolnick – guitars\n Greg Christian – bass\n Louie Clemente – drums\n\nReferences\n\nTestament (band) songs\n1989 singles\nSong recordings produced by Alex Perialas\nSongs written by Chuck Billy (vocalist)\nSongs written by Eric Peterson\nSongs written by Alex Skolnick\nAtlantic Records singles\nMegaforce Records singles\n1989 songs",
"\"The Toxic Waltz\" is a song by the American thrash metal band Exodus, taken from their third studio album Fabulous Disaster. Although the song was never released as a single, it is one of Exodus' most famous songs and has held a regular position on their concert setlist since 1989.\n\nWriting and inspiration\nThe song's lyrics describe \"the action in a violent mosh pit: blood on the floor, shots to the head, and general chaos.\" Frontman Steve \"Zetro\" Souza said in a 2014 interview with Songfacts.com that \"The Toxic Waltz\" was written after guitarist Gary Holt came to band practice, and asked him to write a song about \"what fans do at [their] gigs.\" Souza commented:\n\nReception\nThe music video for \"The Toxic Waltz\" received regular rotation on MTV's Headbangers Ball. It was filmed at The Fillmore in San Francisco, California, directed by Daniel P. Rodriguez and produced by Brian Good for Antipodes Productions.\n\n\"The Toxic Waltz\" has become a fan favorite, and is one of the band's most famous live songs, being played at almost every Exodus concert since its debut live performance in 1989.\n\nPersonnel\n Steve \"Zetro\" Souza – vocals\n Gary Holt – guitars\n Rick Hunolt – guitars\n Rob McKillop – bass\n Tom Hunting – drums\n\nReferences\n\nExodus (American band) songs\n1989 songs\nSongs about music"
] |
[
"The Cribs",
"Payola (2013)",
"What is Payola?",
"On 20 November 2012 the Cribs announced details of their first 'Best Of' compilation, Payola,",
"How well did it do?",
"I don't know.",
"What songs are included in Payola?",
"The 22 track album saw the first official release of \"Leather Jacket Love Song\" - recorded at sessions in early 2010,",
"Any other songs?",
"A special 40-track 'Anthology Edition' was released with an additional 18 track disc containing B-sides and rarities.",
"Did they have any other albums?",
"2014 began quietly, as the band began writing sessions for their next studio album.",
"What is their most famous song?",
"\"Leather Jacket Love Song\" - recorded at sessions in early 2010, it is the final Cribs song to feature Johnny Marr."
] |
C_ebaf51b477a74a4884cb659b07039674_0
|
Can you tell me some more interesting information?
| 7 |
Can you tell me some more interesting information about Payola?
|
The Cribs
|
On 20 November 2012 the Cribs announced details of their first 'Best Of' compilation, Payola, which was released on 11 March 2013 via Wichita Recordings to mark the group's 10th anniversary. The 22 track album saw the first official release of "Leather Jacket Love Song" - recorded at sessions in early 2010, it is the final Cribs song to feature Johnny Marr. A special 40-track 'Anthology Edition' was released with an additional 18 track disc containing B-sides and rarities. On the 29th of February, the band made their fourth appearance on the cover of NME magazine, which came with an additional CD release "Payola: The Demos". This companion disc to "Payola" featured demo versions of most of the significant songs featured on "Payola", as well as 3 unheard and unreleased tracks harking back as far as 2001. Around the same time the band played an NME Awards show at Shepherds Bush Empire and several other headline dates around the country. Over the summer, the Cribs played numerous festivals in the UK and Europe, including headline slots at Y Not Festival and a show at the Olympic Park (London), as well as a short tour of Scottish venues. Autumn saw the band head back to Australia for an "Anniversary Tour", before venturing into Asia for a lengthy tour there. Cities and countries visited on this trip would include Thailand (Bangkok), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Vietnam (Saigon), two shows in Japan (Tokyo), a show at the Kowloonbay International Trade & Exhibition Centre in Hong Kong, and a large outdoor show in the meadow at the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. The year was rounded out by two sold out Christmas shows at the Leeds Academy 2014 began quietly, as the band began writing sessions for their next studio album. The only shows announced would be as part of the Weezer cruise from Florida to the Bahamas in February. Later in the year, the Cribs returned to the UK for some UK festival slots, including headlining Truck Festival and Tramlines Festival amongst others, and an Italian tour with Franz Ferdinand. CANNOTANSWER
|
Later in the year, the Cribs returned to the UK for some UK festival slots, including headlining Truck Festival and Tramlines Festival
|
The Cribs are a British indie rock band originally from Wakefield, West Yorkshire that formed in 2001. The band consists of twins Gary and Ryan Jarman and their younger brother Ross Jarman. They were subsequently joined by ex-The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr who was a formal member of the group from 2008 until 2011.
The band, who first became active on the concert circuit in 2002, were initially tied to other like-minded UK bands of that time, most notably The Libertines, by a British music press that were looking for a 'British rearguard' to the wave of popular US alternative rock bands of the time. They had outgrown this tag by the time of the commercial success of their third LP. In 2008, Q magazine described the band as "The biggest cult band in the UK".
In 2012, the band's 10th anniversary year, they were honoured with the Spirit of Independence award at the annual Q Awards. Several months later, they received the Outstanding Contribution to Music award at the annual NME Awards.
As of 2017, their last 4 albums have charted in the UK Top 10.
History
Formation and early years (2001–2003)
The Cribs were formed in late 2001 as a recording project for the three brothers. After recording a demo and garnering label interest, the band started playing live around this time, at venues like the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds, and "squats and warehouse parties" with artists such as Calvin Johnston, Subway Sect, Herman Dune, and Ballboy. They also released a split 7" single on Leeds based garage/riot grrrl/punk label Squirrel Records during this period with former Shove/Boyskout member Jen Schande. Limited to 300 copies on blue vinyl the record is now a rarity that sells for upwards of $150 on eBay. According to Mojo magazine, 'On the strength of one demo, the rush to find the UK Strokes saw the three-piece fielding calls from major labels, pluggers and label managers' in 2002. After several high-profile support slots, the band signed to the fledgling independent label Wichita Recordings in 2003 "we thought (they) were great because they sounded a bit like Pavement and had a big hook. We went to see them at the Metro on Oxford Street and completely fell in love with them. They seemed like such an obvious pop band. Every song sounded like a single" – Mark Bowen, Wichita Recordings.
The Cribs (2004)
After signing with Wichita Recordings, the band began re-recording many of the songs from the original demo, as well as several new tracks for what would be their debut record. Sessions began in London with Chicago based avant-garde musician Bobby Conn producing, after the band had supported him on some UK dates and impressed him "They had this cassette demo they had recorded on a boom-box, I suggested overdubs, they were too kitchen-sink for overdubs. I tried handclaps, they were 'not sure about handclaps'. It was all 'Keep it real'" – Bobby Conn. Then sessions moved to Toe Rag Studios in Hackney with the band self-producing. The album was completed in 7 days, live to 8-track tape, with Ed Deegan engineering.
Released on 8 March 2004, the album found early supporters in the NME, who commented on its "supreme pop melodies", and referred to it as "lo-fi, hi fun" giving it an 8/10 review. Lo-fi would be a term that would follow the band around for the next few years, and something that became synonymous with the group. Again, from the NME in 2011: "Recorded in a week, it's the definition of indie lo-fi. But not willful indie lo-fi; the scratches, clangs and gawwumps all heard here are genuinely the product of the trio's shoestring methods rather than the usual contrived fuzz that bands spend ages poring over beaten up eight-tracks to achieve". Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamacq was also an early champion. Lois Wilson of Mojo magazine described the album in 2009 as "intelligent lyrics on a background of clipped guitars and tumbling drums, with nods to The Strokes, Beat Happening, and C86's inept charm"
Three singles were released from the album – the limited edition 7" only "Another Number"/"Baby Don't Sweat" in November 2003, followed by first single proper "You Were Always the One", which climbed to No. 2 in the indie charts. "What About Me" was the third and final single from the album, again making the indie top 10. The Cribs toured extensively throughout 2004 and into 2005, both as headliners as well as supporting artists like old friend Bobby Conn, Death Cab For Cutie and The Libertines. Over the campaign they toured the UK and Ireland, Europe, Japan, and the United States, as well as several significant international festival appearances such as Reading and Leeds Festivals, Summersonic, T in the Park and Pukkelpop amongst others. Though only a moderate underground success at the time "Another Number" has gone on to become one of the band's most enduring 'hits' – seldom being left off the set-list and usually accompanied by a full crowd sing-along of the signature, repeated guitar riff.
The New Fellas (2005–2006)
After concluding touring duties for the first record, the band were taken off the road to start writing the follow up. However, the Cribs decided they still wanted to tour and took to posting their phone numbers and email addresses on the internet, professing to play anywhere for fuel money and a crate of beer. This DIY approach is something the band and label now feel was a key factor in their success, as it helped nurture a very strong, passionate fanbase.
The New Fellas, the band's second album release, was recorded with Edwyn Collins, the singer-songwriter and guitarist from Glasgow's influential Orange Juice in London at his own West Heath Studios. Again, it was a comparatively unpolished record sonically, as both the producer Collins and the band themselves were achieving sounds similar to those heard on the Orange Juice records. This was, however, the intention and the reason the band and producer were put together. "They had definite ideas what they wanted the record to sound like...They had this work ethic, there was nothing spoiled about them – they were proper indie; everything done on a shoe-string and they just got on with it....they were tremendous" – Edwyn Collins. One song, "Haunted", was even recorded on Scarborough beach on a whim, after hearing a Steve Martin ukulele duet recorded on a beach.
The first release from the record was the single "Hey Scenesters!" on 18 April 2005. It reached no. 27 in the UK charts, and started their run of 7 consecutive top 40 singles. The album followed on 20 June 2005 although it had leaked onto the internet several months prior to the official release date, hampering its first week sales. The record has however, gone on to be certified Silver by the BPI, and in a recent poll held by the NME was proved to be the overall fans favourite record. The other singles released from the record were "Mirror Kissers", "Martell", and non-album track "You're Gonna Lose Us" (produced by Bernard Butler), which was paired with "The Wrong Way To Be" as a AA side. The extensive New Fellas world tour took in several UK tours, Europe, United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, Scandinavia, and their first trip to Iceland. They appeared at numerous festivals at this time, including an appearance on the main stage at Reading and Leeds Festivals (becoming the first band to ever progress through all three stages in consecutive years), headlining the tent at T in the Park, Fuji Rock festival in Japan as well as an extensive USA arena tour with Death Cab for Cutie and Franz Ferdinand. A European tour during this period with ex Pavement man Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks would introduce Gary to his future wife Joanna Bolme.
Shortly before their appearance at the Fuji Rock festival, the Cribs released a Japan-only mini album called Arigato Cockers, made up of B-sides and rarities from both the first and second albums.
In their year-end issue, the NME made The New Fellas the No. 11 album of the year, and Hey Scenesters a single of the year.
Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever (2007–2008)
At the conclusion of The New Fellas campaign, the Cribs signed a major label deal with Warner Bros. Records – though they remained on Wichita in the UK at the bands insistence. The subsequent album, Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever saw the band finally take steps to progress forth from their 'lo-fi' roots, being recorded in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada with Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand as producer. The band and producer had met during the US tour the bands did together with Death Cab for Cutie, and hit it off immediately. The album was mixed by Andy Wallace (Nirvana, Foo Fighters). They collaborated with Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth on the track "Be Safe" – Ranaldo contributing his spoken word poetry to the band's music.
Prior to the record's release the Cribs took in a run of small UK club dates to preview songs from the new record. This is documented in the first Cribs documentary Leave Too Neat. The first cut from the album was the single 'Men's Needs', released on 7 May. It proved to be the band's first breakthrough with mainstream radio and reached no. 17 in the UK charts, becoming their biggest hit to date. The accompanying video, filmed in Hollywood by director Diane Martel has achieved over 7 million YouTube views to date.
The album was released on 21 May 2007, and entered the UK album charts at No. 13.
Touring began at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 30 March for the Teenage Cancer Trust. The rest of 2007 and most of 2008 was spent on the road promoting the record, taking in extensive UK and European touring, several United States and Canada tours, Japan, and the band's first trip out to Mexico for a main stage appearance at the MX Beat Festival, as well as some later headline shows. During their US touring schedules they appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, the Late Show with David Letterman, and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.
The second single to be released from the record was 'Moving Pictures', again charting in the UK Top 40, and then later a 7" only release of "I'm a Realist". The latter was backed with a cover of The Replacements song "Bastards of Young", a band the Cribs cite as a large influence. Another non-album single 'Don't You Wanna be Relevant?' was paired with album cut "Our Bovine Public" and again climbed to the UK top 40. There were numerous festival slots around this time including main stage slots at Lollapalooza, T in the Park, and V festival, as well as returning to Fuji Rock, and a first time appearance at Coachella amongst others. In November 2007 the Cribs were invited by a re-formed The Sex Pistols to play with them for three nights at Brixton Academy in celebration of the 30-year anniversary of Never Mind the Bollocks In December the band announced three intimate shows at their old haunt the Brudenell Social Club in aid of cystic fibrosis where they would play all three albums to date in sequence with secret unannounced support bands each night (Franz Ferdinand, Kate Nash, and Kaiser Chiefs respectively). This was documented for the band's second DVD, the 3 disc Live at the Brudenell Social Club.
In the year-end issues "Men's Needs" was named third-best track of 2007 by NME with the album coming in at No. 9, Track of the Year 2007 by the Metro newspaper and making the annual 100 best tracks list in Rolling Stone magazine in the USA.
2008 began with the Cribs being nominated for 4 awards at the annual NME awards ceremony (Best British Band, Best Live Band, Best Track and Hero of the Year for Ryan Jarman). Through this they were asked to headline the annual NME Awards Tour, which they undertook through January and February featuring some of the band's largest headline shows up to that point and culminating in a show at the o2 Arena in London. They also made a live appearance at the Awards ceremony itself, playing new single 'I'm a Realist' and a cover of 'Panic' by the Smiths, featuring their new guitarist Johnny Marr (of the aforementioned band), who had been guesting with them throughout the tour.
Another USA tour followed this, and then some more festival appearances including main stage slots at the Isle of Wight Festival, Rockness, Primavera Festival, Fuji Rock and Sziget, as well as a headline appearance on the John Peel Stage at Glastonbury, and headlining the second stage at Reading and Leeds Festivals.
In April 2018, the album was certified Gold in the UK by the British Phonographic Industry for sales over 100,000, becoming the first album certified Gold by the BRIT Awards.
Ignore the Ignorant (2009–2010)
After a chance meeting with Johnny Marr (at the time a member of Modest Mouse) in Portland, OR the Cribs and Johnny became close friends. Once Modest Mouse completed touring duties for their record, the Cribs and Johnny started to hang around and jam together – "It's been going well and it would be shame to cut it short, the original intention was to be doing an EP" the band told BBC 6 Music in January 2008. However it was later announced that they would be working on an album together and that Johnny had joined as a full-time member of the group.
Much of the remainder of 2008 was spent writing new material in Portland, OR, Manchester and Wakefield, followed by a short UK tour taking in Glasgow ABC, Bradford St. Georges Hall, two nights at Manchester Ritz, and Heaven in London to road-test some of the new songs before recording commenced. Studio time was booked for March 2009 in Los Angeles with veteran producer Nick Launay (Nick Cave, PIL, Yeah Yeah Yeahs). Ross Jarman performed most of the drum tracks for the recording with a broken wrist after a skateboard accident. Promotion for the Ignore the Ignorant album came in the form of an intimate "alternative Leeds/Reading show" at HMV in Leeds. This was scheduled as the same weekend as the Reading Leeds festival. The band played several songs from their new album as well as some old favourites. Afterwards, Ryan Jarman could be seen browsing the CD's in HMV and being available for fans to meet him.
Preceded by the single 'Cheat on Me', the album Ignore the Ignorant was released on 7 September 2009, and scored the Cribs their first UK Top Ten album. Released the same week that The Beatles re-issued their entire 13 LP back-catalogue, Ignore the Ignorant managed to out-sell all but two of them to chart at number 8, something the band described as "surreal". Touring began with a headline slot at the White Air festival in Brighton followed by a UK tour of large halls. The band then went on to tour Japan (including a show at Budokan with Arctic Monkeys) then on to South Korea where they headlined the Grand Mint festival at the Olympic Park, Seoul. Next was a United States/Canada tour, as well as a European arena tour with Franz Ferdinand before the Cribs returned to the UK for their largest headline shows to date.
In December 2009, Ignore the Ignorant was placed at number 11 in Mojo magazine's "Albums of the Year", and at number 7 in The Fly's "Albums of the Year". NME also placed it at No. 30 in their end of year list, as well as making "Cheat on Me" a track of the year. In Japan, Crossbeat magazine placed it at No. 8 in its "Albums of 2009" list, whilst Music Magazine called it the No. 1 album of 2009. Both magazines are leading publications in Japan. At the same time, The New Fellas was named an "Album of the Century" by Q.
2010 began with another extensive United States and Canada tour, before heading off for dates in Australia and New Zealand. Festival appearances including Glastonbury, Lollapalooza, Fuji Rock, Benecassim, Sziget and Pukkelpop amongst others followed.
During this time the band were invited to support Aerosmith at two arena shows in Spain and France.
For Record Store Day 2010 the Cribs released "So Hot Now" as a split 7" single with Portland, OR band The Thermals on legendary riot grrrl label Kill Rock Stars.
On 9 August 2010, BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe announced during his show that he would be playing a brand new Cribs song that night. The very next day, 'Housewife' was released officially on iTunes. No one, from music industry insiders to the band's fans, had any idea that a new single was being geared up until that moment. The cover art featured Ryan and Gary in drag. Later that month the band appeared on the main stage once again at the Reading and Leeds festivals to close the album campaign. These would be Marr's last shows with the Cribs.
In the Belly of the Brazen Bull (2011–2012)
After announcing Marr's departure from the group on 11 April 2011, The Cribs started work on writing the follow up to Ignore the Ignorant, mooted for a spring 2012 release. During this time, they recorded a cover of original 70's Canadian punk band The Dishrags 'Death in the Family' for a Canadian Mint Records compilation. Over the summer they played several headlining slots at UK festivals in 2011, as well as a show at Le Zenith in Paris with The Strokes. In June 2011 they made their first trip to Brazil, playing two shows in São Paulo. In December 2011 they headlined the Clockenflap festival in Hong Kong, debuting new songs 'Come On, Be A No-One', and 'Anna' for the first time.
The Cribs announced the title of their fifth studio album as In the Belly of the Brazen Bull and its track-listing on 14 February 2012. The album was recorded at Tarbox Road studio in New York with David Fridmann, London's Abbey Road and Chicago's EAR studio with engineer Steve Albini. On 14 February, BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe premiered the first taster from the album, 'Chi-Town' on his radio show and played the song 3 times. During this time, both the band and the song title were trending on Twitter. Shortly after the announcement was made, the band embarked on a quick UK tour, to preview the new material and promote the upcoming single, slated for April. In March, the band headed out on a tour of the United States, concluding in April, and later that month released the first official single from the new album 'Come On, Be A No-One'. A European tour followed, and then a full-scale UK tour in May – kicking off with a performance at the 2012 Camden Crawl. It was during this tour that the band were introduced to Turner Prize winning artist Martin Creed, who was acting as support band. The album was released on 7 May 2012 and would provide the band with their second UK Top 10 record, charting at number 9.
The next month, the band headed out for another tour of the United States and Canada, before flying to Japan to headline the Hostess Weekender festival at the Yebisu Garden Hall in Tokyo, as well as a show in Osaka. In July, the second official single from the album, 'Glitters Like Gold' would be released on a special gold glitter vinyl. The band toured Italy, and then toured the European festival circuit throughout most of the summer, including a large outdoor show with the Foo Fighters in Belfast Boucher playing fields, and another engagement at the Reading and Leeds festival, where the band would destroy the instruments and stage set at the climax of the Reading show.
September would see the release of the third and final single from the album. 'Anna', unlike the prior singles, was made available as a download only, and featured a collaboration with the aforementioned Martin Creed. The band and Creed had been looking for a project to collaborate on since meeting on tour earlier in the year, and the artist provided Work #1431 as the video to the single. In October the Cribs headlined Sŵn Festival in Cardiff, and then headed out on another UK and Irish tour. During this tour, the Cribs were awarded the 'Spirit of Independence' award at the Q Awards 2012 on 22 October. At the conclusion of the UK tour, the band headed to eastern Europe where, amongst other dates, they would visit Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece and Turkey for the first time. Following these dates, the band headed to South America to play a show in Brazil, and then on to Argentina for a show at the open air hockey arena Club Ciudad de Buenos Aires for the Personal Fest festival. 2013 would see the band visit Australia for 3 shows in January, effectively concluding live touring for 'In The Belly of The Brazen Bull'.
In the end of year lists, the album was placed by The Guardian (#22), NME (#8), The Fly (#21), This Is Fake DIY (#3) amongst others in the UK.
Payola (2013)
On 20 November 2012 the Cribs announced details of their first 'Best Of' compilation, Payola, which was released on 11 March 2013 via Wichita Recordings to mark the group's 10th anniversary. The 22 track album saw the first official release of "Leather Jacket Love Song" – recorded at sessions in early 2010, it is the final Cribs song to feature Johnny Marr. A special 40-track 'Anthology Edition' was released with an additional 18 track disc containing B-sides and rarities.
On 29 February, the band made their fourth appearance on the cover of NME magazine, which came with an additional CD release "Payola: The Demos". This companion disc to "Payola" featured demo versions of most of the significant songs featured on "Payola", as well as 3 unheard and unreleased tracks harking back as far as 2001.
Around the same time the band played an NME Awards show at Shepherd's Bush Empire and several other headline dates around the country. Over the summer, the Cribs played numerous festivals in the UK and Europe, including headline slots at Y Not Festival and a show at the Olympic Park (London), as well as a short tour of Scottish venues. Autumn saw the band head back to Australia for an "Anniversary Tour", before venturing into Asia for a lengthy tour there. Cities and countries visited on this trip would include Thailand (Bangkok), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Vietnam (Saigon), two shows in Japan (Tokyo), a show at the Kowloonbay International Trade & Exhibition Centre in Hong Kong, and a large outdoor show in the meadow at the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. The year was rounded out by two sold out Christmas shows at the Leeds Academy
2014 began quietly, as the band began writing sessions for their next studio album. The only shows announced would be as part of the Weezer cruise from Florida to the Bahamas in February. Later in the year, the Cribs returned to the UK for some UK festival slots, including headlining Truck Festival and Tramlines Festival amongst others, and an Italian tour with Franz Ferdinand.
For All My Sisters (2014–2016)
In August 2014, Music Week reported that the band had signed with Sony RED. This followed news that the band's sixth album was to be produced by former The Cars frontman Ric Ocasek, known for his work with artists including Weezer, Nada Surf and Guided by Voices. Frenchkiss Records was also named by Music Week as the band's new label for North America, but the band would ultimately later announce their signing with Arts & Crafts. "An Ivory Hand", a teaser track for the upcoming album had a midnight digital release on 19 January 2015. It received its first radio play later that day from the BBC's Steve Lamacq. It would later be made 'Single of the Week' by the NME. The album, For All My Sisters, was released in the UK on 23 March 2015; although due in North America on 24 March 2015, it was released the same day. It would go on to become the Cribs' third consecutive UK Top 10 album.
The first single from the album "Burning For No One", was debuted by BBC Radio 1 on 2 February, by Zane Lowe who made it his 'Hottest Record in the World'. The accompanying video, shot on the Bahamian island of Exuma was released on 16 February and clocked up over 200,000 views on YouTube in its first week.
The new songs were road tested on a quick UK tour of sold-out shows, and then the band went to New York City to play a 3 night residency across 3 different venues (2 in Brooklyn, 1 in Manhattan), before heading to Austin, Texas for the annual SXSW showcase, playing 4 shows across 3 days. Immediately after returning from SXSW, The Cribs embarked on a week-long tour of in-store performances and signings at independent record stores throughout the UK.
US touring began a few weeks later in San Francisco for a tour of the west coast, and would include a second appearance at the Coachella Festival, playing the Sunday of both weekends and playing headline shows throughout the state and Las Vegas in the intervening week. For this outing, the band was joined on stage by Michael Cummings of the NYC band Skaters.
Back in the UK, The Cribs headlined Leeds Town Hall as part of the Live at Leeds festival in May, before headlining The Great Escape Festival in Brighton with 2 performances, and then two shows in Ireland. That summer they would play on the main stages at the Liverpool Sound City festival and T in the Park, and made their third appearance on The Other Stage at Glastonbury. They would also play at Festival Internacional de Benicassim in Spain.
The Cribs then went out to Asia, for a headline show in Tokyo, and a main stage appearance at the Pentaport Rock Festival in Incheon, South Korea. Later that month they would appear on the Main Stage at the Reading and Leeds Festivals for the third time before heading out to North America for a full tour there. During the band's performance at the Fairmount Theatre in Montreal as part of the Pop Montreal festival, the band would perform 'Be Safe' with Lee Ranaldo performing his spoken word part live in person for only the second time since the song's release (the first coming in 2008 at the Music Hall of Williamsburg).
A full UK tour was announced during this period, and took place in October and November, which included dates at Glasgow Barrowlands, Manchester Albert Hall, and The Roundhouse in Camden amongst others.
In 2016 The Cribs were announced as headliners of the Camden Rocks Festival taking place in June. Over the summer The Cribs would play the main stage at Isle of Wight Festival, Y Not Festival, and were the secret unannounced headliners of In The Woods Festival in Kent. During the summer, The Cribs played their largest headline show to date, at the 8,000 capacity open air Millennium Square in Leeds.
Another tour of Asia followed, including stops in S. Korea (Seoul), Japan (Tokyo and Osaka) and the band's first engagement in China, where they would play the Shanghai Rugby Football Stadium for the Concrete and Grass Festival. Shortly after the show The Cribs announced that this would be the final show of the "For All My Sisters" tour.
24–7 Rock Star Shit (2017–2018)
On 3 February 2017 it was announced that The Cribs would be the subject to their own exhibition in their hometown at Wakefield Museum. The exhibit featured 3 large glass containers dedicated to each of the band members with their chosen instruments as well as various memorabilia such as early gig posters, awards, touring paraphernalia and original records. The exhibit was unveiled on 14 February 2017 by Ross, who appeared on BBC Look North playing the drum kit within his respective glass container. The exhibition ran until July 2017.
On 7 February 2017 The Cribs announced a 10th anniversary tour in honour of their third album. The "Men's Needs, Women's Needs, FOREVER" tour was initially scheduled to consist of seven dates in large venues across the UK. A second London date at the Forum was later added due to popular demand. The tour commenced on 11 May at Glasgow Academy and finished on 20 May with a show at Leeds First Direct Arena where they were joined live on stage by Lee Ranaldo for his spoken word part in Be Safe. The band also performed the album in full for their headlining slot on the Baltic Stage at Liverpool Sound City festival.
Following the final night of this tour, at midnight on 21 May, The Cribs tweeted a series of code which the next day revealed itself to be coordinates for various record stores across the UK and the US, along with specific timestamp for each store. Arriving at the location at the specified time would allow customers to purchase a white label single entitled "Year of Hate". Each single was hand numbered and the edition number totaled 247. This process continued with handfuls of co-ordinates for record stores being announced each day for the next week. The cryptic coordinate approach was dropped on 22 May due to the recent attack in Manchester. Despite the limited run number and obscure release method the single entered the UK vinyl singles chart at number 3 on the week commencing 26 May 2017. The song eventually saw a digital release on 16 June – until that time the only way to hear it was by playing the vinyl or via BBC iPlayer on-demand, after Steve Lamacq aired the song on his show.
A second single "In Your Palace" was shock released digitally on 2 June 2017 with a music video released on 13 June. It was then announced on 24 July 2017 that the album "24–7 Rock Star Shit" would be released 2 weeks later on 11 August 2017, alongside a music video for another new song – "Rainbow Ridge", which was available as a free download with a pre-order of the album. Exclusive launch parties were announced for Leeds and London – with the London party being a curated event at House of Vans, featuring an art display, Q&A with the band, and a full live performance on the night the album was released. Entrants were selected by a free-to-enter ballot via the Vans website.
After spending three days at number 1 in the UK charts, the album mid-weeked at number 5, before officially entering the charts at number 8 – the band's fourth consecutive Top 10 album.
Following this, The Cribs began a tour of the United States and Canada. At the conclusion of this tour they returned to Mexico to headline the Sala Corona in Mexico City, and to play the main stages at Live Out Festival in Monterrey and Festival Coordenada in Guadalajara. In December, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the original 'Cribsmas' event, the band booked Christmas residency shows in the UK – 4 nights in Glasgow, 4 nights in Manchester, 3 nights in London, and 5 nights in Leeds – performing over 80 songs from their back catalogue. In 2018 the band continued their UK tour with the '24–7 Rock Star Shit in the UK' tour – a 14 date tour of secondary markets throughout January.
In April the band went to Australia to play shows in Newcastle, Brisbane, Perth, Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne. Following this was a 4 date tour of China in May – visiting Chengdu, Wuhan, Shanghai, and Beijing. A show in Hong Kong followed as well as two shows in Japan.
Summer saw The Cribs invited to support Foo Fighters at City of Manchester Stadium alongside several other UK festival appearances.
Night Network (2019–present)
Following the release of their fourth consecutive UK top 10 album 24-7 Rock Star Shit, the band almost immediately parted company with their long time UK management and found themselves stuck in what Gary described as "legal morass", unable to record or release new music. This is because the band had belatedly discovered that the rights to the back catalogue from earlier in their career was owned by other parties thanks to various deals that they were unaware of. As a result, the band – who were now managing themselves – decided to focus on gaining ownership because there would be no point in signing a new deal, making a new record and touring as long as someone else owned their music.
What followed was an eighteen month period of inactivity, resulting in 2019 being the only year since the band's inception in 2002 whereby the band did not play a live concert, following their final gig of the 24-7 Rock Star Shit tour in Glasgow in September 2018.
In a position of uncertainty about how to continue beyond the already-booked gigs, following a show where The Cribs had supported Foo Fighters in Manchester at the Etihad Stadium in June 2018, Dave Grohl learned of the band's struggles and offered for the band to use his Studio 606.
Following the successful resolution of their back catalogue ownership, the band was set to sign a major label deal. But then it emerged that there was yet other people claiming ownership of their music, and so they had to go through another legal battle from September 2019 to February 2020 while working on the new album.
During 2020, the band was active on Twitter to participate in Tim Burgess' "Listening Parties", offering behind the scenes insight for their most commercially successful album Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever on 7 April and due to the positive response, followed up with another listening party of fan favourite The New Fellas on 28 May.
On 8 June, the band announced on their social media pages, with four hours notice, their first live performance in nearly two years. This turned out to be a pre-recorded webcam broadcast of "Be Safe", featuring Lee Ranaldo performing his spoken word part, from their residences across the world (Ryan in Queens, New York, Gary in Portland, Oregon, Ross in Wakefield and Lee in Manhattan, New York).
On 12 August 2020, a day over three years since their last new material 24-7 Rock Star Shit, the band's social media profile pictures changed to a stylised test card. The following day on 13 August 2020, the band announced their return with a new song to be broadcast on BBC Radio 6 Music. The song turned out to be lead single "Running Into You" and subsequently the band announced new album Night Network to be released on 13 November 2020, along with artwork, tracklisting and a video for "Running Into You" starring Sam Riley.
Released into the UK COVID-19 lockdown of 2020, the band had all of their scheduled headline touring to support the album delayed. The album release was therefore celebrated with a socially distanced performance at Liverpools legendary Cavern Club on the 21st November. This performance was streamed worldwide as a PPV via the Veeps platform.
On July 15, 2021, The Cribs released a cover of the Comet Gain song "Fingernailed For You" as part of the Kill Rock Stars label's 30th anniversary covers compilation "Stars Rock Kill (Rock Stars)".
Band members
Current members
Gary Jarman – bass, vocals (2001–present)
Ryan Jarman – guitar, vocals (2001–present)
Ross Jarman – drums (2001–present)
Former members
Johnny Marr – guitar (2008–2011)
Touring musicians
David Jones – guitar (2011–2015)
Michael Cummings – guitar, keyboard, Bass VI (March/April 2015 U.S. dates)
Russell Searle – guitar, keyboard (May 2015 – present)
Awards and nominations
Discography
The Cribs (2004)
The New Fellas (2005)
Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever (2007)
Ignore the Ignorant (2009)
In the Belly of the Brazen Bull (2012)
For All My Sisters (2015)
24-7 Rock Star Shit (2017)
Night Network (2020)
Fanzine
A group of between fifty and one-hundred committed fans aimed to 'collect thoughtful, dedicated and passionate written work' on the band beginning in early summer 2011. Kind Words from the Broken Hearted 'outlines a range of responses to the Cribs...with many otherwise "ordinary" men and women contributing ideas and views' that fill the pages of the fanzine. Pieces within the fanzine emphasise the importance of Wichita Recordings, Domino Recording Company, Kill Rock Stars and Fortuna Pop!, amongst others, in providing a vibrant and supportive environment for independent bands to hone their work and retain an ethical stance in the music industry. The fanzine also shares close links with fellow Wakefield independent music fans at Rhubarb Bomb, in addition to Bonus Cupped, a left-leaning, travel and punk publication from Bristol. Moreover, Kind Words from the Broken Hearted supports other forms of independent music, including Comet Gain, Edwyn Collins and Pavement to name but three, welcoming diverse forms of the art but keen to eschew a celebratory tone that pervades contemporary music journalism. Notable readers, and upcoming contributors include band collaborator Nick Scott at Narcsville and Eddie Argos and Jasper Future from Art Brut. Support from within contemporary music journalism has come from influential The Smiths and David Bowie writer and broadcaster Simon Goddard, in addition to Tim Jonze at The Guardian. Those interested by independent journalism can find the fanzine through a regular address or alternatively through an Edinburgh-based social media site.
References
External links
The Cribs official site
And then there were three: An interview with Ryan Jarman (via Talk Rock To Me), 11 May 2012
English indie rock groups
NME Awards winners
V2 Records artists
Wichita Recordings artists
Sibling musical groups
Musical groups established in 2002
2002 establishments in England
Musical groups from Wakefield
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"\"Tell Me How You Feel\" is a song by American singer and actress Joy Enriquez. It samples \"Mellow Mellow Right On\" by Lowrell Simon. The song was released as the second single from her debut self-titled studio album in September 2000, peaking at number 17 on the US Billboard Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, number 24 in Australia and number 14 in New Zealand, where it was certified Gold for sales of over 5,000.\n\nTrack listings\n\nUS CD single\n \"Tell Me How You Feel\" – 4:06\n Snippets from Joy Enriquez\n \"Shake Up the Party\"\n \"Situation\"\n \"I Can't Believe\"\n\nAustralian maxi-CD single\n \"Tell Me How You Feel\" – 4:06\n \"Tell Me How You Feel\" (Full Crew remix) – 4:04\n \"Between You and Me\" – 4:21\n \"How Can I Not Love You\" – 4:33\n\nEuropean CD single\n \"Tell Me How You Feel\" (album version) – 4:06\n \"Tell Me How You Feel\" (Full Crew remix) – 4:05\n\nEuropean maxi-CD single\n \"Tell Me How You Feel\" (album version) – 4:06\n \"Tell Me How You Feel\" (Full Crew remix) – 4:05\n \"Dime mi amor\" (Spanish version) – 3:59\n \"Tell Me How You Feel\" (instrumental) – 4:05\n\nJapanese CD single\n \"Tell Me How You Feel\"\n \"How Can I Not Love You\"\n\nCharts\n\nCertifications\n\nRelease history\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n at Discogs\n\n2000 singles\n2000 songs\n2001 singles\nArista Records singles\nSong recordings produced by Soulshock and Karlin\nSongs written by Kenneth Karlin\nSongs written by Soulshock",
"You Can Hold Me Down is the debut album by William Tell, first released on March 13, 2007 through Universal Records and New Door Records.\n\nTrack listing\n \"Jeannie\" (William Tell) 3:01\n \"Slipping Under (Sing Along to Your Favorite Song)\" (PJ Smith, William Tell) 3:34\n \"Trouble\" (William Tell) 2:55\n \"Fairfax (You’re Still the Same)\" (William Tell) 2:49\n \"Like You, Only Sweeter\" (Darren Tehrani, William Tell) 3:41\n \"Maybe Tonight\" (William Tell, Mike Green) 3:13\n \"Young at Heart\" (William Tell) 2:46\n \"Sounds\" (William Tell, PJ Smith) 3:05\n \"Just For You\" (William Tell, Mike Green) 3:33\n \"You Can Hold Me Down\" (William Tell, Darren Tehrani) 3:23\n\nBest Buy hidden track:\n<li> \"You Can Hold Me Down\" (Tell, Tehrani) – 9:31\n features the hidden track \"After All\", beginning at about 4:30\n\niTunes Store bonus track:\n<li> \"Yesterday is Calling\" (James Bourne, Smith) – 3:43\n\nTarget bonus track:\n<li> \"Young at Heart (Acoustic)\" (Tell) – 2:46\n\nWal-Mart bonus tracks:\n<li> \"This Mess\" – 3:23\n<li> \"Katie (Where'd You Go?)\" – 3:48\n\nPersonnel\nWilliam Tell - vocals, guitars, bass\nBrian Ireland - drums, percussion\nAndrew McMahon - piano\n\nReferences\n\nYou Can Hold Me Down (William Tell album)"
] |
[
"The Cribs",
"Payola (2013)",
"What is Payola?",
"On 20 November 2012 the Cribs announced details of their first 'Best Of' compilation, Payola,",
"How well did it do?",
"I don't know.",
"What songs are included in Payola?",
"The 22 track album saw the first official release of \"Leather Jacket Love Song\" - recorded at sessions in early 2010,",
"Any other songs?",
"A special 40-track 'Anthology Edition' was released with an additional 18 track disc containing B-sides and rarities.",
"Did they have any other albums?",
"2014 began quietly, as the band began writing sessions for their next studio album.",
"What is their most famous song?",
"\"Leather Jacket Love Song\" - recorded at sessions in early 2010, it is the final Cribs song to feature Johnny Marr.",
"Can you tell me some more interesting information?",
"Later in the year, the Cribs returned to the UK for some UK festival slots, including headlining Truck Festival and Tramlines Festival"
] |
C_ebaf51b477a74a4884cb659b07039674_0
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Did they do anything else in the UK?
| 8 |
In addition to Truck Festival and Tramlines Festival, did Payola do anything else in the UK?
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The Cribs
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On 20 November 2012 the Cribs announced details of their first 'Best Of' compilation, Payola, which was released on 11 March 2013 via Wichita Recordings to mark the group's 10th anniversary. The 22 track album saw the first official release of "Leather Jacket Love Song" - recorded at sessions in early 2010, it is the final Cribs song to feature Johnny Marr. A special 40-track 'Anthology Edition' was released with an additional 18 track disc containing B-sides and rarities. On the 29th of February, the band made their fourth appearance on the cover of NME magazine, which came with an additional CD release "Payola: The Demos". This companion disc to "Payola" featured demo versions of most of the significant songs featured on "Payola", as well as 3 unheard and unreleased tracks harking back as far as 2001. Around the same time the band played an NME Awards show at Shepherds Bush Empire and several other headline dates around the country. Over the summer, the Cribs played numerous festivals in the UK and Europe, including headline slots at Y Not Festival and a show at the Olympic Park (London), as well as a short tour of Scottish venues. Autumn saw the band head back to Australia for an "Anniversary Tour", before venturing into Asia for a lengthy tour there. Cities and countries visited on this trip would include Thailand (Bangkok), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Vietnam (Saigon), two shows in Japan (Tokyo), a show at the Kowloonbay International Trade & Exhibition Centre in Hong Kong, and a large outdoor show in the meadow at the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. The year was rounded out by two sold out Christmas shows at the Leeds Academy 2014 began quietly, as the band began writing sessions for their next studio album. The only shows announced would be as part of the Weezer cruise from Florida to the Bahamas in February. Later in the year, the Cribs returned to the UK for some UK festival slots, including headlining Truck Festival and Tramlines Festival amongst others, and an Italian tour with Franz Ferdinand. CANNOTANSWER
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Over the summer, the Cribs played numerous festivals in the UK and Europe, including headline slots at Y Not Festival and a show at the Olympic Park (London),
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The Cribs are a British indie rock band originally from Wakefield, West Yorkshire that formed in 2001. The band consists of twins Gary and Ryan Jarman and their younger brother Ross Jarman. They were subsequently joined by ex-The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr who was a formal member of the group from 2008 until 2011.
The band, who first became active on the concert circuit in 2002, were initially tied to other like-minded UK bands of that time, most notably The Libertines, by a British music press that were looking for a 'British rearguard' to the wave of popular US alternative rock bands of the time. They had outgrown this tag by the time of the commercial success of their third LP. In 2008, Q magazine described the band as "The biggest cult band in the UK".
In 2012, the band's 10th anniversary year, they were honoured with the Spirit of Independence award at the annual Q Awards. Several months later, they received the Outstanding Contribution to Music award at the annual NME Awards.
As of 2017, their last 4 albums have charted in the UK Top 10.
History
Formation and early years (2001–2003)
The Cribs were formed in late 2001 as a recording project for the three brothers. After recording a demo and garnering label interest, the band started playing live around this time, at venues like the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds, and "squats and warehouse parties" with artists such as Calvin Johnston, Subway Sect, Herman Dune, and Ballboy. They also released a split 7" single on Leeds based garage/riot grrrl/punk label Squirrel Records during this period with former Shove/Boyskout member Jen Schande. Limited to 300 copies on blue vinyl the record is now a rarity that sells for upwards of $150 on eBay. According to Mojo magazine, 'On the strength of one demo, the rush to find the UK Strokes saw the three-piece fielding calls from major labels, pluggers and label managers' in 2002. After several high-profile support slots, the band signed to the fledgling independent label Wichita Recordings in 2003 "we thought (they) were great because they sounded a bit like Pavement and had a big hook. We went to see them at the Metro on Oxford Street and completely fell in love with them. They seemed like such an obvious pop band. Every song sounded like a single" – Mark Bowen, Wichita Recordings.
The Cribs (2004)
After signing with Wichita Recordings, the band began re-recording many of the songs from the original demo, as well as several new tracks for what would be their debut record. Sessions began in London with Chicago based avant-garde musician Bobby Conn producing, after the band had supported him on some UK dates and impressed him "They had this cassette demo they had recorded on a boom-box, I suggested overdubs, they were too kitchen-sink for overdubs. I tried handclaps, they were 'not sure about handclaps'. It was all 'Keep it real'" – Bobby Conn. Then sessions moved to Toe Rag Studios in Hackney with the band self-producing. The album was completed in 7 days, live to 8-track tape, with Ed Deegan engineering.
Released on 8 March 2004, the album found early supporters in the NME, who commented on its "supreme pop melodies", and referred to it as "lo-fi, hi fun" giving it an 8/10 review. Lo-fi would be a term that would follow the band around for the next few years, and something that became synonymous with the group. Again, from the NME in 2011: "Recorded in a week, it's the definition of indie lo-fi. But not willful indie lo-fi; the scratches, clangs and gawwumps all heard here are genuinely the product of the trio's shoestring methods rather than the usual contrived fuzz that bands spend ages poring over beaten up eight-tracks to achieve". Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamacq was also an early champion. Lois Wilson of Mojo magazine described the album in 2009 as "intelligent lyrics on a background of clipped guitars and tumbling drums, with nods to The Strokes, Beat Happening, and C86's inept charm"
Three singles were released from the album – the limited edition 7" only "Another Number"/"Baby Don't Sweat" in November 2003, followed by first single proper "You Were Always the One", which climbed to No. 2 in the indie charts. "What About Me" was the third and final single from the album, again making the indie top 10. The Cribs toured extensively throughout 2004 and into 2005, both as headliners as well as supporting artists like old friend Bobby Conn, Death Cab For Cutie and The Libertines. Over the campaign they toured the UK and Ireland, Europe, Japan, and the United States, as well as several significant international festival appearances such as Reading and Leeds Festivals, Summersonic, T in the Park and Pukkelpop amongst others. Though only a moderate underground success at the time "Another Number" has gone on to become one of the band's most enduring 'hits' – seldom being left off the set-list and usually accompanied by a full crowd sing-along of the signature, repeated guitar riff.
The New Fellas (2005–2006)
After concluding touring duties for the first record, the band were taken off the road to start writing the follow up. However, the Cribs decided they still wanted to tour and took to posting their phone numbers and email addresses on the internet, professing to play anywhere for fuel money and a crate of beer. This DIY approach is something the band and label now feel was a key factor in their success, as it helped nurture a very strong, passionate fanbase.
The New Fellas, the band's second album release, was recorded with Edwyn Collins, the singer-songwriter and guitarist from Glasgow's influential Orange Juice in London at his own West Heath Studios. Again, it was a comparatively unpolished record sonically, as both the producer Collins and the band themselves were achieving sounds similar to those heard on the Orange Juice records. This was, however, the intention and the reason the band and producer were put together. "They had definite ideas what they wanted the record to sound like...They had this work ethic, there was nothing spoiled about them – they were proper indie; everything done on a shoe-string and they just got on with it....they were tremendous" – Edwyn Collins. One song, "Haunted", was even recorded on Scarborough beach on a whim, after hearing a Steve Martin ukulele duet recorded on a beach.
The first release from the record was the single "Hey Scenesters!" on 18 April 2005. It reached no. 27 in the UK charts, and started their run of 7 consecutive top 40 singles. The album followed on 20 June 2005 although it had leaked onto the internet several months prior to the official release date, hampering its first week sales. The record has however, gone on to be certified Silver by the BPI, and in a recent poll held by the NME was proved to be the overall fans favourite record. The other singles released from the record were "Mirror Kissers", "Martell", and non-album track "You're Gonna Lose Us" (produced by Bernard Butler), which was paired with "The Wrong Way To Be" as a AA side. The extensive New Fellas world tour took in several UK tours, Europe, United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, Scandinavia, and their first trip to Iceland. They appeared at numerous festivals at this time, including an appearance on the main stage at Reading and Leeds Festivals (becoming the first band to ever progress through all three stages in consecutive years), headlining the tent at T in the Park, Fuji Rock festival in Japan as well as an extensive USA arena tour with Death Cab for Cutie and Franz Ferdinand. A European tour during this period with ex Pavement man Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks would introduce Gary to his future wife Joanna Bolme.
Shortly before their appearance at the Fuji Rock festival, the Cribs released a Japan-only mini album called Arigato Cockers, made up of B-sides and rarities from both the first and second albums.
In their year-end issue, the NME made The New Fellas the No. 11 album of the year, and Hey Scenesters a single of the year.
Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever (2007–2008)
At the conclusion of The New Fellas campaign, the Cribs signed a major label deal with Warner Bros. Records – though they remained on Wichita in the UK at the bands insistence. The subsequent album, Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever saw the band finally take steps to progress forth from their 'lo-fi' roots, being recorded in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada with Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand as producer. The band and producer had met during the US tour the bands did together with Death Cab for Cutie, and hit it off immediately. The album was mixed by Andy Wallace (Nirvana, Foo Fighters). They collaborated with Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth on the track "Be Safe" – Ranaldo contributing his spoken word poetry to the band's music.
Prior to the record's release the Cribs took in a run of small UK club dates to preview songs from the new record. This is documented in the first Cribs documentary Leave Too Neat. The first cut from the album was the single 'Men's Needs', released on 7 May. It proved to be the band's first breakthrough with mainstream radio and reached no. 17 in the UK charts, becoming their biggest hit to date. The accompanying video, filmed in Hollywood by director Diane Martel has achieved over 7 million YouTube views to date.
The album was released on 21 May 2007, and entered the UK album charts at No. 13.
Touring began at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 30 March for the Teenage Cancer Trust. The rest of 2007 and most of 2008 was spent on the road promoting the record, taking in extensive UK and European touring, several United States and Canada tours, Japan, and the band's first trip out to Mexico for a main stage appearance at the MX Beat Festival, as well as some later headline shows. During their US touring schedules they appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, the Late Show with David Letterman, and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.
The second single to be released from the record was 'Moving Pictures', again charting in the UK Top 40, and then later a 7" only release of "I'm a Realist". The latter was backed with a cover of The Replacements song "Bastards of Young", a band the Cribs cite as a large influence. Another non-album single 'Don't You Wanna be Relevant?' was paired with album cut "Our Bovine Public" and again climbed to the UK top 40. There were numerous festival slots around this time including main stage slots at Lollapalooza, T in the Park, and V festival, as well as returning to Fuji Rock, and a first time appearance at Coachella amongst others. In November 2007 the Cribs were invited by a re-formed The Sex Pistols to play with them for three nights at Brixton Academy in celebration of the 30-year anniversary of Never Mind the Bollocks In December the band announced three intimate shows at their old haunt the Brudenell Social Club in aid of cystic fibrosis where they would play all three albums to date in sequence with secret unannounced support bands each night (Franz Ferdinand, Kate Nash, and Kaiser Chiefs respectively). This was documented for the band's second DVD, the 3 disc Live at the Brudenell Social Club.
In the year-end issues "Men's Needs" was named third-best track of 2007 by NME with the album coming in at No. 9, Track of the Year 2007 by the Metro newspaper and making the annual 100 best tracks list in Rolling Stone magazine in the USA.
2008 began with the Cribs being nominated for 4 awards at the annual NME awards ceremony (Best British Band, Best Live Band, Best Track and Hero of the Year for Ryan Jarman). Through this they were asked to headline the annual NME Awards Tour, which they undertook through January and February featuring some of the band's largest headline shows up to that point and culminating in a show at the o2 Arena in London. They also made a live appearance at the Awards ceremony itself, playing new single 'I'm a Realist' and a cover of 'Panic' by the Smiths, featuring their new guitarist Johnny Marr (of the aforementioned band), who had been guesting with them throughout the tour.
Another USA tour followed this, and then some more festival appearances including main stage slots at the Isle of Wight Festival, Rockness, Primavera Festival, Fuji Rock and Sziget, as well as a headline appearance on the John Peel Stage at Glastonbury, and headlining the second stage at Reading and Leeds Festivals.
In April 2018, the album was certified Gold in the UK by the British Phonographic Industry for sales over 100,000, becoming the first album certified Gold by the BRIT Awards.
Ignore the Ignorant (2009–2010)
After a chance meeting with Johnny Marr (at the time a member of Modest Mouse) in Portland, OR the Cribs and Johnny became close friends. Once Modest Mouse completed touring duties for their record, the Cribs and Johnny started to hang around and jam together – "It's been going well and it would be shame to cut it short, the original intention was to be doing an EP" the band told BBC 6 Music in January 2008. However it was later announced that they would be working on an album together and that Johnny had joined as a full-time member of the group.
Much of the remainder of 2008 was spent writing new material in Portland, OR, Manchester and Wakefield, followed by a short UK tour taking in Glasgow ABC, Bradford St. Georges Hall, two nights at Manchester Ritz, and Heaven in London to road-test some of the new songs before recording commenced. Studio time was booked for March 2009 in Los Angeles with veteran producer Nick Launay (Nick Cave, PIL, Yeah Yeah Yeahs). Ross Jarman performed most of the drum tracks for the recording with a broken wrist after a skateboard accident. Promotion for the Ignore the Ignorant album came in the form of an intimate "alternative Leeds/Reading show" at HMV in Leeds. This was scheduled as the same weekend as the Reading Leeds festival. The band played several songs from their new album as well as some old favourites. Afterwards, Ryan Jarman could be seen browsing the CD's in HMV and being available for fans to meet him.
Preceded by the single 'Cheat on Me', the album Ignore the Ignorant was released on 7 September 2009, and scored the Cribs their first UK Top Ten album. Released the same week that The Beatles re-issued their entire 13 LP back-catalogue, Ignore the Ignorant managed to out-sell all but two of them to chart at number 8, something the band described as "surreal". Touring began with a headline slot at the White Air festival in Brighton followed by a UK tour of large halls. The band then went on to tour Japan (including a show at Budokan with Arctic Monkeys) then on to South Korea where they headlined the Grand Mint festival at the Olympic Park, Seoul. Next was a United States/Canada tour, as well as a European arena tour with Franz Ferdinand before the Cribs returned to the UK for their largest headline shows to date.
In December 2009, Ignore the Ignorant was placed at number 11 in Mojo magazine's "Albums of the Year", and at number 7 in The Fly's "Albums of the Year". NME also placed it at No. 30 in their end of year list, as well as making "Cheat on Me" a track of the year. In Japan, Crossbeat magazine placed it at No. 8 in its "Albums of 2009" list, whilst Music Magazine called it the No. 1 album of 2009. Both magazines are leading publications in Japan. At the same time, The New Fellas was named an "Album of the Century" by Q.
2010 began with another extensive United States and Canada tour, before heading off for dates in Australia and New Zealand. Festival appearances including Glastonbury, Lollapalooza, Fuji Rock, Benecassim, Sziget and Pukkelpop amongst others followed.
During this time the band were invited to support Aerosmith at two arena shows in Spain and France.
For Record Store Day 2010 the Cribs released "So Hot Now" as a split 7" single with Portland, OR band The Thermals on legendary riot grrrl label Kill Rock Stars.
On 9 August 2010, BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe announced during his show that he would be playing a brand new Cribs song that night. The very next day, 'Housewife' was released officially on iTunes. No one, from music industry insiders to the band's fans, had any idea that a new single was being geared up until that moment. The cover art featured Ryan and Gary in drag. Later that month the band appeared on the main stage once again at the Reading and Leeds festivals to close the album campaign. These would be Marr's last shows with the Cribs.
In the Belly of the Brazen Bull (2011–2012)
After announcing Marr's departure from the group on 11 April 2011, The Cribs started work on writing the follow up to Ignore the Ignorant, mooted for a spring 2012 release. During this time, they recorded a cover of original 70's Canadian punk band The Dishrags 'Death in the Family' for a Canadian Mint Records compilation. Over the summer they played several headlining slots at UK festivals in 2011, as well as a show at Le Zenith in Paris with The Strokes. In June 2011 they made their first trip to Brazil, playing two shows in São Paulo. In December 2011 they headlined the Clockenflap festival in Hong Kong, debuting new songs 'Come On, Be A No-One', and 'Anna' for the first time.
The Cribs announced the title of their fifth studio album as In the Belly of the Brazen Bull and its track-listing on 14 February 2012. The album was recorded at Tarbox Road studio in New York with David Fridmann, London's Abbey Road and Chicago's EAR studio with engineer Steve Albini. On 14 February, BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe premiered the first taster from the album, 'Chi-Town' on his radio show and played the song 3 times. During this time, both the band and the song title were trending on Twitter. Shortly after the announcement was made, the band embarked on a quick UK tour, to preview the new material and promote the upcoming single, slated for April. In March, the band headed out on a tour of the United States, concluding in April, and later that month released the first official single from the new album 'Come On, Be A No-One'. A European tour followed, and then a full-scale UK tour in May – kicking off with a performance at the 2012 Camden Crawl. It was during this tour that the band were introduced to Turner Prize winning artist Martin Creed, who was acting as support band. The album was released on 7 May 2012 and would provide the band with their second UK Top 10 record, charting at number 9.
The next month, the band headed out for another tour of the United States and Canada, before flying to Japan to headline the Hostess Weekender festival at the Yebisu Garden Hall in Tokyo, as well as a show in Osaka. In July, the second official single from the album, 'Glitters Like Gold' would be released on a special gold glitter vinyl. The band toured Italy, and then toured the European festival circuit throughout most of the summer, including a large outdoor show with the Foo Fighters in Belfast Boucher playing fields, and another engagement at the Reading and Leeds festival, where the band would destroy the instruments and stage set at the climax of the Reading show.
September would see the release of the third and final single from the album. 'Anna', unlike the prior singles, was made available as a download only, and featured a collaboration with the aforementioned Martin Creed. The band and Creed had been looking for a project to collaborate on since meeting on tour earlier in the year, and the artist provided Work #1431 as the video to the single. In October the Cribs headlined Sŵn Festival in Cardiff, and then headed out on another UK and Irish tour. During this tour, the Cribs were awarded the 'Spirit of Independence' award at the Q Awards 2012 on 22 October. At the conclusion of the UK tour, the band headed to eastern Europe where, amongst other dates, they would visit Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece and Turkey for the first time. Following these dates, the band headed to South America to play a show in Brazil, and then on to Argentina for a show at the open air hockey arena Club Ciudad de Buenos Aires for the Personal Fest festival. 2013 would see the band visit Australia for 3 shows in January, effectively concluding live touring for 'In The Belly of The Brazen Bull'.
In the end of year lists, the album was placed by The Guardian (#22), NME (#8), The Fly (#21), This Is Fake DIY (#3) amongst others in the UK.
Payola (2013)
On 20 November 2012 the Cribs announced details of their first 'Best Of' compilation, Payola, which was released on 11 March 2013 via Wichita Recordings to mark the group's 10th anniversary. The 22 track album saw the first official release of "Leather Jacket Love Song" – recorded at sessions in early 2010, it is the final Cribs song to feature Johnny Marr. A special 40-track 'Anthology Edition' was released with an additional 18 track disc containing B-sides and rarities.
On 29 February, the band made their fourth appearance on the cover of NME magazine, which came with an additional CD release "Payola: The Demos". This companion disc to "Payola" featured demo versions of most of the significant songs featured on "Payola", as well as 3 unheard and unreleased tracks harking back as far as 2001.
Around the same time the band played an NME Awards show at Shepherd's Bush Empire and several other headline dates around the country. Over the summer, the Cribs played numerous festivals in the UK and Europe, including headline slots at Y Not Festival and a show at the Olympic Park (London), as well as a short tour of Scottish venues. Autumn saw the band head back to Australia for an "Anniversary Tour", before venturing into Asia for a lengthy tour there. Cities and countries visited on this trip would include Thailand (Bangkok), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Vietnam (Saigon), two shows in Japan (Tokyo), a show at the Kowloonbay International Trade & Exhibition Centre in Hong Kong, and a large outdoor show in the meadow at the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. The year was rounded out by two sold out Christmas shows at the Leeds Academy
2014 began quietly, as the band began writing sessions for their next studio album. The only shows announced would be as part of the Weezer cruise from Florida to the Bahamas in February. Later in the year, the Cribs returned to the UK for some UK festival slots, including headlining Truck Festival and Tramlines Festival amongst others, and an Italian tour with Franz Ferdinand.
For All My Sisters (2014–2016)
In August 2014, Music Week reported that the band had signed with Sony RED. This followed news that the band's sixth album was to be produced by former The Cars frontman Ric Ocasek, known for his work with artists including Weezer, Nada Surf and Guided by Voices. Frenchkiss Records was also named by Music Week as the band's new label for North America, but the band would ultimately later announce their signing with Arts & Crafts. "An Ivory Hand", a teaser track for the upcoming album had a midnight digital release on 19 January 2015. It received its first radio play later that day from the BBC's Steve Lamacq. It would later be made 'Single of the Week' by the NME. The album, For All My Sisters, was released in the UK on 23 March 2015; although due in North America on 24 March 2015, it was released the same day. It would go on to become the Cribs' third consecutive UK Top 10 album.
The first single from the album "Burning For No One", was debuted by BBC Radio 1 on 2 February, by Zane Lowe who made it his 'Hottest Record in the World'. The accompanying video, shot on the Bahamian island of Exuma was released on 16 February and clocked up over 200,000 views on YouTube in its first week.
The new songs were road tested on a quick UK tour of sold-out shows, and then the band went to New York City to play a 3 night residency across 3 different venues (2 in Brooklyn, 1 in Manhattan), before heading to Austin, Texas for the annual SXSW showcase, playing 4 shows across 3 days. Immediately after returning from SXSW, The Cribs embarked on a week-long tour of in-store performances and signings at independent record stores throughout the UK.
US touring began a few weeks later in San Francisco for a tour of the west coast, and would include a second appearance at the Coachella Festival, playing the Sunday of both weekends and playing headline shows throughout the state and Las Vegas in the intervening week. For this outing, the band was joined on stage by Michael Cummings of the NYC band Skaters.
Back in the UK, The Cribs headlined Leeds Town Hall as part of the Live at Leeds festival in May, before headlining The Great Escape Festival in Brighton with 2 performances, and then two shows in Ireland. That summer they would play on the main stages at the Liverpool Sound City festival and T in the Park, and made their third appearance on The Other Stage at Glastonbury. They would also play at Festival Internacional de Benicassim in Spain.
The Cribs then went out to Asia, for a headline show in Tokyo, and a main stage appearance at the Pentaport Rock Festival in Incheon, South Korea. Later that month they would appear on the Main Stage at the Reading and Leeds Festivals for the third time before heading out to North America for a full tour there. During the band's performance at the Fairmount Theatre in Montreal as part of the Pop Montreal festival, the band would perform 'Be Safe' with Lee Ranaldo performing his spoken word part live in person for only the second time since the song's release (the first coming in 2008 at the Music Hall of Williamsburg).
A full UK tour was announced during this period, and took place in October and November, which included dates at Glasgow Barrowlands, Manchester Albert Hall, and The Roundhouse in Camden amongst others.
In 2016 The Cribs were announced as headliners of the Camden Rocks Festival taking place in June. Over the summer The Cribs would play the main stage at Isle of Wight Festival, Y Not Festival, and were the secret unannounced headliners of In The Woods Festival in Kent. During the summer, The Cribs played their largest headline show to date, at the 8,000 capacity open air Millennium Square in Leeds.
Another tour of Asia followed, including stops in S. Korea (Seoul), Japan (Tokyo and Osaka) and the band's first engagement in China, where they would play the Shanghai Rugby Football Stadium for the Concrete and Grass Festival. Shortly after the show The Cribs announced that this would be the final show of the "For All My Sisters" tour.
24–7 Rock Star Shit (2017–2018)
On 3 February 2017 it was announced that The Cribs would be the subject to their own exhibition in their hometown at Wakefield Museum. The exhibit featured 3 large glass containers dedicated to each of the band members with their chosen instruments as well as various memorabilia such as early gig posters, awards, touring paraphernalia and original records. The exhibit was unveiled on 14 February 2017 by Ross, who appeared on BBC Look North playing the drum kit within his respective glass container. The exhibition ran until July 2017.
On 7 February 2017 The Cribs announced a 10th anniversary tour in honour of their third album. The "Men's Needs, Women's Needs, FOREVER" tour was initially scheduled to consist of seven dates in large venues across the UK. A second London date at the Forum was later added due to popular demand. The tour commenced on 11 May at Glasgow Academy and finished on 20 May with a show at Leeds First Direct Arena where they were joined live on stage by Lee Ranaldo for his spoken word part in Be Safe. The band also performed the album in full for their headlining slot on the Baltic Stage at Liverpool Sound City festival.
Following the final night of this tour, at midnight on 21 May, The Cribs tweeted a series of code which the next day revealed itself to be coordinates for various record stores across the UK and the US, along with specific timestamp for each store. Arriving at the location at the specified time would allow customers to purchase a white label single entitled "Year of Hate". Each single was hand numbered and the edition number totaled 247. This process continued with handfuls of co-ordinates for record stores being announced each day for the next week. The cryptic coordinate approach was dropped on 22 May due to the recent attack in Manchester. Despite the limited run number and obscure release method the single entered the UK vinyl singles chart at number 3 on the week commencing 26 May 2017. The song eventually saw a digital release on 16 June – until that time the only way to hear it was by playing the vinyl or via BBC iPlayer on-demand, after Steve Lamacq aired the song on his show.
A second single "In Your Palace" was shock released digitally on 2 June 2017 with a music video released on 13 June. It was then announced on 24 July 2017 that the album "24–7 Rock Star Shit" would be released 2 weeks later on 11 August 2017, alongside a music video for another new song – "Rainbow Ridge", which was available as a free download with a pre-order of the album. Exclusive launch parties were announced for Leeds and London – with the London party being a curated event at House of Vans, featuring an art display, Q&A with the band, and a full live performance on the night the album was released. Entrants were selected by a free-to-enter ballot via the Vans website.
After spending three days at number 1 in the UK charts, the album mid-weeked at number 5, before officially entering the charts at number 8 – the band's fourth consecutive Top 10 album.
Following this, The Cribs began a tour of the United States and Canada. At the conclusion of this tour they returned to Mexico to headline the Sala Corona in Mexico City, and to play the main stages at Live Out Festival in Monterrey and Festival Coordenada in Guadalajara. In December, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the original 'Cribsmas' event, the band booked Christmas residency shows in the UK – 4 nights in Glasgow, 4 nights in Manchester, 3 nights in London, and 5 nights in Leeds – performing over 80 songs from their back catalogue. In 2018 the band continued their UK tour with the '24–7 Rock Star Shit in the UK' tour – a 14 date tour of secondary markets throughout January.
In April the band went to Australia to play shows in Newcastle, Brisbane, Perth, Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne. Following this was a 4 date tour of China in May – visiting Chengdu, Wuhan, Shanghai, and Beijing. A show in Hong Kong followed as well as two shows in Japan.
Summer saw The Cribs invited to support Foo Fighters at City of Manchester Stadium alongside several other UK festival appearances.
Night Network (2019–present)
Following the release of their fourth consecutive UK top 10 album 24-7 Rock Star Shit, the band almost immediately parted company with their long time UK management and found themselves stuck in what Gary described as "legal morass", unable to record or release new music. This is because the band had belatedly discovered that the rights to the back catalogue from earlier in their career was owned by other parties thanks to various deals that they were unaware of. As a result, the band – who were now managing themselves – decided to focus on gaining ownership because there would be no point in signing a new deal, making a new record and touring as long as someone else owned their music.
What followed was an eighteen month period of inactivity, resulting in 2019 being the only year since the band's inception in 2002 whereby the band did not play a live concert, following their final gig of the 24-7 Rock Star Shit tour in Glasgow in September 2018.
In a position of uncertainty about how to continue beyond the already-booked gigs, following a show where The Cribs had supported Foo Fighters in Manchester at the Etihad Stadium in June 2018, Dave Grohl learned of the band's struggles and offered for the band to use his Studio 606.
Following the successful resolution of their back catalogue ownership, the band was set to sign a major label deal. But then it emerged that there was yet other people claiming ownership of their music, and so they had to go through another legal battle from September 2019 to February 2020 while working on the new album.
During 2020, the band was active on Twitter to participate in Tim Burgess' "Listening Parties", offering behind the scenes insight for their most commercially successful album Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever on 7 April and due to the positive response, followed up with another listening party of fan favourite The New Fellas on 28 May.
On 8 June, the band announced on their social media pages, with four hours notice, their first live performance in nearly two years. This turned out to be a pre-recorded webcam broadcast of "Be Safe", featuring Lee Ranaldo performing his spoken word part, from their residences across the world (Ryan in Queens, New York, Gary in Portland, Oregon, Ross in Wakefield and Lee in Manhattan, New York).
On 12 August 2020, a day over three years since their last new material 24-7 Rock Star Shit, the band's social media profile pictures changed to a stylised test card. The following day on 13 August 2020, the band announced their return with a new song to be broadcast on BBC Radio 6 Music. The song turned out to be lead single "Running Into You" and subsequently the band announced new album Night Network to be released on 13 November 2020, along with artwork, tracklisting and a video for "Running Into You" starring Sam Riley.
Released into the UK COVID-19 lockdown of 2020, the band had all of their scheduled headline touring to support the album delayed. The album release was therefore celebrated with a socially distanced performance at Liverpools legendary Cavern Club on the 21st November. This performance was streamed worldwide as a PPV via the Veeps platform.
On July 15, 2021, The Cribs released a cover of the Comet Gain song "Fingernailed For You" as part of the Kill Rock Stars label's 30th anniversary covers compilation "Stars Rock Kill (Rock Stars)".
Band members
Current members
Gary Jarman – bass, vocals (2001–present)
Ryan Jarman – guitar, vocals (2001–present)
Ross Jarman – drums (2001–present)
Former members
Johnny Marr – guitar (2008–2011)
Touring musicians
David Jones – guitar (2011–2015)
Michael Cummings – guitar, keyboard, Bass VI (March/April 2015 U.S. dates)
Russell Searle – guitar, keyboard (May 2015 – present)
Awards and nominations
Discography
The Cribs (2004)
The New Fellas (2005)
Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever (2007)
Ignore the Ignorant (2009)
In the Belly of the Brazen Bull (2012)
For All My Sisters (2015)
24-7 Rock Star Shit (2017)
Night Network (2020)
Fanzine
A group of between fifty and one-hundred committed fans aimed to 'collect thoughtful, dedicated and passionate written work' on the band beginning in early summer 2011. Kind Words from the Broken Hearted 'outlines a range of responses to the Cribs...with many otherwise "ordinary" men and women contributing ideas and views' that fill the pages of the fanzine. Pieces within the fanzine emphasise the importance of Wichita Recordings, Domino Recording Company, Kill Rock Stars and Fortuna Pop!, amongst others, in providing a vibrant and supportive environment for independent bands to hone their work and retain an ethical stance in the music industry. The fanzine also shares close links with fellow Wakefield independent music fans at Rhubarb Bomb, in addition to Bonus Cupped, a left-leaning, travel and punk publication from Bristol. Moreover, Kind Words from the Broken Hearted supports other forms of independent music, including Comet Gain, Edwyn Collins and Pavement to name but three, welcoming diverse forms of the art but keen to eschew a celebratory tone that pervades contemporary music journalism. Notable readers, and upcoming contributors include band collaborator Nick Scott at Narcsville and Eddie Argos and Jasper Future from Art Brut. Support from within contemporary music journalism has come from influential The Smiths and David Bowie writer and broadcaster Simon Goddard, in addition to Tim Jonze at The Guardian. Those interested by independent journalism can find the fanzine through a regular address or alternatively through an Edinburgh-based social media site.
References
External links
The Cribs official site
And then there were three: An interview with Ryan Jarman (via Talk Rock To Me), 11 May 2012
English indie rock groups
NME Awards winners
V2 Records artists
Wichita Recordings artists
Sibling musical groups
Musical groups established in 2002
2002 establishments in England
Musical groups from Wakefield
| false |
[
"\"Do Anything\" is the debut single of American pop group Natural Selection. The song was written by group members Elliot Erickson and Frederick Thomas, who also produced the track, and the rap was written and performed by Ingrid Chavez. American actress and singer Niki Haris provides the song's spoken lyrics. A new jack swing and funk-pop song, it is the opening track on Natural Selection's self-titled, only studio album. Released as a single in 1991, \"Do Anything\" became a hit in the United States, where it reached the number-two position on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Worldwide, it became a top-10 hit in Australia and New Zealand while peaking at number 24 in Canada.\n\nCritical reception\nRolling Stone magazine featured the song on their list of \"18 Awesome Prince Rip-Offs\", comparing Frederick Thomas's vocals on the song to those of fellow American musician Prince. Music & Media magazine also compared the song to Prince's work, calling its chorus \"snappy\" and its melody \"asserted\", while Tom Breihan of Stereogum referred to the track as \"K-Mart-brand Prince\". Jeff Giles of pop culture website Popdose wrote that the song is \"deeply, deeply silly,\" commenting on its \"horrible\" lyrics, \"dated\" production, and \"painfully bad\" rap, but he noted that the song is difficult to hate overall. He went on to say that if Natural Selection had released this song and nothing else, its popularity would have persisted more, and he also predicted that if American rock band Fall Out Boy covered the song, it would become a summer hit. AllMusic reviewer Alex Henderson called the track \"likeable\" and appreciated that it was original compared to other urban contemporary songs released during the early 1990s.\n\nChart performance\n\"Do Anything\" debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 at number 58, becoming the Hot Shot Debut of August 10, 1991. Ten issues later, the song reached its peak of number two, behind only \"Emotions by Mariah Carey. It spent its final week on the Hot 100 at number 27 on December 28, 1991, spending a total of 21 weeks on the listing. It was the United States' 32nd-most-succeful single of 1991. In Canada, after debuting at number 92 on October 5, 1991, the song rose up the chart until reaching number 24 on November 23. \"Do Anything\" was not as successful in Europe, peaking at number 48 on the Dutch Single Top 100 and number 69 on the UK Singles Chart, but in Sweden, it debuted and peaked at number 21 in November 1991. The single became a top-10 hit in both Australia and New Zealand, reaching number 10 in the former nation and number nine in the latter.\n\nTrack listings\n\nUS 12-inch vinyl\nA1. \"Do Anything\" (Justin Strauss Remix) – 6:00\nA2. \"Do Anything\" (Just Dubbin Dub) – 4:30\nB1. \"Do Anything\" (Just Right Mix) – 4:35\nB2. \"Do Anything\" (Just Right Dub) – 4:50\nB3. \"Do Anything\" (radio edit) – 3:55\n\nUS cassette single and European 7-inch single\n \"Do Anything\" (single mix) – 3:55\n \"Do Anything\" (raw mix) – 4:11\n\nUK and European 12-inch vinyl\nA1. \"Do Anything\" (Justin Strauss Remix) – 6:00\nA2. \"Do Anything\" (Just Dubbin Dub) – 4:30\nB1. \"Do Anything\" (Just Right Mix) – 4:35\nB2. \"Do Anything\" (Just Right Dub) – 4:50\n\nPersonnel\nCredits are taken from the US cassette single liner notes and cassette notes.\n Elliot Erickson – keyboards, drum programming, writer, producer, mixer, engineer\n Frederick Thomas – lead and background vocals, writer, producer\n Niki Haris – spoken vocals\n Ingrid Chavez – rap writer\n Brian Malouf – additional production and mixing\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nReferences\n\n1991 debut singles\nAmerican pop songs\nEast West Records singles\nFunk songs\nNew jack swing songs",
"This article gives the discography for the English rock band The Zutons. Between their formation in 2001 and 2008 they released three studio albums and 14 singles, nine of which entered the top 40 UK singles chart.\n\nThe band released their debut album, entitled \"Who Killed...... The Zutons?\", in April 2004 to critical acclaim and it sold quite well, reaching number 6 in the UK album chart with Platinum status. Five singles were released from the album: \"Pressure Point\", \"You Will You Won't\", \"Remember Me\", \"Don't Ever Think (Too Much)\" and \"Confusion\" all released in 2004 and achieving number 19, number 22, number 39, number 15 and number 37 in the UK singles chart respectively.\n\nIn 2006 The Zutons released their second album, Tired of Hanging Around. It sold very well and reached number 2 in the UK album chart going Platinum. From this album, they released four singles: \"Why Won't You Give Me Your Love?\", \"Valerie\", \"Oh Stacey (Look What You've Done!)\" and \"It's the Little Things We Do\" all in 2006 achieving number 9, number 9, number 24 and number 47, in the UK singles chart respectively.\n\nIn June 2008, the band released their third studio album, \"You Can Do Anything\" which peaked at number 6 in the UK album chart. They released two singles from the album: \"Always Right Behind You\", which reached number 26 in the UK singles chart, and \"What's Your Problem\", which did not chart.\n\nAlbums\n\nStudio albums\n\nLive albums\n\nSingles\n\nNotes\n\nAlbum appearances\n\nReferences\n\n \nDiscographies of British artists\nRock music group discographies"
] |
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"Bernard Lewis",
"Research"
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C_49bcb0b5cef543eaad8de30f9d6da37b_0
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Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?
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Besides Bernard Lewis's research, are there any other interesting aspects about this article?
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Bernard Lewis
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Lewis' influence extends beyond academia to the general public. He is a pioneer of the social and economic history of the Middle East and is famous for his extensive research of the Ottoman archives. He began his research career with the study of medieval Arab, especially Syrian, history. His first article, dedicated to professional guilds of medieval Islam, had been widely regarded as the most authoritative work on the subject for about thirty years. However, after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, scholars of Jewish origin found it more and more difficult to conduct archival and field research in the Arab countries, where they were suspected of espionage. Therefore, Lewis switched to the study of the Ottoman Empire, while continuing to research Arab history through the Ottoman archives which had only recently been opened to Western researchers. A series of articles that Lewis published over the next several years revolutionized the history of the Middle East by giving a broad picture of Islamic society, including its government, economy, and demographics. Lewis argues that the Middle East is currently backward and its decline was a largely self-inflicted condition resulting from both culture and religion, as opposed to the post-colonialist view which posits the problems of the region as economic and political maldevelopment mainly due to the 19th-century European colonization. In his 1982 work Muslim Discovery of Europe, Lewis argues that Muslim societies could not keep pace with the West and that "Crusader successes were due in no small part to Muslim weakness." Further, he suggested that as early as the 11th century Islamic societies were decaying, primarily the byproduct of internal problems like "cultural arrogance," which was a barrier to creative borrowing, rather than external pressures like the Crusades. In the wake of Soviet and Arab attempts to delegitimize Israel as a racist country, Lewis wrote a study of anti-Semitism, Semites and Anti-Semites (1986). In other works he argued Arab rage against Israel was disproportionate to other tragedies or injustices in the Muslim world, such as the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and control of Muslim-majority land in Central Asia, the bloody and destructive fighting during the Hama uprising in Syria (1982), the Algerian civil war (1992-98), and the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88). In addition to his scholarly works, Lewis wrote several influential books accessible to the general public: The Arabs in History (1950), The Middle East and the West (1964), and The Middle East (1995). In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the interest in Lewis's work surged, especially his 1990 essay The Roots of Muslim Rage. Three of his books were published after 9/11: What Went Wrong? (written before the attacks), which explored the reasons of the Muslim world's apprehension of (and sometimes outright hostility to) modernization; The Crisis of Islam; and Islam: The Religion and the People. CANNOTANSWER
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Lewis wrote several influential books accessible to the general public:
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Bernard Lewis, (31 May 1916 – 19 May 2018) was a British American historian specialized in Oriental studies. He was also known as a public intellectual and political commentator. Lewis was the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. Lewis's expertise was in the history of Islam and the interaction between Islam and the West.
Lewis served as a soldier in the British Army in the Royal Armoured Corps and Intelligence Corps during the Second World War before being seconded to the Foreign Office. After the war, he returned to the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London and was appointed to the new chair in Near and Middle Eastern history.
In 2007 Lewis was called "the West's leading interpreter of the Middle East". Others have argued Lewis's approach is essentialist and generalizing to the Muslim world, as well as his tendency to restate hypotheses that were challenged by more recent research. On a political level, Lewis is accused by his detractors with having revived the image of the cultural inferiority of Islam and of emphasizing the dangers of jihad. His advice was frequently sought by neoconservative policymakers, including the Bush administration. However, his active support of the Iraq War and neoconservative ideals have since come under scrutiny.
Lewis was also notable for his public debates with Edward Said, who accused Lewis and other orientalists of misrepresenting Islam and serving the purposes of Western imperialist domination, to which Lewis responded by defending Orientalism as a facet of humanism and accusing Said of politicizing the subject. Furthermore, Lewis notoriously denied the Armenian genocide. He argued that the deaths of the mass killings resulted from a struggle between two nationalistic movements, claiming that there is no proof of intent by the Ottoman government to exterminate the Armenian nation.
Family and personal life
Bernard Lewis was born on 31 May 1916 to middle-class British Jewish parents, Harry Lewis and the former Jane Levy, in Stoke Newington, London. He became interested in languages and history while preparing for his bar mitzvah. In 1947 he married Ruth Hélène Oppenhejm, with whom he had a daughter and a son. Their marriage was dissolved in 1974. Lewis became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1982.
Academic career
In 1936, Lewis graduated from the School of Oriental Studies (now School of Oriental and African Studies, SOAS) at the University of London with a BA in history with special reference to the Near and Middle East. He earned his PhD three years later, also from SOAS, specializing in the history of Islam. Lewis also studied law, going part of the way toward becoming a solicitor, but returned to study Middle Eastern history. He undertook post-graduate studies at the University of Paris, where he studied with the orientalist Louis Massignon and earned the "Diplôme des Études Sémitiques" in 1937. He returned to SOAS in 1938 as an assistant lecturer in Islamic History.
During the Second World War, Lewis served in the British Army in the Royal Armoured Corps and as a Corporal in the Intelligence Corps in 1940–41 before being seconded to the Foreign Office. After the war, he returned to SOAS, where he would remain for the next 25 years. In 1949, at the age of 33, he was appointed to the new chair in Near and Middle Eastern History. In 1963, Lewis was granted fellowship of the British Academy.
In 1974, aged 57, Lewis accepted a joint position at Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study, also located in Princeton, New Jersey. The terms of his appointment were such that Lewis taught only one semester per year, and being free from administrative responsibilities, he could devote more time to research than previously. Consequently, Lewis's arrival at Princeton marked the beginning of the most prolific period in his research career during which he published numerous books and articles based on previously accumulated materials. After retiring from Princeton in 1986, Lewis served at Cornell University until 1990.
In 1966, Lewis was a founding member of the learned society, Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA), but in 2007 he broke away and founded Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA) to challenge MESA, which the New York Sun noted as "dominated by academics who have been critical of Israel and of America's role in the Middle East". The organization was formed as an academic society dedicated to promoting high standards of research and teaching in Middle Eastern and African studies and other related fields, with Lewis as Chairman of its academic council.
In 1990, the National Endowment for the Humanities selected Lewis for the Jefferson Lecture, the U.S. federal government's highest honor for achievement in the humanities. His lecture, entitled "Western Civilization: A View from the East", was revised and reprinted in The Atlantic Monthly under the title "The Roots of Muslim Rage." His 2007 Irving Kristol Lecture, given to the American Enterprise Institute, was published as Europe and Islam.
Research
Lewis's influence extends beyond academia to the general public. He began his research career with the study of medieval Arab, especially Syrian, history. His first article, dedicated to professional guilds of medieval Islam, had been widely regarded as the most authoritative work on the subject for about thirty years. However, after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, scholars of Jewish origin found it more and more difficult to conduct archival and field research in Arab countries, where they were suspected of espionage. Therefore, Lewis switched to the study of the Ottoman Empire, while continuing to research Arab history through the Ottoman archives which had only recently been opened to Western researchers. A series of articles that Lewis published over the next several years revolutionized the history of the Middle East by giving a broad picture of Islamic society, including its government, economy, and demographics.
Lewis argued that the Middle East is currently backward and its decline was a largely self-inflicted condition resulting from both culture and religion, as opposed to the post-colonialist view which posits the problems of the region as economic and political maldevelopment mainly due to the 19th-century European colonization. In his 1982 work Muslim Discovery of Europe, Lewis argues that Muslim societies could not keep pace with the West and that "Crusader successes were due in no small part to Muslim weakness." Further, he suggested that as early as the 11th century Islamic societies were decaying, primarily the byproduct of internal problems like "cultural arrogance," which was a barrier to creative borrowing, rather than external pressures like the Crusades.
In the wake of Soviet and Arab attempts to delegitimize Israel as a racist country, Lewis wrote a study of anti-Semitism, Semites and Anti-Semites (1986). In other works he argued Arab rage against Israel was disproportionate to other tragedies or injustices in the Muslim world, such as the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and control of Muslim-majority land in Central Asia, the bloody and destructive fighting during the Hama uprising in Syria (1982), the Algerian Civil War (1992–1998), and the Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988).
In addition to his scholarly works, Lewis wrote several influential books accessible to the general public: The Arabs in History (1950), The Middle East and the West (1964), and The Middle East (1995). In the wake of the 11 September 2001 attacks, the interest in Lewis's work surged, especially his 1990 essay The Roots of Muslim Rage. Three of his books were published after 9/11: What Went Wrong? (written before the attacks), which explored the reasons of the Muslim world's apprehension of (and sometimes outright hostility to) modernization; The Crisis of Islam; and Islam: The Religion and the People.
Abraham Udovitch described him as "certainly the most eminent and respected historian of the Arab world, of the Islamic world, of the Middle East and beyond".
Armenian genocide
The first two editions of Lewis's The Emergence of Modern Turkey (1961 and 1968) describe the Armenian genocide as "the terrible holocaust of 1915, when a million and a half Armenians perished". In later editions, this text is altered to "the terrible slaughter of 1915, when, according to estimates, more than a million Armenians perished, as well as an unknown number of Turks". In this passage, Lewis argues that the deaths were the result of a struggle for the same land between two competing nationalist movements.
The change in Lewis's textual description of the Armenian genocide and his signing of the petition against the Congressional resolution was controversial among some Armenian historians as well as journalists, who suggested that Lewis was engaging in historical revisionism to serve his own political and personal interests.
Lewis called the label "genocide" the "Armenian version of this history" in a November 1993 interview with Le Monde, for which he faced a civil proceeding in a French court. In a subsequent exchange on the pages of Le Monde, Lewis wrote that while "terrible atrocities" did occur, "there exists no serious proof of a decision and of a plan of the Ottoman government aiming to exterminate the Armenian nation". He was ordered to pay one franc as damages for his statements on the Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey. Three other court cases against Bernard Lewis failed in the Paris tribunal, including one filed by the Armenian National Committee of France and two filed by Jacques Trémollet de Villers.
Lewis's views on the Armenian genocide were criticized by a number of historians and sociologists, among them Alain Finkielkraut, Yves Ternon, Richard G. Hovannisian, Robert Melson, and Pierre Vidal-Naquet.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Finkelstein|first1=Norman G.|title=The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering|date=2003|publisher=Verso|location=London|isbn=978-1859844885|page=69}}</ref>
Lewis has argued for his denial stance that:
Lewis has been labelled a "genocide denier" by Stephen Zunes, Israel Charny, David B. MacDonald and the Armenian National Committee of America. Israeli historian Yair Auron suggested that "Lewis' stature provided a lofty cover for the Turkish national agenda of obfuscating academic research on the Armenian Genocide". Israel Charny wrote that Lewis's "seemingly scholarly concern ... of Armenians constituting a threat to the Turks as a rebellious force who together with the Russians threatened the Ottoman Empire, and the insistence that only a policy of deportations was executed, barely conceal the fact that the organized deportations constituted systematic mass murder". Charny compares the "logical structures" employed by Lewis in his denial of the genocide to those employed by Ernst Nolte in his Holocaust negationism.
Views and influence on contemporary politics
In the mid-1960s, Lewis emerged as a commentator on the issues of the modern Middle East and his analysis of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the rise of militant Islam brought him publicity and aroused significant controversy. American historian Joel Beinin has called him "perhaps the most articulate and learned Zionist advocate in the North American Middle East academic community". Lewis's policy advice has particular weight thanks to this scholarly authority. U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney remarked "in this new century, his wisdom is sought daily by policymakers, diplomats, fellow academics, and the news media".
A harsh critic of the Soviet Union, Lewis continued the liberal tradition in Islamic historical studies. Although his early Marxist views had a bearing on his first book The Origins of Ismailism, Lewis subsequently discarded Marxism. His later works are a reaction against the left-wing current of Third-worldism which came to be a significant current in Middle Eastern studies.
During his career Lewis developed ties with governments around the world: during her time as Prime Minister of Israel, Golda Meir assigned Lewis's articles as reading to her cabinet members, and during the Presidency of George W. Bush, he advised administration members including Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Bush himself. He was also close to King Hussein of Jordan and his brother, Prince Hassan bin Talal. He also had ties to the regime of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, the Turkish military dictatorship led by Kenan Evren, and the Egyptian government of Anwar Sadat: he acted as a go-between between the Sadat administration and Israel in 1971 when he relayed a message to the Israeli government regarding the possibility of a peace agreement at the request of Sadat's spokesman Tahasin Bashir.
Lewis advocated closer Western ties with Israel and Turkey, which he saw as especially important in light of the extension of the Soviet influence in the Middle East. Modern Turkey holds a special place in Lewis's view of the region due to the country's efforts to become a part of the West. He was an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Turkish Studies, an honor which is given "on the basis of generally recognized scholarly distinction and ... long and devoted service to the field of Turkish Studies."
Lewis views Christendom and Islam as civilizations that have been in perpetual collision since the advent of Islam in the 7th century. In his essay The Roots of Muslim Rage (1990), he argued that the struggle between the West and Islam was gathering strength. According to one source, this essay (and Lewis's 1990 Jefferson Lecture on which the article was based) first introduced the term "Islamic fundamentalism" to North America. This essay has been credited with coining the phrase "clash of civilizations", which received prominence in the eponymous book by Samuel Huntington. However, another source indicates that Lewis first used the phrase "clash of civilizations" at a 1957 meeting in Washington where it was recorded in the transcript.
In 1998, Lewis read in a London-based newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi a declaration of war on the United States by Osama bin Laden. In his essay "A License to Kill", Lewis indicated he considered bin Laden's language as the "ideology of jihad" and warned that bin Laden would be a danger to the West. The essay was published after the Clinton administration and the US intelligence community had begun its hunt for bin Laden in Sudan and then in Afghanistan.
Jihad
Lewis writes of jihad as a distinct religious obligation, but suggests that it is a pity that people engaging in terrorist activities are not more aware of their own religion:The fanatical warrior offering his victims the choice of the Koran or the sword is not only untrue, it is impossible. The alleged choice - conversion or death - is also, with rare and atypical exceptions, untrue. Muslim tolerance of unbelievers and misbelievers was far better than anything available in Christendom until the rise of secularism in the 17th century.
Muslim fighters are commanded not to kill women, children, or the aged unless they attack first; not to torture or otherwise ill-treat prisoners; to give fair warnings of the opening of hostilities or their resumption after a truce; and to honor agreements. At no time did the classical jurists offer any approval or legitimacy to what we nowdays call terrorism. Nor indeed is there any evidence of the use of terrorism as it is practiced nowadays.
The emergence of the by now widespread terrorism practice of suicide bombing is a development of the 20th century. It has no antecedents in Islamic history, and no justification in the terms of Islamic theology, law, or tradition.As'ad AbuKhalil, has criticized this view and stated: "Methodologically, [Lewis] insists that terrorism by individual Muslims should be considered Islamic terrorism, while terrorism by individual Jews or Christians is never considered Jewish or Christian terrorism."
He also criticised Lewis's understanding of Osama bin Laden, seeing Lewis's interpretation of bin Laden "as some kind of influential Muslim theologian" along the lines of classical theologians like Al-Ghazali, rather than "the terrorist fanatic that he is". AbuKhalil has also criticized the place of Islam in Lewis's worldview more generally, arguing that the most prominent feature of his work was its "theologocentrism" (borrowing a term from Maxime Rodinson) - that Lewis interprets all aspects of behavior among Muslims solely through the lens of Islamic theology, subsuming the study of Muslim peoples, their languages, the geographical areas where Muslims predominate, Islamic governments, the governments of Arab countries and Sharia under the label of "Islam".
Debates with Edward Said
Lewis was known for his literary debates with Edward Said, the Palestinian American literary theorist whose aim was to deconstruct what he called Orientalist scholarship. Said, who was a professor at Columbia University, characterized Lewis's work as a prime example of Orientalism in his 1978 book Orientalism and in his later book Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World (1981). Said asserted that the field of Orientalism was political intellectualism bent on self-affirmation rather than objective study, a form of racism, and a tool of imperialist domination. He further questioned the scientific neutrality of some leading Middle East scholars, including Lewis, on the Arab World. In an interview with Al-Ahram weekly, Said suggested that Lewis's knowledge of the Middle East was so biased that it could not be taken seriously and claimed "Bernard Lewis hasn't set foot in the Middle East, in the Arab world, for at least 40 years. He knows something about Turkey, I'm told, but he knows nothing about the Arab world." Said considered that Lewis treats Islam as a monolithic entity without the nuance of its plurality, internal dynamics, and historical complexities, and accused him of "demagogy and downright ignorance". In Covering Islam, Said argued that "Lewis simply cannot deal with the diversity of Muslim, much less human life, because it is closed to him as something foreign, radically different, and other," and he criticised Lewis's "inability to grant that the Islamic peoples are entitled to their own cultural, political, and historical practices, free from Lewis's calculated attempt to show that because they are not Western... they can't be good."
Rejecting the view that Western scholarship was biased against the Middle East, Lewis responded that Orientalism developed as a facet of European humanism, independently of the past European imperial expansion. He noted the French and English pursued the study of Islam in the 16th and 17th centuries, yet not in an organized way, but long before they had any control or hope of control in the Middle East; and that much of Orientalist study did nothing to advance the cause of imperialism. In his 1993 book Islam and the West, Lewis wrote "What imperial purpose was served by deciphering the ancient Egyptian language, for example, and then restoring to the Egyptians knowledge of and pride in their forgotten, ancient past?"
Furthermore, Lewis accused Said of politicizing the scientific study of the Middle East (and Arabic studies in particular); neglecting to critique the scholarly findings of the Orientalists; and giving "free rein" to his biases.
Stance on the Iraq War
In 2002, Lewis wrote an article for The Wall Street Journal regarding the buildup to the Iraq War entitled "Time for Toppling", where he stated his opinion that "a regime change may well be dangerous, but sometimes the dangers of inaction are greater than those of action". In 2007, Jacob Weisberg described Lewis as "perhaps the most significant intellectual influence behind the invasion of Iraq". Michael Hirsh attributed to Lewis the view that regime change in Iraq would provide a jolt that would "modernize the Middle East" and suggested that Lewis's allegedly 'orientalist' theories about "what went wrong" in the Middle East, and other writings, formed the intellectual basis of the push towards war in Iraq. Hirsch reported that Lewis had told him in an interview that he viewed the 11 September attacks as "the opening salvo of the final battle" between Western and Islamic civilisations: Lewis believed that a forceful response was necessary. In the run up to the Iraq War, he met with Vice President Dick Cheney several times: Hirsch quoted an unnamed official who was present at a number of these meetings, who summarised Lewis's view of Iraq as "Get on with it. Don't dither". Brent Scowcroft quoted Lewis as stating that he believed "that one of the things you’ve got to do to Arabs is hit them between the eyes with a big stick. They respect power". As'ad AbuKhalil has claimed that Lewis assured Cheney that American troops would be welcomed by Iraqis and Arabs, relying on the opinion of his colleague Fouad Ajami. Hirsch also drew parallels between the Bush administration's plans for post-invasion Iraq and Lewis's views, in particular his admiration for Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's secularist and Westernising reforms in the new Republic of Turkey which emerged from the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
Writing in 2008, Lewis did not advocate imposing freedom and democracy on Islamic nations. "There are things you can't impose. Freedom, for example. Or democracy. Democracy is a very strong medicine which has to be administered to the patient in small, gradually increasing doses. Otherwise, you risk killing the patient. In the main, the Muslims have to do it themselves."
Ian Buruma, writing for The New Yorker in an article subtitled "The two Minds of Bernard Lewis", finds Lewis's stance on the war difficult to reconcile with Lewis's past statements cautioning democracy enforcement in the world at large. Buruma ultimately rejects suggestions by his peers that Lewis promotes war with Iraq to safeguard Israel, but instead concludes "perhaps he loves it [the Arab world] too much":
Hamid Dabashi, writing on 28 May 2018, in an article subtitled "On Bernard Lewis and 'his extraordinary capacity for getting everything wrong'", asked: "Just imagine: What sort of a person would spend a lifetime studying people he loathes? It is quite a bizarre proposition. But there you have it: the late Bernard Lewis did precisely that." Similarly, Richard Bulliet described Lewis as "...a person who does not like the people he is purporting to have expertise about...he doesn’t respect them, he considers them to be good and worthy only to the degree they follow a Western path". According to As'ad AbuKhalil, "Lewis has poisoned the Middle East academic field more than any other Orientalist and his influence has been both academic and political. But there is a new generation of Middle East experts in the West who now see clearly the political agenda of Bernard Lewis. It was fully exposed in the Bush years."
Alleged nuclear threat from Iran
In 2006, Lewis wrote that Iran had been working on a nuclear weapon for fifteen years. In August 2006, in an article about whether the world can rely on the concept of mutual assured destruction as a deterrent in its dealings with Iran, Lewis wrote in The Wall Street Journal about the significance of 22 August 2006 in the Islamic calendar. The Iranian president had indicated he would respond by that date to U.S. demands regarding Iran's development of nuclear power. Lewis wrote that the date corresponded to the 27th day of the month of Rajab of the year 1427, the day Muslims commemorate the night flight of Muhammad from Jerusalem to heaven and back. Lewis wrote that it would be "an appropriate date for the apocalyptic ending of Israel and, if necessary, of the world". According to Lewis, mutual assured destruction is not an effective deterrent in the case of Iran, because of what Lewis describes as the Iranian leadership's "apocalyptic worldview" and the "suicide or martyrdom complex that plagues parts of the Islamic world today". Lewis's article received significant press coverage. However, the day passed without any incident.
Death
Bernard Lewis died on 19 May 2018 at the age of 101, at an assisted-living care facility in Voorhees Township, New Jersey, twelve days before his 102nd birthday.
He is buried in Trumpeldor Cemetery in Tel Aviv.
Bibliography
Awards and honors
1963: Elected as a Fellow of the British Academy
1978: The Harvey Prize, from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, for "his profound insight into the life and mores of the peoples of the Middle East through his writings"
1983: Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
1990: Selected for the Jefferson Lecture by the National Endowment for the Humanities
1996: Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in General Nonfiction, for The Middle East (Scribner)
1999: National Jewish Book Award in the Israel category for The Multiple Identities of the Middle East 2002: The Thomas Jefferson Medal, awarded by the American Philosophical Society
2002: Atatürk International Peace Prize on grounds that he contributed extensively to history scholarship with his accurate analysis of Turkey’s and in particular of Atatürk’s positive impact on Middle Eastern history.
2004: Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement
2006: National Humanities Medal, from the National Endowment for the Humanities
2007: Irving Kristol Award, from the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
2007: The Scholar-Statesman Award from The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
See also
Bernard Lewis bibliography
List of Princeton University people
References
External links
Lewis's page at Princeton University
Revered and Reviled – Lewis's profile on Moment Magazine''
The Legacy and Fallacies of Bernard Lewis by As`ad AbuKhalil
1916 births
2018 deaths
20th-century American historians
20th-century British historians
20th-century British writers
21st-century American historians
21st-century American male writers
21st-century British historians
21st-century British writers
Academics of SOAS University of London
Alumni of SOAS University of London
American centenarians
American historians
American male non-fiction writers
American people of English-Jewish descent
Deniers of the Armenian genocide
British Army personnel of World War II
English centenarians
British emigrants to the United States
English historians
English Jews
Fellows of the British Academy
Historians of Islam
Historians of the Ottoman Empire
Honorary members of the Turkish Academy of Sciences
Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars
Intelligence Corps soldiers
Islam and antisemitism
Islam and politics
Jewish American historians
Jewish scholars
Jewish scholars of Islam
Men centenarians
Middle Eastern studies in the United States
National Humanities Medal recipients
Neoconservatism
People from Stoke Newington
British political commentators
Princeton University faculty
Royal Armoured Corps soldiers
Scholars of antisemitism
University of Paris alumni
Cornell University faculty
Foreign Policy Research Institute
Historians of the Middle East
Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs
Middle Eastern studies scholars
Burials at Trumpeldor Cemetery
21st-century American Jews
| true |
[
"Přírodní park Třebíčsko (before Oblast klidu Třebíčsko) is a natural park near Třebíč in the Czech Republic. There are many interesting plants. The park was founded in 1983.\n\nKobylinec and Ptáčovský kopeček\n\nKobylinec is a natural monument situated ca 0,5 km from the village of Trnava.\nThe area of this monument is 0,44 ha. Pulsatilla grandis can be found here and in the Ptáčovský kopeček park near Ptáčov near Třebíč. Both monuments are very popular for tourists.\n\nPonds\n\nIn the natural park there are some interesting ponds such as Velký Bor, Malý Bor, Buršík near Přeckov and a brook Březinka. Dams on the brook are examples of European beaver activity.\n\nSyenitové skály near Pocoucov\n\nSyenitové skály (rocks of syenit) near Pocoucov is one of famed locations. There are interesting granite boulders. The area of the reservation is 0,77 ha.\n\nExternal links\nParts of this article or all article was translated from Czech. The original article is :cs:Přírodní park Třebíčsko.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nNature near the village Trnava which is there\n\nTřebíč\nParks in the Czech Republic\nTourist attractions in the Vysočina Region",
"Damn Interesting is an independent website founded by Alan Bellows in 2005. The website presents true stories from science, history, and psychology, primarily as long-form articles, often illustrated with original artwork. Works are written by various authors, and published at irregular intervals. The website openly rejects advertising, relying on reader and listener donations to cover operating costs.\n\nAs of October 2012, each article is also published as a podcast under the same name. In November 2019, a second podcast was launched under the title Damn Interesting Week, featuring unscripted commentary on an assortment of news articles featured on the website's \"Curated Links\" section that week. In mid-2020, a third podcast called Damn Interesting Curio Cabinet began highlighting the website's periodic short-form articles in the same radioplay format as the original podcast.\n\nIn July 2009, Damn Interesting published the print book Alien Hand Syndrome through Workman Publishing. It contains some favorites from the site and some exclusive content.\n\nAwards and recognition \nIn August 2007, PC Magazine named Damn Interesting one of the \"Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites\".\nThe article \"The Zero-Armed Bandit\" by Alan Bellows won a 2015 Sidney Award from David Brooks in The New York Times.\nThe article \"Ghoulish Acts and Dastardly Deeds\" by Alan Bellows was cited as \"nonfiction journalism from 2017 that will stand the test of time\" by Conor Friedersdorf in The Atlantic.\nThe article \"Dupes and Duplicity\" by Jennifer Lee Noonan won a 2020 Sidney Award from David Brooks in the New York Times.\n\nAccusing The Dollop of plagiarism \n\nOn July 9, 2015, Bellows posted an open letter accusing The Dollop, a comedy podcast about history, of plagiarism due to their repeated use of verbatim text from Damn Interesting articles without permission or attribution. Dave Anthony, the writer of The Dollop, responded on reddit, admitting to using Damn Interesting content, but claiming that the use was protected by fair use, and that \"historical facts are not copyrightable.\" In an article about the controversy on Plagiarism Today, Jonathan Bailey concluded, \"Any way one looks at it, The Dollop failed its ethical obligations to all of the people, not just those writing for Damn Interesting, who put in the time, energy and expertise into writing the original content upon which their show is based.\"\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Official website\n\n2005 podcast debuts"
] |
[
"Bernard Lewis",
"Research",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Lewis wrote several influential books accessible to the general public:"
] |
C_49bcb0b5cef543eaad8de30f9d6da37b_0
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What where the books titles?
| 2 |
What where the books Bernard Lewis wrote titled?
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Bernard Lewis
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Lewis' influence extends beyond academia to the general public. He is a pioneer of the social and economic history of the Middle East and is famous for his extensive research of the Ottoman archives. He began his research career with the study of medieval Arab, especially Syrian, history. His first article, dedicated to professional guilds of medieval Islam, had been widely regarded as the most authoritative work on the subject for about thirty years. However, after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, scholars of Jewish origin found it more and more difficult to conduct archival and field research in the Arab countries, where they were suspected of espionage. Therefore, Lewis switched to the study of the Ottoman Empire, while continuing to research Arab history through the Ottoman archives which had only recently been opened to Western researchers. A series of articles that Lewis published over the next several years revolutionized the history of the Middle East by giving a broad picture of Islamic society, including its government, economy, and demographics. Lewis argues that the Middle East is currently backward and its decline was a largely self-inflicted condition resulting from both culture and religion, as opposed to the post-colonialist view which posits the problems of the region as economic and political maldevelopment mainly due to the 19th-century European colonization. In his 1982 work Muslim Discovery of Europe, Lewis argues that Muslim societies could not keep pace with the West and that "Crusader successes were due in no small part to Muslim weakness." Further, he suggested that as early as the 11th century Islamic societies were decaying, primarily the byproduct of internal problems like "cultural arrogance," which was a barrier to creative borrowing, rather than external pressures like the Crusades. In the wake of Soviet and Arab attempts to delegitimize Israel as a racist country, Lewis wrote a study of anti-Semitism, Semites and Anti-Semites (1986). In other works he argued Arab rage against Israel was disproportionate to other tragedies or injustices in the Muslim world, such as the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and control of Muslim-majority land in Central Asia, the bloody and destructive fighting during the Hama uprising in Syria (1982), the Algerian civil war (1992-98), and the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88). In addition to his scholarly works, Lewis wrote several influential books accessible to the general public: The Arabs in History (1950), The Middle East and the West (1964), and The Middle East (1995). In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the interest in Lewis's work surged, especially his 1990 essay The Roots of Muslim Rage. Three of his books were published after 9/11: What Went Wrong? (written before the attacks), which explored the reasons of the Muslim world's apprehension of (and sometimes outright hostility to) modernization; The Crisis of Islam; and Islam: The Religion and the People. CANNOTANSWER
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The Arabs in History (1950), The Middle East and the West (1964), and The Middle East (1995).
|
Bernard Lewis, (31 May 1916 – 19 May 2018) was a British American historian specialized in Oriental studies. He was also known as a public intellectual and political commentator. Lewis was the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. Lewis's expertise was in the history of Islam and the interaction between Islam and the West.
Lewis served as a soldier in the British Army in the Royal Armoured Corps and Intelligence Corps during the Second World War before being seconded to the Foreign Office. After the war, he returned to the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London and was appointed to the new chair in Near and Middle Eastern history.
In 2007 Lewis was called "the West's leading interpreter of the Middle East". Others have argued Lewis's approach is essentialist and generalizing to the Muslim world, as well as his tendency to restate hypotheses that were challenged by more recent research. On a political level, Lewis is accused by his detractors with having revived the image of the cultural inferiority of Islam and of emphasizing the dangers of jihad. His advice was frequently sought by neoconservative policymakers, including the Bush administration. However, his active support of the Iraq War and neoconservative ideals have since come under scrutiny.
Lewis was also notable for his public debates with Edward Said, who accused Lewis and other orientalists of misrepresenting Islam and serving the purposes of Western imperialist domination, to which Lewis responded by defending Orientalism as a facet of humanism and accusing Said of politicizing the subject. Furthermore, Lewis notoriously denied the Armenian genocide. He argued that the deaths of the mass killings resulted from a struggle between two nationalistic movements, claiming that there is no proof of intent by the Ottoman government to exterminate the Armenian nation.
Family and personal life
Bernard Lewis was born on 31 May 1916 to middle-class British Jewish parents, Harry Lewis and the former Jane Levy, in Stoke Newington, London. He became interested in languages and history while preparing for his bar mitzvah. In 1947 he married Ruth Hélène Oppenhejm, with whom he had a daughter and a son. Their marriage was dissolved in 1974. Lewis became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1982.
Academic career
In 1936, Lewis graduated from the School of Oriental Studies (now School of Oriental and African Studies, SOAS) at the University of London with a BA in history with special reference to the Near and Middle East. He earned his PhD three years later, also from SOAS, specializing in the history of Islam. Lewis also studied law, going part of the way toward becoming a solicitor, but returned to study Middle Eastern history. He undertook post-graduate studies at the University of Paris, where he studied with the orientalist Louis Massignon and earned the "Diplôme des Études Sémitiques" in 1937. He returned to SOAS in 1938 as an assistant lecturer in Islamic History.
During the Second World War, Lewis served in the British Army in the Royal Armoured Corps and as a Corporal in the Intelligence Corps in 1940–41 before being seconded to the Foreign Office. After the war, he returned to SOAS, where he would remain for the next 25 years. In 1949, at the age of 33, he was appointed to the new chair in Near and Middle Eastern History. In 1963, Lewis was granted fellowship of the British Academy.
In 1974, aged 57, Lewis accepted a joint position at Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study, also located in Princeton, New Jersey. The terms of his appointment were such that Lewis taught only one semester per year, and being free from administrative responsibilities, he could devote more time to research than previously. Consequently, Lewis's arrival at Princeton marked the beginning of the most prolific period in his research career during which he published numerous books and articles based on previously accumulated materials. After retiring from Princeton in 1986, Lewis served at Cornell University until 1990.
In 1966, Lewis was a founding member of the learned society, Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA), but in 2007 he broke away and founded Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA) to challenge MESA, which the New York Sun noted as "dominated by academics who have been critical of Israel and of America's role in the Middle East". The organization was formed as an academic society dedicated to promoting high standards of research and teaching in Middle Eastern and African studies and other related fields, with Lewis as Chairman of its academic council.
In 1990, the National Endowment for the Humanities selected Lewis for the Jefferson Lecture, the U.S. federal government's highest honor for achievement in the humanities. His lecture, entitled "Western Civilization: A View from the East", was revised and reprinted in The Atlantic Monthly under the title "The Roots of Muslim Rage." His 2007 Irving Kristol Lecture, given to the American Enterprise Institute, was published as Europe and Islam.
Research
Lewis's influence extends beyond academia to the general public. He began his research career with the study of medieval Arab, especially Syrian, history. His first article, dedicated to professional guilds of medieval Islam, had been widely regarded as the most authoritative work on the subject for about thirty years. However, after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, scholars of Jewish origin found it more and more difficult to conduct archival and field research in Arab countries, where they were suspected of espionage. Therefore, Lewis switched to the study of the Ottoman Empire, while continuing to research Arab history through the Ottoman archives which had only recently been opened to Western researchers. A series of articles that Lewis published over the next several years revolutionized the history of the Middle East by giving a broad picture of Islamic society, including its government, economy, and demographics.
Lewis argued that the Middle East is currently backward and its decline was a largely self-inflicted condition resulting from both culture and religion, as opposed to the post-colonialist view which posits the problems of the region as economic and political maldevelopment mainly due to the 19th-century European colonization. In his 1982 work Muslim Discovery of Europe, Lewis argues that Muslim societies could not keep pace with the West and that "Crusader successes were due in no small part to Muslim weakness." Further, he suggested that as early as the 11th century Islamic societies were decaying, primarily the byproduct of internal problems like "cultural arrogance," which was a barrier to creative borrowing, rather than external pressures like the Crusades.
In the wake of Soviet and Arab attempts to delegitimize Israel as a racist country, Lewis wrote a study of anti-Semitism, Semites and Anti-Semites (1986). In other works he argued Arab rage against Israel was disproportionate to other tragedies or injustices in the Muslim world, such as the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and control of Muslim-majority land in Central Asia, the bloody and destructive fighting during the Hama uprising in Syria (1982), the Algerian Civil War (1992–1998), and the Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988).
In addition to his scholarly works, Lewis wrote several influential books accessible to the general public: The Arabs in History (1950), The Middle East and the West (1964), and The Middle East (1995). In the wake of the 11 September 2001 attacks, the interest in Lewis's work surged, especially his 1990 essay The Roots of Muslim Rage. Three of his books were published after 9/11: What Went Wrong? (written before the attacks), which explored the reasons of the Muslim world's apprehension of (and sometimes outright hostility to) modernization; The Crisis of Islam; and Islam: The Religion and the People.
Abraham Udovitch described him as "certainly the most eminent and respected historian of the Arab world, of the Islamic world, of the Middle East and beyond".
Armenian genocide
The first two editions of Lewis's The Emergence of Modern Turkey (1961 and 1968) describe the Armenian genocide as "the terrible holocaust of 1915, when a million and a half Armenians perished". In later editions, this text is altered to "the terrible slaughter of 1915, when, according to estimates, more than a million Armenians perished, as well as an unknown number of Turks". In this passage, Lewis argues that the deaths were the result of a struggle for the same land between two competing nationalist movements.
The change in Lewis's textual description of the Armenian genocide and his signing of the petition against the Congressional resolution was controversial among some Armenian historians as well as journalists, who suggested that Lewis was engaging in historical revisionism to serve his own political and personal interests.
Lewis called the label "genocide" the "Armenian version of this history" in a November 1993 interview with Le Monde, for which he faced a civil proceeding in a French court. In a subsequent exchange on the pages of Le Monde, Lewis wrote that while "terrible atrocities" did occur, "there exists no serious proof of a decision and of a plan of the Ottoman government aiming to exterminate the Armenian nation". He was ordered to pay one franc as damages for his statements on the Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey. Three other court cases against Bernard Lewis failed in the Paris tribunal, including one filed by the Armenian National Committee of France and two filed by Jacques Trémollet de Villers.
Lewis's views on the Armenian genocide were criticized by a number of historians and sociologists, among them Alain Finkielkraut, Yves Ternon, Richard G. Hovannisian, Robert Melson, and Pierre Vidal-Naquet.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Finkelstein|first1=Norman G.|title=The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering|date=2003|publisher=Verso|location=London|isbn=978-1859844885|page=69}}</ref>
Lewis has argued for his denial stance that:
Lewis has been labelled a "genocide denier" by Stephen Zunes, Israel Charny, David B. MacDonald and the Armenian National Committee of America. Israeli historian Yair Auron suggested that "Lewis' stature provided a lofty cover for the Turkish national agenda of obfuscating academic research on the Armenian Genocide". Israel Charny wrote that Lewis's "seemingly scholarly concern ... of Armenians constituting a threat to the Turks as a rebellious force who together with the Russians threatened the Ottoman Empire, and the insistence that only a policy of deportations was executed, barely conceal the fact that the organized deportations constituted systematic mass murder". Charny compares the "logical structures" employed by Lewis in his denial of the genocide to those employed by Ernst Nolte in his Holocaust negationism.
Views and influence on contemporary politics
In the mid-1960s, Lewis emerged as a commentator on the issues of the modern Middle East and his analysis of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the rise of militant Islam brought him publicity and aroused significant controversy. American historian Joel Beinin has called him "perhaps the most articulate and learned Zionist advocate in the North American Middle East academic community". Lewis's policy advice has particular weight thanks to this scholarly authority. U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney remarked "in this new century, his wisdom is sought daily by policymakers, diplomats, fellow academics, and the news media".
A harsh critic of the Soviet Union, Lewis continued the liberal tradition in Islamic historical studies. Although his early Marxist views had a bearing on his first book The Origins of Ismailism, Lewis subsequently discarded Marxism. His later works are a reaction against the left-wing current of Third-worldism which came to be a significant current in Middle Eastern studies.
During his career Lewis developed ties with governments around the world: during her time as Prime Minister of Israel, Golda Meir assigned Lewis's articles as reading to her cabinet members, and during the Presidency of George W. Bush, he advised administration members including Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Bush himself. He was also close to King Hussein of Jordan and his brother, Prince Hassan bin Talal. He also had ties to the regime of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, the Turkish military dictatorship led by Kenan Evren, and the Egyptian government of Anwar Sadat: he acted as a go-between between the Sadat administration and Israel in 1971 when he relayed a message to the Israeli government regarding the possibility of a peace agreement at the request of Sadat's spokesman Tahasin Bashir.
Lewis advocated closer Western ties with Israel and Turkey, which he saw as especially important in light of the extension of the Soviet influence in the Middle East. Modern Turkey holds a special place in Lewis's view of the region due to the country's efforts to become a part of the West. He was an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Turkish Studies, an honor which is given "on the basis of generally recognized scholarly distinction and ... long and devoted service to the field of Turkish Studies."
Lewis views Christendom and Islam as civilizations that have been in perpetual collision since the advent of Islam in the 7th century. In his essay The Roots of Muslim Rage (1990), he argued that the struggle between the West and Islam was gathering strength. According to one source, this essay (and Lewis's 1990 Jefferson Lecture on which the article was based) first introduced the term "Islamic fundamentalism" to North America. This essay has been credited with coining the phrase "clash of civilizations", which received prominence in the eponymous book by Samuel Huntington. However, another source indicates that Lewis first used the phrase "clash of civilizations" at a 1957 meeting in Washington where it was recorded in the transcript.
In 1998, Lewis read in a London-based newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi a declaration of war on the United States by Osama bin Laden. In his essay "A License to Kill", Lewis indicated he considered bin Laden's language as the "ideology of jihad" and warned that bin Laden would be a danger to the West. The essay was published after the Clinton administration and the US intelligence community had begun its hunt for bin Laden in Sudan and then in Afghanistan.
Jihad
Lewis writes of jihad as a distinct religious obligation, but suggests that it is a pity that people engaging in terrorist activities are not more aware of their own religion:The fanatical warrior offering his victims the choice of the Koran or the sword is not only untrue, it is impossible. The alleged choice - conversion or death - is also, with rare and atypical exceptions, untrue. Muslim tolerance of unbelievers and misbelievers was far better than anything available in Christendom until the rise of secularism in the 17th century.
Muslim fighters are commanded not to kill women, children, or the aged unless they attack first; not to torture or otherwise ill-treat prisoners; to give fair warnings of the opening of hostilities or their resumption after a truce; and to honor agreements. At no time did the classical jurists offer any approval or legitimacy to what we nowdays call terrorism. Nor indeed is there any evidence of the use of terrorism as it is practiced nowadays.
The emergence of the by now widespread terrorism practice of suicide bombing is a development of the 20th century. It has no antecedents in Islamic history, and no justification in the terms of Islamic theology, law, or tradition.As'ad AbuKhalil, has criticized this view and stated: "Methodologically, [Lewis] insists that terrorism by individual Muslims should be considered Islamic terrorism, while terrorism by individual Jews or Christians is never considered Jewish or Christian terrorism."
He also criticised Lewis's understanding of Osama bin Laden, seeing Lewis's interpretation of bin Laden "as some kind of influential Muslim theologian" along the lines of classical theologians like Al-Ghazali, rather than "the terrorist fanatic that he is". AbuKhalil has also criticized the place of Islam in Lewis's worldview more generally, arguing that the most prominent feature of his work was its "theologocentrism" (borrowing a term from Maxime Rodinson) - that Lewis interprets all aspects of behavior among Muslims solely through the lens of Islamic theology, subsuming the study of Muslim peoples, their languages, the geographical areas where Muslims predominate, Islamic governments, the governments of Arab countries and Sharia under the label of "Islam".
Debates with Edward Said
Lewis was known for his literary debates with Edward Said, the Palestinian American literary theorist whose aim was to deconstruct what he called Orientalist scholarship. Said, who was a professor at Columbia University, characterized Lewis's work as a prime example of Orientalism in his 1978 book Orientalism and in his later book Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World (1981). Said asserted that the field of Orientalism was political intellectualism bent on self-affirmation rather than objective study, a form of racism, and a tool of imperialist domination. He further questioned the scientific neutrality of some leading Middle East scholars, including Lewis, on the Arab World. In an interview with Al-Ahram weekly, Said suggested that Lewis's knowledge of the Middle East was so biased that it could not be taken seriously and claimed "Bernard Lewis hasn't set foot in the Middle East, in the Arab world, for at least 40 years. He knows something about Turkey, I'm told, but he knows nothing about the Arab world." Said considered that Lewis treats Islam as a monolithic entity without the nuance of its plurality, internal dynamics, and historical complexities, and accused him of "demagogy and downright ignorance". In Covering Islam, Said argued that "Lewis simply cannot deal with the diversity of Muslim, much less human life, because it is closed to him as something foreign, radically different, and other," and he criticised Lewis's "inability to grant that the Islamic peoples are entitled to their own cultural, political, and historical practices, free from Lewis's calculated attempt to show that because they are not Western... they can't be good."
Rejecting the view that Western scholarship was biased against the Middle East, Lewis responded that Orientalism developed as a facet of European humanism, independently of the past European imperial expansion. He noted the French and English pursued the study of Islam in the 16th and 17th centuries, yet not in an organized way, but long before they had any control or hope of control in the Middle East; and that much of Orientalist study did nothing to advance the cause of imperialism. In his 1993 book Islam and the West, Lewis wrote "What imperial purpose was served by deciphering the ancient Egyptian language, for example, and then restoring to the Egyptians knowledge of and pride in their forgotten, ancient past?"
Furthermore, Lewis accused Said of politicizing the scientific study of the Middle East (and Arabic studies in particular); neglecting to critique the scholarly findings of the Orientalists; and giving "free rein" to his biases.
Stance on the Iraq War
In 2002, Lewis wrote an article for The Wall Street Journal regarding the buildup to the Iraq War entitled "Time for Toppling", where he stated his opinion that "a regime change may well be dangerous, but sometimes the dangers of inaction are greater than those of action". In 2007, Jacob Weisberg described Lewis as "perhaps the most significant intellectual influence behind the invasion of Iraq". Michael Hirsh attributed to Lewis the view that regime change in Iraq would provide a jolt that would "modernize the Middle East" and suggested that Lewis's allegedly 'orientalist' theories about "what went wrong" in the Middle East, and other writings, formed the intellectual basis of the push towards war in Iraq. Hirsch reported that Lewis had told him in an interview that he viewed the 11 September attacks as "the opening salvo of the final battle" between Western and Islamic civilisations: Lewis believed that a forceful response was necessary. In the run up to the Iraq War, he met with Vice President Dick Cheney several times: Hirsch quoted an unnamed official who was present at a number of these meetings, who summarised Lewis's view of Iraq as "Get on with it. Don't dither". Brent Scowcroft quoted Lewis as stating that he believed "that one of the things you’ve got to do to Arabs is hit them between the eyes with a big stick. They respect power". As'ad AbuKhalil has claimed that Lewis assured Cheney that American troops would be welcomed by Iraqis and Arabs, relying on the opinion of his colleague Fouad Ajami. Hirsch also drew parallels between the Bush administration's plans for post-invasion Iraq and Lewis's views, in particular his admiration for Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's secularist and Westernising reforms in the new Republic of Turkey which emerged from the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
Writing in 2008, Lewis did not advocate imposing freedom and democracy on Islamic nations. "There are things you can't impose. Freedom, for example. Or democracy. Democracy is a very strong medicine which has to be administered to the patient in small, gradually increasing doses. Otherwise, you risk killing the patient. In the main, the Muslims have to do it themselves."
Ian Buruma, writing for The New Yorker in an article subtitled "The two Minds of Bernard Lewis", finds Lewis's stance on the war difficult to reconcile with Lewis's past statements cautioning democracy enforcement in the world at large. Buruma ultimately rejects suggestions by his peers that Lewis promotes war with Iraq to safeguard Israel, but instead concludes "perhaps he loves it [the Arab world] too much":
Hamid Dabashi, writing on 28 May 2018, in an article subtitled "On Bernard Lewis and 'his extraordinary capacity for getting everything wrong'", asked: "Just imagine: What sort of a person would spend a lifetime studying people he loathes? It is quite a bizarre proposition. But there you have it: the late Bernard Lewis did precisely that." Similarly, Richard Bulliet described Lewis as "...a person who does not like the people he is purporting to have expertise about...he doesn’t respect them, he considers them to be good and worthy only to the degree they follow a Western path". According to As'ad AbuKhalil, "Lewis has poisoned the Middle East academic field more than any other Orientalist and his influence has been both academic and political. But there is a new generation of Middle East experts in the West who now see clearly the political agenda of Bernard Lewis. It was fully exposed in the Bush years."
Alleged nuclear threat from Iran
In 2006, Lewis wrote that Iran had been working on a nuclear weapon for fifteen years. In August 2006, in an article about whether the world can rely on the concept of mutual assured destruction as a deterrent in its dealings with Iran, Lewis wrote in The Wall Street Journal about the significance of 22 August 2006 in the Islamic calendar. The Iranian president had indicated he would respond by that date to U.S. demands regarding Iran's development of nuclear power. Lewis wrote that the date corresponded to the 27th day of the month of Rajab of the year 1427, the day Muslims commemorate the night flight of Muhammad from Jerusalem to heaven and back. Lewis wrote that it would be "an appropriate date for the apocalyptic ending of Israel and, if necessary, of the world". According to Lewis, mutual assured destruction is not an effective deterrent in the case of Iran, because of what Lewis describes as the Iranian leadership's "apocalyptic worldview" and the "suicide or martyrdom complex that plagues parts of the Islamic world today". Lewis's article received significant press coverage. However, the day passed without any incident.
Death
Bernard Lewis died on 19 May 2018 at the age of 101, at an assisted-living care facility in Voorhees Township, New Jersey, twelve days before his 102nd birthday.
He is buried in Trumpeldor Cemetery in Tel Aviv.
Bibliography
Awards and honors
1963: Elected as a Fellow of the British Academy
1978: The Harvey Prize, from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, for "his profound insight into the life and mores of the peoples of the Middle East through his writings"
1983: Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
1990: Selected for the Jefferson Lecture by the National Endowment for the Humanities
1996: Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in General Nonfiction, for The Middle East (Scribner)
1999: National Jewish Book Award in the Israel category for The Multiple Identities of the Middle East 2002: The Thomas Jefferson Medal, awarded by the American Philosophical Society
2002: Atatürk International Peace Prize on grounds that he contributed extensively to history scholarship with his accurate analysis of Turkey’s and in particular of Atatürk’s positive impact on Middle Eastern history.
2004: Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement
2006: National Humanities Medal, from the National Endowment for the Humanities
2007: Irving Kristol Award, from the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
2007: The Scholar-Statesman Award from The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
See also
Bernard Lewis bibliography
List of Princeton University people
References
External links
Lewis's page at Princeton University
Revered and Reviled – Lewis's profile on Moment Magazine''
The Legacy and Fallacies of Bernard Lewis by As`ad AbuKhalil
1916 births
2018 deaths
20th-century American historians
20th-century British historians
20th-century British writers
21st-century American historians
21st-century American male writers
21st-century British historians
21st-century British writers
Academics of SOAS University of London
Alumni of SOAS University of London
American centenarians
American historians
American male non-fiction writers
American people of English-Jewish descent
Deniers of the Armenian genocide
British Army personnel of World War II
English centenarians
British emigrants to the United States
English historians
English Jews
Fellows of the British Academy
Historians of Islam
Historians of the Ottoman Empire
Honorary members of the Turkish Academy of Sciences
Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars
Intelligence Corps soldiers
Islam and antisemitism
Islam and politics
Jewish American historians
Jewish scholars
Jewish scholars of Islam
Men centenarians
Middle Eastern studies in the United States
National Humanities Medal recipients
Neoconservatism
People from Stoke Newington
British political commentators
Princeton University faculty
Royal Armoured Corps soldiers
Scholars of antisemitism
University of Paris alumni
Cornell University faculty
Foreign Policy Research Institute
Historians of the Middle East
Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs
Middle Eastern studies scholars
Burials at Trumpeldor Cemetery
21st-century American Jews
| true |
[
"Fern Hollow Animal Stories is a series of over sixteen books written and illustrated by British author John Patience.\n\nAbout\nThe series of books revolve around a village populated by animal characters in what appears to be an early 20th century setting. These stories, illustrated in a traditional natural and interesting style, have remained very popular among children and even adults, since they first appeared and there are more than 16 titles in the series.\n\nBooks\n The Seasons in Fern Hollow\n Granny Bouncer's Rescue\n The Tortoise Fair\n Muddles at the Manor\n Sigmund's Birthday Surprise\n Mr Rusty's New House\n The Unscary Scarecrow\n The Brass Band Robbery\n Sports Day\n Brock the Balloonist\n Parson Dimly's Treasure Hunt\n Mrs Merryweather's Letter\n The Floating Restaurant\n Castaways on Heron Island\n The Midsummer Banquet\n The Mysterious Fortune Teller\n Spike and the Cowboy Band\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nFern Hollow - Titles\nRights / Licensing Information\nTalewater Press - John Patience's own publishing imprint which is republishing all the Tales from Fern Hollow titles\n\nSeries of children's books\nAnimal tales\nNovel series",
"This list of Berenstain Bears books includes many in the picture book series (such as \"Beginner Books\" and \"First Time Books\") and the illustrated children's novels, such as those in the \"Big Chapter Books\" series. Since the first Berenstain Bears installment was published in 1962, the series has sold close to 260 million copies.\n\nIn addition to writing children's literature, the authors Stan and Jan Berenstain also wrote three books that feature the Berenstain Bears: two parenting books, What Your Parents Never Told You About Being a Mom or Dad (1995) and The Berenstain Bears and the Bear Essentials (2005), and their autobiography, Down a Sunny Dirt Road (2002).\n\nPublication summary\n\nTitles marked with an asterisk (*) were adapted into episodes of the 1985 cartoon series.\n\nTitles marked with two asterisks (**) were adapted into episodes of the 2003 cartoon series.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nThe following list contains all Berenstain Bears storybooks and activity/coloring books, as well as non-Bears books by the Berenstains.\nComplete Berenstain Bears Bibliography\n\nLists of American books\nLists of children's books\nList book\nBooks about bears\nBooks about families\n\nit:Gli orsi Berenstain"
] |
[
"Bernard Lewis",
"Research",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Lewis wrote several influential books accessible to the general public:",
"What where the books titles?",
"The Arabs in History (1950), The Middle East and the West (1964), and The Middle East (1995)."
] |
C_49bcb0b5cef543eaad8de30f9d6da37b_0
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How were these book do?
| 3 |
How were Bernard Lewis's books doing?
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Bernard Lewis
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Lewis' influence extends beyond academia to the general public. He is a pioneer of the social and economic history of the Middle East and is famous for his extensive research of the Ottoman archives. He began his research career with the study of medieval Arab, especially Syrian, history. His first article, dedicated to professional guilds of medieval Islam, had been widely regarded as the most authoritative work on the subject for about thirty years. However, after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, scholars of Jewish origin found it more and more difficult to conduct archival and field research in the Arab countries, where they were suspected of espionage. Therefore, Lewis switched to the study of the Ottoman Empire, while continuing to research Arab history through the Ottoman archives which had only recently been opened to Western researchers. A series of articles that Lewis published over the next several years revolutionized the history of the Middle East by giving a broad picture of Islamic society, including its government, economy, and demographics. Lewis argues that the Middle East is currently backward and its decline was a largely self-inflicted condition resulting from both culture and religion, as opposed to the post-colonialist view which posits the problems of the region as economic and political maldevelopment mainly due to the 19th-century European colonization. In his 1982 work Muslim Discovery of Europe, Lewis argues that Muslim societies could not keep pace with the West and that "Crusader successes were due in no small part to Muslim weakness." Further, he suggested that as early as the 11th century Islamic societies were decaying, primarily the byproduct of internal problems like "cultural arrogance," which was a barrier to creative borrowing, rather than external pressures like the Crusades. In the wake of Soviet and Arab attempts to delegitimize Israel as a racist country, Lewis wrote a study of anti-Semitism, Semites and Anti-Semites (1986). In other works he argued Arab rage against Israel was disproportionate to other tragedies or injustices in the Muslim world, such as the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and control of Muslim-majority land in Central Asia, the bloody and destructive fighting during the Hama uprising in Syria (1982), the Algerian civil war (1992-98), and the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88). In addition to his scholarly works, Lewis wrote several influential books accessible to the general public: The Arabs in History (1950), The Middle East and the West (1964), and The Middle East (1995). In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the interest in Lewis's work surged, especially his 1990 essay The Roots of Muslim Rage. Three of his books were published after 9/11: What Went Wrong? (written before the attacks), which explored the reasons of the Muslim world's apprehension of (and sometimes outright hostility to) modernization; The Crisis of Islam; and Islam: The Religion and the People. CANNOTANSWER
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In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the interest in Lewis's work surged,
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Bernard Lewis, (31 May 1916 – 19 May 2018) was a British American historian specialized in Oriental studies. He was also known as a public intellectual and political commentator. Lewis was the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. Lewis's expertise was in the history of Islam and the interaction between Islam and the West.
Lewis served as a soldier in the British Army in the Royal Armoured Corps and Intelligence Corps during the Second World War before being seconded to the Foreign Office. After the war, he returned to the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London and was appointed to the new chair in Near and Middle Eastern history.
In 2007 Lewis was called "the West's leading interpreter of the Middle East". Others have argued Lewis's approach is essentialist and generalizing to the Muslim world, as well as his tendency to restate hypotheses that were challenged by more recent research. On a political level, Lewis is accused by his detractors with having revived the image of the cultural inferiority of Islam and of emphasizing the dangers of jihad. His advice was frequently sought by neoconservative policymakers, including the Bush administration. However, his active support of the Iraq War and neoconservative ideals have since come under scrutiny.
Lewis was also notable for his public debates with Edward Said, who accused Lewis and other orientalists of misrepresenting Islam and serving the purposes of Western imperialist domination, to which Lewis responded by defending Orientalism as a facet of humanism and accusing Said of politicizing the subject. Furthermore, Lewis notoriously denied the Armenian genocide. He argued that the deaths of the mass killings resulted from a struggle between two nationalistic movements, claiming that there is no proof of intent by the Ottoman government to exterminate the Armenian nation.
Family and personal life
Bernard Lewis was born on 31 May 1916 to middle-class British Jewish parents, Harry Lewis and the former Jane Levy, in Stoke Newington, London. He became interested in languages and history while preparing for his bar mitzvah. In 1947 he married Ruth Hélène Oppenhejm, with whom he had a daughter and a son. Their marriage was dissolved in 1974. Lewis became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1982.
Academic career
In 1936, Lewis graduated from the School of Oriental Studies (now School of Oriental and African Studies, SOAS) at the University of London with a BA in history with special reference to the Near and Middle East. He earned his PhD three years later, also from SOAS, specializing in the history of Islam. Lewis also studied law, going part of the way toward becoming a solicitor, but returned to study Middle Eastern history. He undertook post-graduate studies at the University of Paris, where he studied with the orientalist Louis Massignon and earned the "Diplôme des Études Sémitiques" in 1937. He returned to SOAS in 1938 as an assistant lecturer in Islamic History.
During the Second World War, Lewis served in the British Army in the Royal Armoured Corps and as a Corporal in the Intelligence Corps in 1940–41 before being seconded to the Foreign Office. After the war, he returned to SOAS, where he would remain for the next 25 years. In 1949, at the age of 33, he was appointed to the new chair in Near and Middle Eastern History. In 1963, Lewis was granted fellowship of the British Academy.
In 1974, aged 57, Lewis accepted a joint position at Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study, also located in Princeton, New Jersey. The terms of his appointment were such that Lewis taught only one semester per year, and being free from administrative responsibilities, he could devote more time to research than previously. Consequently, Lewis's arrival at Princeton marked the beginning of the most prolific period in his research career during which he published numerous books and articles based on previously accumulated materials. After retiring from Princeton in 1986, Lewis served at Cornell University until 1990.
In 1966, Lewis was a founding member of the learned society, Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA), but in 2007 he broke away and founded Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA) to challenge MESA, which the New York Sun noted as "dominated by academics who have been critical of Israel and of America's role in the Middle East". The organization was formed as an academic society dedicated to promoting high standards of research and teaching in Middle Eastern and African studies and other related fields, with Lewis as Chairman of its academic council.
In 1990, the National Endowment for the Humanities selected Lewis for the Jefferson Lecture, the U.S. federal government's highest honor for achievement in the humanities. His lecture, entitled "Western Civilization: A View from the East", was revised and reprinted in The Atlantic Monthly under the title "The Roots of Muslim Rage." His 2007 Irving Kristol Lecture, given to the American Enterprise Institute, was published as Europe and Islam.
Research
Lewis's influence extends beyond academia to the general public. He began his research career with the study of medieval Arab, especially Syrian, history. His first article, dedicated to professional guilds of medieval Islam, had been widely regarded as the most authoritative work on the subject for about thirty years. However, after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, scholars of Jewish origin found it more and more difficult to conduct archival and field research in Arab countries, where they were suspected of espionage. Therefore, Lewis switched to the study of the Ottoman Empire, while continuing to research Arab history through the Ottoman archives which had only recently been opened to Western researchers. A series of articles that Lewis published over the next several years revolutionized the history of the Middle East by giving a broad picture of Islamic society, including its government, economy, and demographics.
Lewis argued that the Middle East is currently backward and its decline was a largely self-inflicted condition resulting from both culture and religion, as opposed to the post-colonialist view which posits the problems of the region as economic and political maldevelopment mainly due to the 19th-century European colonization. In his 1982 work Muslim Discovery of Europe, Lewis argues that Muslim societies could not keep pace with the West and that "Crusader successes were due in no small part to Muslim weakness." Further, he suggested that as early as the 11th century Islamic societies were decaying, primarily the byproduct of internal problems like "cultural arrogance," which was a barrier to creative borrowing, rather than external pressures like the Crusades.
In the wake of Soviet and Arab attempts to delegitimize Israel as a racist country, Lewis wrote a study of anti-Semitism, Semites and Anti-Semites (1986). In other works he argued Arab rage against Israel was disproportionate to other tragedies or injustices in the Muslim world, such as the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and control of Muslim-majority land in Central Asia, the bloody and destructive fighting during the Hama uprising in Syria (1982), the Algerian Civil War (1992–1998), and the Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988).
In addition to his scholarly works, Lewis wrote several influential books accessible to the general public: The Arabs in History (1950), The Middle East and the West (1964), and The Middle East (1995). In the wake of the 11 September 2001 attacks, the interest in Lewis's work surged, especially his 1990 essay The Roots of Muslim Rage. Three of his books were published after 9/11: What Went Wrong? (written before the attacks), which explored the reasons of the Muslim world's apprehension of (and sometimes outright hostility to) modernization; The Crisis of Islam; and Islam: The Religion and the People.
Abraham Udovitch described him as "certainly the most eminent and respected historian of the Arab world, of the Islamic world, of the Middle East and beyond".
Armenian genocide
The first two editions of Lewis's The Emergence of Modern Turkey (1961 and 1968) describe the Armenian genocide as "the terrible holocaust of 1915, when a million and a half Armenians perished". In later editions, this text is altered to "the terrible slaughter of 1915, when, according to estimates, more than a million Armenians perished, as well as an unknown number of Turks". In this passage, Lewis argues that the deaths were the result of a struggle for the same land between two competing nationalist movements.
The change in Lewis's textual description of the Armenian genocide and his signing of the petition against the Congressional resolution was controversial among some Armenian historians as well as journalists, who suggested that Lewis was engaging in historical revisionism to serve his own political and personal interests.
Lewis called the label "genocide" the "Armenian version of this history" in a November 1993 interview with Le Monde, for which he faced a civil proceeding in a French court. In a subsequent exchange on the pages of Le Monde, Lewis wrote that while "terrible atrocities" did occur, "there exists no serious proof of a decision and of a plan of the Ottoman government aiming to exterminate the Armenian nation". He was ordered to pay one franc as damages for his statements on the Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey. Three other court cases against Bernard Lewis failed in the Paris tribunal, including one filed by the Armenian National Committee of France and two filed by Jacques Trémollet de Villers.
Lewis's views on the Armenian genocide were criticized by a number of historians and sociologists, among them Alain Finkielkraut, Yves Ternon, Richard G. Hovannisian, Robert Melson, and Pierre Vidal-Naquet.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Finkelstein|first1=Norman G.|title=The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering|date=2003|publisher=Verso|location=London|isbn=978-1859844885|page=69}}</ref>
Lewis has argued for his denial stance that:
Lewis has been labelled a "genocide denier" by Stephen Zunes, Israel Charny, David B. MacDonald and the Armenian National Committee of America. Israeli historian Yair Auron suggested that "Lewis' stature provided a lofty cover for the Turkish national agenda of obfuscating academic research on the Armenian Genocide". Israel Charny wrote that Lewis's "seemingly scholarly concern ... of Armenians constituting a threat to the Turks as a rebellious force who together with the Russians threatened the Ottoman Empire, and the insistence that only a policy of deportations was executed, barely conceal the fact that the organized deportations constituted systematic mass murder". Charny compares the "logical structures" employed by Lewis in his denial of the genocide to those employed by Ernst Nolte in his Holocaust negationism.
Views and influence on contemporary politics
In the mid-1960s, Lewis emerged as a commentator on the issues of the modern Middle East and his analysis of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the rise of militant Islam brought him publicity and aroused significant controversy. American historian Joel Beinin has called him "perhaps the most articulate and learned Zionist advocate in the North American Middle East academic community". Lewis's policy advice has particular weight thanks to this scholarly authority. U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney remarked "in this new century, his wisdom is sought daily by policymakers, diplomats, fellow academics, and the news media".
A harsh critic of the Soviet Union, Lewis continued the liberal tradition in Islamic historical studies. Although his early Marxist views had a bearing on his first book The Origins of Ismailism, Lewis subsequently discarded Marxism. His later works are a reaction against the left-wing current of Third-worldism which came to be a significant current in Middle Eastern studies.
During his career Lewis developed ties with governments around the world: during her time as Prime Minister of Israel, Golda Meir assigned Lewis's articles as reading to her cabinet members, and during the Presidency of George W. Bush, he advised administration members including Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Bush himself. He was also close to King Hussein of Jordan and his brother, Prince Hassan bin Talal. He also had ties to the regime of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, the Turkish military dictatorship led by Kenan Evren, and the Egyptian government of Anwar Sadat: he acted as a go-between between the Sadat administration and Israel in 1971 when he relayed a message to the Israeli government regarding the possibility of a peace agreement at the request of Sadat's spokesman Tahasin Bashir.
Lewis advocated closer Western ties with Israel and Turkey, which he saw as especially important in light of the extension of the Soviet influence in the Middle East. Modern Turkey holds a special place in Lewis's view of the region due to the country's efforts to become a part of the West. He was an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Turkish Studies, an honor which is given "on the basis of generally recognized scholarly distinction and ... long and devoted service to the field of Turkish Studies."
Lewis views Christendom and Islam as civilizations that have been in perpetual collision since the advent of Islam in the 7th century. In his essay The Roots of Muslim Rage (1990), he argued that the struggle between the West and Islam was gathering strength. According to one source, this essay (and Lewis's 1990 Jefferson Lecture on which the article was based) first introduced the term "Islamic fundamentalism" to North America. This essay has been credited with coining the phrase "clash of civilizations", which received prominence in the eponymous book by Samuel Huntington. However, another source indicates that Lewis first used the phrase "clash of civilizations" at a 1957 meeting in Washington where it was recorded in the transcript.
In 1998, Lewis read in a London-based newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi a declaration of war on the United States by Osama bin Laden. In his essay "A License to Kill", Lewis indicated he considered bin Laden's language as the "ideology of jihad" and warned that bin Laden would be a danger to the West. The essay was published after the Clinton administration and the US intelligence community had begun its hunt for bin Laden in Sudan and then in Afghanistan.
Jihad
Lewis writes of jihad as a distinct religious obligation, but suggests that it is a pity that people engaging in terrorist activities are not more aware of their own religion:The fanatical warrior offering his victims the choice of the Koran or the sword is not only untrue, it is impossible. The alleged choice - conversion or death - is also, with rare and atypical exceptions, untrue. Muslim tolerance of unbelievers and misbelievers was far better than anything available in Christendom until the rise of secularism in the 17th century.
Muslim fighters are commanded not to kill women, children, or the aged unless they attack first; not to torture or otherwise ill-treat prisoners; to give fair warnings of the opening of hostilities or their resumption after a truce; and to honor agreements. At no time did the classical jurists offer any approval or legitimacy to what we nowdays call terrorism. Nor indeed is there any evidence of the use of terrorism as it is practiced nowadays.
The emergence of the by now widespread terrorism practice of suicide bombing is a development of the 20th century. It has no antecedents in Islamic history, and no justification in the terms of Islamic theology, law, or tradition.As'ad AbuKhalil, has criticized this view and stated: "Methodologically, [Lewis] insists that terrorism by individual Muslims should be considered Islamic terrorism, while terrorism by individual Jews or Christians is never considered Jewish or Christian terrorism."
He also criticised Lewis's understanding of Osama bin Laden, seeing Lewis's interpretation of bin Laden "as some kind of influential Muslim theologian" along the lines of classical theologians like Al-Ghazali, rather than "the terrorist fanatic that he is". AbuKhalil has also criticized the place of Islam in Lewis's worldview more generally, arguing that the most prominent feature of his work was its "theologocentrism" (borrowing a term from Maxime Rodinson) - that Lewis interprets all aspects of behavior among Muslims solely through the lens of Islamic theology, subsuming the study of Muslim peoples, their languages, the geographical areas where Muslims predominate, Islamic governments, the governments of Arab countries and Sharia under the label of "Islam".
Debates with Edward Said
Lewis was known for his literary debates with Edward Said, the Palestinian American literary theorist whose aim was to deconstruct what he called Orientalist scholarship. Said, who was a professor at Columbia University, characterized Lewis's work as a prime example of Orientalism in his 1978 book Orientalism and in his later book Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World (1981). Said asserted that the field of Orientalism was political intellectualism bent on self-affirmation rather than objective study, a form of racism, and a tool of imperialist domination. He further questioned the scientific neutrality of some leading Middle East scholars, including Lewis, on the Arab World. In an interview with Al-Ahram weekly, Said suggested that Lewis's knowledge of the Middle East was so biased that it could not be taken seriously and claimed "Bernard Lewis hasn't set foot in the Middle East, in the Arab world, for at least 40 years. He knows something about Turkey, I'm told, but he knows nothing about the Arab world." Said considered that Lewis treats Islam as a monolithic entity without the nuance of its plurality, internal dynamics, and historical complexities, and accused him of "demagogy and downright ignorance". In Covering Islam, Said argued that "Lewis simply cannot deal with the diversity of Muslim, much less human life, because it is closed to him as something foreign, radically different, and other," and he criticised Lewis's "inability to grant that the Islamic peoples are entitled to their own cultural, political, and historical practices, free from Lewis's calculated attempt to show that because they are not Western... they can't be good."
Rejecting the view that Western scholarship was biased against the Middle East, Lewis responded that Orientalism developed as a facet of European humanism, independently of the past European imperial expansion. He noted the French and English pursued the study of Islam in the 16th and 17th centuries, yet not in an organized way, but long before they had any control or hope of control in the Middle East; and that much of Orientalist study did nothing to advance the cause of imperialism. In his 1993 book Islam and the West, Lewis wrote "What imperial purpose was served by deciphering the ancient Egyptian language, for example, and then restoring to the Egyptians knowledge of and pride in their forgotten, ancient past?"
Furthermore, Lewis accused Said of politicizing the scientific study of the Middle East (and Arabic studies in particular); neglecting to critique the scholarly findings of the Orientalists; and giving "free rein" to his biases.
Stance on the Iraq War
In 2002, Lewis wrote an article for The Wall Street Journal regarding the buildup to the Iraq War entitled "Time for Toppling", where he stated his opinion that "a regime change may well be dangerous, but sometimes the dangers of inaction are greater than those of action". In 2007, Jacob Weisberg described Lewis as "perhaps the most significant intellectual influence behind the invasion of Iraq". Michael Hirsh attributed to Lewis the view that regime change in Iraq would provide a jolt that would "modernize the Middle East" and suggested that Lewis's allegedly 'orientalist' theories about "what went wrong" in the Middle East, and other writings, formed the intellectual basis of the push towards war in Iraq. Hirsch reported that Lewis had told him in an interview that he viewed the 11 September attacks as "the opening salvo of the final battle" between Western and Islamic civilisations: Lewis believed that a forceful response was necessary. In the run up to the Iraq War, he met with Vice President Dick Cheney several times: Hirsch quoted an unnamed official who was present at a number of these meetings, who summarised Lewis's view of Iraq as "Get on with it. Don't dither". Brent Scowcroft quoted Lewis as stating that he believed "that one of the things you’ve got to do to Arabs is hit them between the eyes with a big stick. They respect power". As'ad AbuKhalil has claimed that Lewis assured Cheney that American troops would be welcomed by Iraqis and Arabs, relying on the opinion of his colleague Fouad Ajami. Hirsch also drew parallels between the Bush administration's plans for post-invasion Iraq and Lewis's views, in particular his admiration for Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's secularist and Westernising reforms in the new Republic of Turkey which emerged from the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
Writing in 2008, Lewis did not advocate imposing freedom and democracy on Islamic nations. "There are things you can't impose. Freedom, for example. Or democracy. Democracy is a very strong medicine which has to be administered to the patient in small, gradually increasing doses. Otherwise, you risk killing the patient. In the main, the Muslims have to do it themselves."
Ian Buruma, writing for The New Yorker in an article subtitled "The two Minds of Bernard Lewis", finds Lewis's stance on the war difficult to reconcile with Lewis's past statements cautioning democracy enforcement in the world at large. Buruma ultimately rejects suggestions by his peers that Lewis promotes war with Iraq to safeguard Israel, but instead concludes "perhaps he loves it [the Arab world] too much":
Hamid Dabashi, writing on 28 May 2018, in an article subtitled "On Bernard Lewis and 'his extraordinary capacity for getting everything wrong'", asked: "Just imagine: What sort of a person would spend a lifetime studying people he loathes? It is quite a bizarre proposition. But there you have it: the late Bernard Lewis did precisely that." Similarly, Richard Bulliet described Lewis as "...a person who does not like the people he is purporting to have expertise about...he doesn’t respect them, he considers them to be good and worthy only to the degree they follow a Western path". According to As'ad AbuKhalil, "Lewis has poisoned the Middle East academic field more than any other Orientalist and his influence has been both academic and political. But there is a new generation of Middle East experts in the West who now see clearly the political agenda of Bernard Lewis. It was fully exposed in the Bush years."
Alleged nuclear threat from Iran
In 2006, Lewis wrote that Iran had been working on a nuclear weapon for fifteen years. In August 2006, in an article about whether the world can rely on the concept of mutual assured destruction as a deterrent in its dealings with Iran, Lewis wrote in The Wall Street Journal about the significance of 22 August 2006 in the Islamic calendar. The Iranian president had indicated he would respond by that date to U.S. demands regarding Iran's development of nuclear power. Lewis wrote that the date corresponded to the 27th day of the month of Rajab of the year 1427, the day Muslims commemorate the night flight of Muhammad from Jerusalem to heaven and back. Lewis wrote that it would be "an appropriate date for the apocalyptic ending of Israel and, if necessary, of the world". According to Lewis, mutual assured destruction is not an effective deterrent in the case of Iran, because of what Lewis describes as the Iranian leadership's "apocalyptic worldview" and the "suicide or martyrdom complex that plagues parts of the Islamic world today". Lewis's article received significant press coverage. However, the day passed without any incident.
Death
Bernard Lewis died on 19 May 2018 at the age of 101, at an assisted-living care facility in Voorhees Township, New Jersey, twelve days before his 102nd birthday.
He is buried in Trumpeldor Cemetery in Tel Aviv.
Bibliography
Awards and honors
1963: Elected as a Fellow of the British Academy
1978: The Harvey Prize, from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, for "his profound insight into the life and mores of the peoples of the Middle East through his writings"
1983: Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
1990: Selected for the Jefferson Lecture by the National Endowment for the Humanities
1996: Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in General Nonfiction, for The Middle East (Scribner)
1999: National Jewish Book Award in the Israel category for The Multiple Identities of the Middle East 2002: The Thomas Jefferson Medal, awarded by the American Philosophical Society
2002: Atatürk International Peace Prize on grounds that he contributed extensively to history scholarship with his accurate analysis of Turkey’s and in particular of Atatürk’s positive impact on Middle Eastern history.
2004: Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement
2006: National Humanities Medal, from the National Endowment for the Humanities
2007: Irving Kristol Award, from the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
2007: The Scholar-Statesman Award from The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
See also
Bernard Lewis bibliography
List of Princeton University people
References
External links
Lewis's page at Princeton University
Revered and Reviled – Lewis's profile on Moment Magazine''
The Legacy and Fallacies of Bernard Lewis by As`ad AbuKhalil
1916 births
2018 deaths
20th-century American historians
20th-century British historians
20th-century British writers
21st-century American historians
21st-century American male writers
21st-century British historians
21st-century British writers
Academics of SOAS University of London
Alumni of SOAS University of London
American centenarians
American historians
American male non-fiction writers
American people of English-Jewish descent
Deniers of the Armenian genocide
British Army personnel of World War II
English centenarians
British emigrants to the United States
English historians
English Jews
Fellows of the British Academy
Historians of Islam
Historians of the Ottoman Empire
Honorary members of the Turkish Academy of Sciences
Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars
Intelligence Corps soldiers
Islam and antisemitism
Islam and politics
Jewish American historians
Jewish scholars
Jewish scholars of Islam
Men centenarians
Middle Eastern studies in the United States
National Humanities Medal recipients
Neoconservatism
People from Stoke Newington
British political commentators
Princeton University faculty
Royal Armoured Corps soldiers
Scholars of antisemitism
University of Paris alumni
Cornell University faculty
Foreign Policy Research Institute
Historians of the Middle East
Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs
Middle Eastern studies scholars
Burials at Trumpeldor Cemetery
21st-century American Jews
| false |
[
"First, Break All the Rules, subtitled What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently (1999), is a book authored by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, who offer solutions to better employee satisfaction with the help of examples of how the best managers handle employees. The book appeared on the New York Times bestseller list for 93 weeks.Time magazine listed the book as one of \"The 25 Most Influential Business Management Books\".\n\nContent outline\nBuckingham and Coffman discuss the fallacies of standard management thinking and how good managers create and sustain employee satisfaction. The book is a result of observations based on 80,000 interviews with managers as conducted by the Gallup Organization in the last 25 years. The core of the matter lies in how these managers have debunked old myths about management and how they created new truths on obtaining and keeping talented people in their organization. Some key ideas of the book include what the best managers do and don't do: they treat every employee as an individual; they don't try to fix weaknesses, but instead focus on strengths and talent; and they find ways to measure, count, and reward outcomes.\n\nSee also\n Motivation\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n More info about the book at Gallup Management site\n\nBusiness books\nAmerican non-fiction books\n1999 non-fiction books\nSimon & Schuster books\nCollaborative non-fiction books",
"How to Lie with Statistics is a book written by Darrell Huff in 1954 presenting an introduction to statistics for the general reader. Not a statistician, Huff was a journalist who wrote many \"how to\" articles as a freelancer.\n\nThe book is a brief, breezy illustrated volume outlining the misuse of statistics and errors in the interpretation of statistics, and how these errors may create incorrect conclusions.\n\nIn the 1960s and 1970s, it became a standard textbook introduction to the subject of statistics for many college students. It has become one of the best-selling statistics books in history, with over one and a half million copies sold in the English-language edition. It has also been widely translated.\n\nThemes of the book include \"Correlation does not imply causation\" and \"Using random sampling\". It also shows how statistical graphs can be used to distort reality, for example by truncating the bottom of a line or bar chart, so that differences seem larger than they are, or by representing one-dimensional quantities on a pictogram by two- or three-dimensional objects to compare their sizes, so that the reader forgets that the images do not scale the same way the quantities do.\n\nThe original edition contained illustrations by artist Irving Geis. In a UK edition, these were replaced with cartoons by Mel Calman.\n\nSee also\nLies, damned lies, and statistics\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n Darrell Huff, (1954) How to Lie with Statistics (illust. I. Geis), Norton, New York,\n\nExternal links\n\n1954 non-fiction books\nStatistics books\nMathematics books\nMisuse of statistics"
] |
[
"Bernard Lewis",
"Research",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Lewis wrote several influential books accessible to the general public:",
"What where the books titles?",
"The Arabs in History (1950), The Middle East and the West (1964), and The Middle East (1995).",
"How were these book do?",
"In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the interest in Lewis's work surged,"
] |
C_49bcb0b5cef543eaad8de30f9d6da37b_0
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Did any thing influence him?
| 4 |
Did any thing influence Bernard Lewis?
|
Bernard Lewis
|
Lewis' influence extends beyond academia to the general public. He is a pioneer of the social and economic history of the Middle East and is famous for his extensive research of the Ottoman archives. He began his research career with the study of medieval Arab, especially Syrian, history. His first article, dedicated to professional guilds of medieval Islam, had been widely regarded as the most authoritative work on the subject for about thirty years. However, after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, scholars of Jewish origin found it more and more difficult to conduct archival and field research in the Arab countries, where they were suspected of espionage. Therefore, Lewis switched to the study of the Ottoman Empire, while continuing to research Arab history through the Ottoman archives which had only recently been opened to Western researchers. A series of articles that Lewis published over the next several years revolutionized the history of the Middle East by giving a broad picture of Islamic society, including its government, economy, and demographics. Lewis argues that the Middle East is currently backward and its decline was a largely self-inflicted condition resulting from both culture and religion, as opposed to the post-colonialist view which posits the problems of the region as economic and political maldevelopment mainly due to the 19th-century European colonization. In his 1982 work Muslim Discovery of Europe, Lewis argues that Muslim societies could not keep pace with the West and that "Crusader successes were due in no small part to Muslim weakness." Further, he suggested that as early as the 11th century Islamic societies were decaying, primarily the byproduct of internal problems like "cultural arrogance," which was a barrier to creative borrowing, rather than external pressures like the Crusades. In the wake of Soviet and Arab attempts to delegitimize Israel as a racist country, Lewis wrote a study of anti-Semitism, Semites and Anti-Semites (1986). In other works he argued Arab rage against Israel was disproportionate to other tragedies or injustices in the Muslim world, such as the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and control of Muslim-majority land in Central Asia, the bloody and destructive fighting during the Hama uprising in Syria (1982), the Algerian civil war (1992-98), and the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88). In addition to his scholarly works, Lewis wrote several influential books accessible to the general public: The Arabs in History (1950), The Middle East and the West (1964), and The Middle East (1995). In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the interest in Lewis's work surged, especially his 1990 essay The Roots of Muslim Rage. Three of his books were published after 9/11: What Went Wrong? (written before the attacks), which explored the reasons of the Muslim world's apprehension of (and sometimes outright hostility to) modernization; The Crisis of Islam; and Islam: The Religion and the People. CANNOTANSWER
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He is a pioneer of the social and economic history of the Middle East and is famous for his extensive research
|
Bernard Lewis, (31 May 1916 – 19 May 2018) was a British American historian specialized in Oriental studies. He was also known as a public intellectual and political commentator. Lewis was the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. Lewis's expertise was in the history of Islam and the interaction between Islam and the West.
Lewis served as a soldier in the British Army in the Royal Armoured Corps and Intelligence Corps during the Second World War before being seconded to the Foreign Office. After the war, he returned to the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London and was appointed to the new chair in Near and Middle Eastern history.
In 2007 Lewis was called "the West's leading interpreter of the Middle East". Others have argued Lewis's approach is essentialist and generalizing to the Muslim world, as well as his tendency to restate hypotheses that were challenged by more recent research. On a political level, Lewis is accused by his detractors with having revived the image of the cultural inferiority of Islam and of emphasizing the dangers of jihad. His advice was frequently sought by neoconservative policymakers, including the Bush administration. However, his active support of the Iraq War and neoconservative ideals have since come under scrutiny.
Lewis was also notable for his public debates with Edward Said, who accused Lewis and other orientalists of misrepresenting Islam and serving the purposes of Western imperialist domination, to which Lewis responded by defending Orientalism as a facet of humanism and accusing Said of politicizing the subject. Furthermore, Lewis notoriously denied the Armenian genocide. He argued that the deaths of the mass killings resulted from a struggle between two nationalistic movements, claiming that there is no proof of intent by the Ottoman government to exterminate the Armenian nation.
Family and personal life
Bernard Lewis was born on 31 May 1916 to middle-class British Jewish parents, Harry Lewis and the former Jane Levy, in Stoke Newington, London. He became interested in languages and history while preparing for his bar mitzvah. In 1947 he married Ruth Hélène Oppenhejm, with whom he had a daughter and a son. Their marriage was dissolved in 1974. Lewis became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1982.
Academic career
In 1936, Lewis graduated from the School of Oriental Studies (now School of Oriental and African Studies, SOAS) at the University of London with a BA in history with special reference to the Near and Middle East. He earned his PhD three years later, also from SOAS, specializing in the history of Islam. Lewis also studied law, going part of the way toward becoming a solicitor, but returned to study Middle Eastern history. He undertook post-graduate studies at the University of Paris, where he studied with the orientalist Louis Massignon and earned the "Diplôme des Études Sémitiques" in 1937. He returned to SOAS in 1938 as an assistant lecturer in Islamic History.
During the Second World War, Lewis served in the British Army in the Royal Armoured Corps and as a Corporal in the Intelligence Corps in 1940–41 before being seconded to the Foreign Office. After the war, he returned to SOAS, where he would remain for the next 25 years. In 1949, at the age of 33, he was appointed to the new chair in Near and Middle Eastern History. In 1963, Lewis was granted fellowship of the British Academy.
In 1974, aged 57, Lewis accepted a joint position at Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study, also located in Princeton, New Jersey. The terms of his appointment were such that Lewis taught only one semester per year, and being free from administrative responsibilities, he could devote more time to research than previously. Consequently, Lewis's arrival at Princeton marked the beginning of the most prolific period in his research career during which he published numerous books and articles based on previously accumulated materials. After retiring from Princeton in 1986, Lewis served at Cornell University until 1990.
In 1966, Lewis was a founding member of the learned society, Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA), but in 2007 he broke away and founded Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA) to challenge MESA, which the New York Sun noted as "dominated by academics who have been critical of Israel and of America's role in the Middle East". The organization was formed as an academic society dedicated to promoting high standards of research and teaching in Middle Eastern and African studies and other related fields, with Lewis as Chairman of its academic council.
In 1990, the National Endowment for the Humanities selected Lewis for the Jefferson Lecture, the U.S. federal government's highest honor for achievement in the humanities. His lecture, entitled "Western Civilization: A View from the East", was revised and reprinted in The Atlantic Monthly under the title "The Roots of Muslim Rage." His 2007 Irving Kristol Lecture, given to the American Enterprise Institute, was published as Europe and Islam.
Research
Lewis's influence extends beyond academia to the general public. He began his research career with the study of medieval Arab, especially Syrian, history. His first article, dedicated to professional guilds of medieval Islam, had been widely regarded as the most authoritative work on the subject for about thirty years. However, after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, scholars of Jewish origin found it more and more difficult to conduct archival and field research in Arab countries, where they were suspected of espionage. Therefore, Lewis switched to the study of the Ottoman Empire, while continuing to research Arab history through the Ottoman archives which had only recently been opened to Western researchers. A series of articles that Lewis published over the next several years revolutionized the history of the Middle East by giving a broad picture of Islamic society, including its government, economy, and demographics.
Lewis argued that the Middle East is currently backward and its decline was a largely self-inflicted condition resulting from both culture and religion, as opposed to the post-colonialist view which posits the problems of the region as economic and political maldevelopment mainly due to the 19th-century European colonization. In his 1982 work Muslim Discovery of Europe, Lewis argues that Muslim societies could not keep pace with the West and that "Crusader successes were due in no small part to Muslim weakness." Further, he suggested that as early as the 11th century Islamic societies were decaying, primarily the byproduct of internal problems like "cultural arrogance," which was a barrier to creative borrowing, rather than external pressures like the Crusades.
In the wake of Soviet and Arab attempts to delegitimize Israel as a racist country, Lewis wrote a study of anti-Semitism, Semites and Anti-Semites (1986). In other works he argued Arab rage against Israel was disproportionate to other tragedies or injustices in the Muslim world, such as the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and control of Muslim-majority land in Central Asia, the bloody and destructive fighting during the Hama uprising in Syria (1982), the Algerian Civil War (1992–1998), and the Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988).
In addition to his scholarly works, Lewis wrote several influential books accessible to the general public: The Arabs in History (1950), The Middle East and the West (1964), and The Middle East (1995). In the wake of the 11 September 2001 attacks, the interest in Lewis's work surged, especially his 1990 essay The Roots of Muslim Rage. Three of his books were published after 9/11: What Went Wrong? (written before the attacks), which explored the reasons of the Muslim world's apprehension of (and sometimes outright hostility to) modernization; The Crisis of Islam; and Islam: The Religion and the People.
Abraham Udovitch described him as "certainly the most eminent and respected historian of the Arab world, of the Islamic world, of the Middle East and beyond".
Armenian genocide
The first two editions of Lewis's The Emergence of Modern Turkey (1961 and 1968) describe the Armenian genocide as "the terrible holocaust of 1915, when a million and a half Armenians perished". In later editions, this text is altered to "the terrible slaughter of 1915, when, according to estimates, more than a million Armenians perished, as well as an unknown number of Turks". In this passage, Lewis argues that the deaths were the result of a struggle for the same land between two competing nationalist movements.
The change in Lewis's textual description of the Armenian genocide and his signing of the petition against the Congressional resolution was controversial among some Armenian historians as well as journalists, who suggested that Lewis was engaging in historical revisionism to serve his own political and personal interests.
Lewis called the label "genocide" the "Armenian version of this history" in a November 1993 interview with Le Monde, for which he faced a civil proceeding in a French court. In a subsequent exchange on the pages of Le Monde, Lewis wrote that while "terrible atrocities" did occur, "there exists no serious proof of a decision and of a plan of the Ottoman government aiming to exterminate the Armenian nation". He was ordered to pay one franc as damages for his statements on the Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey. Three other court cases against Bernard Lewis failed in the Paris tribunal, including one filed by the Armenian National Committee of France and two filed by Jacques Trémollet de Villers.
Lewis's views on the Armenian genocide were criticized by a number of historians and sociologists, among them Alain Finkielkraut, Yves Ternon, Richard G. Hovannisian, Robert Melson, and Pierre Vidal-Naquet.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Finkelstein|first1=Norman G.|title=The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering|date=2003|publisher=Verso|location=London|isbn=978-1859844885|page=69}}</ref>
Lewis has argued for his denial stance that:
Lewis has been labelled a "genocide denier" by Stephen Zunes, Israel Charny, David B. MacDonald and the Armenian National Committee of America. Israeli historian Yair Auron suggested that "Lewis' stature provided a lofty cover for the Turkish national agenda of obfuscating academic research on the Armenian Genocide". Israel Charny wrote that Lewis's "seemingly scholarly concern ... of Armenians constituting a threat to the Turks as a rebellious force who together with the Russians threatened the Ottoman Empire, and the insistence that only a policy of deportations was executed, barely conceal the fact that the organized deportations constituted systematic mass murder". Charny compares the "logical structures" employed by Lewis in his denial of the genocide to those employed by Ernst Nolte in his Holocaust negationism.
Views and influence on contemporary politics
In the mid-1960s, Lewis emerged as a commentator on the issues of the modern Middle East and his analysis of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the rise of militant Islam brought him publicity and aroused significant controversy. American historian Joel Beinin has called him "perhaps the most articulate and learned Zionist advocate in the North American Middle East academic community". Lewis's policy advice has particular weight thanks to this scholarly authority. U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney remarked "in this new century, his wisdom is sought daily by policymakers, diplomats, fellow academics, and the news media".
A harsh critic of the Soviet Union, Lewis continued the liberal tradition in Islamic historical studies. Although his early Marxist views had a bearing on his first book The Origins of Ismailism, Lewis subsequently discarded Marxism. His later works are a reaction against the left-wing current of Third-worldism which came to be a significant current in Middle Eastern studies.
During his career Lewis developed ties with governments around the world: during her time as Prime Minister of Israel, Golda Meir assigned Lewis's articles as reading to her cabinet members, and during the Presidency of George W. Bush, he advised administration members including Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Bush himself. He was also close to King Hussein of Jordan and his brother, Prince Hassan bin Talal. He also had ties to the regime of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, the Turkish military dictatorship led by Kenan Evren, and the Egyptian government of Anwar Sadat: he acted as a go-between between the Sadat administration and Israel in 1971 when he relayed a message to the Israeli government regarding the possibility of a peace agreement at the request of Sadat's spokesman Tahasin Bashir.
Lewis advocated closer Western ties with Israel and Turkey, which he saw as especially important in light of the extension of the Soviet influence in the Middle East. Modern Turkey holds a special place in Lewis's view of the region due to the country's efforts to become a part of the West. He was an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Turkish Studies, an honor which is given "on the basis of generally recognized scholarly distinction and ... long and devoted service to the field of Turkish Studies."
Lewis views Christendom and Islam as civilizations that have been in perpetual collision since the advent of Islam in the 7th century. In his essay The Roots of Muslim Rage (1990), he argued that the struggle between the West and Islam was gathering strength. According to one source, this essay (and Lewis's 1990 Jefferson Lecture on which the article was based) first introduced the term "Islamic fundamentalism" to North America. This essay has been credited with coining the phrase "clash of civilizations", which received prominence in the eponymous book by Samuel Huntington. However, another source indicates that Lewis first used the phrase "clash of civilizations" at a 1957 meeting in Washington where it was recorded in the transcript.
In 1998, Lewis read in a London-based newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi a declaration of war on the United States by Osama bin Laden. In his essay "A License to Kill", Lewis indicated he considered bin Laden's language as the "ideology of jihad" and warned that bin Laden would be a danger to the West. The essay was published after the Clinton administration and the US intelligence community had begun its hunt for bin Laden in Sudan and then in Afghanistan.
Jihad
Lewis writes of jihad as a distinct religious obligation, but suggests that it is a pity that people engaging in terrorist activities are not more aware of their own religion:The fanatical warrior offering his victims the choice of the Koran or the sword is not only untrue, it is impossible. The alleged choice - conversion or death - is also, with rare and atypical exceptions, untrue. Muslim tolerance of unbelievers and misbelievers was far better than anything available in Christendom until the rise of secularism in the 17th century.
Muslim fighters are commanded not to kill women, children, or the aged unless they attack first; not to torture or otherwise ill-treat prisoners; to give fair warnings of the opening of hostilities or their resumption after a truce; and to honor agreements. At no time did the classical jurists offer any approval or legitimacy to what we nowdays call terrorism. Nor indeed is there any evidence of the use of terrorism as it is practiced nowadays.
The emergence of the by now widespread terrorism practice of suicide bombing is a development of the 20th century. It has no antecedents in Islamic history, and no justification in the terms of Islamic theology, law, or tradition.As'ad AbuKhalil, has criticized this view and stated: "Methodologically, [Lewis] insists that terrorism by individual Muslims should be considered Islamic terrorism, while terrorism by individual Jews or Christians is never considered Jewish or Christian terrorism."
He also criticised Lewis's understanding of Osama bin Laden, seeing Lewis's interpretation of bin Laden "as some kind of influential Muslim theologian" along the lines of classical theologians like Al-Ghazali, rather than "the terrorist fanatic that he is". AbuKhalil has also criticized the place of Islam in Lewis's worldview more generally, arguing that the most prominent feature of his work was its "theologocentrism" (borrowing a term from Maxime Rodinson) - that Lewis interprets all aspects of behavior among Muslims solely through the lens of Islamic theology, subsuming the study of Muslim peoples, their languages, the geographical areas where Muslims predominate, Islamic governments, the governments of Arab countries and Sharia under the label of "Islam".
Debates with Edward Said
Lewis was known for his literary debates with Edward Said, the Palestinian American literary theorist whose aim was to deconstruct what he called Orientalist scholarship. Said, who was a professor at Columbia University, characterized Lewis's work as a prime example of Orientalism in his 1978 book Orientalism and in his later book Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World (1981). Said asserted that the field of Orientalism was political intellectualism bent on self-affirmation rather than objective study, a form of racism, and a tool of imperialist domination. He further questioned the scientific neutrality of some leading Middle East scholars, including Lewis, on the Arab World. In an interview with Al-Ahram weekly, Said suggested that Lewis's knowledge of the Middle East was so biased that it could not be taken seriously and claimed "Bernard Lewis hasn't set foot in the Middle East, in the Arab world, for at least 40 years. He knows something about Turkey, I'm told, but he knows nothing about the Arab world." Said considered that Lewis treats Islam as a monolithic entity without the nuance of its plurality, internal dynamics, and historical complexities, and accused him of "demagogy and downright ignorance". In Covering Islam, Said argued that "Lewis simply cannot deal with the diversity of Muslim, much less human life, because it is closed to him as something foreign, radically different, and other," and he criticised Lewis's "inability to grant that the Islamic peoples are entitled to their own cultural, political, and historical practices, free from Lewis's calculated attempt to show that because they are not Western... they can't be good."
Rejecting the view that Western scholarship was biased against the Middle East, Lewis responded that Orientalism developed as a facet of European humanism, independently of the past European imperial expansion. He noted the French and English pursued the study of Islam in the 16th and 17th centuries, yet not in an organized way, but long before they had any control or hope of control in the Middle East; and that much of Orientalist study did nothing to advance the cause of imperialism. In his 1993 book Islam and the West, Lewis wrote "What imperial purpose was served by deciphering the ancient Egyptian language, for example, and then restoring to the Egyptians knowledge of and pride in their forgotten, ancient past?"
Furthermore, Lewis accused Said of politicizing the scientific study of the Middle East (and Arabic studies in particular); neglecting to critique the scholarly findings of the Orientalists; and giving "free rein" to his biases.
Stance on the Iraq War
In 2002, Lewis wrote an article for The Wall Street Journal regarding the buildup to the Iraq War entitled "Time for Toppling", where he stated his opinion that "a regime change may well be dangerous, but sometimes the dangers of inaction are greater than those of action". In 2007, Jacob Weisberg described Lewis as "perhaps the most significant intellectual influence behind the invasion of Iraq". Michael Hirsh attributed to Lewis the view that regime change in Iraq would provide a jolt that would "modernize the Middle East" and suggested that Lewis's allegedly 'orientalist' theories about "what went wrong" in the Middle East, and other writings, formed the intellectual basis of the push towards war in Iraq. Hirsch reported that Lewis had told him in an interview that he viewed the 11 September attacks as "the opening salvo of the final battle" between Western and Islamic civilisations: Lewis believed that a forceful response was necessary. In the run up to the Iraq War, he met with Vice President Dick Cheney several times: Hirsch quoted an unnamed official who was present at a number of these meetings, who summarised Lewis's view of Iraq as "Get on with it. Don't dither". Brent Scowcroft quoted Lewis as stating that he believed "that one of the things you’ve got to do to Arabs is hit them between the eyes with a big stick. They respect power". As'ad AbuKhalil has claimed that Lewis assured Cheney that American troops would be welcomed by Iraqis and Arabs, relying on the opinion of his colleague Fouad Ajami. Hirsch also drew parallels between the Bush administration's plans for post-invasion Iraq and Lewis's views, in particular his admiration for Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's secularist and Westernising reforms in the new Republic of Turkey which emerged from the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
Writing in 2008, Lewis did not advocate imposing freedom and democracy on Islamic nations. "There are things you can't impose. Freedom, for example. Or democracy. Democracy is a very strong medicine which has to be administered to the patient in small, gradually increasing doses. Otherwise, you risk killing the patient. In the main, the Muslims have to do it themselves."
Ian Buruma, writing for The New Yorker in an article subtitled "The two Minds of Bernard Lewis", finds Lewis's stance on the war difficult to reconcile with Lewis's past statements cautioning democracy enforcement in the world at large. Buruma ultimately rejects suggestions by his peers that Lewis promotes war with Iraq to safeguard Israel, but instead concludes "perhaps he loves it [the Arab world] too much":
Hamid Dabashi, writing on 28 May 2018, in an article subtitled "On Bernard Lewis and 'his extraordinary capacity for getting everything wrong'", asked: "Just imagine: What sort of a person would spend a lifetime studying people he loathes? It is quite a bizarre proposition. But there you have it: the late Bernard Lewis did precisely that." Similarly, Richard Bulliet described Lewis as "...a person who does not like the people he is purporting to have expertise about...he doesn’t respect them, he considers them to be good and worthy only to the degree they follow a Western path". According to As'ad AbuKhalil, "Lewis has poisoned the Middle East academic field more than any other Orientalist and his influence has been both academic and political. But there is a new generation of Middle East experts in the West who now see clearly the political agenda of Bernard Lewis. It was fully exposed in the Bush years."
Alleged nuclear threat from Iran
In 2006, Lewis wrote that Iran had been working on a nuclear weapon for fifteen years. In August 2006, in an article about whether the world can rely on the concept of mutual assured destruction as a deterrent in its dealings with Iran, Lewis wrote in The Wall Street Journal about the significance of 22 August 2006 in the Islamic calendar. The Iranian president had indicated he would respond by that date to U.S. demands regarding Iran's development of nuclear power. Lewis wrote that the date corresponded to the 27th day of the month of Rajab of the year 1427, the day Muslims commemorate the night flight of Muhammad from Jerusalem to heaven and back. Lewis wrote that it would be "an appropriate date for the apocalyptic ending of Israel and, if necessary, of the world". According to Lewis, mutual assured destruction is not an effective deterrent in the case of Iran, because of what Lewis describes as the Iranian leadership's "apocalyptic worldview" and the "suicide or martyrdom complex that plagues parts of the Islamic world today". Lewis's article received significant press coverage. However, the day passed without any incident.
Death
Bernard Lewis died on 19 May 2018 at the age of 101, at an assisted-living care facility in Voorhees Township, New Jersey, twelve days before his 102nd birthday.
He is buried in Trumpeldor Cemetery in Tel Aviv.
Bibliography
Awards and honors
1963: Elected as a Fellow of the British Academy
1978: The Harvey Prize, from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, for "his profound insight into the life and mores of the peoples of the Middle East through his writings"
1983: Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
1990: Selected for the Jefferson Lecture by the National Endowment for the Humanities
1996: Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in General Nonfiction, for The Middle East (Scribner)
1999: National Jewish Book Award in the Israel category for The Multiple Identities of the Middle East 2002: The Thomas Jefferson Medal, awarded by the American Philosophical Society
2002: Atatürk International Peace Prize on grounds that he contributed extensively to history scholarship with his accurate analysis of Turkey’s and in particular of Atatürk’s positive impact on Middle Eastern history.
2004: Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement
2006: National Humanities Medal, from the National Endowment for the Humanities
2007: Irving Kristol Award, from the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
2007: The Scholar-Statesman Award from The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
See also
Bernard Lewis bibliography
List of Princeton University people
References
External links
Lewis's page at Princeton University
Revered and Reviled – Lewis's profile on Moment Magazine''
The Legacy and Fallacies of Bernard Lewis by As`ad AbuKhalil
1916 births
2018 deaths
20th-century American historians
20th-century British historians
20th-century British writers
21st-century American historians
21st-century American male writers
21st-century British historians
21st-century British writers
Academics of SOAS University of London
Alumni of SOAS University of London
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American historians
American male non-fiction writers
American people of English-Jewish descent
Deniers of the Armenian genocide
British Army personnel of World War II
English centenarians
British emigrants to the United States
English historians
English Jews
Fellows of the British Academy
Historians of Islam
Historians of the Ottoman Empire
Honorary members of the Turkish Academy of Sciences
Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars
Intelligence Corps soldiers
Islam and antisemitism
Islam and politics
Jewish American historians
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Jewish scholars of Islam
Men centenarians
Middle Eastern studies in the United States
National Humanities Medal recipients
Neoconservatism
People from Stoke Newington
British political commentators
Princeton University faculty
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Scholars of antisemitism
University of Paris alumni
Cornell University faculty
Foreign Policy Research Institute
Historians of the Middle East
Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs
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[
"Sexy Sweet Thing is a 2000 album released by the funk/R&B group Cameo. This 13-track release was Cameo's first full album of new material since In the Face of Funk in 1994, and peaked June 24, 2000, at #64 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. To date, this has been the last album released by Cameo; Sexy Sweet Thing was followed up by the single \"El Passo\" in 2019 but did not chart making this record their latest to enter any chart.\n\nTrack listing\n\nExternal links\n\nReferences \n\nSexy Sweet Thing\nSexy Sweet Thing",
"Knitting Under the Influence is a 2006 novel written by author Claire Scovell LaZebnik about three girls in their late twenties who have a weekly knitting circle, yet, they all have busy individual lives. The knitting circle is the only way these girls can stay connected with each other.\n\nPlot summary\nSometimes it feels like their weekly knitting circle is the only thing that keeps Kathleen, Sari, and Lucy from falling apart. Their fine-gauge scarves may look fabulous, but their lives are starting to unravel...\n\nFor years, beautiful, flighty Kathleen has been living off of her famous actress sisters. When she moves out, she misses her life of luxury and begins to think that marrying rich might be an easy way to get it back.\n\nLucy is dating the man of her dreams-gorgeous, a brilliant scientist, going places-but when an animal rights group targets him, she wonders whose side she's really on.\n\nAnd Sari finds herself suddenly face-to-face again with the \"it\" boy from high school who still has \"it\"- he's gorgeous, sensitive, and kind, and he has a son who needs Sari's help. But can she ever forgive him for what he did to her brother a decade ago?\n\nCaught between life, love, and pursuit of the perfect cast-on, these three friends learn that there are never any easy answers, except maybe one-that when the going gets tough, the tough gets knitting.\n\nQuotes\n\"Jane Austen invented 'chick lit' (if that term means witty novels that closely observe the details that matter to women), and this intelligent, hilarious book is peopled with wise yet flawed women who, like the best of Austen's heroines, always choose love over 'marrying well.'\" -Cathryn Michon, author of The Grrl Genius Guide to Life\n\"Filled with lovable characters, KNITTING UNDER THE INFLUENCE is a warm, witty, and absolutely intoxicating read.\" -Sarah Mlynowski, author of Milkrun and Me vs. Me\n\nReception\nRomantic Books panned Knitting Under the Influence by saying the book was slow and \"turned into a burdensome cliche\".\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Knitting Under the Influence Page on Claire LaZebnik Website\n\n2006 novels\nKnitting publications"
] |
[
"Bernard Lewis",
"Research",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Lewis wrote several influential books accessible to the general public:",
"What where the books titles?",
"The Arabs in History (1950), The Middle East and the West (1964), and The Middle East (1995).",
"How were these book do?",
"In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the interest in Lewis's work surged,",
"Did any thing influence him?",
"He is a pioneer of the social and economic history of the Middle East and is famous for his extensive research"
] |
C_49bcb0b5cef543eaad8de30f9d6da37b_0
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What was his research on?
| 5 |
What was Bernard Lewis's research on?
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Bernard Lewis
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Lewis' influence extends beyond academia to the general public. He is a pioneer of the social and economic history of the Middle East and is famous for his extensive research of the Ottoman archives. He began his research career with the study of medieval Arab, especially Syrian, history. His first article, dedicated to professional guilds of medieval Islam, had been widely regarded as the most authoritative work on the subject for about thirty years. However, after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, scholars of Jewish origin found it more and more difficult to conduct archival and field research in the Arab countries, where they were suspected of espionage. Therefore, Lewis switched to the study of the Ottoman Empire, while continuing to research Arab history through the Ottoman archives which had only recently been opened to Western researchers. A series of articles that Lewis published over the next several years revolutionized the history of the Middle East by giving a broad picture of Islamic society, including its government, economy, and demographics. Lewis argues that the Middle East is currently backward and its decline was a largely self-inflicted condition resulting from both culture and religion, as opposed to the post-colonialist view which posits the problems of the region as economic and political maldevelopment mainly due to the 19th-century European colonization. In his 1982 work Muslim Discovery of Europe, Lewis argues that Muslim societies could not keep pace with the West and that "Crusader successes were due in no small part to Muslim weakness." Further, he suggested that as early as the 11th century Islamic societies were decaying, primarily the byproduct of internal problems like "cultural arrogance," which was a barrier to creative borrowing, rather than external pressures like the Crusades. In the wake of Soviet and Arab attempts to delegitimize Israel as a racist country, Lewis wrote a study of anti-Semitism, Semites and Anti-Semites (1986). In other works he argued Arab rage against Israel was disproportionate to other tragedies or injustices in the Muslim world, such as the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and control of Muslim-majority land in Central Asia, the bloody and destructive fighting during the Hama uprising in Syria (1982), the Algerian civil war (1992-98), and the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88). In addition to his scholarly works, Lewis wrote several influential books accessible to the general public: The Arabs in History (1950), The Middle East and the West (1964), and The Middle East (1995). In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the interest in Lewis's work surged, especially his 1990 essay The Roots of Muslim Rage. Three of his books were published after 9/11: What Went Wrong? (written before the attacks), which explored the reasons of the Muslim world's apprehension of (and sometimes outright hostility to) modernization; The Crisis of Islam; and Islam: The Religion and the People. CANNOTANSWER
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He began his research career with the study of medieval Arab, especially Syrian, history.
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Bernard Lewis, (31 May 1916 – 19 May 2018) was a British American historian specialized in Oriental studies. He was also known as a public intellectual and political commentator. Lewis was the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. Lewis's expertise was in the history of Islam and the interaction between Islam and the West.
Lewis served as a soldier in the British Army in the Royal Armoured Corps and Intelligence Corps during the Second World War before being seconded to the Foreign Office. After the war, he returned to the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London and was appointed to the new chair in Near and Middle Eastern history.
In 2007 Lewis was called "the West's leading interpreter of the Middle East". Others have argued Lewis's approach is essentialist and generalizing to the Muslim world, as well as his tendency to restate hypotheses that were challenged by more recent research. On a political level, Lewis is accused by his detractors with having revived the image of the cultural inferiority of Islam and of emphasizing the dangers of jihad. His advice was frequently sought by neoconservative policymakers, including the Bush administration. However, his active support of the Iraq War and neoconservative ideals have since come under scrutiny.
Lewis was also notable for his public debates with Edward Said, who accused Lewis and other orientalists of misrepresenting Islam and serving the purposes of Western imperialist domination, to which Lewis responded by defending Orientalism as a facet of humanism and accusing Said of politicizing the subject. Furthermore, Lewis notoriously denied the Armenian genocide. He argued that the deaths of the mass killings resulted from a struggle between two nationalistic movements, claiming that there is no proof of intent by the Ottoman government to exterminate the Armenian nation.
Family and personal life
Bernard Lewis was born on 31 May 1916 to middle-class British Jewish parents, Harry Lewis and the former Jane Levy, in Stoke Newington, London. He became interested in languages and history while preparing for his bar mitzvah. In 1947 he married Ruth Hélène Oppenhejm, with whom he had a daughter and a son. Their marriage was dissolved in 1974. Lewis became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1982.
Academic career
In 1936, Lewis graduated from the School of Oriental Studies (now School of Oriental and African Studies, SOAS) at the University of London with a BA in history with special reference to the Near and Middle East. He earned his PhD three years later, also from SOAS, specializing in the history of Islam. Lewis also studied law, going part of the way toward becoming a solicitor, but returned to study Middle Eastern history. He undertook post-graduate studies at the University of Paris, where he studied with the orientalist Louis Massignon and earned the "Diplôme des Études Sémitiques" in 1937. He returned to SOAS in 1938 as an assistant lecturer in Islamic History.
During the Second World War, Lewis served in the British Army in the Royal Armoured Corps and as a Corporal in the Intelligence Corps in 1940–41 before being seconded to the Foreign Office. After the war, he returned to SOAS, where he would remain for the next 25 years. In 1949, at the age of 33, he was appointed to the new chair in Near and Middle Eastern History. In 1963, Lewis was granted fellowship of the British Academy.
In 1974, aged 57, Lewis accepted a joint position at Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study, also located in Princeton, New Jersey. The terms of his appointment were such that Lewis taught only one semester per year, and being free from administrative responsibilities, he could devote more time to research than previously. Consequently, Lewis's arrival at Princeton marked the beginning of the most prolific period in his research career during which he published numerous books and articles based on previously accumulated materials. After retiring from Princeton in 1986, Lewis served at Cornell University until 1990.
In 1966, Lewis was a founding member of the learned society, Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA), but in 2007 he broke away and founded Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA) to challenge MESA, which the New York Sun noted as "dominated by academics who have been critical of Israel and of America's role in the Middle East". The organization was formed as an academic society dedicated to promoting high standards of research and teaching in Middle Eastern and African studies and other related fields, with Lewis as Chairman of its academic council.
In 1990, the National Endowment for the Humanities selected Lewis for the Jefferson Lecture, the U.S. federal government's highest honor for achievement in the humanities. His lecture, entitled "Western Civilization: A View from the East", was revised and reprinted in The Atlantic Monthly under the title "The Roots of Muslim Rage." His 2007 Irving Kristol Lecture, given to the American Enterprise Institute, was published as Europe and Islam.
Research
Lewis's influence extends beyond academia to the general public. He began his research career with the study of medieval Arab, especially Syrian, history. His first article, dedicated to professional guilds of medieval Islam, had been widely regarded as the most authoritative work on the subject for about thirty years. However, after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, scholars of Jewish origin found it more and more difficult to conduct archival and field research in Arab countries, where they were suspected of espionage. Therefore, Lewis switched to the study of the Ottoman Empire, while continuing to research Arab history through the Ottoman archives which had only recently been opened to Western researchers. A series of articles that Lewis published over the next several years revolutionized the history of the Middle East by giving a broad picture of Islamic society, including its government, economy, and demographics.
Lewis argued that the Middle East is currently backward and its decline was a largely self-inflicted condition resulting from both culture and religion, as opposed to the post-colonialist view which posits the problems of the region as economic and political maldevelopment mainly due to the 19th-century European colonization. In his 1982 work Muslim Discovery of Europe, Lewis argues that Muslim societies could not keep pace with the West and that "Crusader successes were due in no small part to Muslim weakness." Further, he suggested that as early as the 11th century Islamic societies were decaying, primarily the byproduct of internal problems like "cultural arrogance," which was a barrier to creative borrowing, rather than external pressures like the Crusades.
In the wake of Soviet and Arab attempts to delegitimize Israel as a racist country, Lewis wrote a study of anti-Semitism, Semites and Anti-Semites (1986). In other works he argued Arab rage against Israel was disproportionate to other tragedies or injustices in the Muslim world, such as the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and control of Muslim-majority land in Central Asia, the bloody and destructive fighting during the Hama uprising in Syria (1982), the Algerian Civil War (1992–1998), and the Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988).
In addition to his scholarly works, Lewis wrote several influential books accessible to the general public: The Arabs in History (1950), The Middle East and the West (1964), and The Middle East (1995). In the wake of the 11 September 2001 attacks, the interest in Lewis's work surged, especially his 1990 essay The Roots of Muslim Rage. Three of his books were published after 9/11: What Went Wrong? (written before the attacks), which explored the reasons of the Muslim world's apprehension of (and sometimes outright hostility to) modernization; The Crisis of Islam; and Islam: The Religion and the People.
Abraham Udovitch described him as "certainly the most eminent and respected historian of the Arab world, of the Islamic world, of the Middle East and beyond".
Armenian genocide
The first two editions of Lewis's The Emergence of Modern Turkey (1961 and 1968) describe the Armenian genocide as "the terrible holocaust of 1915, when a million and a half Armenians perished". In later editions, this text is altered to "the terrible slaughter of 1915, when, according to estimates, more than a million Armenians perished, as well as an unknown number of Turks". In this passage, Lewis argues that the deaths were the result of a struggle for the same land between two competing nationalist movements.
The change in Lewis's textual description of the Armenian genocide and his signing of the petition against the Congressional resolution was controversial among some Armenian historians as well as journalists, who suggested that Lewis was engaging in historical revisionism to serve his own political and personal interests.
Lewis called the label "genocide" the "Armenian version of this history" in a November 1993 interview with Le Monde, for which he faced a civil proceeding in a French court. In a subsequent exchange on the pages of Le Monde, Lewis wrote that while "terrible atrocities" did occur, "there exists no serious proof of a decision and of a plan of the Ottoman government aiming to exterminate the Armenian nation". He was ordered to pay one franc as damages for his statements on the Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey. Three other court cases against Bernard Lewis failed in the Paris tribunal, including one filed by the Armenian National Committee of France and two filed by Jacques Trémollet de Villers.
Lewis's views on the Armenian genocide were criticized by a number of historians and sociologists, among them Alain Finkielkraut, Yves Ternon, Richard G. Hovannisian, Robert Melson, and Pierre Vidal-Naquet.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Finkelstein|first1=Norman G.|title=The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering|date=2003|publisher=Verso|location=London|isbn=978-1859844885|page=69}}</ref>
Lewis has argued for his denial stance that:
Lewis has been labelled a "genocide denier" by Stephen Zunes, Israel Charny, David B. MacDonald and the Armenian National Committee of America. Israeli historian Yair Auron suggested that "Lewis' stature provided a lofty cover for the Turkish national agenda of obfuscating academic research on the Armenian Genocide". Israel Charny wrote that Lewis's "seemingly scholarly concern ... of Armenians constituting a threat to the Turks as a rebellious force who together with the Russians threatened the Ottoman Empire, and the insistence that only a policy of deportations was executed, barely conceal the fact that the organized deportations constituted systematic mass murder". Charny compares the "logical structures" employed by Lewis in his denial of the genocide to those employed by Ernst Nolte in his Holocaust negationism.
Views and influence on contemporary politics
In the mid-1960s, Lewis emerged as a commentator on the issues of the modern Middle East and his analysis of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the rise of militant Islam brought him publicity and aroused significant controversy. American historian Joel Beinin has called him "perhaps the most articulate and learned Zionist advocate in the North American Middle East academic community". Lewis's policy advice has particular weight thanks to this scholarly authority. U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney remarked "in this new century, his wisdom is sought daily by policymakers, diplomats, fellow academics, and the news media".
A harsh critic of the Soviet Union, Lewis continued the liberal tradition in Islamic historical studies. Although his early Marxist views had a bearing on his first book The Origins of Ismailism, Lewis subsequently discarded Marxism. His later works are a reaction against the left-wing current of Third-worldism which came to be a significant current in Middle Eastern studies.
During his career Lewis developed ties with governments around the world: during her time as Prime Minister of Israel, Golda Meir assigned Lewis's articles as reading to her cabinet members, and during the Presidency of George W. Bush, he advised administration members including Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Bush himself. He was also close to King Hussein of Jordan and his brother, Prince Hassan bin Talal. He also had ties to the regime of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, the Turkish military dictatorship led by Kenan Evren, and the Egyptian government of Anwar Sadat: he acted as a go-between between the Sadat administration and Israel in 1971 when he relayed a message to the Israeli government regarding the possibility of a peace agreement at the request of Sadat's spokesman Tahasin Bashir.
Lewis advocated closer Western ties with Israel and Turkey, which he saw as especially important in light of the extension of the Soviet influence in the Middle East. Modern Turkey holds a special place in Lewis's view of the region due to the country's efforts to become a part of the West. He was an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Turkish Studies, an honor which is given "on the basis of generally recognized scholarly distinction and ... long and devoted service to the field of Turkish Studies."
Lewis views Christendom and Islam as civilizations that have been in perpetual collision since the advent of Islam in the 7th century. In his essay The Roots of Muslim Rage (1990), he argued that the struggle between the West and Islam was gathering strength. According to one source, this essay (and Lewis's 1990 Jefferson Lecture on which the article was based) first introduced the term "Islamic fundamentalism" to North America. This essay has been credited with coining the phrase "clash of civilizations", which received prominence in the eponymous book by Samuel Huntington. However, another source indicates that Lewis first used the phrase "clash of civilizations" at a 1957 meeting in Washington where it was recorded in the transcript.
In 1998, Lewis read in a London-based newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi a declaration of war on the United States by Osama bin Laden. In his essay "A License to Kill", Lewis indicated he considered bin Laden's language as the "ideology of jihad" and warned that bin Laden would be a danger to the West. The essay was published after the Clinton administration and the US intelligence community had begun its hunt for bin Laden in Sudan and then in Afghanistan.
Jihad
Lewis writes of jihad as a distinct religious obligation, but suggests that it is a pity that people engaging in terrorist activities are not more aware of their own religion:The fanatical warrior offering his victims the choice of the Koran or the sword is not only untrue, it is impossible. The alleged choice - conversion or death - is also, with rare and atypical exceptions, untrue. Muslim tolerance of unbelievers and misbelievers was far better than anything available in Christendom until the rise of secularism in the 17th century.
Muslim fighters are commanded not to kill women, children, or the aged unless they attack first; not to torture or otherwise ill-treat prisoners; to give fair warnings of the opening of hostilities or their resumption after a truce; and to honor agreements. At no time did the classical jurists offer any approval or legitimacy to what we nowdays call terrorism. Nor indeed is there any evidence of the use of terrorism as it is practiced nowadays.
The emergence of the by now widespread terrorism practice of suicide bombing is a development of the 20th century. It has no antecedents in Islamic history, and no justification in the terms of Islamic theology, law, or tradition.As'ad AbuKhalil, has criticized this view and stated: "Methodologically, [Lewis] insists that terrorism by individual Muslims should be considered Islamic terrorism, while terrorism by individual Jews or Christians is never considered Jewish or Christian terrorism."
He also criticised Lewis's understanding of Osama bin Laden, seeing Lewis's interpretation of bin Laden "as some kind of influential Muslim theologian" along the lines of classical theologians like Al-Ghazali, rather than "the terrorist fanatic that he is". AbuKhalil has also criticized the place of Islam in Lewis's worldview more generally, arguing that the most prominent feature of his work was its "theologocentrism" (borrowing a term from Maxime Rodinson) - that Lewis interprets all aspects of behavior among Muslims solely through the lens of Islamic theology, subsuming the study of Muslim peoples, their languages, the geographical areas where Muslims predominate, Islamic governments, the governments of Arab countries and Sharia under the label of "Islam".
Debates with Edward Said
Lewis was known for his literary debates with Edward Said, the Palestinian American literary theorist whose aim was to deconstruct what he called Orientalist scholarship. Said, who was a professor at Columbia University, characterized Lewis's work as a prime example of Orientalism in his 1978 book Orientalism and in his later book Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World (1981). Said asserted that the field of Orientalism was political intellectualism bent on self-affirmation rather than objective study, a form of racism, and a tool of imperialist domination. He further questioned the scientific neutrality of some leading Middle East scholars, including Lewis, on the Arab World. In an interview with Al-Ahram weekly, Said suggested that Lewis's knowledge of the Middle East was so biased that it could not be taken seriously and claimed "Bernard Lewis hasn't set foot in the Middle East, in the Arab world, for at least 40 years. He knows something about Turkey, I'm told, but he knows nothing about the Arab world." Said considered that Lewis treats Islam as a monolithic entity without the nuance of its plurality, internal dynamics, and historical complexities, and accused him of "demagogy and downright ignorance". In Covering Islam, Said argued that "Lewis simply cannot deal with the diversity of Muslim, much less human life, because it is closed to him as something foreign, radically different, and other," and he criticised Lewis's "inability to grant that the Islamic peoples are entitled to their own cultural, political, and historical practices, free from Lewis's calculated attempt to show that because they are not Western... they can't be good."
Rejecting the view that Western scholarship was biased against the Middle East, Lewis responded that Orientalism developed as a facet of European humanism, independently of the past European imperial expansion. He noted the French and English pursued the study of Islam in the 16th and 17th centuries, yet not in an organized way, but long before they had any control or hope of control in the Middle East; and that much of Orientalist study did nothing to advance the cause of imperialism. In his 1993 book Islam and the West, Lewis wrote "What imperial purpose was served by deciphering the ancient Egyptian language, for example, and then restoring to the Egyptians knowledge of and pride in their forgotten, ancient past?"
Furthermore, Lewis accused Said of politicizing the scientific study of the Middle East (and Arabic studies in particular); neglecting to critique the scholarly findings of the Orientalists; and giving "free rein" to his biases.
Stance on the Iraq War
In 2002, Lewis wrote an article for The Wall Street Journal regarding the buildup to the Iraq War entitled "Time for Toppling", where he stated his opinion that "a regime change may well be dangerous, but sometimes the dangers of inaction are greater than those of action". In 2007, Jacob Weisberg described Lewis as "perhaps the most significant intellectual influence behind the invasion of Iraq". Michael Hirsh attributed to Lewis the view that regime change in Iraq would provide a jolt that would "modernize the Middle East" and suggested that Lewis's allegedly 'orientalist' theories about "what went wrong" in the Middle East, and other writings, formed the intellectual basis of the push towards war in Iraq. Hirsch reported that Lewis had told him in an interview that he viewed the 11 September attacks as "the opening salvo of the final battle" between Western and Islamic civilisations: Lewis believed that a forceful response was necessary. In the run up to the Iraq War, he met with Vice President Dick Cheney several times: Hirsch quoted an unnamed official who was present at a number of these meetings, who summarised Lewis's view of Iraq as "Get on with it. Don't dither". Brent Scowcroft quoted Lewis as stating that he believed "that one of the things you’ve got to do to Arabs is hit them between the eyes with a big stick. They respect power". As'ad AbuKhalil has claimed that Lewis assured Cheney that American troops would be welcomed by Iraqis and Arabs, relying on the opinion of his colleague Fouad Ajami. Hirsch also drew parallels between the Bush administration's plans for post-invasion Iraq and Lewis's views, in particular his admiration for Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's secularist and Westernising reforms in the new Republic of Turkey which emerged from the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
Writing in 2008, Lewis did not advocate imposing freedom and democracy on Islamic nations. "There are things you can't impose. Freedom, for example. Or democracy. Democracy is a very strong medicine which has to be administered to the patient in small, gradually increasing doses. Otherwise, you risk killing the patient. In the main, the Muslims have to do it themselves."
Ian Buruma, writing for The New Yorker in an article subtitled "The two Minds of Bernard Lewis", finds Lewis's stance on the war difficult to reconcile with Lewis's past statements cautioning democracy enforcement in the world at large. Buruma ultimately rejects suggestions by his peers that Lewis promotes war with Iraq to safeguard Israel, but instead concludes "perhaps he loves it [the Arab world] too much":
Hamid Dabashi, writing on 28 May 2018, in an article subtitled "On Bernard Lewis and 'his extraordinary capacity for getting everything wrong'", asked: "Just imagine: What sort of a person would spend a lifetime studying people he loathes? It is quite a bizarre proposition. But there you have it: the late Bernard Lewis did precisely that." Similarly, Richard Bulliet described Lewis as "...a person who does not like the people he is purporting to have expertise about...he doesn’t respect them, he considers them to be good and worthy only to the degree they follow a Western path". According to As'ad AbuKhalil, "Lewis has poisoned the Middle East academic field more than any other Orientalist and his influence has been both academic and political. But there is a new generation of Middle East experts in the West who now see clearly the political agenda of Bernard Lewis. It was fully exposed in the Bush years."
Alleged nuclear threat from Iran
In 2006, Lewis wrote that Iran had been working on a nuclear weapon for fifteen years. In August 2006, in an article about whether the world can rely on the concept of mutual assured destruction as a deterrent in its dealings with Iran, Lewis wrote in The Wall Street Journal about the significance of 22 August 2006 in the Islamic calendar. The Iranian president had indicated he would respond by that date to U.S. demands regarding Iran's development of nuclear power. Lewis wrote that the date corresponded to the 27th day of the month of Rajab of the year 1427, the day Muslims commemorate the night flight of Muhammad from Jerusalem to heaven and back. Lewis wrote that it would be "an appropriate date for the apocalyptic ending of Israel and, if necessary, of the world". According to Lewis, mutual assured destruction is not an effective deterrent in the case of Iran, because of what Lewis describes as the Iranian leadership's "apocalyptic worldview" and the "suicide or martyrdom complex that plagues parts of the Islamic world today". Lewis's article received significant press coverage. However, the day passed without any incident.
Death
Bernard Lewis died on 19 May 2018 at the age of 101, at an assisted-living care facility in Voorhees Township, New Jersey, twelve days before his 102nd birthday.
He is buried in Trumpeldor Cemetery in Tel Aviv.
Bibliography
Awards and honors
1963: Elected as a Fellow of the British Academy
1978: The Harvey Prize, from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, for "his profound insight into the life and mores of the peoples of the Middle East through his writings"
1983: Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
1990: Selected for the Jefferson Lecture by the National Endowment for the Humanities
1996: Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in General Nonfiction, for The Middle East (Scribner)
1999: National Jewish Book Award in the Israel category for The Multiple Identities of the Middle East 2002: The Thomas Jefferson Medal, awarded by the American Philosophical Society
2002: Atatürk International Peace Prize on grounds that he contributed extensively to history scholarship with his accurate analysis of Turkey’s and in particular of Atatürk’s positive impact on Middle Eastern history.
2004: Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement
2006: National Humanities Medal, from the National Endowment for the Humanities
2007: Irving Kristol Award, from the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
2007: The Scholar-Statesman Award from The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
See also
Bernard Lewis bibliography
List of Princeton University people
References
External links
Lewis's page at Princeton University
Revered and Reviled – Lewis's profile on Moment Magazine''
The Legacy and Fallacies of Bernard Lewis by As`ad AbuKhalil
1916 births
2018 deaths
20th-century American historians
20th-century British historians
20th-century British writers
21st-century American historians
21st-century American male writers
21st-century British historians
21st-century British writers
Academics of SOAS University of London
Alumni of SOAS University of London
American centenarians
American historians
American male non-fiction writers
American people of English-Jewish descent
Deniers of the Armenian genocide
British Army personnel of World War II
English centenarians
British emigrants to the United States
English historians
English Jews
Fellows of the British Academy
Historians of Islam
Historians of the Ottoman Empire
Honorary members of the Turkish Academy of Sciences
Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars
Intelligence Corps soldiers
Islam and antisemitism
Islam and politics
Jewish American historians
Jewish scholars
Jewish scholars of Islam
Men centenarians
Middle Eastern studies in the United States
National Humanities Medal recipients
Neoconservatism
People from Stoke Newington
British political commentators
Princeton University faculty
Royal Armoured Corps soldiers
Scholars of antisemitism
University of Paris alumni
Cornell University faculty
Foreign Policy Research Institute
Historians of the Middle East
Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs
Middle Eastern studies scholars
Burials at Trumpeldor Cemetery
21st-century American Jews
| true |
[
"CICATA Querétaro is the Research Center for Applied Science and Advanced Technology of the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) located in Querétaro. It was established on June 30, 2005, by an agreement of the IPN Consultive General Council. Although, it started to operate as an independent academic unit in 2001, when Adrián García García was appointed Acting Director. Its current building was inaugurated on November 6, 2006. On January 1, 2008, its master and doctor degree programs were certified by the National Research Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT).\n\nHistory\nAt the beginning, CICATA Querétaro was one of the five different units that CICATA had around the country. Then, on June 30, 2005, it was declared a Responsible Unit. However, since 2001, Adrian García was serving as its Acting Director. CICATA Querétaro current facilities were inaugurated on November 6, 2006. Before that, CICATA Querétaro has been renting facilities.\n\nEducational Services\nCurrently, CICATA Querétaro offers a master and a doctor degree programs. Both of them are certified by the CONACYT. The master's degree program at Consolidated level and the doctor one at In Development level.\n\nResearch\nCICATA Querétaro has 18 members of the National Research System of CONACYT.\n\nLiaison\nAlthough its liaison is established using regular transactional agreements. A distinctive framework is given by what it has been called the Posgrado Pertinente. Here, the productive sector declare specific research needs that are worked out by students and professors, working toward the students degrees. The organization that declares the need is included in the Tutorial Committee that advise the student on his/her research trajectory. When there is a product coming out of the research, a commercial relationship is established between the research center and the company to transfer the technology\n\nReferences\n\nInstituto Politécnico Nacional",
", also known as was a black and white Japanese anime series that aired from 1961 to 1964. It is the first anime television series.\n\nStory\nThe show was about historical events through a character who was not aware of \"what happened on this day in history\". Sometimes photographs and film footage were mixed in with the animations to explain what historical event had taken place. The research archives came from the newspaper where the director's Fuku-chan manga was printing at the time.\n\nProduction\nThe series began in 1961 as a series of 3 minute shorts that comprised a mix of animation, film footage and stills taken from the research archives of Mainichi Shinbun. Director Ryūichi Yokoyama's Fuku-chan manga was running in the newspaper at the time. This first series was broadcast as Instant History on Fuji TV and was sponsored by Meiji Seika. The series was then recycled into Otogi Manga Calendar which was broadcast on Tokyo Broadcasting System in 1962 and was sponsored by Kirin Company. Parts of the series are also found in Knowledgeable University which was broadcast on Mainichi Broadcasting System in 1966.\n\nSee also\n History of Anime\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \nOtogi Manga Calendar in Animemorial\n\n1961 anime television series debuts\n1964 Japanese television series endings\nTBS Television (Japan) original programming"
] |
[
"Bernard Lewis",
"Research",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Lewis wrote several influential books accessible to the general public:",
"What where the books titles?",
"The Arabs in History (1950), The Middle East and the West (1964), and The Middle East (1995).",
"How were these book do?",
"In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the interest in Lewis's work surged,",
"Did any thing influence him?",
"He is a pioneer of the social and economic history of the Middle East and is famous for his extensive research",
"What was his research on?",
"He began his research career with the study of medieval Arab, especially Syrian, history."
] |
C_49bcb0b5cef543eaad8de30f9d6da37b_0
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Did he meet any criticism?
| 6 |
Did Bernard Lewis meet any criticism?
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Bernard Lewis
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Lewis' influence extends beyond academia to the general public. He is a pioneer of the social and economic history of the Middle East and is famous for his extensive research of the Ottoman archives. He began his research career with the study of medieval Arab, especially Syrian, history. His first article, dedicated to professional guilds of medieval Islam, had been widely regarded as the most authoritative work on the subject for about thirty years. However, after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, scholars of Jewish origin found it more and more difficult to conduct archival and field research in the Arab countries, where they were suspected of espionage. Therefore, Lewis switched to the study of the Ottoman Empire, while continuing to research Arab history through the Ottoman archives which had only recently been opened to Western researchers. A series of articles that Lewis published over the next several years revolutionized the history of the Middle East by giving a broad picture of Islamic society, including its government, economy, and demographics. Lewis argues that the Middle East is currently backward and its decline was a largely self-inflicted condition resulting from both culture and religion, as opposed to the post-colonialist view which posits the problems of the region as economic and political maldevelopment mainly due to the 19th-century European colonization. In his 1982 work Muslim Discovery of Europe, Lewis argues that Muslim societies could not keep pace with the West and that "Crusader successes were due in no small part to Muslim weakness." Further, he suggested that as early as the 11th century Islamic societies were decaying, primarily the byproduct of internal problems like "cultural arrogance," which was a barrier to creative borrowing, rather than external pressures like the Crusades. In the wake of Soviet and Arab attempts to delegitimize Israel as a racist country, Lewis wrote a study of anti-Semitism, Semites and Anti-Semites (1986). In other works he argued Arab rage against Israel was disproportionate to other tragedies or injustices in the Muslim world, such as the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and control of Muslim-majority land in Central Asia, the bloody and destructive fighting during the Hama uprising in Syria (1982), the Algerian civil war (1992-98), and the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88). In addition to his scholarly works, Lewis wrote several influential books accessible to the general public: The Arabs in History (1950), The Middle East and the West (1964), and The Middle East (1995). In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the interest in Lewis's work surged, especially his 1990 essay The Roots of Muslim Rage. Three of his books were published after 9/11: What Went Wrong? (written before the attacks), which explored the reasons of the Muslim world's apprehension of (and sometimes outright hostility to) modernization; The Crisis of Islam; and Islam: The Religion and the People. CANNOTANSWER
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CANNOTANSWER
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Bernard Lewis, (31 May 1916 – 19 May 2018) was a British American historian specialized in Oriental studies. He was also known as a public intellectual and political commentator. Lewis was the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. Lewis's expertise was in the history of Islam and the interaction between Islam and the West.
Lewis served as a soldier in the British Army in the Royal Armoured Corps and Intelligence Corps during the Second World War before being seconded to the Foreign Office. After the war, he returned to the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London and was appointed to the new chair in Near and Middle Eastern history.
In 2007 Lewis was called "the West's leading interpreter of the Middle East". Others have argued Lewis's approach is essentialist and generalizing to the Muslim world, as well as his tendency to restate hypotheses that were challenged by more recent research. On a political level, Lewis is accused by his detractors with having revived the image of the cultural inferiority of Islam and of emphasizing the dangers of jihad. His advice was frequently sought by neoconservative policymakers, including the Bush administration. However, his active support of the Iraq War and neoconservative ideals have since come under scrutiny.
Lewis was also notable for his public debates with Edward Said, who accused Lewis and other orientalists of misrepresenting Islam and serving the purposes of Western imperialist domination, to which Lewis responded by defending Orientalism as a facet of humanism and accusing Said of politicizing the subject. Furthermore, Lewis notoriously denied the Armenian genocide. He argued that the deaths of the mass killings resulted from a struggle between two nationalistic movements, claiming that there is no proof of intent by the Ottoman government to exterminate the Armenian nation.
Family and personal life
Bernard Lewis was born on 31 May 1916 to middle-class British Jewish parents, Harry Lewis and the former Jane Levy, in Stoke Newington, London. He became interested in languages and history while preparing for his bar mitzvah. In 1947 he married Ruth Hélène Oppenhejm, with whom he had a daughter and a son. Their marriage was dissolved in 1974. Lewis became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1982.
Academic career
In 1936, Lewis graduated from the School of Oriental Studies (now School of Oriental and African Studies, SOAS) at the University of London with a BA in history with special reference to the Near and Middle East. He earned his PhD three years later, also from SOAS, specializing in the history of Islam. Lewis also studied law, going part of the way toward becoming a solicitor, but returned to study Middle Eastern history. He undertook post-graduate studies at the University of Paris, where he studied with the orientalist Louis Massignon and earned the "Diplôme des Études Sémitiques" in 1937. He returned to SOAS in 1938 as an assistant lecturer in Islamic History.
During the Second World War, Lewis served in the British Army in the Royal Armoured Corps and as a Corporal in the Intelligence Corps in 1940–41 before being seconded to the Foreign Office. After the war, he returned to SOAS, where he would remain for the next 25 years. In 1949, at the age of 33, he was appointed to the new chair in Near and Middle Eastern History. In 1963, Lewis was granted fellowship of the British Academy.
In 1974, aged 57, Lewis accepted a joint position at Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study, also located in Princeton, New Jersey. The terms of his appointment were such that Lewis taught only one semester per year, and being free from administrative responsibilities, he could devote more time to research than previously. Consequently, Lewis's arrival at Princeton marked the beginning of the most prolific period in his research career during which he published numerous books and articles based on previously accumulated materials. After retiring from Princeton in 1986, Lewis served at Cornell University until 1990.
In 1966, Lewis was a founding member of the learned society, Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA), but in 2007 he broke away and founded Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA) to challenge MESA, which the New York Sun noted as "dominated by academics who have been critical of Israel and of America's role in the Middle East". The organization was formed as an academic society dedicated to promoting high standards of research and teaching in Middle Eastern and African studies and other related fields, with Lewis as Chairman of its academic council.
In 1990, the National Endowment for the Humanities selected Lewis for the Jefferson Lecture, the U.S. federal government's highest honor for achievement in the humanities. His lecture, entitled "Western Civilization: A View from the East", was revised and reprinted in The Atlantic Monthly under the title "The Roots of Muslim Rage." His 2007 Irving Kristol Lecture, given to the American Enterprise Institute, was published as Europe and Islam.
Research
Lewis's influence extends beyond academia to the general public. He began his research career with the study of medieval Arab, especially Syrian, history. His first article, dedicated to professional guilds of medieval Islam, had been widely regarded as the most authoritative work on the subject for about thirty years. However, after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, scholars of Jewish origin found it more and more difficult to conduct archival and field research in Arab countries, where they were suspected of espionage. Therefore, Lewis switched to the study of the Ottoman Empire, while continuing to research Arab history through the Ottoman archives which had only recently been opened to Western researchers. A series of articles that Lewis published over the next several years revolutionized the history of the Middle East by giving a broad picture of Islamic society, including its government, economy, and demographics.
Lewis argued that the Middle East is currently backward and its decline was a largely self-inflicted condition resulting from both culture and religion, as opposed to the post-colonialist view which posits the problems of the region as economic and political maldevelopment mainly due to the 19th-century European colonization. In his 1982 work Muslim Discovery of Europe, Lewis argues that Muslim societies could not keep pace with the West and that "Crusader successes were due in no small part to Muslim weakness." Further, he suggested that as early as the 11th century Islamic societies were decaying, primarily the byproduct of internal problems like "cultural arrogance," which was a barrier to creative borrowing, rather than external pressures like the Crusades.
In the wake of Soviet and Arab attempts to delegitimize Israel as a racist country, Lewis wrote a study of anti-Semitism, Semites and Anti-Semites (1986). In other works he argued Arab rage against Israel was disproportionate to other tragedies or injustices in the Muslim world, such as the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and control of Muslim-majority land in Central Asia, the bloody and destructive fighting during the Hama uprising in Syria (1982), the Algerian Civil War (1992–1998), and the Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988).
In addition to his scholarly works, Lewis wrote several influential books accessible to the general public: The Arabs in History (1950), The Middle East and the West (1964), and The Middle East (1995). In the wake of the 11 September 2001 attacks, the interest in Lewis's work surged, especially his 1990 essay The Roots of Muslim Rage. Three of his books were published after 9/11: What Went Wrong? (written before the attacks), which explored the reasons of the Muslim world's apprehension of (and sometimes outright hostility to) modernization; The Crisis of Islam; and Islam: The Religion and the People.
Abraham Udovitch described him as "certainly the most eminent and respected historian of the Arab world, of the Islamic world, of the Middle East and beyond".
Armenian genocide
The first two editions of Lewis's The Emergence of Modern Turkey (1961 and 1968) describe the Armenian genocide as "the terrible holocaust of 1915, when a million and a half Armenians perished". In later editions, this text is altered to "the terrible slaughter of 1915, when, according to estimates, more than a million Armenians perished, as well as an unknown number of Turks". In this passage, Lewis argues that the deaths were the result of a struggle for the same land between two competing nationalist movements.
The change in Lewis's textual description of the Armenian genocide and his signing of the petition against the Congressional resolution was controversial among some Armenian historians as well as journalists, who suggested that Lewis was engaging in historical revisionism to serve his own political and personal interests.
Lewis called the label "genocide" the "Armenian version of this history" in a November 1993 interview with Le Monde, for which he faced a civil proceeding in a French court. In a subsequent exchange on the pages of Le Monde, Lewis wrote that while "terrible atrocities" did occur, "there exists no serious proof of a decision and of a plan of the Ottoman government aiming to exterminate the Armenian nation". He was ordered to pay one franc as damages for his statements on the Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey. Three other court cases against Bernard Lewis failed in the Paris tribunal, including one filed by the Armenian National Committee of France and two filed by Jacques Trémollet de Villers.
Lewis's views on the Armenian genocide were criticized by a number of historians and sociologists, among them Alain Finkielkraut, Yves Ternon, Richard G. Hovannisian, Robert Melson, and Pierre Vidal-Naquet.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Finkelstein|first1=Norman G.|title=The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering|date=2003|publisher=Verso|location=London|isbn=978-1859844885|page=69}}</ref>
Lewis has argued for his denial stance that:
Lewis has been labelled a "genocide denier" by Stephen Zunes, Israel Charny, David B. MacDonald and the Armenian National Committee of America. Israeli historian Yair Auron suggested that "Lewis' stature provided a lofty cover for the Turkish national agenda of obfuscating academic research on the Armenian Genocide". Israel Charny wrote that Lewis's "seemingly scholarly concern ... of Armenians constituting a threat to the Turks as a rebellious force who together with the Russians threatened the Ottoman Empire, and the insistence that only a policy of deportations was executed, barely conceal the fact that the organized deportations constituted systematic mass murder". Charny compares the "logical structures" employed by Lewis in his denial of the genocide to those employed by Ernst Nolte in his Holocaust negationism.
Views and influence on contemporary politics
In the mid-1960s, Lewis emerged as a commentator on the issues of the modern Middle East and his analysis of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the rise of militant Islam brought him publicity and aroused significant controversy. American historian Joel Beinin has called him "perhaps the most articulate and learned Zionist advocate in the North American Middle East academic community". Lewis's policy advice has particular weight thanks to this scholarly authority. U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney remarked "in this new century, his wisdom is sought daily by policymakers, diplomats, fellow academics, and the news media".
A harsh critic of the Soviet Union, Lewis continued the liberal tradition in Islamic historical studies. Although his early Marxist views had a bearing on his first book The Origins of Ismailism, Lewis subsequently discarded Marxism. His later works are a reaction against the left-wing current of Third-worldism which came to be a significant current in Middle Eastern studies.
During his career Lewis developed ties with governments around the world: during her time as Prime Minister of Israel, Golda Meir assigned Lewis's articles as reading to her cabinet members, and during the Presidency of George W. Bush, he advised administration members including Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Bush himself. He was also close to King Hussein of Jordan and his brother, Prince Hassan bin Talal. He also had ties to the regime of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, the Turkish military dictatorship led by Kenan Evren, and the Egyptian government of Anwar Sadat: he acted as a go-between between the Sadat administration and Israel in 1971 when he relayed a message to the Israeli government regarding the possibility of a peace agreement at the request of Sadat's spokesman Tahasin Bashir.
Lewis advocated closer Western ties with Israel and Turkey, which he saw as especially important in light of the extension of the Soviet influence in the Middle East. Modern Turkey holds a special place in Lewis's view of the region due to the country's efforts to become a part of the West. He was an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Turkish Studies, an honor which is given "on the basis of generally recognized scholarly distinction and ... long and devoted service to the field of Turkish Studies."
Lewis views Christendom and Islam as civilizations that have been in perpetual collision since the advent of Islam in the 7th century. In his essay The Roots of Muslim Rage (1990), he argued that the struggle between the West and Islam was gathering strength. According to one source, this essay (and Lewis's 1990 Jefferson Lecture on which the article was based) first introduced the term "Islamic fundamentalism" to North America. This essay has been credited with coining the phrase "clash of civilizations", which received prominence in the eponymous book by Samuel Huntington. However, another source indicates that Lewis first used the phrase "clash of civilizations" at a 1957 meeting in Washington where it was recorded in the transcript.
In 1998, Lewis read in a London-based newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi a declaration of war on the United States by Osama bin Laden. In his essay "A License to Kill", Lewis indicated he considered bin Laden's language as the "ideology of jihad" and warned that bin Laden would be a danger to the West. The essay was published after the Clinton administration and the US intelligence community had begun its hunt for bin Laden in Sudan and then in Afghanistan.
Jihad
Lewis writes of jihad as a distinct religious obligation, but suggests that it is a pity that people engaging in terrorist activities are not more aware of their own religion:The fanatical warrior offering his victims the choice of the Koran or the sword is not only untrue, it is impossible. The alleged choice - conversion or death - is also, with rare and atypical exceptions, untrue. Muslim tolerance of unbelievers and misbelievers was far better than anything available in Christendom until the rise of secularism in the 17th century.
Muslim fighters are commanded not to kill women, children, or the aged unless they attack first; not to torture or otherwise ill-treat prisoners; to give fair warnings of the opening of hostilities or their resumption after a truce; and to honor agreements. At no time did the classical jurists offer any approval or legitimacy to what we nowdays call terrorism. Nor indeed is there any evidence of the use of terrorism as it is practiced nowadays.
The emergence of the by now widespread terrorism practice of suicide bombing is a development of the 20th century. It has no antecedents in Islamic history, and no justification in the terms of Islamic theology, law, or tradition.As'ad AbuKhalil, has criticized this view and stated: "Methodologically, [Lewis] insists that terrorism by individual Muslims should be considered Islamic terrorism, while terrorism by individual Jews or Christians is never considered Jewish or Christian terrorism."
He also criticised Lewis's understanding of Osama bin Laden, seeing Lewis's interpretation of bin Laden "as some kind of influential Muslim theologian" along the lines of classical theologians like Al-Ghazali, rather than "the terrorist fanatic that he is". AbuKhalil has also criticized the place of Islam in Lewis's worldview more generally, arguing that the most prominent feature of his work was its "theologocentrism" (borrowing a term from Maxime Rodinson) - that Lewis interprets all aspects of behavior among Muslims solely through the lens of Islamic theology, subsuming the study of Muslim peoples, their languages, the geographical areas where Muslims predominate, Islamic governments, the governments of Arab countries and Sharia under the label of "Islam".
Debates with Edward Said
Lewis was known for his literary debates with Edward Said, the Palestinian American literary theorist whose aim was to deconstruct what he called Orientalist scholarship. Said, who was a professor at Columbia University, characterized Lewis's work as a prime example of Orientalism in his 1978 book Orientalism and in his later book Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World (1981). Said asserted that the field of Orientalism was political intellectualism bent on self-affirmation rather than objective study, a form of racism, and a tool of imperialist domination. He further questioned the scientific neutrality of some leading Middle East scholars, including Lewis, on the Arab World. In an interview with Al-Ahram weekly, Said suggested that Lewis's knowledge of the Middle East was so biased that it could not be taken seriously and claimed "Bernard Lewis hasn't set foot in the Middle East, in the Arab world, for at least 40 years. He knows something about Turkey, I'm told, but he knows nothing about the Arab world." Said considered that Lewis treats Islam as a monolithic entity without the nuance of its plurality, internal dynamics, and historical complexities, and accused him of "demagogy and downright ignorance". In Covering Islam, Said argued that "Lewis simply cannot deal with the diversity of Muslim, much less human life, because it is closed to him as something foreign, radically different, and other," and he criticised Lewis's "inability to grant that the Islamic peoples are entitled to their own cultural, political, and historical practices, free from Lewis's calculated attempt to show that because they are not Western... they can't be good."
Rejecting the view that Western scholarship was biased against the Middle East, Lewis responded that Orientalism developed as a facet of European humanism, independently of the past European imperial expansion. He noted the French and English pursued the study of Islam in the 16th and 17th centuries, yet not in an organized way, but long before they had any control or hope of control in the Middle East; and that much of Orientalist study did nothing to advance the cause of imperialism. In his 1993 book Islam and the West, Lewis wrote "What imperial purpose was served by deciphering the ancient Egyptian language, for example, and then restoring to the Egyptians knowledge of and pride in their forgotten, ancient past?"
Furthermore, Lewis accused Said of politicizing the scientific study of the Middle East (and Arabic studies in particular); neglecting to critique the scholarly findings of the Orientalists; and giving "free rein" to his biases.
Stance on the Iraq War
In 2002, Lewis wrote an article for The Wall Street Journal regarding the buildup to the Iraq War entitled "Time for Toppling", where he stated his opinion that "a regime change may well be dangerous, but sometimes the dangers of inaction are greater than those of action". In 2007, Jacob Weisberg described Lewis as "perhaps the most significant intellectual influence behind the invasion of Iraq". Michael Hirsh attributed to Lewis the view that regime change in Iraq would provide a jolt that would "modernize the Middle East" and suggested that Lewis's allegedly 'orientalist' theories about "what went wrong" in the Middle East, and other writings, formed the intellectual basis of the push towards war in Iraq. Hirsch reported that Lewis had told him in an interview that he viewed the 11 September attacks as "the opening salvo of the final battle" between Western and Islamic civilisations: Lewis believed that a forceful response was necessary. In the run up to the Iraq War, he met with Vice President Dick Cheney several times: Hirsch quoted an unnamed official who was present at a number of these meetings, who summarised Lewis's view of Iraq as "Get on with it. Don't dither". Brent Scowcroft quoted Lewis as stating that he believed "that one of the things you’ve got to do to Arabs is hit them between the eyes with a big stick. They respect power". As'ad AbuKhalil has claimed that Lewis assured Cheney that American troops would be welcomed by Iraqis and Arabs, relying on the opinion of his colleague Fouad Ajami. Hirsch also drew parallels between the Bush administration's plans for post-invasion Iraq and Lewis's views, in particular his admiration for Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's secularist and Westernising reforms in the new Republic of Turkey which emerged from the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
Writing in 2008, Lewis did not advocate imposing freedom and democracy on Islamic nations. "There are things you can't impose. Freedom, for example. Or democracy. Democracy is a very strong medicine which has to be administered to the patient in small, gradually increasing doses. Otherwise, you risk killing the patient. In the main, the Muslims have to do it themselves."
Ian Buruma, writing for The New Yorker in an article subtitled "The two Minds of Bernard Lewis", finds Lewis's stance on the war difficult to reconcile with Lewis's past statements cautioning democracy enforcement in the world at large. Buruma ultimately rejects suggestions by his peers that Lewis promotes war with Iraq to safeguard Israel, but instead concludes "perhaps he loves it [the Arab world] too much":
Hamid Dabashi, writing on 28 May 2018, in an article subtitled "On Bernard Lewis and 'his extraordinary capacity for getting everything wrong'", asked: "Just imagine: What sort of a person would spend a lifetime studying people he loathes? It is quite a bizarre proposition. But there you have it: the late Bernard Lewis did precisely that." Similarly, Richard Bulliet described Lewis as "...a person who does not like the people he is purporting to have expertise about...he doesn’t respect them, he considers them to be good and worthy only to the degree they follow a Western path". According to As'ad AbuKhalil, "Lewis has poisoned the Middle East academic field more than any other Orientalist and his influence has been both academic and political. But there is a new generation of Middle East experts in the West who now see clearly the political agenda of Bernard Lewis. It was fully exposed in the Bush years."
Alleged nuclear threat from Iran
In 2006, Lewis wrote that Iran had been working on a nuclear weapon for fifteen years. In August 2006, in an article about whether the world can rely on the concept of mutual assured destruction as a deterrent in its dealings with Iran, Lewis wrote in The Wall Street Journal about the significance of 22 August 2006 in the Islamic calendar. The Iranian president had indicated he would respond by that date to U.S. demands regarding Iran's development of nuclear power. Lewis wrote that the date corresponded to the 27th day of the month of Rajab of the year 1427, the day Muslims commemorate the night flight of Muhammad from Jerusalem to heaven and back. Lewis wrote that it would be "an appropriate date for the apocalyptic ending of Israel and, if necessary, of the world". According to Lewis, mutual assured destruction is not an effective deterrent in the case of Iran, because of what Lewis describes as the Iranian leadership's "apocalyptic worldview" and the "suicide or martyrdom complex that plagues parts of the Islamic world today". Lewis's article received significant press coverage. However, the day passed without any incident.
Death
Bernard Lewis died on 19 May 2018 at the age of 101, at an assisted-living care facility in Voorhees Township, New Jersey, twelve days before his 102nd birthday.
He is buried in Trumpeldor Cemetery in Tel Aviv.
Bibliography
Awards and honors
1963: Elected as a Fellow of the British Academy
1978: The Harvey Prize, from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, for "his profound insight into the life and mores of the peoples of the Middle East through his writings"
1983: Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
1990: Selected for the Jefferson Lecture by the National Endowment for the Humanities
1996: Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in General Nonfiction, for The Middle East (Scribner)
1999: National Jewish Book Award in the Israel category for The Multiple Identities of the Middle East 2002: The Thomas Jefferson Medal, awarded by the American Philosophical Society
2002: Atatürk International Peace Prize on grounds that he contributed extensively to history scholarship with his accurate analysis of Turkey’s and in particular of Atatürk’s positive impact on Middle Eastern history.
2004: Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement
2006: National Humanities Medal, from the National Endowment for the Humanities
2007: Irving Kristol Award, from the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
2007: The Scholar-Statesman Award from The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
See also
Bernard Lewis bibliography
List of Princeton University people
References
External links
Lewis's page at Princeton University
Revered and Reviled – Lewis's profile on Moment Magazine''
The Legacy and Fallacies of Bernard Lewis by As`ad AbuKhalil
1916 births
2018 deaths
20th-century American historians
20th-century British historians
20th-century British writers
21st-century American historians
21st-century American male writers
21st-century British historians
21st-century British writers
Academics of SOAS University of London
Alumni of SOAS University of London
American centenarians
American historians
American male non-fiction writers
American people of English-Jewish descent
Deniers of the Armenian genocide
British Army personnel of World War II
English centenarians
British emigrants to the United States
English historians
English Jews
Fellows of the British Academy
Historians of Islam
Historians of the Ottoman Empire
Honorary members of the Turkish Academy of Sciences
Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars
Intelligence Corps soldiers
Islam and antisemitism
Islam and politics
Jewish American historians
Jewish scholars
Jewish scholars of Islam
Men centenarians
Middle Eastern studies in the United States
National Humanities Medal recipients
Neoconservatism
People from Stoke Newington
British political commentators
Princeton University faculty
Royal Armoured Corps soldiers
Scholars of antisemitism
University of Paris alumni
Cornell University faculty
Foreign Policy Research Institute
Historians of the Middle East
Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs
Middle Eastern studies scholars
Burials at Trumpeldor Cemetery
21st-century American Jews
| false |
[
"Radical criticism is a movement around the late 19th century that, typically, denied authentic authorship of the Pauline epistles. This went beyond the higher criticism of the Tübingen school which (with the exception of Bruno Bauer) held that a core of at least four epistles had been written by Paul of Tarsus in the 1st century.\n\nDutch Radical School\nThe Dutch school of radical criticism started in 1878 with a publication by Allard Pierson, who denied Pauline authorship of Galatians. He was fiercely attacked by his colleague Abraham Dirk Loman, but two years later, also Loman abandoned the historicity of Paul. Similarly, Willem Christiaan van Manen, who had written a doctoral thesis defending the authenticity of 1 Thessalonians, wrote in 1889 that he had come to the same conclusions as Loman. Also, the philosopher Gerardus Johannes Petrus Josephus Bolland was a part of the movement. With the death of Van Manen's student Gustaaf Adolf van den Bergh van Eysinga in 1957, the line of scholarship at Dutch universities came to an end.\n\nThe name \"Dutch Radicals\" was coined by Loman, in an 1887 article reviewing Edwin Johnson (\"Antiqua Mater: A Study of Christian Origins\", 1887), saying that \"the author is a radical like we seldom meet among theologians and hardly ever among English theologians\". The RadikalKritik article on van Manen and the Dutch Radicals adds that \"Van Manen later spoke of the 'radical' or the 'Dutch' school (1902). The 'radical' scholars did not want to be impeded by church canons and wanted to be free in their research of the New Testament and of the history of early Christianity. This research led them to the conclusion that we do not have any authentic Pauline epistles.\"\n\nThe Dutch school also influenced Rudolf Steck in Switzerland, and Arthur Drews in Germany. However, the works of Adolf Harnack proved more influential, and radical criticism was eventually abandoned and is now a fringe position in current New Testament scholarship.\n\nAttempts to revive Radical criticism has been made by Robert M. Price, Darrell J. Doughty and Hermann Detering, who founded in 1994 the Journal of Higher Criticism. These attempts have largely been ignored by mainstream scholarship and have received strong criticism from Bart D. Ehrman, Maurice Casey and R. Joseph Hoffmann.\n\nReception\nMembers of the Radical Dutch School argued against the existence of Jesus, which caused controversy. Robert Van Voorst wrote that \"their arguments were stoutly attacked in the Netherlands, especially by other scholars, but largely ignored out it.\"\n\nKey proponents\n\nGerard Bolland\nHermann Detering\nGustaaf Adolf van den Bergh van Eysinga\nAbraham Dirk Loman\nWillem Christiaan van Manen\nAllard Pierson\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \nHermann Detering's Radikal Kritik site (in German, limited English pages available)\nArticle by Hermann Detering for Institute for Higher Critical Studies\n\nBiblical criticism\nChrist myth theory",
"The Meet-the-People Sessions (MPS) is a series of one-to-one meetings between elected Members of Parliament (MPs) and their constituents in Singapore. The sessions are usually held once a week at a local constituency office staffed by partisan volunteers. Constituents visit their representative in the hope of resolving their various problems encountered in daily living. The MP will write petition letters to the relevant ministry, statutory board or any concerned parties to appeal on behalf of the resident. These letters are usually accorded a higher priority by the civil service as they come from elected Members of Parliament, regardless even from elected Opposition MPs as the Singapore Civil Service is ought to accord MPs equally and democratic as based and sworn by the Singapore National Pledge.\n\nCases deal with a wide range of issues. The list is not exhaustive such as family financial problems (e.g. health-cost issues, jobs seeking, financial assistance), CPF matters, various licenses, HDB-related problems (e.g. subsidized rental housing, obtaining a subsidized HDB flat), immigration issues, and appeals for school admissions and school fee subsidy, neighbor and any other relational disputes.\n\nAlmost all Meet-the-People sessions start after 7 pm and can routinely last past midnight based on queue, and are staffed by volunteers.\n\nHistory\nThe establishment of these sessions can be traced back to then Chief Minister of Singapore, David Marshall of the Labour Front in the 1950s.\n\nRationale\nThe rationale for the Meet-the-People Session is so that Members of Parliament can get a feel of the ground. Even cabinet ministers are required to go to their weekly sessions, although sometimes they may seek help from other MPs to cover duties when they have ministerial or other work duties to attend to.\n\nThe 1966 Wee Chong Jin Constitutional Commission had recommended an Ombudsman to deal with complaints against the bureaucracy, but Parliament rejected the recommendation and instead preferred that such cases were handled by the Members of Parliament themselves or the national Feedback Unit. This need to perform an ombudsman function is probably another rationale for having the Meet-the-People Sessions.\n\nProcess\nThe process of meeting the Members of Parliament varies from constituency to constituency, but follow a general pattern:\nRegistration and take queue number,\nConstituent meets the petition writer who pens the appeal letter (either hand-written or via computer) on behalf of the MP,\nWait for a queue to consult the MP in person,\nMeet and consult the MP, with a personal assistant, in a separate private room, constituent narrates to the MP of his/ her problems.\nMP needs to assure the constituent that they will provide assistance to their cases via the letters. For urgent cases, the letter will be typed out, proof-read and sign by the MP and hands it to the constituent on the spot. For typical cases, the letter will be vetted through by the MP's or Minister's Personal Secretary and sent out usually after three working days.\n\nCriticism\nThere has been criticism that MPs do not give sufficient time allowance to each individual resident. There has also been criticism that volunteers at Meet-the-People Sessions are unable to connect with residents and that the general attitude of volunteers has changed with time, to the organisations detriment. Criticisms include the use of standard templates for many of the petition letters which are repetitive, an inability to accommodate residents with disabilities and a lack of empathy towards fellow Singaporeans. To counter the criticism the organisation has begun to redesign the \"Meet-the-People\" sessions to actually feel the ground in reality, to try and gain back the trust and support of the people that the people entrust to them.\n\nSee also\nSurgery (politics)\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nTo Find Your Member of Parliament and the timing of his/her Meet-the-People Session\nA Meet-the-People Session Experience\n\nSingaporean culture\nSingapore government policies"
] |
[
"Bernard Lewis",
"Research",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Lewis wrote several influential books accessible to the general public:",
"What where the books titles?",
"The Arabs in History (1950), The Middle East and the West (1964), and The Middle East (1995).",
"How were these book do?",
"In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the interest in Lewis's work surged,",
"Did any thing influence him?",
"He is a pioneer of the social and economic history of the Middle East and is famous for his extensive research",
"What was his research on?",
"He began his research career with the study of medieval Arab, especially Syrian, history.",
"Did he meet any criticism?",
"I don't know."
] |
C_49bcb0b5cef543eaad8de30f9d6da37b_0
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How did the public take him?
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How did the public take Bernard Lewis?
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Bernard Lewis
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Lewis' influence extends beyond academia to the general public. He is a pioneer of the social and economic history of the Middle East and is famous for his extensive research of the Ottoman archives. He began his research career with the study of medieval Arab, especially Syrian, history. His first article, dedicated to professional guilds of medieval Islam, had been widely regarded as the most authoritative work on the subject for about thirty years. However, after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, scholars of Jewish origin found it more and more difficult to conduct archival and field research in the Arab countries, where they were suspected of espionage. Therefore, Lewis switched to the study of the Ottoman Empire, while continuing to research Arab history through the Ottoman archives which had only recently been opened to Western researchers. A series of articles that Lewis published over the next several years revolutionized the history of the Middle East by giving a broad picture of Islamic society, including its government, economy, and demographics. Lewis argues that the Middle East is currently backward and its decline was a largely self-inflicted condition resulting from both culture and religion, as opposed to the post-colonialist view which posits the problems of the region as economic and political maldevelopment mainly due to the 19th-century European colonization. In his 1982 work Muslim Discovery of Europe, Lewis argues that Muslim societies could not keep pace with the West and that "Crusader successes were due in no small part to Muslim weakness." Further, he suggested that as early as the 11th century Islamic societies were decaying, primarily the byproduct of internal problems like "cultural arrogance," which was a barrier to creative borrowing, rather than external pressures like the Crusades. In the wake of Soviet and Arab attempts to delegitimize Israel as a racist country, Lewis wrote a study of anti-Semitism, Semites and Anti-Semites (1986). In other works he argued Arab rage against Israel was disproportionate to other tragedies or injustices in the Muslim world, such as the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and control of Muslim-majority land in Central Asia, the bloody and destructive fighting during the Hama uprising in Syria (1982), the Algerian civil war (1992-98), and the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88). In addition to his scholarly works, Lewis wrote several influential books accessible to the general public: The Arabs in History (1950), The Middle East and the West (1964), and The Middle East (1995). In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the interest in Lewis's work surged, especially his 1990 essay The Roots of Muslim Rage. Three of his books were published after 9/11: What Went Wrong? (written before the attacks), which explored the reasons of the Muslim world's apprehension of (and sometimes outright hostility to) modernization; The Crisis of Islam; and Islam: The Religion and the People. CANNOTANSWER
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CANNOTANSWER
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Bernard Lewis, (31 May 1916 – 19 May 2018) was a British American historian specialized in Oriental studies. He was also known as a public intellectual and political commentator. Lewis was the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. Lewis's expertise was in the history of Islam and the interaction between Islam and the West.
Lewis served as a soldier in the British Army in the Royal Armoured Corps and Intelligence Corps during the Second World War before being seconded to the Foreign Office. After the war, he returned to the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London and was appointed to the new chair in Near and Middle Eastern history.
In 2007 Lewis was called "the West's leading interpreter of the Middle East". Others have argued Lewis's approach is essentialist and generalizing to the Muslim world, as well as his tendency to restate hypotheses that were challenged by more recent research. On a political level, Lewis is accused by his detractors with having revived the image of the cultural inferiority of Islam and of emphasizing the dangers of jihad. His advice was frequently sought by neoconservative policymakers, including the Bush administration. However, his active support of the Iraq War and neoconservative ideals have since come under scrutiny.
Lewis was also notable for his public debates with Edward Said, who accused Lewis and other orientalists of misrepresenting Islam and serving the purposes of Western imperialist domination, to which Lewis responded by defending Orientalism as a facet of humanism and accusing Said of politicizing the subject. Furthermore, Lewis notoriously denied the Armenian genocide. He argued that the deaths of the mass killings resulted from a struggle between two nationalistic movements, claiming that there is no proof of intent by the Ottoman government to exterminate the Armenian nation.
Family and personal life
Bernard Lewis was born on 31 May 1916 to middle-class British Jewish parents, Harry Lewis and the former Jane Levy, in Stoke Newington, London. He became interested in languages and history while preparing for his bar mitzvah. In 1947 he married Ruth Hélène Oppenhejm, with whom he had a daughter and a son. Their marriage was dissolved in 1974. Lewis became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1982.
Academic career
In 1936, Lewis graduated from the School of Oriental Studies (now School of Oriental and African Studies, SOAS) at the University of London with a BA in history with special reference to the Near and Middle East. He earned his PhD three years later, also from SOAS, specializing in the history of Islam. Lewis also studied law, going part of the way toward becoming a solicitor, but returned to study Middle Eastern history. He undertook post-graduate studies at the University of Paris, where he studied with the orientalist Louis Massignon and earned the "Diplôme des Études Sémitiques" in 1937. He returned to SOAS in 1938 as an assistant lecturer in Islamic History.
During the Second World War, Lewis served in the British Army in the Royal Armoured Corps and as a Corporal in the Intelligence Corps in 1940–41 before being seconded to the Foreign Office. After the war, he returned to SOAS, where he would remain for the next 25 years. In 1949, at the age of 33, he was appointed to the new chair in Near and Middle Eastern History. In 1963, Lewis was granted fellowship of the British Academy.
In 1974, aged 57, Lewis accepted a joint position at Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study, also located in Princeton, New Jersey. The terms of his appointment were such that Lewis taught only one semester per year, and being free from administrative responsibilities, he could devote more time to research than previously. Consequently, Lewis's arrival at Princeton marked the beginning of the most prolific period in his research career during which he published numerous books and articles based on previously accumulated materials. After retiring from Princeton in 1986, Lewis served at Cornell University until 1990.
In 1966, Lewis was a founding member of the learned society, Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA), but in 2007 he broke away and founded Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA) to challenge MESA, which the New York Sun noted as "dominated by academics who have been critical of Israel and of America's role in the Middle East". The organization was formed as an academic society dedicated to promoting high standards of research and teaching in Middle Eastern and African studies and other related fields, with Lewis as Chairman of its academic council.
In 1990, the National Endowment for the Humanities selected Lewis for the Jefferson Lecture, the U.S. federal government's highest honor for achievement in the humanities. His lecture, entitled "Western Civilization: A View from the East", was revised and reprinted in The Atlantic Monthly under the title "The Roots of Muslim Rage." His 2007 Irving Kristol Lecture, given to the American Enterprise Institute, was published as Europe and Islam.
Research
Lewis's influence extends beyond academia to the general public. He began his research career with the study of medieval Arab, especially Syrian, history. His first article, dedicated to professional guilds of medieval Islam, had been widely regarded as the most authoritative work on the subject for about thirty years. However, after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, scholars of Jewish origin found it more and more difficult to conduct archival and field research in Arab countries, where they were suspected of espionage. Therefore, Lewis switched to the study of the Ottoman Empire, while continuing to research Arab history through the Ottoman archives which had only recently been opened to Western researchers. A series of articles that Lewis published over the next several years revolutionized the history of the Middle East by giving a broad picture of Islamic society, including its government, economy, and demographics.
Lewis argued that the Middle East is currently backward and its decline was a largely self-inflicted condition resulting from both culture and religion, as opposed to the post-colonialist view which posits the problems of the region as economic and political maldevelopment mainly due to the 19th-century European colonization. In his 1982 work Muslim Discovery of Europe, Lewis argues that Muslim societies could not keep pace with the West and that "Crusader successes were due in no small part to Muslim weakness." Further, he suggested that as early as the 11th century Islamic societies were decaying, primarily the byproduct of internal problems like "cultural arrogance," which was a barrier to creative borrowing, rather than external pressures like the Crusades.
In the wake of Soviet and Arab attempts to delegitimize Israel as a racist country, Lewis wrote a study of anti-Semitism, Semites and Anti-Semites (1986). In other works he argued Arab rage against Israel was disproportionate to other tragedies or injustices in the Muslim world, such as the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and control of Muslim-majority land in Central Asia, the bloody and destructive fighting during the Hama uprising in Syria (1982), the Algerian Civil War (1992–1998), and the Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988).
In addition to his scholarly works, Lewis wrote several influential books accessible to the general public: The Arabs in History (1950), The Middle East and the West (1964), and The Middle East (1995). In the wake of the 11 September 2001 attacks, the interest in Lewis's work surged, especially his 1990 essay The Roots of Muslim Rage. Three of his books were published after 9/11: What Went Wrong? (written before the attacks), which explored the reasons of the Muslim world's apprehension of (and sometimes outright hostility to) modernization; The Crisis of Islam; and Islam: The Religion and the People.
Abraham Udovitch described him as "certainly the most eminent and respected historian of the Arab world, of the Islamic world, of the Middle East and beyond".
Armenian genocide
The first two editions of Lewis's The Emergence of Modern Turkey (1961 and 1968) describe the Armenian genocide as "the terrible holocaust of 1915, when a million and a half Armenians perished". In later editions, this text is altered to "the terrible slaughter of 1915, when, according to estimates, more than a million Armenians perished, as well as an unknown number of Turks". In this passage, Lewis argues that the deaths were the result of a struggle for the same land between two competing nationalist movements.
The change in Lewis's textual description of the Armenian genocide and his signing of the petition against the Congressional resolution was controversial among some Armenian historians as well as journalists, who suggested that Lewis was engaging in historical revisionism to serve his own political and personal interests.
Lewis called the label "genocide" the "Armenian version of this history" in a November 1993 interview with Le Monde, for which he faced a civil proceeding in a French court. In a subsequent exchange on the pages of Le Monde, Lewis wrote that while "terrible atrocities" did occur, "there exists no serious proof of a decision and of a plan of the Ottoman government aiming to exterminate the Armenian nation". He was ordered to pay one franc as damages for his statements on the Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey. Three other court cases against Bernard Lewis failed in the Paris tribunal, including one filed by the Armenian National Committee of France and two filed by Jacques Trémollet de Villers.
Lewis's views on the Armenian genocide were criticized by a number of historians and sociologists, among them Alain Finkielkraut, Yves Ternon, Richard G. Hovannisian, Robert Melson, and Pierre Vidal-Naquet.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Finkelstein|first1=Norman G.|title=The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering|date=2003|publisher=Verso|location=London|isbn=978-1859844885|page=69}}</ref>
Lewis has argued for his denial stance that:
Lewis has been labelled a "genocide denier" by Stephen Zunes, Israel Charny, David B. MacDonald and the Armenian National Committee of America. Israeli historian Yair Auron suggested that "Lewis' stature provided a lofty cover for the Turkish national agenda of obfuscating academic research on the Armenian Genocide". Israel Charny wrote that Lewis's "seemingly scholarly concern ... of Armenians constituting a threat to the Turks as a rebellious force who together with the Russians threatened the Ottoman Empire, and the insistence that only a policy of deportations was executed, barely conceal the fact that the organized deportations constituted systematic mass murder". Charny compares the "logical structures" employed by Lewis in his denial of the genocide to those employed by Ernst Nolte in his Holocaust negationism.
Views and influence on contemporary politics
In the mid-1960s, Lewis emerged as a commentator on the issues of the modern Middle East and his analysis of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the rise of militant Islam brought him publicity and aroused significant controversy. American historian Joel Beinin has called him "perhaps the most articulate and learned Zionist advocate in the North American Middle East academic community". Lewis's policy advice has particular weight thanks to this scholarly authority. U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney remarked "in this new century, his wisdom is sought daily by policymakers, diplomats, fellow academics, and the news media".
A harsh critic of the Soviet Union, Lewis continued the liberal tradition in Islamic historical studies. Although his early Marxist views had a bearing on his first book The Origins of Ismailism, Lewis subsequently discarded Marxism. His later works are a reaction against the left-wing current of Third-worldism which came to be a significant current in Middle Eastern studies.
During his career Lewis developed ties with governments around the world: during her time as Prime Minister of Israel, Golda Meir assigned Lewis's articles as reading to her cabinet members, and during the Presidency of George W. Bush, he advised administration members including Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Bush himself. He was also close to King Hussein of Jordan and his brother, Prince Hassan bin Talal. He also had ties to the regime of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, the Turkish military dictatorship led by Kenan Evren, and the Egyptian government of Anwar Sadat: he acted as a go-between between the Sadat administration and Israel in 1971 when he relayed a message to the Israeli government regarding the possibility of a peace agreement at the request of Sadat's spokesman Tahasin Bashir.
Lewis advocated closer Western ties with Israel and Turkey, which he saw as especially important in light of the extension of the Soviet influence in the Middle East. Modern Turkey holds a special place in Lewis's view of the region due to the country's efforts to become a part of the West. He was an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Turkish Studies, an honor which is given "on the basis of generally recognized scholarly distinction and ... long and devoted service to the field of Turkish Studies."
Lewis views Christendom and Islam as civilizations that have been in perpetual collision since the advent of Islam in the 7th century. In his essay The Roots of Muslim Rage (1990), he argued that the struggle between the West and Islam was gathering strength. According to one source, this essay (and Lewis's 1990 Jefferson Lecture on which the article was based) first introduced the term "Islamic fundamentalism" to North America. This essay has been credited with coining the phrase "clash of civilizations", which received prominence in the eponymous book by Samuel Huntington. However, another source indicates that Lewis first used the phrase "clash of civilizations" at a 1957 meeting in Washington where it was recorded in the transcript.
In 1998, Lewis read in a London-based newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi a declaration of war on the United States by Osama bin Laden. In his essay "A License to Kill", Lewis indicated he considered bin Laden's language as the "ideology of jihad" and warned that bin Laden would be a danger to the West. The essay was published after the Clinton administration and the US intelligence community had begun its hunt for bin Laden in Sudan and then in Afghanistan.
Jihad
Lewis writes of jihad as a distinct religious obligation, but suggests that it is a pity that people engaging in terrorist activities are not more aware of their own religion:The fanatical warrior offering his victims the choice of the Koran or the sword is not only untrue, it is impossible. The alleged choice - conversion or death - is also, with rare and atypical exceptions, untrue. Muslim tolerance of unbelievers and misbelievers was far better than anything available in Christendom until the rise of secularism in the 17th century.
Muslim fighters are commanded not to kill women, children, or the aged unless they attack first; not to torture or otherwise ill-treat prisoners; to give fair warnings of the opening of hostilities or their resumption after a truce; and to honor agreements. At no time did the classical jurists offer any approval or legitimacy to what we nowdays call terrorism. Nor indeed is there any evidence of the use of terrorism as it is practiced nowadays.
The emergence of the by now widespread terrorism practice of suicide bombing is a development of the 20th century. It has no antecedents in Islamic history, and no justification in the terms of Islamic theology, law, or tradition.As'ad AbuKhalil, has criticized this view and stated: "Methodologically, [Lewis] insists that terrorism by individual Muslims should be considered Islamic terrorism, while terrorism by individual Jews or Christians is never considered Jewish or Christian terrorism."
He also criticised Lewis's understanding of Osama bin Laden, seeing Lewis's interpretation of bin Laden "as some kind of influential Muslim theologian" along the lines of classical theologians like Al-Ghazali, rather than "the terrorist fanatic that he is". AbuKhalil has also criticized the place of Islam in Lewis's worldview more generally, arguing that the most prominent feature of his work was its "theologocentrism" (borrowing a term from Maxime Rodinson) - that Lewis interprets all aspects of behavior among Muslims solely through the lens of Islamic theology, subsuming the study of Muslim peoples, their languages, the geographical areas where Muslims predominate, Islamic governments, the governments of Arab countries and Sharia under the label of "Islam".
Debates with Edward Said
Lewis was known for his literary debates with Edward Said, the Palestinian American literary theorist whose aim was to deconstruct what he called Orientalist scholarship. Said, who was a professor at Columbia University, characterized Lewis's work as a prime example of Orientalism in his 1978 book Orientalism and in his later book Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World (1981). Said asserted that the field of Orientalism was political intellectualism bent on self-affirmation rather than objective study, a form of racism, and a tool of imperialist domination. He further questioned the scientific neutrality of some leading Middle East scholars, including Lewis, on the Arab World. In an interview with Al-Ahram weekly, Said suggested that Lewis's knowledge of the Middle East was so biased that it could not be taken seriously and claimed "Bernard Lewis hasn't set foot in the Middle East, in the Arab world, for at least 40 years. He knows something about Turkey, I'm told, but he knows nothing about the Arab world." Said considered that Lewis treats Islam as a monolithic entity without the nuance of its plurality, internal dynamics, and historical complexities, and accused him of "demagogy and downright ignorance". In Covering Islam, Said argued that "Lewis simply cannot deal with the diversity of Muslim, much less human life, because it is closed to him as something foreign, radically different, and other," and he criticised Lewis's "inability to grant that the Islamic peoples are entitled to their own cultural, political, and historical practices, free from Lewis's calculated attempt to show that because they are not Western... they can't be good."
Rejecting the view that Western scholarship was biased against the Middle East, Lewis responded that Orientalism developed as a facet of European humanism, independently of the past European imperial expansion. He noted the French and English pursued the study of Islam in the 16th and 17th centuries, yet not in an organized way, but long before they had any control or hope of control in the Middle East; and that much of Orientalist study did nothing to advance the cause of imperialism. In his 1993 book Islam and the West, Lewis wrote "What imperial purpose was served by deciphering the ancient Egyptian language, for example, and then restoring to the Egyptians knowledge of and pride in their forgotten, ancient past?"
Furthermore, Lewis accused Said of politicizing the scientific study of the Middle East (and Arabic studies in particular); neglecting to critique the scholarly findings of the Orientalists; and giving "free rein" to his biases.
Stance on the Iraq War
In 2002, Lewis wrote an article for The Wall Street Journal regarding the buildup to the Iraq War entitled "Time for Toppling", where he stated his opinion that "a regime change may well be dangerous, but sometimes the dangers of inaction are greater than those of action". In 2007, Jacob Weisberg described Lewis as "perhaps the most significant intellectual influence behind the invasion of Iraq". Michael Hirsh attributed to Lewis the view that regime change in Iraq would provide a jolt that would "modernize the Middle East" and suggested that Lewis's allegedly 'orientalist' theories about "what went wrong" in the Middle East, and other writings, formed the intellectual basis of the push towards war in Iraq. Hirsch reported that Lewis had told him in an interview that he viewed the 11 September attacks as "the opening salvo of the final battle" between Western and Islamic civilisations: Lewis believed that a forceful response was necessary. In the run up to the Iraq War, he met with Vice President Dick Cheney several times: Hirsch quoted an unnamed official who was present at a number of these meetings, who summarised Lewis's view of Iraq as "Get on with it. Don't dither". Brent Scowcroft quoted Lewis as stating that he believed "that one of the things you’ve got to do to Arabs is hit them between the eyes with a big stick. They respect power". As'ad AbuKhalil has claimed that Lewis assured Cheney that American troops would be welcomed by Iraqis and Arabs, relying on the opinion of his colleague Fouad Ajami. Hirsch also drew parallels between the Bush administration's plans for post-invasion Iraq and Lewis's views, in particular his admiration for Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's secularist and Westernising reforms in the new Republic of Turkey which emerged from the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
Writing in 2008, Lewis did not advocate imposing freedom and democracy on Islamic nations. "There are things you can't impose. Freedom, for example. Or democracy. Democracy is a very strong medicine which has to be administered to the patient in small, gradually increasing doses. Otherwise, you risk killing the patient. In the main, the Muslims have to do it themselves."
Ian Buruma, writing for The New Yorker in an article subtitled "The two Minds of Bernard Lewis", finds Lewis's stance on the war difficult to reconcile with Lewis's past statements cautioning democracy enforcement in the world at large. Buruma ultimately rejects suggestions by his peers that Lewis promotes war with Iraq to safeguard Israel, but instead concludes "perhaps he loves it [the Arab world] too much":
Hamid Dabashi, writing on 28 May 2018, in an article subtitled "On Bernard Lewis and 'his extraordinary capacity for getting everything wrong'", asked: "Just imagine: What sort of a person would spend a lifetime studying people he loathes? It is quite a bizarre proposition. But there you have it: the late Bernard Lewis did precisely that." Similarly, Richard Bulliet described Lewis as "...a person who does not like the people he is purporting to have expertise about...he doesn’t respect them, he considers them to be good and worthy only to the degree they follow a Western path". According to As'ad AbuKhalil, "Lewis has poisoned the Middle East academic field more than any other Orientalist and his influence has been both academic and political. But there is a new generation of Middle East experts in the West who now see clearly the political agenda of Bernard Lewis. It was fully exposed in the Bush years."
Alleged nuclear threat from Iran
In 2006, Lewis wrote that Iran had been working on a nuclear weapon for fifteen years. In August 2006, in an article about whether the world can rely on the concept of mutual assured destruction as a deterrent in its dealings with Iran, Lewis wrote in The Wall Street Journal about the significance of 22 August 2006 in the Islamic calendar. The Iranian president had indicated he would respond by that date to U.S. demands regarding Iran's development of nuclear power. Lewis wrote that the date corresponded to the 27th day of the month of Rajab of the year 1427, the day Muslims commemorate the night flight of Muhammad from Jerusalem to heaven and back. Lewis wrote that it would be "an appropriate date for the apocalyptic ending of Israel and, if necessary, of the world". According to Lewis, mutual assured destruction is not an effective deterrent in the case of Iran, because of what Lewis describes as the Iranian leadership's "apocalyptic worldview" and the "suicide or martyrdom complex that plagues parts of the Islamic world today". Lewis's article received significant press coverage. However, the day passed without any incident.
Death
Bernard Lewis died on 19 May 2018 at the age of 101, at an assisted-living care facility in Voorhees Township, New Jersey, twelve days before his 102nd birthday.
He is buried in Trumpeldor Cemetery in Tel Aviv.
Bibliography
Awards and honors
1963: Elected as a Fellow of the British Academy
1978: The Harvey Prize, from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, for "his profound insight into the life and mores of the peoples of the Middle East through his writings"
1983: Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
1990: Selected for the Jefferson Lecture by the National Endowment for the Humanities
1996: Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in General Nonfiction, for The Middle East (Scribner)
1999: National Jewish Book Award in the Israel category for The Multiple Identities of the Middle East 2002: The Thomas Jefferson Medal, awarded by the American Philosophical Society
2002: Atatürk International Peace Prize on grounds that he contributed extensively to history scholarship with his accurate analysis of Turkey’s and in particular of Atatürk’s positive impact on Middle Eastern history.
2004: Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement
2006: National Humanities Medal, from the National Endowment for the Humanities
2007: Irving Kristol Award, from the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
2007: The Scholar-Statesman Award from The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
See also
Bernard Lewis bibliography
List of Princeton University people
References
External links
Lewis's page at Princeton University
Revered and Reviled – Lewis's profile on Moment Magazine''
The Legacy and Fallacies of Bernard Lewis by As`ad AbuKhalil
1916 births
2018 deaths
20th-century American historians
20th-century British historians
20th-century British writers
21st-century American historians
21st-century American male writers
21st-century British historians
21st-century British writers
Academics of SOAS University of London
Alumni of SOAS University of London
American centenarians
American historians
American male non-fiction writers
American people of English-Jewish descent
Deniers of the Armenian genocide
British Army personnel of World War II
English centenarians
British emigrants to the United States
English historians
English Jews
Fellows of the British Academy
Historians of Islam
Historians of the Ottoman Empire
Honorary members of the Turkish Academy of Sciences
Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars
Intelligence Corps soldiers
Islam and antisemitism
Islam and politics
Jewish American historians
Jewish scholars
Jewish scholars of Islam
Men centenarians
Middle Eastern studies in the United States
National Humanities Medal recipients
Neoconservatism
People from Stoke Newington
British political commentators
Princeton University faculty
Royal Armoured Corps soldiers
Scholars of antisemitism
University of Paris alumni
Cornell University faculty
Foreign Policy Research Institute
Historians of the Middle East
Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs
Middle Eastern studies scholars
Burials at Trumpeldor Cemetery
21st-century American Jews
| false |
[
"The Scottish Health Council was established by the Scottish Executive in April 2005 to promote Patient Focus and Public Involvement in the NHS in Scotland.\n\nIt is a committee of Healthcare Improvement Scotland. It has a national office in Glasgow and a local office in each of the 14 NHS Boards across Scotland.\n\nThe Council collects information on how NHS Boards engage with patients and the public against the Participation Standard. This focuses on:\nHow well NHS Boards focus on the patient \nHow well NHS Boards involve the public\nHow NHS Boards take responsibility for ensuring they involve the public\n\nIn contested decisions the view of the Council on the legitimacy of the process is taken into account. The Council concentrates on process issues and does not express an opinion on the merits of proposals.\n\nThe Council has been criticised by Elaine Smith who called for “an end to one sided views of health boards being discussed behind closed doors, with MSPs undemocratically excluded in the decision process”.\n\nIt does not have any role in patients' complaints.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Scottish Health Council\n\nNHS Scotland\nPatient advocacy",
"'My Take' is an autobiography by British singer/songwriter and lead member of Take That, Gary Barlow. My Take is his take on his childhood, breaking into the music scene, his years in Take That, after the band split, going solo and culminating in the reformation of the Take That to phenomenal success.\n\nBackground Information \nBarlow had stated that he had begun writing 'a thin thing' that would have been nothing more than a collection of stories about his days in Take That, his time as a solo artist and his profession since he left the public spotlight, songwriting and producing for artists across the music scene. He stated that this short book was originally titled Backstage For Good, referencing his fall from superstardom during the late 1990s and how he no longer felt comfortable in the media spotlight, preferring to focus on his family and songwriting.\n\nThere are 2 versions of the book - the hardback which was released in 2006 and the paperback released a year later and updated with \"the story of the comeback of all comebacks\" with Take That reuniting for the first time in 10 years.\n\nPublic Appearances \nBarlow appeared at a number of book shops and did various media interviews promoting My Take. He also visited Waterstones where he stayed to meet, pose for pictures and speak with every single person that had come for a book to be signed.\n\n7/7 Terror Attacks \nChapter 17, entitled Full Circle, is a short chapter about Gary's experience on 7 July 2005. Gary was on a tube train travelling from Edware Road when a bomb went off on the train next to his. This chapter describes the aftermath and chaos of what happened that day; according to Barlow it changed the way he viewed his life.\n\nReferences \n\n2006 non-fiction books\nBritish autobiographies"
] |
[
"Lead Belly",
"Personal life"
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C_0d09d0104dc54279aa3cd43700ac8d51_1
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How many strings did lead belly's guitar have?
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How many strings did lead belly's guitar have?
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Lead Belly
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Lead Belly was born Huddie William Ledbetter on the Jeter Plantation near Mooringsport, Louisiana, on January 20, 1888 or 1889 (generally accepted to be the former). The 1900 United States Census lists "Hudy Ledbetter" as 12 years old, born January 1888, and the 1910 and 1930 censuses also give his age as corresponding to a birth in 1888. The 1940 census lists his age as 51, with information supplied by wife Martha. However, in April 1942, when Ledbetter filled out his World War II draft registration, he gave his birth date as January 23, 1889, and his birthplace as Freeport, Louisiana ("Shreveport"). His grave marker bears the date given on his draft registration. Ledbetter was the younger of two children born to Wesley Ledbetter and Sallie Brown. The pronunciation of his name is purported to be "HYEW-dee" or "HUGH-dee." He can be heard pronouncing his name as "HUH-dee" on the track "Boll Weevil," from the Smithsonian Folkways album Lead Belly Sings for Children. His parents had cohabited for several years, but they legally married on February 26, 1888. When Huddie was five years old, the family settled in Bowie County, Texas. The 1910 census of Harrison County, Texas, shows "Hudy" Ledbetter living next door to his parents with his first wife, Aletha "Lethe" Henderson. Aletha is registered as age 19 and married one year. Others say she was 15 when they married in 1908. It was in Texas that Ledbetter received his first instrument, an accordion, from his uncle Terrell. By his early twenties, having fathered at least two children, Ledbetter left home to make his living as a guitarist and occasional laborer. When Lead Belly was released from his last prison sentence, the United States was deep in the Great Depression, and jobs were very scarce. In September 1934, in need of regular work in order to avoid cancellation of his release from prison, Lead Belly asked John Lomax to take him on as a driver. For three months, he assisted the 67-year-old in his folk song collecting around the South (Alan Lomax was ill and did not accompany his father on this trip). CANNOTANSWER
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Huddie William Ledbetter (; January 23, 1888 – December 6, 1949), better known by the stage name Lead Belly, was an American folk and blues singer, musician, and songwriter notable for his strong vocals, virtuosity on the twelve-string guitar, and the folk standards he introduced, including his renditions of "In The Pines", "Goodnight, Irene", "Midnight Special", "Cotton Fields", and "Boll Weevil".
Lead Belly usually played a twelve-string guitar, but he also played the piano, mandolin, harmonica, violin, and windjammer. In some of his recordings, he sang while clapping his hands or stomping his foot.
Lead Belly's songs covered a wide range of genres and topics including gospel music; blues about women, liquor, prison life, and racism; and folk songs about cowboys, prison, work, sailors, cattle herding, and dancing. He also wrote songs about people in the news, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler, Jean Harlow, Jack Johnson, the Scottsboro Boys and Howard Hughes. Lead Belly was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2008.
Though many releases credit him as "Leadbelly", he himself wrote it as "Lead Belly", which is also the spelling on his tombstone and the spelling used by the Lead Belly Foundation.
Biography
Personal life
The younger of two children, Lead Belly was born Huddie William Ledbetter to Sallie Brown and Wesley Ledbetter on a plantation near Mooringsport, Louisiana. On his World War II draft registration card in 1942, he gave his birthplace as Freeport, Louisiana ("Shreveport"). There is uncertainty over his precise date and year of birth. The Lead Belly Foundation gives his birth date as January 20, 1889, his grave marker gives the year 1889, and his 1942 draft registration card states January 23, 1889. However, the 1900 United States Census lists "Hudy Ledbetter" as 12 years old, born January 1888, and the 1910 and 1930 censuses also give his age as corresponding to a birth in 1888. The 1940 census lists his age as 51, with information supplied by wife Martha. The books Blues: A Regional Experience by Eagle and LeBlanc and Encyclopedia of Louisiana Musicians by Tomko give January 23, 1888, while the Encyclopedia of the Blues gives January 20, 1888.
His parents had cohabited for several years, but they legally married on February 26, 1888. When Huddie was five years old, the family settled in Bowie County, Texas. The 1910 census of Harrison County, Texas, shows "Hudy Ledbetter" living next door to his parents with his first wife, Aletha "Lethe" Henderson. Aletha is registered as age 19 and married one year. Others say she was 15 when they married in 1908. It was in Texas that Ledbetter received his first instrument, an accordion, from his uncle Terrell. By his early twenties, having fathered at least two children, Ledbetter left home to make his living as a guitarist and occasional laborer.
Music career
By 1903, Huddie was already a "musicianer", a singer and guitarist of some note. He performed for nearby Shreveport audiences in St. Paul's Bottoms, a notorious red-light district there. He began to develop his own style of music after exposure to various musical influences on Shreveport's Fannin Street, a row of saloons, brothels, and dance halls in the Bottoms, now referred to as Ledbetter Heights. Between 1915 and 1939, Ledbetter served several prison and jail terms for a variety of criminal charges. He was "discovered" in prison during a visit by folklorists John Lomax and his son Alan Lomax thirty years after his music career started.After one prison release in 1934, the United States was in the Great Depression, and jobs were scarce. In September of that year, in need of regular work in order to avoid cancellation of his release from prison, Lead Belly asked John Lomax to take him on as a driver. For three months, he assisted the 67-year-old in his folk song collecting around the South. Alan Lomax, his son, was ill and did not accompany him on this trip. While in prison, Lead Belly may have first heard the traditional prison song "Midnight Special".
Deeply impressed by Ledbetter's vibrant tenor and extensive repertoire, the Lomaxes recorded him in 1933 on portable aluminum disc recording equipment for the Library of Congress. They returned with new and better equipment in July 1934, recording hundreds of his songs. On August 1, Ledbetter was released after having again served nearly all of his minimum sentence, following a petition the Lomaxes had taken to Louisiana Governor Oscar K. Allen at his urgent request. It was on the other side of a recording of his signature song, "Goodnight Irene".
A prison official later wrote to John Lomax denying that Ledbetter's singing had anything to do with his release from Angola (state prison records confirm he was eligible for early release due to good behavior). However, both Ledbetter and the Lomaxes believed that the record they had taken to the governor had hastened his release from prison.
In December 1934, Lead Belly participated in a "smoker" (group sing) at a Modern Language Association meeting at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, where the senior Lomax had a prior lecturing engagement. He was written up in the press as a convict who had sung his way out of prison. On New Year's Day, 1935, the pair arrived in New York City, where Lomax was scheduled to meet with his publisher, Macmillan, about a new collection of folk songs. The newspapers were eager to write about the "singing convict", and Time magazine made one of its first March of Time newsreels about him. Lead Belly attained fame—although not fortune.
On January 23–25, 1935, Lead Belly had the first of several recording sessions with American Record Corporation (ARC). These sessions, combined with two others on February 5 and March 25, yielded 53 takes. Of those recordings, only six were ever released during Lead Belly's lifetime. ARC decided to simultaneously release these songs on six different labels they owned: Banner, Melotone, Oriole, Perfect, Romeo, and Paramount. Unfortunately, these recordings achieved little commercial success. Part of the reason for the poor sales may have been that ARC released only his blues songs rather than the folk songs for which he would later become better known. Lead Belly continued to struggle financially. Like many performers, what income he made during his career would come from touring, not from record sales. In February 1935, he married his girlfriend, Martha Promise, who came North from Louisiana to join him.
The month of February was spent recording his repertoire and those of other African Americans and interviews about his life with Alan Lomax for their forthcoming book, Negro Folk Songs As Sung by Lead Belly (1936). Concert appearances were slow to materialize. In March 1935, Lead Belly accompanied John Lomax on a previously scheduled two-week lecture tour of colleges and universities in the Northeast, culminating at Harvard.
At the end of the month, John Lomax decided he could no longer work with Lead Belly and gave him and Martha money to go back to Louisiana by bus. He gave Martha the money her husband had earned during three months of performing, but in installments, on the pretext Lead Belly would spend it all on drinking if given a lump sum. From Louisiana, Lead Belly successfully sued Lomax for both the full amount and release from his management contract. The quarrel was bitter, with hard feelings on both sides. Curiously, in the midst of the legal wrangling, Lead Belly wrote to Lomax proposing they team up again, but it was not to be. Further, the book about Lead Belly published by the Lomaxes in the fall of the following year proved a commercial failure.
In January 1936, Lead Belly returned to New York on his own, without John Lomax, in an attempted comeback. He performed twice a day at Harlem's Apollo Theater during the Easter season in a live dramatic recreation of the March of Time newsreel (itself a recreation) about his prison encounter with John Lomax, where he had worn stripes, though by this time he was no longer associated with Lomax.
Life magazine ran a three-page article titled "Lead Belly: Bad Nigger Makes Good Minstrel" in its issue of April 19, 1937. It included a full-page, color (rare in those days) picture of him sitting on grain sacks playing his guitar and singing. Also included was a striking picture of Martha Promise (identified in the article as his manager) and photos showing Lead Belly's hands playing the guitar (with the caption "these hands once killed a man"), Texas Governor Pat M. Neff, and the "ramshackle" Texas State Penitentiary. The article attributes both of his pardons to his singing of his petitions to the governors, who were so moved that they pardoned him. The text of the article ends with "he... may well be on the brink of a new and prosperous period."
Lead Belly failed to stir the enthusiasm of Harlem audiences. Instead, he attained success playing at concerts and benefits for an audience of folk music aficionados. He developed his own style of singing and explaining his repertoire in the context of Southern black culture having learned from his participation in Lomax's college lectures. He was especially successful with his repertoire of children's game songs (as a younger man in Louisiana he had sung regularly at children's birthday parties in the black community). He was written about as a heroic figure by the black novelist Richard Wright in the columns of the Daily Worker, of which Wright was the Harlem editor. The two men became personal friends, though some say Lead Belly himself was apolitical, and later was a supporter of Wendell Willkie, the centrist Republican candidate for president, for whom he wrote a campaign song. However, he also wrote the song "Bourgeois Blues", which has radical or left-wing lyrics.
In 1939, Lead Belly returned to prison. Alan Lomax, then 24, took him under his wing and helped raise money for his legal expenses, dropping out of graduate school to do so. After his release, Lead Belly appeared as a regular on Lomax and Nicholas Ray's groundbreaking CBS radio show Back Where I Come From, broadcast nationwide. He also appeared in nightclubs with Josh White, becoming a fixture in New York City's surging folk music scene and befriending the likes of Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, Woody Guthrie, and Pete Seeger, all fellow performers on Back Where I Come From. During the first half of the decade, he recorded for the Library of Congress, and Moe Asch (future founder of Folkways Records) and in 1944 went to California, where he recorded strong sessions for Capitol Records. He lodged with a studio guitar player on Merrywood Drive in Laurel Canyon. Lead Belly was the first American country blues musician to achieve success in Europe.
In 1940, Lead Belly recorded for one of the biggest record companies at the time, RCA Victor. These sessions were held on June 15 and 17, with the Golden Gate Quartet accompanying some songs. The recordings resulted in the album, The Midnight Special and Other Southern Prison Songs, being issued by Victor Records, which contained extensive notes and song texts prepared by Alan Lomax. According to Charles Wolfe and Kip Lornell, "it was one of the finest public presentations of Leadbelly's music: well recorded, well advertised, well documented. And the album justified its reputation as a landmark in African American folk music." Several of the recordings from these sessions were also issued as singles by Bluebird Records.
In 1941, Lead Belly was introduced to Moses "Moe" Asch by mutual friends. Asch owned a recording studio and small record label, which mainly released folk records for the local New York City market. Between 1941 and 1944, Lead Belly released three albums under the Asch Recordings label.
In 1949, Lead Belly had a regular radio show, Folk Songs of America, broadcast on station WNYC in New York, on Henrietta Yurchenco's show on Sunday nights. Later in the year he began his first European tour with a trip to France, but fell ill before its completion and was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease (a motor neuron disease). His final concert was at the University of Texas at Austin in a tribute to his former mentor, John Lomax, who had died the previous year. Martha also performed at that concert, singing spirituals with her husband.
Lead Belly died later that year in New York City and was buried in the Shiloh Baptist Church cemetery, in Mooringsport, Louisiana, west of Blanchard, in Caddo Parish. He is honored with a statue across from the Caddo Parish Courthouse, in Shreveport.
Legal issues
Lead Belly was imprisoned multiple times beginning in 1915 when he was convicted of carrying a pistol and sentenced to time on the Harrison County chain gang. He later escaped and found work in nearby Bowie County under the assumed name of Walter Boyd. Later, in January 1918, he was imprisoned at the Imperial Farm (now Central Unit) in Sugar Land, Texas, after killing one of his relatives, Will Stafford, in a fight over a woman. During his second prison term, another inmate stabbed him in the neck (leaving him with a fearsome scar he subsequently covered with a bandana); Lead Belly nearly killed his attacker with his own knife.
In 1925 he was pardoned and released after writing a song to Governor Pat Morris Neff seeking his freedom, having served the minimum seven years of a 7-to-35-year sentence. Combined with his good behavior, which included entertaining the guards and fellow prisoners, his appeal to Neff's strong religious beliefs proved sufficient. It was a testament to his persuasive powers, as Neff had run for governor on a pledge not to issue pardons (the only recourse for prisoners, since in most Southern prisons there was no provision for parole). After their initial meeting in 1924, Neff came back several times and regularly brought guests to the prison on Sunday picnics to hear Ledbetter perform.
In 1930, Ledbetter was sentenced to Louisiana State Penitentiary after a summary trial for attempted homicide for stabbing a man in a fight. In 1939, Lead Belly served his final jail term for assault after stabbing a man in a fight in Manhattan.
Nicknamed "Lead Belly"
There are several conflicting stories about how Ledbetter acquired the nickname "Lead Belly", but he probably acquired it while in prison. Some claim his fellow inmates called him "Lead Belly" as a play on his family name and his physical toughness. Others say he earned the name after being wounded in the stomach with buckshot. Another theory is that the name refers to his ability to drink moonshine, the homemade liquor that Southern farmers, black and white, made to supplement their incomes.
Blues singer Big Bill Broonzy thought it came from a supposed tendency to lie about as if "with a stomach weighted down by lead" in the shade when the chain gang was supposed to be working. Yet another theory is that it may be a corruption of his last name pronounced with a Southern accent.
Technique
Lead Belly styled himself "King of the Twelve-String Guitar", and despite his use of other instruments like the accordion, the most enduring image of Lead Belly as a performer is wielding his unusually large Stella twelve-string. This guitar had a slightly longer scale length than a standard guitar, increasing the tension on the instrument, which, given the added tension of the six extra strings, meant that a trapeze-style tailpiece was needed to help resist bridge lifting. It had slotted tuners and ladder bracing.
Lead Belly played with finger picks much of the time, using a thumb pick to provide walking bass lines described as "tricky" and "inventive" and occasionally to strum. This technique, combined with low tunings and heavy strings, gives many of his recordings a piano-like sound. In fact, scholars have suggested much of his guitar playing was inspired equally by barrelhouse piano and the Mexican Bajo sexto, an instrument he encountered in Texas and Louisiana.
Lead Belly's tunings are debated by both modern and contemporary musicians and blues enthusiasts alike exacerbated by the lack of film footage of his performing rendering chord decoding difficult but it seems to be a down-tuned variant of standard tuning; it is likely that he tuned his guitar strings relative to one another, so that the actual notes shifted as the strings wore. Such down-tuning was a common technique before the development of truss rods, and was intended to prevent the instrument's neck from warping. Lead Belly's playing style was popularized by Pete Seeger, who adopted the twelve-string guitar in the 1950s and released an instructional LP and book using Lead Belly as an exemplar of technique.
In some of the recordings in which Lead Belly accompanied himself, he would make an unusual type of grunt between his verses, sometimes described as "haah!" Songs such as "Looky Looky Yonder", "Take This Hammer", "Linin' Track" and "Julie Ann Johnson" feature this unusual vocalization. In "Take This Hammer", Lead Belly explained, "Every time the men say, 'Haah,' the hammer falls. The hammer rings, and we swing, and we sing." The "haah" sound can be heard in work chants sung by Southern railroad section workers, "gandy dancers", in which it was used to coordinate work crews as they laid and maintained tracks.
Legacy
In 1976, a biopic titled Leadbelly was released, directed by Gordon Parks and featuring Roger E. Mosley as Lead Belly.
Kurt Cobain promoted the legacy of Lead Belly, and some modern rock audiences owe their familiarity with Lead Belly to Nirvana's performance of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" on a televised concert later released as MTV Unplugged in New York. Cobain refers to his attempt to convince David Geffen to purchase Lead Belly's guitar for him in an interval before the song is played. In his notebooks, Cobain listed Lead Belly's Last Session Vol. 1 as one of the 50 albums most influential in the formation of Nirvana's sound. It was included in NME's "The 100 Greatest Albums You've Never Heard list".
Bob Dylan credits Lead Belly for getting him into folk music. In his Nobel Prize Lecture, Dylan said "somebody – somebody I’d never seen before – handed me a Lead Belly record with the song 'Cotton Fields' on it. And that record changed my life right then and there. Transported me into a world I’d never known. It was like an explosion went off. Like I’d been walking in darkness and all of the sudden the darkness was illuminated. It was like somebody laid hands on me. I must have played that record a hundred times." Dylan also pays homage to him in "Song to Woody" on his self-titled debut album.
Lonnie Donegan's recording of "Rock Island Line", released as a single in late 1955, signaled the start of the UK skiffle craze. George Harrison of The Beatles was quoted as saying, “if there was no Lead Belly, there would have been no Lonnie Donegan; no Lonnie Donegan, no Beatles. Therefore no Lead Belly, no Beatles.” In a BBC tribute in 1999, which marked the 50th anniversary of Lead Belly's death, Van Morrison – while sitting alongside Ronnie Wood of The Rolling Stones – claimed that the British popular music scene of the 1960s wouldn't have happened if it weren't for Lead Belly's influence. “I’d put my money on that,” he said. Wood concurred.
Indian singer Bhupen Hazarika who was in general influenced by spirituals during his days as a student in the US, transcreated Lead Belly's singing of "We're in the Same Boat Brother" into the Assamese language as "Ami ekekhon nawore zatri" (আমি একেখন নাৱৰে যাত্ৰী). Later, he also released a Bengali language version as "Mora jatri eki toronir" (মোরা যাত্রী একই তরণীর).
In 2001 English-Canadian blues singer Long John Baldry released his final studio album, Remembering Leadbelly. It contains cover versions of Lead Belly songs, and features a six-minute Alan Lomax interview.
George Ezra developed his singing style from trying to sing like Lead Belly. "On the back of the record, it said his voice was so big, you had to turn your record player down," Ezra says. "I liked the idea of singing with a big voice, so I tried it, and I could."
In 2015, in celebration of Lead Belly's 125th birthday, several events were held. The Kennedy Center, in collaboration with the Grammy Museum held Lead Belly at 125: A Tribute to an American Songster, a musical event featuring Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, and Buddy Miller with Viktor Krauss as headliners and Dom Flemons as host, with special appearances by Lucinda Williams, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Billy Hector, Valerie June, Shannon McNally, Josh White Jr., and Dan Zanes, among others Also in Washington, D.C., Bourgeois Town: Lead Belly in Washington DC by the Library of Congress was held where Todd Harvey interviewed Lead Belly family members about their relative, his contributions to American culture and world music and an overview of the significant Lead Belly materials in the center's archive In London, England, the Royal Albert Hall held Lead Belly Fest, a musical event featuring Van Morrison, Eric Burdon, Jools Holland, Billy Bragg, Paul Jones, and more.
The Titanic
Influenced by the sinking of the Titanic in April 1912, Ledbetter wrote the song "The Titanic", his first composition on the twelve-string guitar, which later became his signature instrument. Initially played when performing with Blind Lemon Jefferson (1893–1929) in and around Dallas, Texas, the song is about champion African-American boxer Jack Johnson's being denied passage on the Titanic. Johnson had in fact been denied passage on a ship for being black, but it was not the Titanic. Still, the song includes the lyric "Jack Johnson tried to get on board. The Captain, he says, 'I ain't haulin' no coal!' Fare thee, Titanic! Fare thee well!" Ledbetter later noted he had to leave out this passage when playing in front of white audiences.
Discography
Singles
Albums
Posthumous discography
The Library of Congress recordings
The Library of Congress recordings, made by John and Alan Lomax from 1934 to 1943, were released in a six-volume series by Rounder Records:
Midnight Special (1991)
Gwine Dig a Hole to Put the Devil In (1991)
Let It Shine on Me (1991)
The Titanic (1994)
Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen (1994)
Go Down Old Hannah (1995)
Folkways recordings
The Folkways recordings, done for Moses Asch from 1941 to 1947, were released in a three-volume series by Smithsonian Folkways:
Where Did You Sleep Last Night, Lead Belly Legacy, Vol. 1 (1996)
Bourgeois Blues, Lead Belly Legacy, Vol. 2 (1997)
Shout On, Lead Belly Legacy, Vol. 3 (1998)
Smithsonian Folkways has released several other collections of his recordings:
Leadbelly Sings Folk Songs (1989)
Lead Belly's Last Sessions (4-CD box set, 1994), recorded late 1948 in New York City; his only commercial recordings on magnetic tape
Lead Belly Sings for Children (1999)
Folkways: The Original Vision, Woody Guthrie and Lead Belly (2004), expanded version of the 1989 compilation
Lead Belly: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection (2015)
Live recordings
Leadbelly Recorded in Concert, University of Texas, Austin, June 15, 1949 (1973, Playboy Records PB 119)
Other compilations
Huddie Ledbetter's Best (1989, BGO Records), containing recordings made for Capitol Records in 1944 in California
King of the 12-String Guitar (1991, Sony/Legacy Records), a collection of blues songs and prison ballads recorded in 1935 in New York City for the American Record Company, including previously unreleased alternate takes
Private Party November 21, 1948 (2000, Document Records), containing Lead Belly's intimate performance at a private party in late 1948 in Minneapolis
Take This Hammer, When the Sun Goes Down series, vol. 5 (2003, RCA Victor/Bluebird Jazz), CD collection of all 26 songs Lead Belly recorded for Victor Records in 1940, half of which feature the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet (a 1968 LP released by RCA Victor included about half of these recordings)
A Leadbelly Memorial, Vol II (1963, Stinson Records, SLP 19), red vinyl pressing
The Definitive Lead Belly (2008, Not Now Music), a 50-song retrospective on two CDs
Leadbelly - American Folk & Blues Anthology (2013, Not Now Music), 75 songs on three CDs
American Epic: The Best of Lead Belly (2017, Lo-Max, Sony Legacy, Third Man)
References
Sources
White, Gary; Stuart, David; Aviva, Elyn (2001). Music in Our World. p. 196. .
Wolfe, Charles; Lornell, Kip (1992). The Life and Legend of Leadbelly . New York City: HarperCollins Publishers.
External links
The Lead Belly Foundation
The Official Lead Belly Website
"Ledbetter, Huddie (Leadbelly)" in the Handbook of Texas Online
[ AllMusic]
Discography for Lead Belly on Folkways
Leadbelly and Lomax Together at the American Music Festival on WNYC
Lead Belly And The Lomaxes: Myths and Realities A FAQ and Timeline Lead Belly's relationship with John and Alan Lomax
Louisiana Music Hall of Fame Induction Page
Lead Belly: Entries|KnowLA, Encyclopedia of Louisiana
Huddie William "Lead Belly" Ledbetter at Find A Grave
1888 births
1949 deaths
American accordionists
American acoustic guitarists
American blues guitarists
American blues singers
American street performers
American folk guitarists
American male guitarists
American folk singers
American multi-instrumentalists
American people convicted of attempted murder
American people convicted of murder
American male criminals
Country blues musicians
Criminals from Louisiana
Criminals from Texas
Deaths from motor neuron disease
Neurological disease deaths in New York (state)
Musicians from Dallas
Singers from Louisiana
People from Mooringsport, Louisiana
Prison music
Songster musicians
Guitarists from Louisiana
Guitarists from Texas
20th-century American guitarists
20th-century accordionists
20th-century American criminals
Folkways Records artists
African-American guitarists
Prisoners and detainees of Texas
Prisoners and detainees of Louisiana
20th-century African-American male singers
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[
"Classical guitar strings are strings manufactured for use on classical guitars. While steel-string acoustic guitar strings and electric guitar strings are made of metal, modern classical guitar strings are made of nylon and nylon wound with wire, which produces a different sound to the metal strings. Classical guitar strings were originally made with animal intestine and silk wound with animal intestine up until World War II, when war restrictions led Albert Augustine Ltd. to develop nylon strings. Nylon guitar strings were put into production in 1948. Strings made from fluorocarbon polymers have since been developed and are the main alternative to nylon strings.\n\nString construction\n\nTraditional\nThe three treble guitar strings are made from sheep or cow intestine, referred to as plain gut, while the three bass strings are made of a silk thread core wound with gut.\n\nModern\nSince the development of nylon guitar strings by Albert Augustine Ltd. in 1948, the three treble strings are a single nylon filament, while the three bass strings are made of a core of fine nylon threadlike filaments wound with silver-plated bronze or copper wire.\n\nHistory\nUp until the Second World War animal gut and silk were the materials from which guitar strings were manufactured. Albert Augustine, an instrument maker from New York, USA, was the first to produce guitar strings with nylon. According to Rose Augustine, his wife, he was unable to secure source materials due to the war restrictions and happened upon nylon line in an army surplus store in Greenwich Village. When initially approached by him the DuPont company, who manufactured the material, were unconvinced that guitarists would accept nylon's sonic characteristics. Augustine staged a blind test with company representatives from DuPont, they happened to choose nylon over gut as having the best \"guitar sound\". The DuPont company then supported Augustine's initiative. Augustine classical guitar strings were first commercially manufactured in 1948, in conjunction with Olinto Mari, President of E.& O. Mari/La Bella Strings at their factory in Long Island City New York. When Andrés Segovia, the great Spanish guitar virtuoso, discovered Augustine's strings he was an immediate convert.\n\nFluorocarbon polymers have recently become an alternative to nylon treble strings. The sound is preferred by some luthiers and players, especially for the smooth transition provided by the G string from treble to bass.\n\nNotes\n\nExternal links \n\n Tilman Hoppstock - 2006 Interview with lacg (Los Angeles Classical Guitar)\n How to Select the Best Classical Guitar Strings by Tom Prisloe\n The Guitar String Jungle. Are You Judging A Book By The Cover? Article about how guitar strings are marketed, written by Professor String\n ProfessorString.com Guitar string research\n How to Change Classical Guitar Strings video by Strings By Mail\n A quick look at the composition of Strings, Frank Ford, 5/18/00.\n How to Attach a Guitar Strap to a Classical Guitar\n\nClassical guitar\nGuitar parts and accessories",
"A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 strings in six courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lower four courses are tuned in octaves, with those of the upper two courses tuned in unison. The gap between the strings within each dual-string course is narrow, and the strings of each course are fretted and plucked as a single unit. The neck is wider, to accommodate the extra strings, and is similar to the width of a classical guitar neck. The sound, particularly on acoustic instruments, is fuller and more harmonically resonant than six-string instruments. The twelve-string guitar can be played like a 6-string guitar as players still use the same notes, chords and guitar techniques like a standard 6-string guitar, but advanced techniques might be tough as players need to play or pluck two strings simultaneously.\n\nStructurally, 12-string guitars, especially those built before 1970 (see below), differ from six-string guitars in these ways:\nThe headstock is elongated to accommodate 12 tuning machines.\nThe added tension of the six additional strings necessitates stronger reinforcement of the neck.\nThe body is also reinforced, and built with a stronger structure, to withstand the higher tension.\nThe fretting scale is generally shorter to reduce the overall string tension.\n\nTwelve-string guitars are made in both acoustic and electric forms. However, the acoustic type is more common.\n\n\"Chorus\" effect\n\nThe double ranks of strings of the 12-string guitar produce a shimmering effect, because even the strings tuned in unison can never vibrate with precise simultaneity—that is, they vibrate out of phase. The result to the ear is a sound that seems to \"shimmer\", which some describe as resembling strings that are slightly detuned. The interference between the out-of-phase vibrations produces a phenomenon known as a beat that results in a periodic rise and fall of intensity that is, in music, often considered pleasing to the ear. Pete Seeger described the distinctive sound of the 12-string guitar as \"the clanging of bells.\"\n\nOrigin and history\nThe origin of the modern 12-string guitar is not certain, but the most likely ancestors using courses of doubled strings are some Mexican instruments such as the bandolón, the guitarra séptima, the guitarra quinta huapanguera, and the bajo sexto. Pictures such as the 1901 Mexican Typical Orchestra at the Pan-American Exposition show a guitar with 12 strings. At the end of the 19th century, the archtop mandolin was one of the first instruments with courses of doubled strings designed in the United States.\n\nIn the 19th and early 20th centuries, 12-strings were regarded as \"novelty\" instruments. The 12-string guitar did not become a major part of blues and folk music till the 1920s and the 1930s, when their \"larger than life\" sound made them ideal as solo accompaniment for vocalists, especially Lead Belly and Blind Willie McTell. The 12-string guitar has since occupied roles in certain varieties of folk, rock, jazz, and popular music. \nIn the 1930s, Mexican-American guitarist and singer Lydia Mendoza popularized the instrument. In the 1950s, Lead Belly's protégé, Fred Gerlach, brought the instrument into the American folk music world. Initially, it was primarily used for accompaniment, owing to the greater difficulty of picking or executing string \"bends\" on its double-strung courses. The Delta Blues guitar virtuoso Robert Lockwood Jr was presented a handcrafted acoustic 12-string guitar made by an outstanding Japanese luthier in the end of the sixties, and this became the instrument of choice for Lockwood thereafter. In the later 20th century, however, a number of players devoted themselves to producing solo performances on the 12-string guitar, including Leo Kottke, Peter Lang, John McLaughlin, Larry Coryell, Ralph Towner, Robbie Basho, Jack Rose, and James Blackshaw.\n\nElectric 12-string guitars\n\nElectric 12-strings became a staple in pop and rock music in the 1960s. Early use of the instrument was pioneered by the guitarists of The Wrecking Crew; in 1963, Carol Kaye used a converted Guild six-string on The Crystals' hit \"Then He Kissed Me,\" and on Jackie DeShannon's song \"When You Walk in the Room,\" Glen Campbell played a well-known guitar figure, composed by DeShannon, on an electric 12-string.\n\nOne of the first mass-produced electric 12-strings was the Bellzouki. Introduced by Danelectro in 1961, from a design by session guitarist Vinnie Bell, it was initially considered a cross between an electric guitar and a bouzouki rather than an electric version of the traditional 12-string guitar. In the UK in 1963, JMI briefly produced the Vox Bouzouki, later produced in Italy as The Vox Tempest XII, which was used by Vic Flick on the Peter and Gordon hit single \"A World Without Love\" in 1964. In late 1963, Burns developed the Double Six, supplying a prototype to Hank Marvin of The Shadows, who used it on a number of songs for the soundtrack of the 1964 Cliff Richard movie Wonderful Life; the Double Six was also used on The Searchers' cover version of De Shannon's \"When You Walk in the Room.\"\n\nThe electric 12-string gained prominence with the introduction in 1964 of the Rickenbacker 360, made famous through George Harrison's use of it on The Beatles' album A Hard Day's Night and many subsequent recordings. In 1965, inspired by Harrison, Roger McGuinn made the Rickenbacker 12-string central to The Byrds' folk rock sound, further popularising the instrument. By the mid-1960s, most major guitar manufacturers were producing competing instruments, including the Fender Electric XII (used by Roy Wood of The Move), and the Vox Phantom XII (used by Tony Hicks of The Hollies). Gretsch, Guild, and Gibson also produced electric 12-string models from the mid-Sixties and following decades, with Gretsch promoting theirs by supplying a number of custom made 12-strings for The Monkees guitarist Michael Nesmith, for use on The Monkees TV series.\n\nStandard electric 12-strings became less popular with the end of the American folk rock scene in the late sixties; Fender and Gibson ceased production of the Electric XII and ES-335 12-string variant respectively, in 1969. However, from the 1970s, some progressive rock, hard rock, and jazz fusion guitarists, most notably Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, Don Felder of the Eagles, John McLaughlin of The Mahavishnu Orchestra and Alex Lifeson of Rush used double-necked guitars such as the Gibson EDS-1275, with six-string and 12-string necks, for live appearances, allowing easy transition between different sounds mid-song.\n\nThe post punk era of the late 70s and early 80s saw a resurgence of electric 12 string guitar use among sixties-influenced alternative rock, pop, and indie guitarists. Players such as Johnny Marr of The Smiths, Dave Gregory of XTC, Susanna Hoffs of The Bangles, Marty Willson-Piper of The Church, Peter Buck of R.E.M., and Tom Petty and Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers often chose 12 strings (particularly Rickenbackers) for many songs.\n\nDesign\nThe strings are placed in courses of two strings each that are usually played together. The two strings in each of the lower four courses are normally tuned an octave apart, while each pair of strings in the top two courses are tuned in unison. The strings are generally arranged such that the higher string of each pair is struck first on a downward strum. However, Rickenbacker usually reverses this arrangement on its electric 12-string guitars. The tuning of the second string in the third course (G) varies. Some players use a unison string, while most prefer the distinctive high-pitched, bell-like quality an octave string makes in this position. Another common variant is to tune the octave string in the sixth (lowest) course two octaves above the lower string, rather than one. Some players, either in search of distinctive tone or for ease of playing, remove some doubled strings. For example, removing the higher octave from the three bass courses simplifies playing running bass lines, but keeps the extra treble strings for the full strums. Some manufacturers have produced 9-string instruments based on this setup, in which either the lower three courses are undoubled, or the upper three courses are undoubled.\n\nThe extra tension placed on the instrument by the doubled strings is high, and because of this additional stress on their necks and soundboards, 12-string guitars long had a reputation for warping after a few years of use. (This is less of a problem in modern instruments, built after 1970.) Until the invention of the truss rod in 1921, 12-string guitars were frequently tuned lower than the traditional EADGBE to reduce the stresses on the instrument. Lead Belly often used a low-C tuning, but in some recordings, his tunings can be recognized as low-B and A tunings. Some 12-string guitars have nontraditional structural supports to prevent or postpone warping, at the expense of appearance and tone. To additionally reduce string tension, 12-string guitars built prior to 1970 typically had shorter necks and scale lengths than six-string guitars, which made frets more closely spaced. Their bridges, especially in acoustic guitars, had a larger reinforcement plate for the same reason.\n\nAdvances in materials, design, and construction in such guitars made after 1970 have eliminated most of these accommodations. Contemporary 12 string guitars are commonly built to the same dimensions and scale as their six-string counterparts.\n\nTuning\n\nThe most common tuning, considered standard today, is , moving from lowest (sixth) course to highest (first) course. Lead Belly and some other players have doubled the lowest course two octaves above instead of one, producing a third string in unison with the top course.\n\nSome performers use open tunings and other non-standard guitar tunings on 12-string guitars. Some performers have experimented with tuning the two strings within a course to intervals other than octaves or unisons: jazz guitarists such as Ralph Towner (of Oregon), Larry Coryell, and Philip Catherine have tuned the bass courses of their 12-string guitars to the upper fifths and trebles to the lower fourths instead of octaves and unisons; Michael Gulezian tuned strings in the top two courses to whole-tone intervals (and possibly some of the other strings an octave lower) to achieve a very rich, complex sound. The greater number of strings offers almost endless possibilities.\n\nNashville tuning\nNashville Tuning is a way of simulating a 12-string guitar sound, using two six-string guitars playing in unison. This is achieved by replacing the lower four courses on one six-string with the higher octave strings for those four courses from a 12-string set, and tuning these four strings an octave higher than normal tuning for those courses on a six-string. Double-tracking this guitar with the standard-tuned six-string is commonly used in recording studios to achieve a \"cleaner\" 12-string effect.\n\nPlaying\nThe 12-string guitar's greater number of strings and higher cumulative string tension complicates playing, in both hands. Fretting chords requires greater force, and the width of the neck and the added string tension combine to make soloing and string-bending challenging. The gap between the dual-string courses is usually narrower than that between the single-string courses of a conventional six-string guitar, so more precision is required with the pick or fingertip when not simply strumming chords. Consequently, the instrument is most commonly used for accompaniment, though several players have taken the time to develop the 12-string guitar as a solo instrument. Flat-picking solos are more frequently seen with electric players, whereas a few acoustic players, such as Leo Kottke, have adapted fingerstyle techniques to the instrument; players such as Ralph Towner have applied classical playing techniques.\n\nSee also\nColombian tiple\nTwelve-string bass\nPortuguese guitar\nViola caipira\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nVintage Guitar Museum\nThe Birth of the American 12-string Guitar\n\nGuitars\nAcoustic guitars\nElectric guitars"
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"Lead Belly",
"Personal life",
"How many strings did lead belly's guitar have?",
"I don't know."
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What kind of music style did he play?
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What kind of music style did Lead Belly play?
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Lead Belly
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Lead Belly was born Huddie William Ledbetter on the Jeter Plantation near Mooringsport, Louisiana, on January 20, 1888 or 1889 (generally accepted to be the former). The 1900 United States Census lists "Hudy Ledbetter" as 12 years old, born January 1888, and the 1910 and 1930 censuses also give his age as corresponding to a birth in 1888. The 1940 census lists his age as 51, with information supplied by wife Martha. However, in April 1942, when Ledbetter filled out his World War II draft registration, he gave his birth date as January 23, 1889, and his birthplace as Freeport, Louisiana ("Shreveport"). His grave marker bears the date given on his draft registration. Ledbetter was the younger of two children born to Wesley Ledbetter and Sallie Brown. The pronunciation of his name is purported to be "HYEW-dee" or "HUGH-dee." He can be heard pronouncing his name as "HUH-dee" on the track "Boll Weevil," from the Smithsonian Folkways album Lead Belly Sings for Children. His parents had cohabited for several years, but they legally married on February 26, 1888. When Huddie was five years old, the family settled in Bowie County, Texas. The 1910 census of Harrison County, Texas, shows "Hudy" Ledbetter living next door to his parents with his first wife, Aletha "Lethe" Henderson. Aletha is registered as age 19 and married one year. Others say she was 15 when they married in 1908. It was in Texas that Ledbetter received his first instrument, an accordion, from his uncle Terrell. By his early twenties, having fathered at least two children, Ledbetter left home to make his living as a guitarist and occasional laborer. When Lead Belly was released from his last prison sentence, the United States was deep in the Great Depression, and jobs were very scarce. In September 1934, in need of regular work in order to avoid cancellation of his release from prison, Lead Belly asked John Lomax to take him on as a driver. For three months, he assisted the 67-year-old in his folk song collecting around the South (Alan Lomax was ill and did not accompany his father on this trip). CANNOTANSWER
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Folkways album Lead Belly Sings for Children.
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Huddie William Ledbetter (; January 23, 1888 – December 6, 1949), better known by the stage name Lead Belly, was an American folk and blues singer, musician, and songwriter notable for his strong vocals, virtuosity on the twelve-string guitar, and the folk standards he introduced, including his renditions of "In The Pines", "Goodnight, Irene", "Midnight Special", "Cotton Fields", and "Boll Weevil".
Lead Belly usually played a twelve-string guitar, but he also played the piano, mandolin, harmonica, violin, and windjammer. In some of his recordings, he sang while clapping his hands or stomping his foot.
Lead Belly's songs covered a wide range of genres and topics including gospel music; blues about women, liquor, prison life, and racism; and folk songs about cowboys, prison, work, sailors, cattle herding, and dancing. He also wrote songs about people in the news, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler, Jean Harlow, Jack Johnson, the Scottsboro Boys and Howard Hughes. Lead Belly was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2008.
Though many releases credit him as "Leadbelly", he himself wrote it as "Lead Belly", which is also the spelling on his tombstone and the spelling used by the Lead Belly Foundation.
Biography
Personal life
The younger of two children, Lead Belly was born Huddie William Ledbetter to Sallie Brown and Wesley Ledbetter on a plantation near Mooringsport, Louisiana. On his World War II draft registration card in 1942, he gave his birthplace as Freeport, Louisiana ("Shreveport"). There is uncertainty over his precise date and year of birth. The Lead Belly Foundation gives his birth date as January 20, 1889, his grave marker gives the year 1889, and his 1942 draft registration card states January 23, 1889. However, the 1900 United States Census lists "Hudy Ledbetter" as 12 years old, born January 1888, and the 1910 and 1930 censuses also give his age as corresponding to a birth in 1888. The 1940 census lists his age as 51, with information supplied by wife Martha. The books Blues: A Regional Experience by Eagle and LeBlanc and Encyclopedia of Louisiana Musicians by Tomko give January 23, 1888, while the Encyclopedia of the Blues gives January 20, 1888.
His parents had cohabited for several years, but they legally married on February 26, 1888. When Huddie was five years old, the family settled in Bowie County, Texas. The 1910 census of Harrison County, Texas, shows "Hudy Ledbetter" living next door to his parents with his first wife, Aletha "Lethe" Henderson. Aletha is registered as age 19 and married one year. Others say she was 15 when they married in 1908. It was in Texas that Ledbetter received his first instrument, an accordion, from his uncle Terrell. By his early twenties, having fathered at least two children, Ledbetter left home to make his living as a guitarist and occasional laborer.
Music career
By 1903, Huddie was already a "musicianer", a singer and guitarist of some note. He performed for nearby Shreveport audiences in St. Paul's Bottoms, a notorious red-light district there. He began to develop his own style of music after exposure to various musical influences on Shreveport's Fannin Street, a row of saloons, brothels, and dance halls in the Bottoms, now referred to as Ledbetter Heights. Between 1915 and 1939, Ledbetter served several prison and jail terms for a variety of criminal charges. He was "discovered" in prison during a visit by folklorists John Lomax and his son Alan Lomax thirty years after his music career started.After one prison release in 1934, the United States was in the Great Depression, and jobs were scarce. In September of that year, in need of regular work in order to avoid cancellation of his release from prison, Lead Belly asked John Lomax to take him on as a driver. For three months, he assisted the 67-year-old in his folk song collecting around the South. Alan Lomax, his son, was ill and did not accompany him on this trip. While in prison, Lead Belly may have first heard the traditional prison song "Midnight Special".
Deeply impressed by Ledbetter's vibrant tenor and extensive repertoire, the Lomaxes recorded him in 1933 on portable aluminum disc recording equipment for the Library of Congress. They returned with new and better equipment in July 1934, recording hundreds of his songs. On August 1, Ledbetter was released after having again served nearly all of his minimum sentence, following a petition the Lomaxes had taken to Louisiana Governor Oscar K. Allen at his urgent request. It was on the other side of a recording of his signature song, "Goodnight Irene".
A prison official later wrote to John Lomax denying that Ledbetter's singing had anything to do with his release from Angola (state prison records confirm he was eligible for early release due to good behavior). However, both Ledbetter and the Lomaxes believed that the record they had taken to the governor had hastened his release from prison.
In December 1934, Lead Belly participated in a "smoker" (group sing) at a Modern Language Association meeting at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, where the senior Lomax had a prior lecturing engagement. He was written up in the press as a convict who had sung his way out of prison. On New Year's Day, 1935, the pair arrived in New York City, where Lomax was scheduled to meet with his publisher, Macmillan, about a new collection of folk songs. The newspapers were eager to write about the "singing convict", and Time magazine made one of its first March of Time newsreels about him. Lead Belly attained fame—although not fortune.
On January 23–25, 1935, Lead Belly had the first of several recording sessions with American Record Corporation (ARC). These sessions, combined with two others on February 5 and March 25, yielded 53 takes. Of those recordings, only six were ever released during Lead Belly's lifetime. ARC decided to simultaneously release these songs on six different labels they owned: Banner, Melotone, Oriole, Perfect, Romeo, and Paramount. Unfortunately, these recordings achieved little commercial success. Part of the reason for the poor sales may have been that ARC released only his blues songs rather than the folk songs for which he would later become better known. Lead Belly continued to struggle financially. Like many performers, what income he made during his career would come from touring, not from record sales. In February 1935, he married his girlfriend, Martha Promise, who came North from Louisiana to join him.
The month of February was spent recording his repertoire and those of other African Americans and interviews about his life with Alan Lomax for their forthcoming book, Negro Folk Songs As Sung by Lead Belly (1936). Concert appearances were slow to materialize. In March 1935, Lead Belly accompanied John Lomax on a previously scheduled two-week lecture tour of colleges and universities in the Northeast, culminating at Harvard.
At the end of the month, John Lomax decided he could no longer work with Lead Belly and gave him and Martha money to go back to Louisiana by bus. He gave Martha the money her husband had earned during three months of performing, but in installments, on the pretext Lead Belly would spend it all on drinking if given a lump sum. From Louisiana, Lead Belly successfully sued Lomax for both the full amount and release from his management contract. The quarrel was bitter, with hard feelings on both sides. Curiously, in the midst of the legal wrangling, Lead Belly wrote to Lomax proposing they team up again, but it was not to be. Further, the book about Lead Belly published by the Lomaxes in the fall of the following year proved a commercial failure.
In January 1936, Lead Belly returned to New York on his own, without John Lomax, in an attempted comeback. He performed twice a day at Harlem's Apollo Theater during the Easter season in a live dramatic recreation of the March of Time newsreel (itself a recreation) about his prison encounter with John Lomax, where he had worn stripes, though by this time he was no longer associated with Lomax.
Life magazine ran a three-page article titled "Lead Belly: Bad Nigger Makes Good Minstrel" in its issue of April 19, 1937. It included a full-page, color (rare in those days) picture of him sitting on grain sacks playing his guitar and singing. Also included was a striking picture of Martha Promise (identified in the article as his manager) and photos showing Lead Belly's hands playing the guitar (with the caption "these hands once killed a man"), Texas Governor Pat M. Neff, and the "ramshackle" Texas State Penitentiary. The article attributes both of his pardons to his singing of his petitions to the governors, who were so moved that they pardoned him. The text of the article ends with "he... may well be on the brink of a new and prosperous period."
Lead Belly failed to stir the enthusiasm of Harlem audiences. Instead, he attained success playing at concerts and benefits for an audience of folk music aficionados. He developed his own style of singing and explaining his repertoire in the context of Southern black culture having learned from his participation in Lomax's college lectures. He was especially successful with his repertoire of children's game songs (as a younger man in Louisiana he had sung regularly at children's birthday parties in the black community). He was written about as a heroic figure by the black novelist Richard Wright in the columns of the Daily Worker, of which Wright was the Harlem editor. The two men became personal friends, though some say Lead Belly himself was apolitical, and later was a supporter of Wendell Willkie, the centrist Republican candidate for president, for whom he wrote a campaign song. However, he also wrote the song "Bourgeois Blues", which has radical or left-wing lyrics.
In 1939, Lead Belly returned to prison. Alan Lomax, then 24, took him under his wing and helped raise money for his legal expenses, dropping out of graduate school to do so. After his release, Lead Belly appeared as a regular on Lomax and Nicholas Ray's groundbreaking CBS radio show Back Where I Come From, broadcast nationwide. He also appeared in nightclubs with Josh White, becoming a fixture in New York City's surging folk music scene and befriending the likes of Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, Woody Guthrie, and Pete Seeger, all fellow performers on Back Where I Come From. During the first half of the decade, he recorded for the Library of Congress, and Moe Asch (future founder of Folkways Records) and in 1944 went to California, where he recorded strong sessions for Capitol Records. He lodged with a studio guitar player on Merrywood Drive in Laurel Canyon. Lead Belly was the first American country blues musician to achieve success in Europe.
In 1940, Lead Belly recorded for one of the biggest record companies at the time, RCA Victor. These sessions were held on June 15 and 17, with the Golden Gate Quartet accompanying some songs. The recordings resulted in the album, The Midnight Special and Other Southern Prison Songs, being issued by Victor Records, which contained extensive notes and song texts prepared by Alan Lomax. According to Charles Wolfe and Kip Lornell, "it was one of the finest public presentations of Leadbelly's music: well recorded, well advertised, well documented. And the album justified its reputation as a landmark in African American folk music." Several of the recordings from these sessions were also issued as singles by Bluebird Records.
In 1941, Lead Belly was introduced to Moses "Moe" Asch by mutual friends. Asch owned a recording studio and small record label, which mainly released folk records for the local New York City market. Between 1941 and 1944, Lead Belly released three albums under the Asch Recordings label.
In 1949, Lead Belly had a regular radio show, Folk Songs of America, broadcast on station WNYC in New York, on Henrietta Yurchenco's show on Sunday nights. Later in the year he began his first European tour with a trip to France, but fell ill before its completion and was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease (a motor neuron disease). His final concert was at the University of Texas at Austin in a tribute to his former mentor, John Lomax, who had died the previous year. Martha also performed at that concert, singing spirituals with her husband.
Lead Belly died later that year in New York City and was buried in the Shiloh Baptist Church cemetery, in Mooringsport, Louisiana, west of Blanchard, in Caddo Parish. He is honored with a statue across from the Caddo Parish Courthouse, in Shreveport.
Legal issues
Lead Belly was imprisoned multiple times beginning in 1915 when he was convicted of carrying a pistol and sentenced to time on the Harrison County chain gang. He later escaped and found work in nearby Bowie County under the assumed name of Walter Boyd. Later, in January 1918, he was imprisoned at the Imperial Farm (now Central Unit) in Sugar Land, Texas, after killing one of his relatives, Will Stafford, in a fight over a woman. During his second prison term, another inmate stabbed him in the neck (leaving him with a fearsome scar he subsequently covered with a bandana); Lead Belly nearly killed his attacker with his own knife.
In 1925 he was pardoned and released after writing a song to Governor Pat Morris Neff seeking his freedom, having served the minimum seven years of a 7-to-35-year sentence. Combined with his good behavior, which included entertaining the guards and fellow prisoners, his appeal to Neff's strong religious beliefs proved sufficient. It was a testament to his persuasive powers, as Neff had run for governor on a pledge not to issue pardons (the only recourse for prisoners, since in most Southern prisons there was no provision for parole). After their initial meeting in 1924, Neff came back several times and regularly brought guests to the prison on Sunday picnics to hear Ledbetter perform.
In 1930, Ledbetter was sentenced to Louisiana State Penitentiary after a summary trial for attempted homicide for stabbing a man in a fight. In 1939, Lead Belly served his final jail term for assault after stabbing a man in a fight in Manhattan.
Nicknamed "Lead Belly"
There are several conflicting stories about how Ledbetter acquired the nickname "Lead Belly", but he probably acquired it while in prison. Some claim his fellow inmates called him "Lead Belly" as a play on his family name and his physical toughness. Others say he earned the name after being wounded in the stomach with buckshot. Another theory is that the name refers to his ability to drink moonshine, the homemade liquor that Southern farmers, black and white, made to supplement their incomes.
Blues singer Big Bill Broonzy thought it came from a supposed tendency to lie about as if "with a stomach weighted down by lead" in the shade when the chain gang was supposed to be working. Yet another theory is that it may be a corruption of his last name pronounced with a Southern accent.
Technique
Lead Belly styled himself "King of the Twelve-String Guitar", and despite his use of other instruments like the accordion, the most enduring image of Lead Belly as a performer is wielding his unusually large Stella twelve-string. This guitar had a slightly longer scale length than a standard guitar, increasing the tension on the instrument, which, given the added tension of the six extra strings, meant that a trapeze-style tailpiece was needed to help resist bridge lifting. It had slotted tuners and ladder bracing.
Lead Belly played with finger picks much of the time, using a thumb pick to provide walking bass lines described as "tricky" and "inventive" and occasionally to strum. This technique, combined with low tunings and heavy strings, gives many of his recordings a piano-like sound. In fact, scholars have suggested much of his guitar playing was inspired equally by barrelhouse piano and the Mexican Bajo sexto, an instrument he encountered in Texas and Louisiana.
Lead Belly's tunings are debated by both modern and contemporary musicians and blues enthusiasts alike exacerbated by the lack of film footage of his performing rendering chord decoding difficult but it seems to be a down-tuned variant of standard tuning; it is likely that he tuned his guitar strings relative to one another, so that the actual notes shifted as the strings wore. Such down-tuning was a common technique before the development of truss rods, and was intended to prevent the instrument's neck from warping. Lead Belly's playing style was popularized by Pete Seeger, who adopted the twelve-string guitar in the 1950s and released an instructional LP and book using Lead Belly as an exemplar of technique.
In some of the recordings in which Lead Belly accompanied himself, he would make an unusual type of grunt between his verses, sometimes described as "haah!" Songs such as "Looky Looky Yonder", "Take This Hammer", "Linin' Track" and "Julie Ann Johnson" feature this unusual vocalization. In "Take This Hammer", Lead Belly explained, "Every time the men say, 'Haah,' the hammer falls. The hammer rings, and we swing, and we sing." The "haah" sound can be heard in work chants sung by Southern railroad section workers, "gandy dancers", in which it was used to coordinate work crews as they laid and maintained tracks.
Legacy
In 1976, a biopic titled Leadbelly was released, directed by Gordon Parks and featuring Roger E. Mosley as Lead Belly.
Kurt Cobain promoted the legacy of Lead Belly, and some modern rock audiences owe their familiarity with Lead Belly to Nirvana's performance of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" on a televised concert later released as MTV Unplugged in New York. Cobain refers to his attempt to convince David Geffen to purchase Lead Belly's guitar for him in an interval before the song is played. In his notebooks, Cobain listed Lead Belly's Last Session Vol. 1 as one of the 50 albums most influential in the formation of Nirvana's sound. It was included in NME's "The 100 Greatest Albums You've Never Heard list".
Bob Dylan credits Lead Belly for getting him into folk music. In his Nobel Prize Lecture, Dylan said "somebody – somebody I’d never seen before – handed me a Lead Belly record with the song 'Cotton Fields' on it. And that record changed my life right then and there. Transported me into a world I’d never known. It was like an explosion went off. Like I’d been walking in darkness and all of the sudden the darkness was illuminated. It was like somebody laid hands on me. I must have played that record a hundred times." Dylan also pays homage to him in "Song to Woody" on his self-titled debut album.
Lonnie Donegan's recording of "Rock Island Line", released as a single in late 1955, signaled the start of the UK skiffle craze. George Harrison of The Beatles was quoted as saying, “if there was no Lead Belly, there would have been no Lonnie Donegan; no Lonnie Donegan, no Beatles. Therefore no Lead Belly, no Beatles.” In a BBC tribute in 1999, which marked the 50th anniversary of Lead Belly's death, Van Morrison – while sitting alongside Ronnie Wood of The Rolling Stones – claimed that the British popular music scene of the 1960s wouldn't have happened if it weren't for Lead Belly's influence. “I’d put my money on that,” he said. Wood concurred.
Indian singer Bhupen Hazarika who was in general influenced by spirituals during his days as a student in the US, transcreated Lead Belly's singing of "We're in the Same Boat Brother" into the Assamese language as "Ami ekekhon nawore zatri" (আমি একেখন নাৱৰে যাত্ৰী). Later, he also released a Bengali language version as "Mora jatri eki toronir" (মোরা যাত্রী একই তরণীর).
In 2001 English-Canadian blues singer Long John Baldry released his final studio album, Remembering Leadbelly. It contains cover versions of Lead Belly songs, and features a six-minute Alan Lomax interview.
George Ezra developed his singing style from trying to sing like Lead Belly. "On the back of the record, it said his voice was so big, you had to turn your record player down," Ezra says. "I liked the idea of singing with a big voice, so I tried it, and I could."
In 2015, in celebration of Lead Belly's 125th birthday, several events were held. The Kennedy Center, in collaboration with the Grammy Museum held Lead Belly at 125: A Tribute to an American Songster, a musical event featuring Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, and Buddy Miller with Viktor Krauss as headliners and Dom Flemons as host, with special appearances by Lucinda Williams, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Billy Hector, Valerie June, Shannon McNally, Josh White Jr., and Dan Zanes, among others Also in Washington, D.C., Bourgeois Town: Lead Belly in Washington DC by the Library of Congress was held where Todd Harvey interviewed Lead Belly family members about their relative, his contributions to American culture and world music and an overview of the significant Lead Belly materials in the center's archive In London, England, the Royal Albert Hall held Lead Belly Fest, a musical event featuring Van Morrison, Eric Burdon, Jools Holland, Billy Bragg, Paul Jones, and more.
The Titanic
Influenced by the sinking of the Titanic in April 1912, Ledbetter wrote the song "The Titanic", his first composition on the twelve-string guitar, which later became his signature instrument. Initially played when performing with Blind Lemon Jefferson (1893–1929) in and around Dallas, Texas, the song is about champion African-American boxer Jack Johnson's being denied passage on the Titanic. Johnson had in fact been denied passage on a ship for being black, but it was not the Titanic. Still, the song includes the lyric "Jack Johnson tried to get on board. The Captain, he says, 'I ain't haulin' no coal!' Fare thee, Titanic! Fare thee well!" Ledbetter later noted he had to leave out this passage when playing in front of white audiences.
Discography
Singles
Albums
Posthumous discography
The Library of Congress recordings
The Library of Congress recordings, made by John and Alan Lomax from 1934 to 1943, were released in a six-volume series by Rounder Records:
Midnight Special (1991)
Gwine Dig a Hole to Put the Devil In (1991)
Let It Shine on Me (1991)
The Titanic (1994)
Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen (1994)
Go Down Old Hannah (1995)
Folkways recordings
The Folkways recordings, done for Moses Asch from 1941 to 1947, were released in a three-volume series by Smithsonian Folkways:
Where Did You Sleep Last Night, Lead Belly Legacy, Vol. 1 (1996)
Bourgeois Blues, Lead Belly Legacy, Vol. 2 (1997)
Shout On, Lead Belly Legacy, Vol. 3 (1998)
Smithsonian Folkways has released several other collections of his recordings:
Leadbelly Sings Folk Songs (1989)
Lead Belly's Last Sessions (4-CD box set, 1994), recorded late 1948 in New York City; his only commercial recordings on magnetic tape
Lead Belly Sings for Children (1999)
Folkways: The Original Vision, Woody Guthrie and Lead Belly (2004), expanded version of the 1989 compilation
Lead Belly: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection (2015)
Live recordings
Leadbelly Recorded in Concert, University of Texas, Austin, June 15, 1949 (1973, Playboy Records PB 119)
Other compilations
Huddie Ledbetter's Best (1989, BGO Records), containing recordings made for Capitol Records in 1944 in California
King of the 12-String Guitar (1991, Sony/Legacy Records), a collection of blues songs and prison ballads recorded in 1935 in New York City for the American Record Company, including previously unreleased alternate takes
Private Party November 21, 1948 (2000, Document Records), containing Lead Belly's intimate performance at a private party in late 1948 in Minneapolis
Take This Hammer, When the Sun Goes Down series, vol. 5 (2003, RCA Victor/Bluebird Jazz), CD collection of all 26 songs Lead Belly recorded for Victor Records in 1940, half of which feature the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet (a 1968 LP released by RCA Victor included about half of these recordings)
A Leadbelly Memorial, Vol II (1963, Stinson Records, SLP 19), red vinyl pressing
The Definitive Lead Belly (2008, Not Now Music), a 50-song retrospective on two CDs
Leadbelly - American Folk & Blues Anthology (2013, Not Now Music), 75 songs on three CDs
American Epic: The Best of Lead Belly (2017, Lo-Max, Sony Legacy, Third Man)
References
Sources
White, Gary; Stuart, David; Aviva, Elyn (2001). Music in Our World. p. 196. .
Wolfe, Charles; Lornell, Kip (1992). The Life and Legend of Leadbelly . New York City: HarperCollins Publishers.
External links
The Lead Belly Foundation
The Official Lead Belly Website
"Ledbetter, Huddie (Leadbelly)" in the Handbook of Texas Online
[ AllMusic]
Discography for Lead Belly on Folkways
Leadbelly and Lomax Together at the American Music Festival on WNYC
Lead Belly And The Lomaxes: Myths and Realities A FAQ and Timeline Lead Belly's relationship with John and Alan Lomax
Louisiana Music Hall of Fame Induction Page
Lead Belly: Entries|KnowLA, Encyclopedia of Louisiana
Huddie William "Lead Belly" Ledbetter at Find A Grave
1888 births
1949 deaths
American accordionists
American acoustic guitarists
American blues guitarists
American blues singers
American street performers
American folk guitarists
American male guitarists
American folk singers
American multi-instrumentalists
American people convicted of attempted murder
American people convicted of murder
American male criminals
Country blues musicians
Criminals from Louisiana
Criminals from Texas
Deaths from motor neuron disease
Neurological disease deaths in New York (state)
Musicians from Dallas
Singers from Louisiana
People from Mooringsport, Louisiana
Prison music
Songster musicians
Guitarists from Louisiana
Guitarists from Texas
20th-century American guitarists
20th-century accordionists
20th-century American criminals
Folkways Records artists
African-American guitarists
Prisoners and detainees of Texas
Prisoners and detainees of Louisiana
20th-century African-American male singers
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"Play Music is the second studio album by electronic group Thieves Like Us.\n\nCritical reception \n\nIndieLondon criticized Play Music for the song tempos being too slow for the dance style it aimed for and also panned the lead singer's performance. An extremely negative NME review from Alex Hoban dismissed the album as a set of \"boring songs about drugs\" with \"vaguely voguish words\" and \"empty lyrics,\" wondering if he was \"caught up in some kind of late April Fool\" instead of an actual record. The Line of Best Fit bashed the record for its lack of stylistic and instrumental variety between tracks, describing the experience as \"faceless, soulless, heartless synthetics in its prime as this Parisian trio pursue only what they know, and care nothing for what they don't.\"\n\nExclaim! was one of the few publications to run a favorable review, where Cam Lindsay praised its mixture of styles from different countries with pop music elements and a dark mood: \"Play Music is the complete package, with a resounding desire to keep you locked in with misshapen melodies and distorted emotion. Even two years after its debut, it still sounds freshly squeezed, without any indication of going sour any time soon.\"\n\nReferences \n\n2008 albums",
"Gufeng music () is a type of music genre by artists originating from the Greater China region, It is a kind of C-pop music with the background of Chinese legends, the style of Chinese folk songs and drama, the melody that is similar to classical Chinese music and played by classical Chinese musical instruments. It is similar but slightly different from Zhongguo feng music.\n\nThe lyrics of Gufeng Music are created mainly based on ancient Chinese mythological legends and verses. In recent years, this kind of songs are often used in Xianxia, Wuxia games, anime, dramas, etc. This kind of music has also become popular among Internet cultures such as Hanfu movement.\n\nHistory \nGufeng music was usually called Xianxia music, what now seems like a movement began rather quietly in 2005, calling for netizens to write lyrics with ancient-styled poems for the music in some popular PC games, including The Legend of Sword and Fairy and Fairyand Sword of Xuanyuan. The name seems to derive from the namesake lyricist column on Fenbei, and the basic concept of Chinoiserie music among netizens came out from that group.\n\nReferences and sources \nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Chinese music sharing site 5sing for Chinoiserie music\n\nInternet culture\n \nChinese popular culture\nChinese youth culture"
] |
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"Folkways album Lead Belly Sings for Children."
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Was he ever married?
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Was Lead Belly ever married?
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Lead Belly
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Lead Belly was born Huddie William Ledbetter on the Jeter Plantation near Mooringsport, Louisiana, on January 20, 1888 or 1889 (generally accepted to be the former). The 1900 United States Census lists "Hudy Ledbetter" as 12 years old, born January 1888, and the 1910 and 1930 censuses also give his age as corresponding to a birth in 1888. The 1940 census lists his age as 51, with information supplied by wife Martha. However, in April 1942, when Ledbetter filled out his World War II draft registration, he gave his birth date as January 23, 1889, and his birthplace as Freeport, Louisiana ("Shreveport"). His grave marker bears the date given on his draft registration. Ledbetter was the younger of two children born to Wesley Ledbetter and Sallie Brown. The pronunciation of his name is purported to be "HYEW-dee" or "HUGH-dee." He can be heard pronouncing his name as "HUH-dee" on the track "Boll Weevil," from the Smithsonian Folkways album Lead Belly Sings for Children. His parents had cohabited for several years, but they legally married on February 26, 1888. When Huddie was five years old, the family settled in Bowie County, Texas. The 1910 census of Harrison County, Texas, shows "Hudy" Ledbetter living next door to his parents with his first wife, Aletha "Lethe" Henderson. Aletha is registered as age 19 and married one year. Others say she was 15 when they married in 1908. It was in Texas that Ledbetter received his first instrument, an accordion, from his uncle Terrell. By his early twenties, having fathered at least two children, Ledbetter left home to make his living as a guitarist and occasional laborer. When Lead Belly was released from his last prison sentence, the United States was deep in the Great Depression, and jobs were very scarce. In September 1934, in need of regular work in order to avoid cancellation of his release from prison, Lead Belly asked John Lomax to take him on as a driver. For three months, he assisted the 67-year-old in his folk song collecting around the South (Alan Lomax was ill and did not accompany his father on this trip). CANNOTANSWER
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The 1910 census of Harrison County, Texas, shows "Hudy" Ledbetter living next door to his parents with his first wife, Aletha "Lethe" Henderson.
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Huddie William Ledbetter (; January 23, 1888 – December 6, 1949), better known by the stage name Lead Belly, was an American folk and blues singer, musician, and songwriter notable for his strong vocals, virtuosity on the twelve-string guitar, and the folk standards he introduced, including his renditions of "In The Pines", "Goodnight, Irene", "Midnight Special", "Cotton Fields", and "Boll Weevil".
Lead Belly usually played a twelve-string guitar, but he also played the piano, mandolin, harmonica, violin, and windjammer. In some of his recordings, he sang while clapping his hands or stomping his foot.
Lead Belly's songs covered a wide range of genres and topics including gospel music; blues about women, liquor, prison life, and racism; and folk songs about cowboys, prison, work, sailors, cattle herding, and dancing. He also wrote songs about people in the news, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler, Jean Harlow, Jack Johnson, the Scottsboro Boys and Howard Hughes. Lead Belly was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2008.
Though many releases credit him as "Leadbelly", he himself wrote it as "Lead Belly", which is also the spelling on his tombstone and the spelling used by the Lead Belly Foundation.
Biography
Personal life
The younger of two children, Lead Belly was born Huddie William Ledbetter to Sallie Brown and Wesley Ledbetter on a plantation near Mooringsport, Louisiana. On his World War II draft registration card in 1942, he gave his birthplace as Freeport, Louisiana ("Shreveport"). There is uncertainty over his precise date and year of birth. The Lead Belly Foundation gives his birth date as January 20, 1889, his grave marker gives the year 1889, and his 1942 draft registration card states January 23, 1889. However, the 1900 United States Census lists "Hudy Ledbetter" as 12 years old, born January 1888, and the 1910 and 1930 censuses also give his age as corresponding to a birth in 1888. The 1940 census lists his age as 51, with information supplied by wife Martha. The books Blues: A Regional Experience by Eagle and LeBlanc and Encyclopedia of Louisiana Musicians by Tomko give January 23, 1888, while the Encyclopedia of the Blues gives January 20, 1888.
His parents had cohabited for several years, but they legally married on February 26, 1888. When Huddie was five years old, the family settled in Bowie County, Texas. The 1910 census of Harrison County, Texas, shows "Hudy Ledbetter" living next door to his parents with his first wife, Aletha "Lethe" Henderson. Aletha is registered as age 19 and married one year. Others say she was 15 when they married in 1908. It was in Texas that Ledbetter received his first instrument, an accordion, from his uncle Terrell. By his early twenties, having fathered at least two children, Ledbetter left home to make his living as a guitarist and occasional laborer.
Music career
By 1903, Huddie was already a "musicianer", a singer and guitarist of some note. He performed for nearby Shreveport audiences in St. Paul's Bottoms, a notorious red-light district there. He began to develop his own style of music after exposure to various musical influences on Shreveport's Fannin Street, a row of saloons, brothels, and dance halls in the Bottoms, now referred to as Ledbetter Heights. Between 1915 and 1939, Ledbetter served several prison and jail terms for a variety of criminal charges. He was "discovered" in prison during a visit by folklorists John Lomax and his son Alan Lomax thirty years after his music career started.After one prison release in 1934, the United States was in the Great Depression, and jobs were scarce. In September of that year, in need of regular work in order to avoid cancellation of his release from prison, Lead Belly asked John Lomax to take him on as a driver. For three months, he assisted the 67-year-old in his folk song collecting around the South. Alan Lomax, his son, was ill and did not accompany him on this trip. While in prison, Lead Belly may have first heard the traditional prison song "Midnight Special".
Deeply impressed by Ledbetter's vibrant tenor and extensive repertoire, the Lomaxes recorded him in 1933 on portable aluminum disc recording equipment for the Library of Congress. They returned with new and better equipment in July 1934, recording hundreds of his songs. On August 1, Ledbetter was released after having again served nearly all of his minimum sentence, following a petition the Lomaxes had taken to Louisiana Governor Oscar K. Allen at his urgent request. It was on the other side of a recording of his signature song, "Goodnight Irene".
A prison official later wrote to John Lomax denying that Ledbetter's singing had anything to do with his release from Angola (state prison records confirm he was eligible for early release due to good behavior). However, both Ledbetter and the Lomaxes believed that the record they had taken to the governor had hastened his release from prison.
In December 1934, Lead Belly participated in a "smoker" (group sing) at a Modern Language Association meeting at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, where the senior Lomax had a prior lecturing engagement. He was written up in the press as a convict who had sung his way out of prison. On New Year's Day, 1935, the pair arrived in New York City, where Lomax was scheduled to meet with his publisher, Macmillan, about a new collection of folk songs. The newspapers were eager to write about the "singing convict", and Time magazine made one of its first March of Time newsreels about him. Lead Belly attained fame—although not fortune.
On January 23–25, 1935, Lead Belly had the first of several recording sessions with American Record Corporation (ARC). These sessions, combined with two others on February 5 and March 25, yielded 53 takes. Of those recordings, only six were ever released during Lead Belly's lifetime. ARC decided to simultaneously release these songs on six different labels they owned: Banner, Melotone, Oriole, Perfect, Romeo, and Paramount. Unfortunately, these recordings achieved little commercial success. Part of the reason for the poor sales may have been that ARC released only his blues songs rather than the folk songs for which he would later become better known. Lead Belly continued to struggle financially. Like many performers, what income he made during his career would come from touring, not from record sales. In February 1935, he married his girlfriend, Martha Promise, who came North from Louisiana to join him.
The month of February was spent recording his repertoire and those of other African Americans and interviews about his life with Alan Lomax for their forthcoming book, Negro Folk Songs As Sung by Lead Belly (1936). Concert appearances were slow to materialize. In March 1935, Lead Belly accompanied John Lomax on a previously scheduled two-week lecture tour of colleges and universities in the Northeast, culminating at Harvard.
At the end of the month, John Lomax decided he could no longer work with Lead Belly and gave him and Martha money to go back to Louisiana by bus. He gave Martha the money her husband had earned during three months of performing, but in installments, on the pretext Lead Belly would spend it all on drinking if given a lump sum. From Louisiana, Lead Belly successfully sued Lomax for both the full amount and release from his management contract. The quarrel was bitter, with hard feelings on both sides. Curiously, in the midst of the legal wrangling, Lead Belly wrote to Lomax proposing they team up again, but it was not to be. Further, the book about Lead Belly published by the Lomaxes in the fall of the following year proved a commercial failure.
In January 1936, Lead Belly returned to New York on his own, without John Lomax, in an attempted comeback. He performed twice a day at Harlem's Apollo Theater during the Easter season in a live dramatic recreation of the March of Time newsreel (itself a recreation) about his prison encounter with John Lomax, where he had worn stripes, though by this time he was no longer associated with Lomax.
Life magazine ran a three-page article titled "Lead Belly: Bad Nigger Makes Good Minstrel" in its issue of April 19, 1937. It included a full-page, color (rare in those days) picture of him sitting on grain sacks playing his guitar and singing. Also included was a striking picture of Martha Promise (identified in the article as his manager) and photos showing Lead Belly's hands playing the guitar (with the caption "these hands once killed a man"), Texas Governor Pat M. Neff, and the "ramshackle" Texas State Penitentiary. The article attributes both of his pardons to his singing of his petitions to the governors, who were so moved that they pardoned him. The text of the article ends with "he... may well be on the brink of a new and prosperous period."
Lead Belly failed to stir the enthusiasm of Harlem audiences. Instead, he attained success playing at concerts and benefits for an audience of folk music aficionados. He developed his own style of singing and explaining his repertoire in the context of Southern black culture having learned from his participation in Lomax's college lectures. He was especially successful with his repertoire of children's game songs (as a younger man in Louisiana he had sung regularly at children's birthday parties in the black community). He was written about as a heroic figure by the black novelist Richard Wright in the columns of the Daily Worker, of which Wright was the Harlem editor. The two men became personal friends, though some say Lead Belly himself was apolitical, and later was a supporter of Wendell Willkie, the centrist Republican candidate for president, for whom he wrote a campaign song. However, he also wrote the song "Bourgeois Blues", which has radical or left-wing lyrics.
In 1939, Lead Belly returned to prison. Alan Lomax, then 24, took him under his wing and helped raise money for his legal expenses, dropping out of graduate school to do so. After his release, Lead Belly appeared as a regular on Lomax and Nicholas Ray's groundbreaking CBS radio show Back Where I Come From, broadcast nationwide. He also appeared in nightclubs with Josh White, becoming a fixture in New York City's surging folk music scene and befriending the likes of Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, Woody Guthrie, and Pete Seeger, all fellow performers on Back Where I Come From. During the first half of the decade, he recorded for the Library of Congress, and Moe Asch (future founder of Folkways Records) and in 1944 went to California, where he recorded strong sessions for Capitol Records. He lodged with a studio guitar player on Merrywood Drive in Laurel Canyon. Lead Belly was the first American country blues musician to achieve success in Europe.
In 1940, Lead Belly recorded for one of the biggest record companies at the time, RCA Victor. These sessions were held on June 15 and 17, with the Golden Gate Quartet accompanying some songs. The recordings resulted in the album, The Midnight Special and Other Southern Prison Songs, being issued by Victor Records, which contained extensive notes and song texts prepared by Alan Lomax. According to Charles Wolfe and Kip Lornell, "it was one of the finest public presentations of Leadbelly's music: well recorded, well advertised, well documented. And the album justified its reputation as a landmark in African American folk music." Several of the recordings from these sessions were also issued as singles by Bluebird Records.
In 1941, Lead Belly was introduced to Moses "Moe" Asch by mutual friends. Asch owned a recording studio and small record label, which mainly released folk records for the local New York City market. Between 1941 and 1944, Lead Belly released three albums under the Asch Recordings label.
In 1949, Lead Belly had a regular radio show, Folk Songs of America, broadcast on station WNYC in New York, on Henrietta Yurchenco's show on Sunday nights. Later in the year he began his first European tour with a trip to France, but fell ill before its completion and was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease (a motor neuron disease). His final concert was at the University of Texas at Austin in a tribute to his former mentor, John Lomax, who had died the previous year. Martha also performed at that concert, singing spirituals with her husband.
Lead Belly died later that year in New York City and was buried in the Shiloh Baptist Church cemetery, in Mooringsport, Louisiana, west of Blanchard, in Caddo Parish. He is honored with a statue across from the Caddo Parish Courthouse, in Shreveport.
Legal issues
Lead Belly was imprisoned multiple times beginning in 1915 when he was convicted of carrying a pistol and sentenced to time on the Harrison County chain gang. He later escaped and found work in nearby Bowie County under the assumed name of Walter Boyd. Later, in January 1918, he was imprisoned at the Imperial Farm (now Central Unit) in Sugar Land, Texas, after killing one of his relatives, Will Stafford, in a fight over a woman. During his second prison term, another inmate stabbed him in the neck (leaving him with a fearsome scar he subsequently covered with a bandana); Lead Belly nearly killed his attacker with his own knife.
In 1925 he was pardoned and released after writing a song to Governor Pat Morris Neff seeking his freedom, having served the minimum seven years of a 7-to-35-year sentence. Combined with his good behavior, which included entertaining the guards and fellow prisoners, his appeal to Neff's strong religious beliefs proved sufficient. It was a testament to his persuasive powers, as Neff had run for governor on a pledge not to issue pardons (the only recourse for prisoners, since in most Southern prisons there was no provision for parole). After their initial meeting in 1924, Neff came back several times and regularly brought guests to the prison on Sunday picnics to hear Ledbetter perform.
In 1930, Ledbetter was sentenced to Louisiana State Penitentiary after a summary trial for attempted homicide for stabbing a man in a fight. In 1939, Lead Belly served his final jail term for assault after stabbing a man in a fight in Manhattan.
Nicknamed "Lead Belly"
There are several conflicting stories about how Ledbetter acquired the nickname "Lead Belly", but he probably acquired it while in prison. Some claim his fellow inmates called him "Lead Belly" as a play on his family name and his physical toughness. Others say he earned the name after being wounded in the stomach with buckshot. Another theory is that the name refers to his ability to drink moonshine, the homemade liquor that Southern farmers, black and white, made to supplement their incomes.
Blues singer Big Bill Broonzy thought it came from a supposed tendency to lie about as if "with a stomach weighted down by lead" in the shade when the chain gang was supposed to be working. Yet another theory is that it may be a corruption of his last name pronounced with a Southern accent.
Technique
Lead Belly styled himself "King of the Twelve-String Guitar", and despite his use of other instruments like the accordion, the most enduring image of Lead Belly as a performer is wielding his unusually large Stella twelve-string. This guitar had a slightly longer scale length than a standard guitar, increasing the tension on the instrument, which, given the added tension of the six extra strings, meant that a trapeze-style tailpiece was needed to help resist bridge lifting. It had slotted tuners and ladder bracing.
Lead Belly played with finger picks much of the time, using a thumb pick to provide walking bass lines described as "tricky" and "inventive" and occasionally to strum. This technique, combined with low tunings and heavy strings, gives many of his recordings a piano-like sound. In fact, scholars have suggested much of his guitar playing was inspired equally by barrelhouse piano and the Mexican Bajo sexto, an instrument he encountered in Texas and Louisiana.
Lead Belly's tunings are debated by both modern and contemporary musicians and blues enthusiasts alike exacerbated by the lack of film footage of his performing rendering chord decoding difficult but it seems to be a down-tuned variant of standard tuning; it is likely that he tuned his guitar strings relative to one another, so that the actual notes shifted as the strings wore. Such down-tuning was a common technique before the development of truss rods, and was intended to prevent the instrument's neck from warping. Lead Belly's playing style was popularized by Pete Seeger, who adopted the twelve-string guitar in the 1950s and released an instructional LP and book using Lead Belly as an exemplar of technique.
In some of the recordings in which Lead Belly accompanied himself, he would make an unusual type of grunt between his verses, sometimes described as "haah!" Songs such as "Looky Looky Yonder", "Take This Hammer", "Linin' Track" and "Julie Ann Johnson" feature this unusual vocalization. In "Take This Hammer", Lead Belly explained, "Every time the men say, 'Haah,' the hammer falls. The hammer rings, and we swing, and we sing." The "haah" sound can be heard in work chants sung by Southern railroad section workers, "gandy dancers", in which it was used to coordinate work crews as they laid and maintained tracks.
Legacy
In 1976, a biopic titled Leadbelly was released, directed by Gordon Parks and featuring Roger E. Mosley as Lead Belly.
Kurt Cobain promoted the legacy of Lead Belly, and some modern rock audiences owe their familiarity with Lead Belly to Nirvana's performance of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" on a televised concert later released as MTV Unplugged in New York. Cobain refers to his attempt to convince David Geffen to purchase Lead Belly's guitar for him in an interval before the song is played. In his notebooks, Cobain listed Lead Belly's Last Session Vol. 1 as one of the 50 albums most influential in the formation of Nirvana's sound. It was included in NME's "The 100 Greatest Albums You've Never Heard list".
Bob Dylan credits Lead Belly for getting him into folk music. In his Nobel Prize Lecture, Dylan said "somebody – somebody I’d never seen before – handed me a Lead Belly record with the song 'Cotton Fields' on it. And that record changed my life right then and there. Transported me into a world I’d never known. It was like an explosion went off. Like I’d been walking in darkness and all of the sudden the darkness was illuminated. It was like somebody laid hands on me. I must have played that record a hundred times." Dylan also pays homage to him in "Song to Woody" on his self-titled debut album.
Lonnie Donegan's recording of "Rock Island Line", released as a single in late 1955, signaled the start of the UK skiffle craze. George Harrison of The Beatles was quoted as saying, “if there was no Lead Belly, there would have been no Lonnie Donegan; no Lonnie Donegan, no Beatles. Therefore no Lead Belly, no Beatles.” In a BBC tribute in 1999, which marked the 50th anniversary of Lead Belly's death, Van Morrison – while sitting alongside Ronnie Wood of The Rolling Stones – claimed that the British popular music scene of the 1960s wouldn't have happened if it weren't for Lead Belly's influence. “I’d put my money on that,” he said. Wood concurred.
Indian singer Bhupen Hazarika who was in general influenced by spirituals during his days as a student in the US, transcreated Lead Belly's singing of "We're in the Same Boat Brother" into the Assamese language as "Ami ekekhon nawore zatri" (আমি একেখন নাৱৰে যাত্ৰী). Later, he also released a Bengali language version as "Mora jatri eki toronir" (মোরা যাত্রী একই তরণীর).
In 2001 English-Canadian blues singer Long John Baldry released his final studio album, Remembering Leadbelly. It contains cover versions of Lead Belly songs, and features a six-minute Alan Lomax interview.
George Ezra developed his singing style from trying to sing like Lead Belly. "On the back of the record, it said his voice was so big, you had to turn your record player down," Ezra says. "I liked the idea of singing with a big voice, so I tried it, and I could."
In 2015, in celebration of Lead Belly's 125th birthday, several events were held. The Kennedy Center, in collaboration with the Grammy Museum held Lead Belly at 125: A Tribute to an American Songster, a musical event featuring Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, and Buddy Miller with Viktor Krauss as headliners and Dom Flemons as host, with special appearances by Lucinda Williams, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Billy Hector, Valerie June, Shannon McNally, Josh White Jr., and Dan Zanes, among others Also in Washington, D.C., Bourgeois Town: Lead Belly in Washington DC by the Library of Congress was held where Todd Harvey interviewed Lead Belly family members about their relative, his contributions to American culture and world music and an overview of the significant Lead Belly materials in the center's archive In London, England, the Royal Albert Hall held Lead Belly Fest, a musical event featuring Van Morrison, Eric Burdon, Jools Holland, Billy Bragg, Paul Jones, and more.
The Titanic
Influenced by the sinking of the Titanic in April 1912, Ledbetter wrote the song "The Titanic", his first composition on the twelve-string guitar, which later became his signature instrument. Initially played when performing with Blind Lemon Jefferson (1893–1929) in and around Dallas, Texas, the song is about champion African-American boxer Jack Johnson's being denied passage on the Titanic. Johnson had in fact been denied passage on a ship for being black, but it was not the Titanic. Still, the song includes the lyric "Jack Johnson tried to get on board. The Captain, he says, 'I ain't haulin' no coal!' Fare thee, Titanic! Fare thee well!" Ledbetter later noted he had to leave out this passage when playing in front of white audiences.
Discography
Singles
Albums
Posthumous discography
The Library of Congress recordings
The Library of Congress recordings, made by John and Alan Lomax from 1934 to 1943, were released in a six-volume series by Rounder Records:
Midnight Special (1991)
Gwine Dig a Hole to Put the Devil In (1991)
Let It Shine on Me (1991)
The Titanic (1994)
Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen (1994)
Go Down Old Hannah (1995)
Folkways recordings
The Folkways recordings, done for Moses Asch from 1941 to 1947, were released in a three-volume series by Smithsonian Folkways:
Where Did You Sleep Last Night, Lead Belly Legacy, Vol. 1 (1996)
Bourgeois Blues, Lead Belly Legacy, Vol. 2 (1997)
Shout On, Lead Belly Legacy, Vol. 3 (1998)
Smithsonian Folkways has released several other collections of his recordings:
Leadbelly Sings Folk Songs (1989)
Lead Belly's Last Sessions (4-CD box set, 1994), recorded late 1948 in New York City; his only commercial recordings on magnetic tape
Lead Belly Sings for Children (1999)
Folkways: The Original Vision, Woody Guthrie and Lead Belly (2004), expanded version of the 1989 compilation
Lead Belly: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection (2015)
Live recordings
Leadbelly Recorded in Concert, University of Texas, Austin, June 15, 1949 (1973, Playboy Records PB 119)
Other compilations
Huddie Ledbetter's Best (1989, BGO Records), containing recordings made for Capitol Records in 1944 in California
King of the 12-String Guitar (1991, Sony/Legacy Records), a collection of blues songs and prison ballads recorded in 1935 in New York City for the American Record Company, including previously unreleased alternate takes
Private Party November 21, 1948 (2000, Document Records), containing Lead Belly's intimate performance at a private party in late 1948 in Minneapolis
Take This Hammer, When the Sun Goes Down series, vol. 5 (2003, RCA Victor/Bluebird Jazz), CD collection of all 26 songs Lead Belly recorded for Victor Records in 1940, half of which feature the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet (a 1968 LP released by RCA Victor included about half of these recordings)
A Leadbelly Memorial, Vol II (1963, Stinson Records, SLP 19), red vinyl pressing
The Definitive Lead Belly (2008, Not Now Music), a 50-song retrospective on two CDs
Leadbelly - American Folk & Blues Anthology (2013, Not Now Music), 75 songs on three CDs
American Epic: The Best of Lead Belly (2017, Lo-Max, Sony Legacy, Third Man)
References
Sources
White, Gary; Stuart, David; Aviva, Elyn (2001). Music in Our World. p. 196. .
Wolfe, Charles; Lornell, Kip (1992). The Life and Legend of Leadbelly . New York City: HarperCollins Publishers.
External links
The Lead Belly Foundation
The Official Lead Belly Website
"Ledbetter, Huddie (Leadbelly)" in the Handbook of Texas Online
[ AllMusic]
Discography for Lead Belly on Folkways
Leadbelly and Lomax Together at the American Music Festival on WNYC
Lead Belly And The Lomaxes: Myths and Realities A FAQ and Timeline Lead Belly's relationship with John and Alan Lomax
Louisiana Music Hall of Fame Induction Page
Lead Belly: Entries|KnowLA, Encyclopedia of Louisiana
Huddie William "Lead Belly" Ledbetter at Find A Grave
1888 births
1949 deaths
American accordionists
American acoustic guitarists
American blues guitarists
American blues singers
American street performers
American folk guitarists
American male guitarists
American folk singers
American multi-instrumentalists
American people convicted of attempted murder
American people convicted of murder
American male criminals
Country blues musicians
Criminals from Louisiana
Criminals from Texas
Deaths from motor neuron disease
Neurological disease deaths in New York (state)
Musicians from Dallas
Singers from Louisiana
People from Mooringsport, Louisiana
Prison music
Songster musicians
Guitarists from Louisiana
Guitarists from Texas
20th-century American guitarists
20th-century accordionists
20th-century American criminals
Folkways Records artists
African-American guitarists
Prisoners and detainees of Texas
Prisoners and detainees of Louisiana
20th-century African-American male singers
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"Carl Schultén (1677 in Västmanland – 1730 in Lund) was a Swedish orientalist who was a professor and later the rector of the Academia Gustavo-Carolina (modern-day University of Tartu) in 1709, and the rector for Lund University in 1721. He previously was the first ever professor of eastern languages at the university and later became the third ever professor of theology there. He was the son of Pastor Samuel Schultenius and Margareta Schultin, and his aunt was Haqvin Spegel's wife. His brother, , was a professor in Turku. One of his daughters was married to .\n\nReferences\n\nOrientalists\nSwedish scientists\nRectors of the University of Tartu\nLund University faculty\nUniversity of Tartu faculty\n1677 births\n1730 deaths",
"Thomas Bryson (1826 – January 4, 1882) was a Quebec merchant and political figure. He represented Pontiac in the Legislative Assembly of Quebec from 1881 to 1882 as a Conservative member.\n\nHe was born in Perth, Ontario, the son of James Bryson and Jane Cochrane. He married Jane Fumerton around 1850. Bryson was mayor of Mansfield and Pontefract from 1878 to 1881. He operated a store at Fort Coulonge. He died in office in 1882 without ever taking his seat in the provincial legislature.\n\nBryson's brother George was also elected to the legislative assembly and was a member of the legislative council. His daughter Mary married his nephew John Bryson.\n\nReferences \nNotes\n\nSources\n\n1826 births\n1882 deaths\nCanadian people of Scottish descent\nAnglophone Quebec people\nConservative Party of Quebec MNAs"
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"The 1910 census of Harrison County, Texas, shows \"Hudy\" Ledbetter living next door to his parents with his first wife, Aletha \"Lethe\" Henderson."
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Who popularized Lead Belly's playing style?
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Lead Belly
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Lead Belly was born Huddie William Ledbetter on the Jeter Plantation near Mooringsport, Louisiana, on January 20, 1888 or 1889 (generally accepted to be the former). The 1900 United States Census lists "Hudy Ledbetter" as 12 years old, born January 1888, and the 1910 and 1930 censuses also give his age as corresponding to a birth in 1888. The 1940 census lists his age as 51, with information supplied by wife Martha. However, in April 1942, when Ledbetter filled out his World War II draft registration, he gave his birth date as January 23, 1889, and his birthplace as Freeport, Louisiana ("Shreveport"). His grave marker bears the date given on his draft registration. Ledbetter was the younger of two children born to Wesley Ledbetter and Sallie Brown. The pronunciation of his name is purported to be "HYEW-dee" or "HUGH-dee." He can be heard pronouncing his name as "HUH-dee" on the track "Boll Weevil," from the Smithsonian Folkways album Lead Belly Sings for Children. His parents had cohabited for several years, but they legally married on February 26, 1888. When Huddie was five years old, the family settled in Bowie County, Texas. The 1910 census of Harrison County, Texas, shows "Hudy" Ledbetter living next door to his parents with his first wife, Aletha "Lethe" Henderson. Aletha is registered as age 19 and married one year. Others say she was 15 when they married in 1908. It was in Texas that Ledbetter received his first instrument, an accordion, from his uncle Terrell. By his early twenties, having fathered at least two children, Ledbetter left home to make his living as a guitarist and occasional laborer. When Lead Belly was released from his last prison sentence, the United States was deep in the Great Depression, and jobs were very scarce. In September 1934, in need of regular work in order to avoid cancellation of his release from prison, Lead Belly asked John Lomax to take him on as a driver. For three months, he assisted the 67-year-old in his folk song collecting around the South (Alan Lomax was ill and did not accompany his father on this trip). CANNOTANSWER
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Huddie William Ledbetter (; January 23, 1888 – December 6, 1949), better known by the stage name Lead Belly, was an American folk and blues singer, musician, and songwriter notable for his strong vocals, virtuosity on the twelve-string guitar, and the folk standards he introduced, including his renditions of "In The Pines", "Goodnight, Irene", "Midnight Special", "Cotton Fields", and "Boll Weevil".
Lead Belly usually played a twelve-string guitar, but he also played the piano, mandolin, harmonica, violin, and windjammer. In some of his recordings, he sang while clapping his hands or stomping his foot.
Lead Belly's songs covered a wide range of genres and topics including gospel music; blues about women, liquor, prison life, and racism; and folk songs about cowboys, prison, work, sailors, cattle herding, and dancing. He also wrote songs about people in the news, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler, Jean Harlow, Jack Johnson, the Scottsboro Boys and Howard Hughes. Lead Belly was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2008.
Though many releases credit him as "Leadbelly", he himself wrote it as "Lead Belly", which is also the spelling on his tombstone and the spelling used by the Lead Belly Foundation.
Biography
Personal life
The younger of two children, Lead Belly was born Huddie William Ledbetter to Sallie Brown and Wesley Ledbetter on a plantation near Mooringsport, Louisiana. On his World War II draft registration card in 1942, he gave his birthplace as Freeport, Louisiana ("Shreveport"). There is uncertainty over his precise date and year of birth. The Lead Belly Foundation gives his birth date as January 20, 1889, his grave marker gives the year 1889, and his 1942 draft registration card states January 23, 1889. However, the 1900 United States Census lists "Hudy Ledbetter" as 12 years old, born January 1888, and the 1910 and 1930 censuses also give his age as corresponding to a birth in 1888. The 1940 census lists his age as 51, with information supplied by wife Martha. The books Blues: A Regional Experience by Eagle and LeBlanc and Encyclopedia of Louisiana Musicians by Tomko give January 23, 1888, while the Encyclopedia of the Blues gives January 20, 1888.
His parents had cohabited for several years, but they legally married on February 26, 1888. When Huddie was five years old, the family settled in Bowie County, Texas. The 1910 census of Harrison County, Texas, shows "Hudy Ledbetter" living next door to his parents with his first wife, Aletha "Lethe" Henderson. Aletha is registered as age 19 and married one year. Others say she was 15 when they married in 1908. It was in Texas that Ledbetter received his first instrument, an accordion, from his uncle Terrell. By his early twenties, having fathered at least two children, Ledbetter left home to make his living as a guitarist and occasional laborer.
Music career
By 1903, Huddie was already a "musicianer", a singer and guitarist of some note. He performed for nearby Shreveport audiences in St. Paul's Bottoms, a notorious red-light district there. He began to develop his own style of music after exposure to various musical influences on Shreveport's Fannin Street, a row of saloons, brothels, and dance halls in the Bottoms, now referred to as Ledbetter Heights. Between 1915 and 1939, Ledbetter served several prison and jail terms for a variety of criminal charges. He was "discovered" in prison during a visit by folklorists John Lomax and his son Alan Lomax thirty years after his music career started.After one prison release in 1934, the United States was in the Great Depression, and jobs were scarce. In September of that year, in need of regular work in order to avoid cancellation of his release from prison, Lead Belly asked John Lomax to take him on as a driver. For three months, he assisted the 67-year-old in his folk song collecting around the South. Alan Lomax, his son, was ill and did not accompany him on this trip. While in prison, Lead Belly may have first heard the traditional prison song "Midnight Special".
Deeply impressed by Ledbetter's vibrant tenor and extensive repertoire, the Lomaxes recorded him in 1933 on portable aluminum disc recording equipment for the Library of Congress. They returned with new and better equipment in July 1934, recording hundreds of his songs. On August 1, Ledbetter was released after having again served nearly all of his minimum sentence, following a petition the Lomaxes had taken to Louisiana Governor Oscar K. Allen at his urgent request. It was on the other side of a recording of his signature song, "Goodnight Irene".
A prison official later wrote to John Lomax denying that Ledbetter's singing had anything to do with his release from Angola (state prison records confirm he was eligible for early release due to good behavior). However, both Ledbetter and the Lomaxes believed that the record they had taken to the governor had hastened his release from prison.
In December 1934, Lead Belly participated in a "smoker" (group sing) at a Modern Language Association meeting at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, where the senior Lomax had a prior lecturing engagement. He was written up in the press as a convict who had sung his way out of prison. On New Year's Day, 1935, the pair arrived in New York City, where Lomax was scheduled to meet with his publisher, Macmillan, about a new collection of folk songs. The newspapers were eager to write about the "singing convict", and Time magazine made one of its first March of Time newsreels about him. Lead Belly attained fame—although not fortune.
On January 23–25, 1935, Lead Belly had the first of several recording sessions with American Record Corporation (ARC). These sessions, combined with two others on February 5 and March 25, yielded 53 takes. Of those recordings, only six were ever released during Lead Belly's lifetime. ARC decided to simultaneously release these songs on six different labels they owned: Banner, Melotone, Oriole, Perfect, Romeo, and Paramount. Unfortunately, these recordings achieved little commercial success. Part of the reason for the poor sales may have been that ARC released only his blues songs rather than the folk songs for which he would later become better known. Lead Belly continued to struggle financially. Like many performers, what income he made during his career would come from touring, not from record sales. In February 1935, he married his girlfriend, Martha Promise, who came North from Louisiana to join him.
The month of February was spent recording his repertoire and those of other African Americans and interviews about his life with Alan Lomax for their forthcoming book, Negro Folk Songs As Sung by Lead Belly (1936). Concert appearances were slow to materialize. In March 1935, Lead Belly accompanied John Lomax on a previously scheduled two-week lecture tour of colleges and universities in the Northeast, culminating at Harvard.
At the end of the month, John Lomax decided he could no longer work with Lead Belly and gave him and Martha money to go back to Louisiana by bus. He gave Martha the money her husband had earned during three months of performing, but in installments, on the pretext Lead Belly would spend it all on drinking if given a lump sum. From Louisiana, Lead Belly successfully sued Lomax for both the full amount and release from his management contract. The quarrel was bitter, with hard feelings on both sides. Curiously, in the midst of the legal wrangling, Lead Belly wrote to Lomax proposing they team up again, but it was not to be. Further, the book about Lead Belly published by the Lomaxes in the fall of the following year proved a commercial failure.
In January 1936, Lead Belly returned to New York on his own, without John Lomax, in an attempted comeback. He performed twice a day at Harlem's Apollo Theater during the Easter season in a live dramatic recreation of the March of Time newsreel (itself a recreation) about his prison encounter with John Lomax, where he had worn stripes, though by this time he was no longer associated with Lomax.
Life magazine ran a three-page article titled "Lead Belly: Bad Nigger Makes Good Minstrel" in its issue of April 19, 1937. It included a full-page, color (rare in those days) picture of him sitting on grain sacks playing his guitar and singing. Also included was a striking picture of Martha Promise (identified in the article as his manager) and photos showing Lead Belly's hands playing the guitar (with the caption "these hands once killed a man"), Texas Governor Pat M. Neff, and the "ramshackle" Texas State Penitentiary. The article attributes both of his pardons to his singing of his petitions to the governors, who were so moved that they pardoned him. The text of the article ends with "he... may well be on the brink of a new and prosperous period."
Lead Belly failed to stir the enthusiasm of Harlem audiences. Instead, he attained success playing at concerts and benefits for an audience of folk music aficionados. He developed his own style of singing and explaining his repertoire in the context of Southern black culture having learned from his participation in Lomax's college lectures. He was especially successful with his repertoire of children's game songs (as a younger man in Louisiana he had sung regularly at children's birthday parties in the black community). He was written about as a heroic figure by the black novelist Richard Wright in the columns of the Daily Worker, of which Wright was the Harlem editor. The two men became personal friends, though some say Lead Belly himself was apolitical, and later was a supporter of Wendell Willkie, the centrist Republican candidate for president, for whom he wrote a campaign song. However, he also wrote the song "Bourgeois Blues", which has radical or left-wing lyrics.
In 1939, Lead Belly returned to prison. Alan Lomax, then 24, took him under his wing and helped raise money for his legal expenses, dropping out of graduate school to do so. After his release, Lead Belly appeared as a regular on Lomax and Nicholas Ray's groundbreaking CBS radio show Back Where I Come From, broadcast nationwide. He also appeared in nightclubs with Josh White, becoming a fixture in New York City's surging folk music scene and befriending the likes of Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, Woody Guthrie, and Pete Seeger, all fellow performers on Back Where I Come From. During the first half of the decade, he recorded for the Library of Congress, and Moe Asch (future founder of Folkways Records) and in 1944 went to California, where he recorded strong sessions for Capitol Records. He lodged with a studio guitar player on Merrywood Drive in Laurel Canyon. Lead Belly was the first American country blues musician to achieve success in Europe.
In 1940, Lead Belly recorded for one of the biggest record companies at the time, RCA Victor. These sessions were held on June 15 and 17, with the Golden Gate Quartet accompanying some songs. The recordings resulted in the album, The Midnight Special and Other Southern Prison Songs, being issued by Victor Records, which contained extensive notes and song texts prepared by Alan Lomax. According to Charles Wolfe and Kip Lornell, "it was one of the finest public presentations of Leadbelly's music: well recorded, well advertised, well documented. And the album justified its reputation as a landmark in African American folk music." Several of the recordings from these sessions were also issued as singles by Bluebird Records.
In 1941, Lead Belly was introduced to Moses "Moe" Asch by mutual friends. Asch owned a recording studio and small record label, which mainly released folk records for the local New York City market. Between 1941 and 1944, Lead Belly released three albums under the Asch Recordings label.
In 1949, Lead Belly had a regular radio show, Folk Songs of America, broadcast on station WNYC in New York, on Henrietta Yurchenco's show on Sunday nights. Later in the year he began his first European tour with a trip to France, but fell ill before its completion and was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease (a motor neuron disease). His final concert was at the University of Texas at Austin in a tribute to his former mentor, John Lomax, who had died the previous year. Martha also performed at that concert, singing spirituals with her husband.
Lead Belly died later that year in New York City and was buried in the Shiloh Baptist Church cemetery, in Mooringsport, Louisiana, west of Blanchard, in Caddo Parish. He is honored with a statue across from the Caddo Parish Courthouse, in Shreveport.
Legal issues
Lead Belly was imprisoned multiple times beginning in 1915 when he was convicted of carrying a pistol and sentenced to time on the Harrison County chain gang. He later escaped and found work in nearby Bowie County under the assumed name of Walter Boyd. Later, in January 1918, he was imprisoned at the Imperial Farm (now Central Unit) in Sugar Land, Texas, after killing one of his relatives, Will Stafford, in a fight over a woman. During his second prison term, another inmate stabbed him in the neck (leaving him with a fearsome scar he subsequently covered with a bandana); Lead Belly nearly killed his attacker with his own knife.
In 1925 he was pardoned and released after writing a song to Governor Pat Morris Neff seeking his freedom, having served the minimum seven years of a 7-to-35-year sentence. Combined with his good behavior, which included entertaining the guards and fellow prisoners, his appeal to Neff's strong religious beliefs proved sufficient. It was a testament to his persuasive powers, as Neff had run for governor on a pledge not to issue pardons (the only recourse for prisoners, since in most Southern prisons there was no provision for parole). After their initial meeting in 1924, Neff came back several times and regularly brought guests to the prison on Sunday picnics to hear Ledbetter perform.
In 1930, Ledbetter was sentenced to Louisiana State Penitentiary after a summary trial for attempted homicide for stabbing a man in a fight. In 1939, Lead Belly served his final jail term for assault after stabbing a man in a fight in Manhattan.
Nicknamed "Lead Belly"
There are several conflicting stories about how Ledbetter acquired the nickname "Lead Belly", but he probably acquired it while in prison. Some claim his fellow inmates called him "Lead Belly" as a play on his family name and his physical toughness. Others say he earned the name after being wounded in the stomach with buckshot. Another theory is that the name refers to his ability to drink moonshine, the homemade liquor that Southern farmers, black and white, made to supplement their incomes.
Blues singer Big Bill Broonzy thought it came from a supposed tendency to lie about as if "with a stomach weighted down by lead" in the shade when the chain gang was supposed to be working. Yet another theory is that it may be a corruption of his last name pronounced with a Southern accent.
Technique
Lead Belly styled himself "King of the Twelve-String Guitar", and despite his use of other instruments like the accordion, the most enduring image of Lead Belly as a performer is wielding his unusually large Stella twelve-string. This guitar had a slightly longer scale length than a standard guitar, increasing the tension on the instrument, which, given the added tension of the six extra strings, meant that a trapeze-style tailpiece was needed to help resist bridge lifting. It had slotted tuners and ladder bracing.
Lead Belly played with finger picks much of the time, using a thumb pick to provide walking bass lines described as "tricky" and "inventive" and occasionally to strum. This technique, combined with low tunings and heavy strings, gives many of his recordings a piano-like sound. In fact, scholars have suggested much of his guitar playing was inspired equally by barrelhouse piano and the Mexican Bajo sexto, an instrument he encountered in Texas and Louisiana.
Lead Belly's tunings are debated by both modern and contemporary musicians and blues enthusiasts alike exacerbated by the lack of film footage of his performing rendering chord decoding difficult but it seems to be a down-tuned variant of standard tuning; it is likely that he tuned his guitar strings relative to one another, so that the actual notes shifted as the strings wore. Such down-tuning was a common technique before the development of truss rods, and was intended to prevent the instrument's neck from warping. Lead Belly's playing style was popularized by Pete Seeger, who adopted the twelve-string guitar in the 1950s and released an instructional LP and book using Lead Belly as an exemplar of technique.
In some of the recordings in which Lead Belly accompanied himself, he would make an unusual type of grunt between his verses, sometimes described as "haah!" Songs such as "Looky Looky Yonder", "Take This Hammer", "Linin' Track" and "Julie Ann Johnson" feature this unusual vocalization. In "Take This Hammer", Lead Belly explained, "Every time the men say, 'Haah,' the hammer falls. The hammer rings, and we swing, and we sing." The "haah" sound can be heard in work chants sung by Southern railroad section workers, "gandy dancers", in which it was used to coordinate work crews as they laid and maintained tracks.
Legacy
In 1976, a biopic titled Leadbelly was released, directed by Gordon Parks and featuring Roger E. Mosley as Lead Belly.
Kurt Cobain promoted the legacy of Lead Belly, and some modern rock audiences owe their familiarity with Lead Belly to Nirvana's performance of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" on a televised concert later released as MTV Unplugged in New York. Cobain refers to his attempt to convince David Geffen to purchase Lead Belly's guitar for him in an interval before the song is played. In his notebooks, Cobain listed Lead Belly's Last Session Vol. 1 as one of the 50 albums most influential in the formation of Nirvana's sound. It was included in NME's "The 100 Greatest Albums You've Never Heard list".
Bob Dylan credits Lead Belly for getting him into folk music. In his Nobel Prize Lecture, Dylan said "somebody – somebody I’d never seen before – handed me a Lead Belly record with the song 'Cotton Fields' on it. And that record changed my life right then and there. Transported me into a world I’d never known. It was like an explosion went off. Like I’d been walking in darkness and all of the sudden the darkness was illuminated. It was like somebody laid hands on me. I must have played that record a hundred times." Dylan also pays homage to him in "Song to Woody" on his self-titled debut album.
Lonnie Donegan's recording of "Rock Island Line", released as a single in late 1955, signaled the start of the UK skiffle craze. George Harrison of The Beatles was quoted as saying, “if there was no Lead Belly, there would have been no Lonnie Donegan; no Lonnie Donegan, no Beatles. Therefore no Lead Belly, no Beatles.” In a BBC tribute in 1999, which marked the 50th anniversary of Lead Belly's death, Van Morrison – while sitting alongside Ronnie Wood of The Rolling Stones – claimed that the British popular music scene of the 1960s wouldn't have happened if it weren't for Lead Belly's influence. “I’d put my money on that,” he said. Wood concurred.
Indian singer Bhupen Hazarika who was in general influenced by spirituals during his days as a student in the US, transcreated Lead Belly's singing of "We're in the Same Boat Brother" into the Assamese language as "Ami ekekhon nawore zatri" (আমি একেখন নাৱৰে যাত্ৰী). Later, he also released a Bengali language version as "Mora jatri eki toronir" (মোরা যাত্রী একই তরণীর).
In 2001 English-Canadian blues singer Long John Baldry released his final studio album, Remembering Leadbelly. It contains cover versions of Lead Belly songs, and features a six-minute Alan Lomax interview.
George Ezra developed his singing style from trying to sing like Lead Belly. "On the back of the record, it said his voice was so big, you had to turn your record player down," Ezra says. "I liked the idea of singing with a big voice, so I tried it, and I could."
In 2015, in celebration of Lead Belly's 125th birthday, several events were held. The Kennedy Center, in collaboration with the Grammy Museum held Lead Belly at 125: A Tribute to an American Songster, a musical event featuring Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, and Buddy Miller with Viktor Krauss as headliners and Dom Flemons as host, with special appearances by Lucinda Williams, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Billy Hector, Valerie June, Shannon McNally, Josh White Jr., and Dan Zanes, among others Also in Washington, D.C., Bourgeois Town: Lead Belly in Washington DC by the Library of Congress was held where Todd Harvey interviewed Lead Belly family members about their relative, his contributions to American culture and world music and an overview of the significant Lead Belly materials in the center's archive In London, England, the Royal Albert Hall held Lead Belly Fest, a musical event featuring Van Morrison, Eric Burdon, Jools Holland, Billy Bragg, Paul Jones, and more.
The Titanic
Influenced by the sinking of the Titanic in April 1912, Ledbetter wrote the song "The Titanic", his first composition on the twelve-string guitar, which later became his signature instrument. Initially played when performing with Blind Lemon Jefferson (1893–1929) in and around Dallas, Texas, the song is about champion African-American boxer Jack Johnson's being denied passage on the Titanic. Johnson had in fact been denied passage on a ship for being black, but it was not the Titanic. Still, the song includes the lyric "Jack Johnson tried to get on board. The Captain, he says, 'I ain't haulin' no coal!' Fare thee, Titanic! Fare thee well!" Ledbetter later noted he had to leave out this passage when playing in front of white audiences.
Discography
Singles
Albums
Posthumous discography
The Library of Congress recordings
The Library of Congress recordings, made by John and Alan Lomax from 1934 to 1943, were released in a six-volume series by Rounder Records:
Midnight Special (1991)
Gwine Dig a Hole to Put the Devil In (1991)
Let It Shine on Me (1991)
The Titanic (1994)
Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen (1994)
Go Down Old Hannah (1995)
Folkways recordings
The Folkways recordings, done for Moses Asch from 1941 to 1947, were released in a three-volume series by Smithsonian Folkways:
Where Did You Sleep Last Night, Lead Belly Legacy, Vol. 1 (1996)
Bourgeois Blues, Lead Belly Legacy, Vol. 2 (1997)
Shout On, Lead Belly Legacy, Vol. 3 (1998)
Smithsonian Folkways has released several other collections of his recordings:
Leadbelly Sings Folk Songs (1989)
Lead Belly's Last Sessions (4-CD box set, 1994), recorded late 1948 in New York City; his only commercial recordings on magnetic tape
Lead Belly Sings for Children (1999)
Folkways: The Original Vision, Woody Guthrie and Lead Belly (2004), expanded version of the 1989 compilation
Lead Belly: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection (2015)
Live recordings
Leadbelly Recorded in Concert, University of Texas, Austin, June 15, 1949 (1973, Playboy Records PB 119)
Other compilations
Huddie Ledbetter's Best (1989, BGO Records), containing recordings made for Capitol Records in 1944 in California
King of the 12-String Guitar (1991, Sony/Legacy Records), a collection of blues songs and prison ballads recorded in 1935 in New York City for the American Record Company, including previously unreleased alternate takes
Private Party November 21, 1948 (2000, Document Records), containing Lead Belly's intimate performance at a private party in late 1948 in Minneapolis
Take This Hammer, When the Sun Goes Down series, vol. 5 (2003, RCA Victor/Bluebird Jazz), CD collection of all 26 songs Lead Belly recorded for Victor Records in 1940, half of which feature the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet (a 1968 LP released by RCA Victor included about half of these recordings)
A Leadbelly Memorial, Vol II (1963, Stinson Records, SLP 19), red vinyl pressing
The Definitive Lead Belly (2008, Not Now Music), a 50-song retrospective on two CDs
Leadbelly - American Folk & Blues Anthology (2013, Not Now Music), 75 songs on three CDs
American Epic: The Best of Lead Belly (2017, Lo-Max, Sony Legacy, Third Man)
References
Sources
White, Gary; Stuart, David; Aviva, Elyn (2001). Music in Our World. p. 196. .
Wolfe, Charles; Lornell, Kip (1992). The Life and Legend of Leadbelly . New York City: HarperCollins Publishers.
External links
The Lead Belly Foundation
The Official Lead Belly Website
"Ledbetter, Huddie (Leadbelly)" in the Handbook of Texas Online
[ AllMusic]
Discography for Lead Belly on Folkways
Leadbelly and Lomax Together at the American Music Festival on WNYC
Lead Belly And The Lomaxes: Myths and Realities A FAQ and Timeline Lead Belly's relationship with John and Alan Lomax
Louisiana Music Hall of Fame Induction Page
Lead Belly: Entries|KnowLA, Encyclopedia of Louisiana
Huddie William "Lead Belly" Ledbetter at Find A Grave
1888 births
1949 deaths
American accordionists
American acoustic guitarists
American blues guitarists
American blues singers
American street performers
American folk guitarists
American male guitarists
American folk singers
American multi-instrumentalists
American people convicted of attempted murder
American people convicted of murder
American male criminals
Country blues musicians
Criminals from Louisiana
Criminals from Texas
Deaths from motor neuron disease
Neurological disease deaths in New York (state)
Musicians from Dallas
Singers from Louisiana
People from Mooringsport, Louisiana
Prison music
Songster musicians
Guitarists from Louisiana
Guitarists from Texas
20th-century American guitarists
20th-century accordionists
20th-century American criminals
Folkways Records artists
African-American guitarists
Prisoners and detainees of Texas
Prisoners and detainees of Louisiana
20th-century African-American male singers
| false |
[
"Parur Sundaram Iyer (1891—1974) was an Indian violinist from Kerala who had mastered both the streams of Indian Classical Music, his native Carnatic style and Hindustani.\n\nPlaying Style\nHe developed a style of playing which is known as Parur Bani, named after his native place named Parur. Though he was from the place named Parur in the Indian state of Kerala, and thus grew up in the milieu of Carnatic music, he traveled to Mumbai in 1909 to learn Hindustani Sangeet from Pandit V D Paluskar. He served as a faculty member at Gandharva Maha Vidyalaya, Mumbai. He returned to Chennai in 1922. He proceeded to develop a new style which added some elements of Hindustani music to Carnatic violin playing.\n\nHe won the admiration of fellow musicians like Harikesanallur Muttiah Bhagavadar and Chembai Vaidyanata Bhagavadar. Sundaram Iyer was fond of Abdul Karim Khan saab’s music and used to organize Chamber concerts at his home.\n\nFamily of musicians\nHe and his wife Bhageerathi Ammal had eight children. Their eldest daughter, S Sitalakshmi (b 1920), played violin in an orchestra as a child artist. Sundaram Iyer's two sons M. S. Anantharaman (1924-2018, the fourth child) and M. S. Gopalakrishnan, aka MSG, (1931-2013, the eight and youngest child) became major violin players and popularized Parur Bani. They played violin recitals, as well as offered accompaniment to many major artistes of the day. Anantaraman's two sons, M.A. Sundareshan and M.A. Krishnaswamy, and MSG's daughter M. Narmadha carry the family legacy now. MSG, as the younger of the violin playing brothers was called, was awarded Sangeetha Kalanidhi and Padma Bhushan titles. \n\nParur Sundaram Iyer died in December 1974.\n\nReference \n\nCarnatic violinists\nHindustani violinists\n20th-century violinists\n20th-century Indian musicians",
"Flatstyle refers to several 20th-century American Indian painting styles with limited or no shading or perspective but emphasized shape and contour. These include:\n\n Bacone school, popularized by Bacone College, Muskogee, Oklahoma from the 1930s through 1980s\n San Ildefonso School, active in New Mexico from the 1910s through 1940s\n Southern Plains style, popularized by the Kiowa Six, beginning in the late 1920s.\n Studio style, taught by Dorothy Dunn and Géronima Montoya Cruz at the Santa Fe Indian School, New Mexico, from the 1930s to early 1960s."
] |
[
"Paolo Rossi",
"Later years"
] |
C_7b42947f299f44c49c0d3de0f896725a_0
|
When did he retire?
| 1 |
When did Paolo Rossi retire?
|
Paolo Rossi
|
After the 1982 World Cup, Rossi continued to play with Juventus. During the 1982-83 season, Juventus finished second in Serie A, although Rossi helped the club to win the 1983 Coppa Italia, scoring 5 goals, also helping Juventus to reach the 1983 European Cup final, only to lose out to Hamburg; Rossi finished the tournament as the top scorer, with 6 goals. During the 1983-84 season, Rossi won his second Scudetto title with the club, notably scoring 13 goals, also helping the club to win the 1983-84 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, followed by the 1984 UEFA Super Cup. During his final season with the club, Rossi finally won the European Cup in 1985, finishing the tournament with 5 goals, behind only team-mate Michel Platini, and Torbjorn Nilsson, with 7 goals. After his stint with Juventus, he moved on to a then struggling Milan for a season in 1985. During his time with Milan, he was remembered for his two-goal performance against Internazionale in a Milan derby match. Rossi was also selected to the Italian roster for the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, but did not play in the competition, because of an injury, which caused him to struggle during the team's fitness tests, due to the high altitude of the region; as a result, he was replaced by Giuseppe Galderisi up-front in the team's starting line-up. He made his final appearance for Italy on 11 May 1986, in a 2-0 friendly home win over China, in Naples. He ended his club career at Hellas Verona during the 1986-87 season, helping them to a fourth-place finish in Serie A, before retiring at the end of the season. He is currently involved in real estate, together with his former teammate Giancarlo Salvi. Rossi scored a total of 20 goals in 48 senior international caps for Italy. Undoubtedly, his most important goal was the winner against Brazil in the 1982 World Cup which completed a famous hat trick and enabled the Azzurri to advance to the semi-finals at the expense of the South Americans. Rossi further represented Italy in the 1991 edition of the World Cup of Masters, scoring in the third place play off against Uruguay. Rossi is currently Italy's joint all-time top goalscorer in the FIFA World Cup, with 9 goals in 14 appearances over two editions of the tournament, alongside Roberto Baggio and Christian Vieri. 6 of his World Cup goals came in 7 appearances in Italy's victorious 1982 edition, and 3 of his goals came in 7 appearances in the 1978 edition, where Italy finished in fourth place. Rossi was named by Pele as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004; during the same year, he placed 12th in the UEFA Golden Jubilee poll. In August 1990, he was named vice-president of Lega Pro Prima Divisione club A.S. Pescina Valle del Giovenco. CANNOTANSWER
|
He ended his club career at Hellas Verona during the 1986-87 season, helping them to a fourth-place finish in Serie A, before retiring at the end of the season.
|
Paolo Rossi (; 23 September 1956 – 9 December 2020) was an Italian professional footballer who played as a forward. He led Italy to the 1982 FIFA World Cup title, scoring six goals to win the Golden Boot as top goalscorer, and the Golden Ball for the player of the tournament. Rossi is one of only three players, and the only European, to have won all three awards at a World Cup, along with Garrincha in 1962, and Mario Kempes in 1978. Rossi was also awarded the 1982 Ballon d'Or as the European Footballer of the Year for his performances (remaining the only player in history to win these four awards in a single year). Along with Roberto Baggio and Christian Vieri, he is Italy's top scorer in World Cup history, with nine goals overall.
At club level, Rossi was also a prolific goalscorer for Vicenza. In 1976, he was signed to Juventus from Vicenza in a co-ownership deal for a world record transfer fee. Vicenza retained his services, and he was the top goalscorer in Serie B in 1977, leading his team to promotion to Serie A. The following season, Rossi scored 24 goals, to become the first player to top the scoring charts in Serie B and Serie A in consecutive seasons. Rossi made his debut for Juventus in 1981, and went on to win two Serie A titles, the Coppa Italia, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, the UEFA Super Cup, and the European Cup.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest Italian footballers of all time, Rossi was named in 2004 by Pelé as one of the Top 125 greatest living footballers as part of FIFA's 100th anniversary celebration. In the same year, Rossi placed 12th in the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll. After he retired from football, he worked as a pundit for Sky, Mediaset Premium, and Rai Sport, until his death on 9 December 2020.
Career
Early years
Rossi was born in Prato, Tuscany, Italy in the area of Santa Lucia.
Although he was a member of the squad during the 1972–73 season, Rossi made his debut in professional Italian football with Juventus in 1973, making an appearance in the Coppa Italia and winning a runners-up medal in the 1973 Intercontinental Cup. He was often injury-prone during his first few seasons, only making three Coppa Italia appearances with Juventus between 1972 and 1975, and scoring no goals. After three operations on his knees, he was later sent to gain experience with Como, where he made his Serie A debut during the 1975–76 season, initially playing as a right winger, where his small build would not be a hindrance; he made six Serie A appearances for the club, but again failed to score.
His career reached a turning point when Vicenza Calcio (then Lanerossi Vicenza) engaged him on loan. Coach Giovan Battista Fabbri decided to move him from the wing and place him in the centre of the attack (because of injuries to the then centre-forward) just before the season started. Rossi immediately showed a tremendous knack for getting open in the box and scoring, winning the Serie B Golden Boot with 21 goals in his first year in this more advanced position. In the 1976–77 season, Rossi's qualities as an implacable striker led his team to promotion to Serie A, and he also led Vicenza to the second group stage of the Coppa Italia that season. In the following season, Rossi scored 24 goals, to become the first player to top the scoring charts in Serie B and Serie A in consecutive seasons, also leading Vicenza to an incredible second-place finish in Serie A during the 1977–78 season, only behind his co-owners Juventus. Due to his performances, he was selected by the Italian national team's manager Enzo Bearzot for the 1978 FIFA World Cup. Rossi was also given his Italy debut under Bearzot on 21 December 1977, in a 1–0 friendly away win over Belgium.
Rossi confirmed his growth during the 1978 World Cup tournament, gaining international fame as one of the world's best strikers. Playing for Italy as a central striker, he would sometimes switch positions with the two other forwards, going to his original right wing position. Right winger Franco Causio, a two-footed player, would go left, and Italy's tall left winger Roberto Bettega would go to the center. This simple stratagem, made possible by the technical quality of all three players, created havoc for opposing defences, and Italy showed an entertaining offensive style of play in the tournament. Rossi totalled three goals and four assists as Italy finished in fourth place in that World Cup. He was named as part of the team of the tournament for his performances, and he also collected the Silver Ball as the second-best player of the World Cup. Rossi's goal in Italy's opening 2–1 group win of the tournament against France, on 2 June 1978, was also his first goal for Italy.
Up to this point, Rossi had been jointly owned by Vicenza and Juventus. When the two clubs were called to settle the property, Lanerossi offered the shocking sum of 2.612 billion lire for Rossi, who became the world's most expensive player, and Italy's most costly sportsman ever at that point. After the 1978 World Cup, during the 1978–79 season, Rossi made his European debut with Vicenza in the UEFA Cup, however, despite scoring 15 goals for the club in Serie A, his season was marked by injuries, and Vicenza was relegated to Serie B. Rossi was subsequently loaned to Perugia, in order to play in Serie A the following season.
Match-fixing scandal
While at Perugia, he managed 13 goals in Serie A during the 1979–80 season, also helping the club to the round of 16 of the UEFA Cup. During the season, however, he was involved in the infamous 1980 betting scandal known in Italy as Totonero, and as a result of this Rossi was disqualified for three years, although this was later reduced to a two-year ban. As a result, Rossi missed out on the 1980 European Championship with Italy, where the team once again finished in fourth place, on home soil. Despite the ban, Rossi always claimed to be innocent, and stated that he had been a victim of an injustice.
1982 World Cup
Despite his ban, Rossi was repurchased by Juventus in 1981, and he returned to the starting line-up just in time for the end of the 1981–82 season to contribute to the club's 1981–82 Serie A title (scoring one goal in three appearances), and to take part in the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain. Italian journalists and tifosi initially lamented that he was in very poor shape, however, and this view seemed to be confirmed by Italy's appalling performance in the three group matches, in which he was described as a "ghost aimlessly wandering over the field".
Italy manager Enzo Bearzot, however, staunchly confirmed Rossi for the decisive round robin in the second round, in which his team was to face Argentina, the reigning World Champions, and Brazil, the favourites to win the title with a team consisting of world-class players such as Sócrates, Zico, and Falcão. After Italy defeated Argentina 2–1, partly thanks to the defensive work of Claudio Gentile and Gaetano Scirea who shut down the young Argentine star Diego Maradona, Rossi scored a hat-trick to defeat Brazil 3–2 to qualify for the semi-finals. In the semi-final match against Poland, Rossi's two goals won the match for Italy once again, granting them a place in the 1982 World Cup final. In the final against West Germany, Rossi scored the first of Italy's three goals, from an indirect set-piece assist from Gentile, helping Italy win the match 3–1, giving his team their third World Cup title. With six goals in total, he won the tournament's máximo goleador award, the Golden Boot, as the top scorer of the tournament, as well as the Golden Ball Award for the best player of the tournament, and he was named as part of the team of the tournament for the second consecutive time.
Italian fans hung banners proclaiming him "Man of the match". Rossi's accomplishments in Spain gained him the title of European Footballer of the Year and World Player of the Year in 1982, as well as the 1982 Onze d'Or Award. His goalscoring exploits during the tournament earned him the nicknames "Pablito" and the "torero". Between his goals and assists throughout the tournament, Rossi was directly responsible for 58% of his team's goals during the 1982 World Cup.
Rossi became a national hero in Italy for his six goals in the 1982 World Cup finals. Peter Mason, writing for The Guardian, noted that the World Cup final win, which was set up by Rossi's crucial first goal, "was a cathartic moment for the nation, which had been subject to significant social and political unrest for a number of years and, despite being regarded as one of the world's premier footballing nations, had not won a World Cup since 1938... With the victory came an incalculable lift to the nation’s spirits, and Rossi was at the centre of the celebrations."
Later years and death
After the 1982 World Cup, Rossi continued to play with Juventus. During the 1982–83 season, Juventus finished second in Serie A, although he helped the club to win the 1983 Coppa Italia, scoring five goals. He also helped Juventus to reach the 1983 European Cup final, only to lose out to Hamburg; he finished the tournament as the top scorer, with six goals. During the 1983–84 season, Rossi won his second Scudetto title with the club, notably scoring 13 goals, also helping the club to win the 1983–84 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, followed by the 1984 UEFA Super Cup. During his final season with the club, Rossi finally won the European Cup in 1985, finishing the tournament with 5 goals, behind only teammate Michel Platini, and Torbjörn Nilsson, with 7 goals.
Following his tenure with Juventus, Rossi moved on to a then struggling Milan for a season in 1985. During his time with Milan, he was remembered for his two-goal performance against Internazionale in a Milan derby match. Rossi was also selected in Italy's squad for the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, but did not play in the competition; an injury caused him to struggle during the team's fitness tests, owing to the high altitude of the region. As a result, he was replaced by Giuseppe Galderisi up-front in the team's starting line-up. He made his final appearance for Italy on 11 May 1986, in a 2–0 friendly home win over China in Naples. He ended his club career at Hellas Verona during the 1986–87 season, helping them to a fourth-place finish in Serie A, before retiring at the end of the season. He was involved in real estate, together with his former teammate Giancarlo Salvi.
Rossi scored a total of 20 goals in 48 senior international caps for Italy. Rossi is Italy's joint all-time top goalscorer in the FIFA World Cup, with nine goals in 14 appearances over two editions of the tournament, alongside Roberto Baggio and Christian Vieri. Six of his World Cup goals came in seven appearances during Italy's passage to triumph in 1982, and three of his goals came in seven appearances during the 1978 tournament, when Italy finished in fourth place. Rossi represented Italy in the 1991 edition of the World Cup of Masters, scoring in the third place play-off against Uruguay.
Pelé named Rossi as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004; during the same year, Rossi placed 12th in the UEFA Golden Jubilee poll.
In August 1990, he was named vice-president of Lega Pro Prima Divisione club A.S. Pescina Valle del Giovenco.
Following his retirement he also worked as a pundit for Sky, Mediaset Premium, and Rai Sport.
Rossi died on 9 December 2020, at the age of 64, from lung cancer. Rossi was survived by his second wife, Federica Cappelletti, and three children. During his funeral in Vicenza on 12 December, attended by thousands, his house in Bucine was robbed.
Style of play
Paolo Rossi is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most prolific Italian forwards of all time. Although he lacked the intimidating physical presence of a typical out-and-out striker, Rossi was a quick, agile, prolific, and elegant centre-forward, with good technique, balance, extremely quick reactions, an accurate shot, and an eye for goal, which enabled him to anticipate defenders in the box for the ball. He made up for his lack of strength, physicality, and shooting power with his keen sense of opportunism, intelligence, positional sense, and sharp finishing skills with both of his feet as well as with his head, which allowed him to excel in the air and beat out larger opponents for the ball, in spite of his relatively short stature; he was not particularly adept at set pieces, however. Although Rossi was primarily known as a striker who mainly operated in the penalty area, he began his career as a right winger, and in his later career with Juventus, he was also deployed as a supporting forward, owing to the offensive attributes of the club's new signings in midfield, in particular Zbigniew Boniek and Michel Platini, where his role frequently involved holding up the ball or dragging opponents out of position to create space for his teammates' runs with his excellent attacking movement of the ball.
Career statistics
Club
International
Scores and results list Italy's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Rossi goal.
Honours
Vicenza
Serie B: 1976–77
Juventus
Serie A: 1981–82, 1983–84
Coppa Italia: 1982–83
European Cup: 1984–85
European Cup Winners' Cup: 1983–84
UEFA Super Cup: 1984
Italy
FIFA World Cup: 1982
Individual
Serie A top scorer: 1977–78 (24 goals)
Serie B top scorer: 1976–77 (21 goals)
FIFA World Cup Silver Ball: 1978
FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1978, 1982
Gazzetta Sports Awards Man of the Year: 1978
FIFA XI: 1979, 1986
FIFA World Cup Golden Boot: 1982
FIFA World Cup Golden Ball: 1982
Onze d'Or: 1982
Ballon D'Or: 1982
World Soccer Awards Player of the Year: 1982
L'Équipe Champion of Champions: 1982
European Cup Top Scorers: 1982–83
World Soccer Awards 100 Greatest Players of the 20th Century #42
FIFA 100
UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll: #12
Golden Foot "Football Legends": 2007
Italian Football Hall of Fame: 2016
References
Further reading
Antonello Capone e Paolo Piani, Sponsor, in Marco Sappino (a cura di), Dizionario del calcio italiano, 1ª ed., Milano, Baldini & Castoldi, 2000.
Calciatori ‒ La raccolta completa Panini 1961–2012, Vol. 2 (1985–1986), Modena, Panini, 2012.
Calciatori ‒ La raccolta completa Panini 1961–2012, Vol. 3 (1986–1987), Modena, Panini, 2012.
External links
Official website
Profile at FIGC.it
1956 births
2020 deaths
1978 FIFA World Cup players
1982 FIFA World Cup players
1986 FIFA World Cup players
A.C. Milan players
Association football forwards
Como 1907 players
Ballon d'Or winners
FIFA 100
FIFA World Cup-winning players
Hellas Verona F.C. players
Italian footballers
Italy international footballers
Italy under-21 international footballers
Juventus F.C. players
People from Prato
A.C. Perugia Calcio players
Serie A players
Serie B players
Sportspeople involved in betting scandals
UEFA Champions League winning players
L.R. Vicenza players
World Soccer Magazine World Player of the Year winners
Deaths from lung cancer
Deaths from cancer in Tuscany
| false |
[
"Øyvind Gjerde (born 18 March 1977) is a Norwegian former footballer who played for Molde. He has previously played for the clubs Åndalsnes, Lillestrøm and Aalesund.\n\nAfter the 2010 season, when he did not get a new contract with Molde after 7 years in the club, Gjerde announced that he would most likely retire.\n\nReferences \n\n1977 births\nLiving people\nPeople from Møre og Romsdal\nNorwegian footballers\nEliteserien players\nNorwegian First Division players\nAalesunds FK players\nLillestrøm SK players\nMolde FK players\n\nAssociation football defenders",
"Max Mnkandla is the President of the Zimbabwe Liberators' Peace Initiative. He fought for the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) in the Rhodesian Bush War.\n\nHis father, Siqanywana, died in the Gukurahundi massacres of the 1980s. When Information Minister Nathan Shamuyarira defended the massacres in October 2006, Mnkandla said Shamuyarira's comments show he is \"not only suffering from 1880s hangover — the feeling that the Ndebele also did the same to the Shonas — it also shows that Shamuyarira is now old and should retire.\"\n\nReferences\n\nYear of birth missing (living people)\nLiving people\nZimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army personnel\nZimbabwean politicians"
] |
[
"Paolo Rossi",
"Later years",
"When did he retire?",
"He ended his club career at Hellas Verona during the 1986-87 season, helping them to a fourth-place finish in Serie A, before retiring at the end of the season."
] |
C_7b42947f299f44c49c0d3de0f896725a_0
|
Did he receive any awards or recognition?
| 2 |
Did Paolo Rossi receive any awards or recognition?
|
Paolo Rossi
|
After the 1982 World Cup, Rossi continued to play with Juventus. During the 1982-83 season, Juventus finished second in Serie A, although Rossi helped the club to win the 1983 Coppa Italia, scoring 5 goals, also helping Juventus to reach the 1983 European Cup final, only to lose out to Hamburg; Rossi finished the tournament as the top scorer, with 6 goals. During the 1983-84 season, Rossi won his second Scudetto title with the club, notably scoring 13 goals, also helping the club to win the 1983-84 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, followed by the 1984 UEFA Super Cup. During his final season with the club, Rossi finally won the European Cup in 1985, finishing the tournament with 5 goals, behind only team-mate Michel Platini, and Torbjorn Nilsson, with 7 goals. After his stint with Juventus, he moved on to a then struggling Milan for a season in 1985. During his time with Milan, he was remembered for his two-goal performance against Internazionale in a Milan derby match. Rossi was also selected to the Italian roster for the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, but did not play in the competition, because of an injury, which caused him to struggle during the team's fitness tests, due to the high altitude of the region; as a result, he was replaced by Giuseppe Galderisi up-front in the team's starting line-up. He made his final appearance for Italy on 11 May 1986, in a 2-0 friendly home win over China, in Naples. He ended his club career at Hellas Verona during the 1986-87 season, helping them to a fourth-place finish in Serie A, before retiring at the end of the season. He is currently involved in real estate, together with his former teammate Giancarlo Salvi. Rossi scored a total of 20 goals in 48 senior international caps for Italy. Undoubtedly, his most important goal was the winner against Brazil in the 1982 World Cup which completed a famous hat trick and enabled the Azzurri to advance to the semi-finals at the expense of the South Americans. Rossi further represented Italy in the 1991 edition of the World Cup of Masters, scoring in the third place play off against Uruguay. Rossi is currently Italy's joint all-time top goalscorer in the FIFA World Cup, with 9 goals in 14 appearances over two editions of the tournament, alongside Roberto Baggio and Christian Vieri. 6 of his World Cup goals came in 7 appearances in Italy's victorious 1982 edition, and 3 of his goals came in 7 appearances in the 1978 edition, where Italy finished in fourth place. Rossi was named by Pele as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004; during the same year, he placed 12th in the UEFA Golden Jubilee poll. In August 1990, he was named vice-president of Lega Pro Prima Divisione club A.S. Pescina Valle del Giovenco. CANNOTANSWER
|
Rossi was named by Pele as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004;
|
Paolo Rossi (; 23 September 1956 – 9 December 2020) was an Italian professional footballer who played as a forward. He led Italy to the 1982 FIFA World Cup title, scoring six goals to win the Golden Boot as top goalscorer, and the Golden Ball for the player of the tournament. Rossi is one of only three players, and the only European, to have won all three awards at a World Cup, along with Garrincha in 1962, and Mario Kempes in 1978. Rossi was also awarded the 1982 Ballon d'Or as the European Footballer of the Year for his performances (remaining the only player in history to win these four awards in a single year). Along with Roberto Baggio and Christian Vieri, he is Italy's top scorer in World Cup history, with nine goals overall.
At club level, Rossi was also a prolific goalscorer for Vicenza. In 1976, he was signed to Juventus from Vicenza in a co-ownership deal for a world record transfer fee. Vicenza retained his services, and he was the top goalscorer in Serie B in 1977, leading his team to promotion to Serie A. The following season, Rossi scored 24 goals, to become the first player to top the scoring charts in Serie B and Serie A in consecutive seasons. Rossi made his debut for Juventus in 1981, and went on to win two Serie A titles, the Coppa Italia, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, the UEFA Super Cup, and the European Cup.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest Italian footballers of all time, Rossi was named in 2004 by Pelé as one of the Top 125 greatest living footballers as part of FIFA's 100th anniversary celebration. In the same year, Rossi placed 12th in the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll. After he retired from football, he worked as a pundit for Sky, Mediaset Premium, and Rai Sport, until his death on 9 December 2020.
Career
Early years
Rossi was born in Prato, Tuscany, Italy in the area of Santa Lucia.
Although he was a member of the squad during the 1972–73 season, Rossi made his debut in professional Italian football with Juventus in 1973, making an appearance in the Coppa Italia and winning a runners-up medal in the 1973 Intercontinental Cup. He was often injury-prone during his first few seasons, only making three Coppa Italia appearances with Juventus between 1972 and 1975, and scoring no goals. After three operations on his knees, he was later sent to gain experience with Como, where he made his Serie A debut during the 1975–76 season, initially playing as a right winger, where his small build would not be a hindrance; he made six Serie A appearances for the club, but again failed to score.
His career reached a turning point when Vicenza Calcio (then Lanerossi Vicenza) engaged him on loan. Coach Giovan Battista Fabbri decided to move him from the wing and place him in the centre of the attack (because of injuries to the then centre-forward) just before the season started. Rossi immediately showed a tremendous knack for getting open in the box and scoring, winning the Serie B Golden Boot with 21 goals in his first year in this more advanced position. In the 1976–77 season, Rossi's qualities as an implacable striker led his team to promotion to Serie A, and he also led Vicenza to the second group stage of the Coppa Italia that season. In the following season, Rossi scored 24 goals, to become the first player to top the scoring charts in Serie B and Serie A in consecutive seasons, also leading Vicenza to an incredible second-place finish in Serie A during the 1977–78 season, only behind his co-owners Juventus. Due to his performances, he was selected by the Italian national team's manager Enzo Bearzot for the 1978 FIFA World Cup. Rossi was also given his Italy debut under Bearzot on 21 December 1977, in a 1–0 friendly away win over Belgium.
Rossi confirmed his growth during the 1978 World Cup tournament, gaining international fame as one of the world's best strikers. Playing for Italy as a central striker, he would sometimes switch positions with the two other forwards, going to his original right wing position. Right winger Franco Causio, a two-footed player, would go left, and Italy's tall left winger Roberto Bettega would go to the center. This simple stratagem, made possible by the technical quality of all three players, created havoc for opposing defences, and Italy showed an entertaining offensive style of play in the tournament. Rossi totalled three goals and four assists as Italy finished in fourth place in that World Cup. He was named as part of the team of the tournament for his performances, and he also collected the Silver Ball as the second-best player of the World Cup. Rossi's goal in Italy's opening 2–1 group win of the tournament against France, on 2 June 1978, was also his first goal for Italy.
Up to this point, Rossi had been jointly owned by Vicenza and Juventus. When the two clubs were called to settle the property, Lanerossi offered the shocking sum of 2.612 billion lire for Rossi, who became the world's most expensive player, and Italy's most costly sportsman ever at that point. After the 1978 World Cup, during the 1978–79 season, Rossi made his European debut with Vicenza in the UEFA Cup, however, despite scoring 15 goals for the club in Serie A, his season was marked by injuries, and Vicenza was relegated to Serie B. Rossi was subsequently loaned to Perugia, in order to play in Serie A the following season.
Match-fixing scandal
While at Perugia, he managed 13 goals in Serie A during the 1979–80 season, also helping the club to the round of 16 of the UEFA Cup. During the season, however, he was involved in the infamous 1980 betting scandal known in Italy as Totonero, and as a result of this Rossi was disqualified for three years, although this was later reduced to a two-year ban. As a result, Rossi missed out on the 1980 European Championship with Italy, where the team once again finished in fourth place, on home soil. Despite the ban, Rossi always claimed to be innocent, and stated that he had been a victim of an injustice.
1982 World Cup
Despite his ban, Rossi was repurchased by Juventus in 1981, and he returned to the starting line-up just in time for the end of the 1981–82 season to contribute to the club's 1981–82 Serie A title (scoring one goal in three appearances), and to take part in the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain. Italian journalists and tifosi initially lamented that he was in very poor shape, however, and this view seemed to be confirmed by Italy's appalling performance in the three group matches, in which he was described as a "ghost aimlessly wandering over the field".
Italy manager Enzo Bearzot, however, staunchly confirmed Rossi for the decisive round robin in the second round, in which his team was to face Argentina, the reigning World Champions, and Brazil, the favourites to win the title with a team consisting of world-class players such as Sócrates, Zico, and Falcão. After Italy defeated Argentina 2–1, partly thanks to the defensive work of Claudio Gentile and Gaetano Scirea who shut down the young Argentine star Diego Maradona, Rossi scored a hat-trick to defeat Brazil 3–2 to qualify for the semi-finals. In the semi-final match against Poland, Rossi's two goals won the match for Italy once again, granting them a place in the 1982 World Cup final. In the final against West Germany, Rossi scored the first of Italy's three goals, from an indirect set-piece assist from Gentile, helping Italy win the match 3–1, giving his team their third World Cup title. With six goals in total, he won the tournament's máximo goleador award, the Golden Boot, as the top scorer of the tournament, as well as the Golden Ball Award for the best player of the tournament, and he was named as part of the team of the tournament for the second consecutive time.
Italian fans hung banners proclaiming him "Man of the match". Rossi's accomplishments in Spain gained him the title of European Footballer of the Year and World Player of the Year in 1982, as well as the 1982 Onze d'Or Award. His goalscoring exploits during the tournament earned him the nicknames "Pablito" and the "torero". Between his goals and assists throughout the tournament, Rossi was directly responsible for 58% of his team's goals during the 1982 World Cup.
Rossi became a national hero in Italy for his six goals in the 1982 World Cup finals. Peter Mason, writing for The Guardian, noted that the World Cup final win, which was set up by Rossi's crucial first goal, "was a cathartic moment for the nation, which had been subject to significant social and political unrest for a number of years and, despite being regarded as one of the world's premier footballing nations, had not won a World Cup since 1938... With the victory came an incalculable lift to the nation’s spirits, and Rossi was at the centre of the celebrations."
Later years and death
After the 1982 World Cup, Rossi continued to play with Juventus. During the 1982–83 season, Juventus finished second in Serie A, although he helped the club to win the 1983 Coppa Italia, scoring five goals. He also helped Juventus to reach the 1983 European Cup final, only to lose out to Hamburg; he finished the tournament as the top scorer, with six goals. During the 1983–84 season, Rossi won his second Scudetto title with the club, notably scoring 13 goals, also helping the club to win the 1983–84 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, followed by the 1984 UEFA Super Cup. During his final season with the club, Rossi finally won the European Cup in 1985, finishing the tournament with 5 goals, behind only teammate Michel Platini, and Torbjörn Nilsson, with 7 goals.
Following his tenure with Juventus, Rossi moved on to a then struggling Milan for a season in 1985. During his time with Milan, he was remembered for his two-goal performance against Internazionale in a Milan derby match. Rossi was also selected in Italy's squad for the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, but did not play in the competition; an injury caused him to struggle during the team's fitness tests, owing to the high altitude of the region. As a result, he was replaced by Giuseppe Galderisi up-front in the team's starting line-up. He made his final appearance for Italy on 11 May 1986, in a 2–0 friendly home win over China in Naples. He ended his club career at Hellas Verona during the 1986–87 season, helping them to a fourth-place finish in Serie A, before retiring at the end of the season. He was involved in real estate, together with his former teammate Giancarlo Salvi.
Rossi scored a total of 20 goals in 48 senior international caps for Italy. Rossi is Italy's joint all-time top goalscorer in the FIFA World Cup, with nine goals in 14 appearances over two editions of the tournament, alongside Roberto Baggio and Christian Vieri. Six of his World Cup goals came in seven appearances during Italy's passage to triumph in 1982, and three of his goals came in seven appearances during the 1978 tournament, when Italy finished in fourth place. Rossi represented Italy in the 1991 edition of the World Cup of Masters, scoring in the third place play-off against Uruguay.
Pelé named Rossi as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004; during the same year, Rossi placed 12th in the UEFA Golden Jubilee poll.
In August 1990, he was named vice-president of Lega Pro Prima Divisione club A.S. Pescina Valle del Giovenco.
Following his retirement he also worked as a pundit for Sky, Mediaset Premium, and Rai Sport.
Rossi died on 9 December 2020, at the age of 64, from lung cancer. Rossi was survived by his second wife, Federica Cappelletti, and three children. During his funeral in Vicenza on 12 December, attended by thousands, his house in Bucine was robbed.
Style of play
Paolo Rossi is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most prolific Italian forwards of all time. Although he lacked the intimidating physical presence of a typical out-and-out striker, Rossi was a quick, agile, prolific, and elegant centre-forward, with good technique, balance, extremely quick reactions, an accurate shot, and an eye for goal, which enabled him to anticipate defenders in the box for the ball. He made up for his lack of strength, physicality, and shooting power with his keen sense of opportunism, intelligence, positional sense, and sharp finishing skills with both of his feet as well as with his head, which allowed him to excel in the air and beat out larger opponents for the ball, in spite of his relatively short stature; he was not particularly adept at set pieces, however. Although Rossi was primarily known as a striker who mainly operated in the penalty area, he began his career as a right winger, and in his later career with Juventus, he was also deployed as a supporting forward, owing to the offensive attributes of the club's new signings in midfield, in particular Zbigniew Boniek and Michel Platini, where his role frequently involved holding up the ball or dragging opponents out of position to create space for his teammates' runs with his excellent attacking movement of the ball.
Career statistics
Club
International
Scores and results list Italy's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Rossi goal.
Honours
Vicenza
Serie B: 1976–77
Juventus
Serie A: 1981–82, 1983–84
Coppa Italia: 1982–83
European Cup: 1984–85
European Cup Winners' Cup: 1983–84
UEFA Super Cup: 1984
Italy
FIFA World Cup: 1982
Individual
Serie A top scorer: 1977–78 (24 goals)
Serie B top scorer: 1976–77 (21 goals)
FIFA World Cup Silver Ball: 1978
FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1978, 1982
Gazzetta Sports Awards Man of the Year: 1978
FIFA XI: 1979, 1986
FIFA World Cup Golden Boot: 1982
FIFA World Cup Golden Ball: 1982
Onze d'Or: 1982
Ballon D'Or: 1982
World Soccer Awards Player of the Year: 1982
L'Équipe Champion of Champions: 1982
European Cup Top Scorers: 1982–83
World Soccer Awards 100 Greatest Players of the 20th Century #42
FIFA 100
UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll: #12
Golden Foot "Football Legends": 2007
Italian Football Hall of Fame: 2016
References
Further reading
Antonello Capone e Paolo Piani, Sponsor, in Marco Sappino (a cura di), Dizionario del calcio italiano, 1ª ed., Milano, Baldini & Castoldi, 2000.
Calciatori ‒ La raccolta completa Panini 1961–2012, Vol. 2 (1985–1986), Modena, Panini, 2012.
Calciatori ‒ La raccolta completa Panini 1961–2012, Vol. 3 (1986–1987), Modena, Panini, 2012.
External links
Official website
Profile at FIGC.it
1956 births
2020 deaths
1978 FIFA World Cup players
1982 FIFA World Cup players
1986 FIFA World Cup players
A.C. Milan players
Association football forwards
Como 1907 players
Ballon d'Or winners
FIFA 100
FIFA World Cup-winning players
Hellas Verona F.C. players
Italian footballers
Italy international footballers
Italy under-21 international footballers
Juventus F.C. players
People from Prato
A.C. Perugia Calcio players
Serie A players
Serie B players
Sportspeople involved in betting scandals
UEFA Champions League winning players
L.R. Vicenza players
World Soccer Magazine World Player of the Year winners
Deaths from lung cancer
Deaths from cancer in Tuscany
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"The IEEE Corporate Innovation Recognition was established by the IEEE Board of Directors in 1985. This award is presented for outstanding and exemplary contributions by an industrial entity, governmental, or academic organization, or other corporate body.\n\nRecipients of this award will receive a certificate and crystal sculpture.\n\nRecipients \nSource\n\nReferences\n\nCorporate Innovation Recognition\nIEEE awards\nAwards established in 1985\n1985 establishments in the United States"
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"Paolo Rossi",
"Later years",
"When did he retire?",
"He ended his club career at Hellas Verona during the 1986-87 season, helping them to a fourth-place finish in Serie A, before retiring at the end of the season.",
"Did he receive any awards or recognition?",
"Rossi was named by Pele as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004;"
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C_7b42947f299f44c49c0d3de0f896725a_0
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How did people react when he retired?
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How did people react when Paolo Rossi retired?
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Paolo Rossi
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After the 1982 World Cup, Rossi continued to play with Juventus. During the 1982-83 season, Juventus finished second in Serie A, although Rossi helped the club to win the 1983 Coppa Italia, scoring 5 goals, also helping Juventus to reach the 1983 European Cup final, only to lose out to Hamburg; Rossi finished the tournament as the top scorer, with 6 goals. During the 1983-84 season, Rossi won his second Scudetto title with the club, notably scoring 13 goals, also helping the club to win the 1983-84 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, followed by the 1984 UEFA Super Cup. During his final season with the club, Rossi finally won the European Cup in 1985, finishing the tournament with 5 goals, behind only team-mate Michel Platini, and Torbjorn Nilsson, with 7 goals. After his stint with Juventus, he moved on to a then struggling Milan for a season in 1985. During his time with Milan, he was remembered for his two-goal performance against Internazionale in a Milan derby match. Rossi was also selected to the Italian roster for the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, but did not play in the competition, because of an injury, which caused him to struggle during the team's fitness tests, due to the high altitude of the region; as a result, he was replaced by Giuseppe Galderisi up-front in the team's starting line-up. He made his final appearance for Italy on 11 May 1986, in a 2-0 friendly home win over China, in Naples. He ended his club career at Hellas Verona during the 1986-87 season, helping them to a fourth-place finish in Serie A, before retiring at the end of the season. He is currently involved in real estate, together with his former teammate Giancarlo Salvi. Rossi scored a total of 20 goals in 48 senior international caps for Italy. Undoubtedly, his most important goal was the winner against Brazil in the 1982 World Cup which completed a famous hat trick and enabled the Azzurri to advance to the semi-finals at the expense of the South Americans. Rossi further represented Italy in the 1991 edition of the World Cup of Masters, scoring in the third place play off against Uruguay. Rossi is currently Italy's joint all-time top goalscorer in the FIFA World Cup, with 9 goals in 14 appearances over two editions of the tournament, alongside Roberto Baggio and Christian Vieri. 6 of his World Cup goals came in 7 appearances in Italy's victorious 1982 edition, and 3 of his goals came in 7 appearances in the 1978 edition, where Italy finished in fourth place. Rossi was named by Pele as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004; during the same year, he placed 12th in the UEFA Golden Jubilee poll. In August 1990, he was named vice-president of Lega Pro Prima Divisione club A.S. Pescina Valle del Giovenco. CANNOTANSWER
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CANNOTANSWER
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Paolo Rossi (; 23 September 1956 – 9 December 2020) was an Italian professional footballer who played as a forward. He led Italy to the 1982 FIFA World Cup title, scoring six goals to win the Golden Boot as top goalscorer, and the Golden Ball for the player of the tournament. Rossi is one of only three players, and the only European, to have won all three awards at a World Cup, along with Garrincha in 1962, and Mario Kempes in 1978. Rossi was also awarded the 1982 Ballon d'Or as the European Footballer of the Year for his performances (remaining the only player in history to win these four awards in a single year). Along with Roberto Baggio and Christian Vieri, he is Italy's top scorer in World Cup history, with nine goals overall.
At club level, Rossi was also a prolific goalscorer for Vicenza. In 1976, he was signed to Juventus from Vicenza in a co-ownership deal for a world record transfer fee. Vicenza retained his services, and he was the top goalscorer in Serie B in 1977, leading his team to promotion to Serie A. The following season, Rossi scored 24 goals, to become the first player to top the scoring charts in Serie B and Serie A in consecutive seasons. Rossi made his debut for Juventus in 1981, and went on to win two Serie A titles, the Coppa Italia, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, the UEFA Super Cup, and the European Cup.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest Italian footballers of all time, Rossi was named in 2004 by Pelé as one of the Top 125 greatest living footballers as part of FIFA's 100th anniversary celebration. In the same year, Rossi placed 12th in the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll. After he retired from football, he worked as a pundit for Sky, Mediaset Premium, and Rai Sport, until his death on 9 December 2020.
Career
Early years
Rossi was born in Prato, Tuscany, Italy in the area of Santa Lucia.
Although he was a member of the squad during the 1972–73 season, Rossi made his debut in professional Italian football with Juventus in 1973, making an appearance in the Coppa Italia and winning a runners-up medal in the 1973 Intercontinental Cup. He was often injury-prone during his first few seasons, only making three Coppa Italia appearances with Juventus between 1972 and 1975, and scoring no goals. After three operations on his knees, he was later sent to gain experience with Como, where he made his Serie A debut during the 1975–76 season, initially playing as a right winger, where his small build would not be a hindrance; he made six Serie A appearances for the club, but again failed to score.
His career reached a turning point when Vicenza Calcio (then Lanerossi Vicenza) engaged him on loan. Coach Giovan Battista Fabbri decided to move him from the wing and place him in the centre of the attack (because of injuries to the then centre-forward) just before the season started. Rossi immediately showed a tremendous knack for getting open in the box and scoring, winning the Serie B Golden Boot with 21 goals in his first year in this more advanced position. In the 1976–77 season, Rossi's qualities as an implacable striker led his team to promotion to Serie A, and he also led Vicenza to the second group stage of the Coppa Italia that season. In the following season, Rossi scored 24 goals, to become the first player to top the scoring charts in Serie B and Serie A in consecutive seasons, also leading Vicenza to an incredible second-place finish in Serie A during the 1977–78 season, only behind his co-owners Juventus. Due to his performances, he was selected by the Italian national team's manager Enzo Bearzot for the 1978 FIFA World Cup. Rossi was also given his Italy debut under Bearzot on 21 December 1977, in a 1–0 friendly away win over Belgium.
Rossi confirmed his growth during the 1978 World Cup tournament, gaining international fame as one of the world's best strikers. Playing for Italy as a central striker, he would sometimes switch positions with the two other forwards, going to his original right wing position. Right winger Franco Causio, a two-footed player, would go left, and Italy's tall left winger Roberto Bettega would go to the center. This simple stratagem, made possible by the technical quality of all three players, created havoc for opposing defences, and Italy showed an entertaining offensive style of play in the tournament. Rossi totalled three goals and four assists as Italy finished in fourth place in that World Cup. He was named as part of the team of the tournament for his performances, and he also collected the Silver Ball as the second-best player of the World Cup. Rossi's goal in Italy's opening 2–1 group win of the tournament against France, on 2 June 1978, was also his first goal for Italy.
Up to this point, Rossi had been jointly owned by Vicenza and Juventus. When the two clubs were called to settle the property, Lanerossi offered the shocking sum of 2.612 billion lire for Rossi, who became the world's most expensive player, and Italy's most costly sportsman ever at that point. After the 1978 World Cup, during the 1978–79 season, Rossi made his European debut with Vicenza in the UEFA Cup, however, despite scoring 15 goals for the club in Serie A, his season was marked by injuries, and Vicenza was relegated to Serie B. Rossi was subsequently loaned to Perugia, in order to play in Serie A the following season.
Match-fixing scandal
While at Perugia, he managed 13 goals in Serie A during the 1979–80 season, also helping the club to the round of 16 of the UEFA Cup. During the season, however, he was involved in the infamous 1980 betting scandal known in Italy as Totonero, and as a result of this Rossi was disqualified for three years, although this was later reduced to a two-year ban. As a result, Rossi missed out on the 1980 European Championship with Italy, where the team once again finished in fourth place, on home soil. Despite the ban, Rossi always claimed to be innocent, and stated that he had been a victim of an injustice.
1982 World Cup
Despite his ban, Rossi was repurchased by Juventus in 1981, and he returned to the starting line-up just in time for the end of the 1981–82 season to contribute to the club's 1981–82 Serie A title (scoring one goal in three appearances), and to take part in the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain. Italian journalists and tifosi initially lamented that he was in very poor shape, however, and this view seemed to be confirmed by Italy's appalling performance in the three group matches, in which he was described as a "ghost aimlessly wandering over the field".
Italy manager Enzo Bearzot, however, staunchly confirmed Rossi for the decisive round robin in the second round, in which his team was to face Argentina, the reigning World Champions, and Brazil, the favourites to win the title with a team consisting of world-class players such as Sócrates, Zico, and Falcão. After Italy defeated Argentina 2–1, partly thanks to the defensive work of Claudio Gentile and Gaetano Scirea who shut down the young Argentine star Diego Maradona, Rossi scored a hat-trick to defeat Brazil 3–2 to qualify for the semi-finals. In the semi-final match against Poland, Rossi's two goals won the match for Italy once again, granting them a place in the 1982 World Cup final. In the final against West Germany, Rossi scored the first of Italy's three goals, from an indirect set-piece assist from Gentile, helping Italy win the match 3–1, giving his team their third World Cup title. With six goals in total, he won the tournament's máximo goleador award, the Golden Boot, as the top scorer of the tournament, as well as the Golden Ball Award for the best player of the tournament, and he was named as part of the team of the tournament for the second consecutive time.
Italian fans hung banners proclaiming him "Man of the match". Rossi's accomplishments in Spain gained him the title of European Footballer of the Year and World Player of the Year in 1982, as well as the 1982 Onze d'Or Award. His goalscoring exploits during the tournament earned him the nicknames "Pablito" and the "torero". Between his goals and assists throughout the tournament, Rossi was directly responsible for 58% of his team's goals during the 1982 World Cup.
Rossi became a national hero in Italy for his six goals in the 1982 World Cup finals. Peter Mason, writing for The Guardian, noted that the World Cup final win, which was set up by Rossi's crucial first goal, "was a cathartic moment for the nation, which had been subject to significant social and political unrest for a number of years and, despite being regarded as one of the world's premier footballing nations, had not won a World Cup since 1938... With the victory came an incalculable lift to the nation’s spirits, and Rossi was at the centre of the celebrations."
Later years and death
After the 1982 World Cup, Rossi continued to play with Juventus. During the 1982–83 season, Juventus finished second in Serie A, although he helped the club to win the 1983 Coppa Italia, scoring five goals. He also helped Juventus to reach the 1983 European Cup final, only to lose out to Hamburg; he finished the tournament as the top scorer, with six goals. During the 1983–84 season, Rossi won his second Scudetto title with the club, notably scoring 13 goals, also helping the club to win the 1983–84 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, followed by the 1984 UEFA Super Cup. During his final season with the club, Rossi finally won the European Cup in 1985, finishing the tournament with 5 goals, behind only teammate Michel Platini, and Torbjörn Nilsson, with 7 goals.
Following his tenure with Juventus, Rossi moved on to a then struggling Milan for a season in 1985. During his time with Milan, he was remembered for his two-goal performance against Internazionale in a Milan derby match. Rossi was also selected in Italy's squad for the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, but did not play in the competition; an injury caused him to struggle during the team's fitness tests, owing to the high altitude of the region. As a result, he was replaced by Giuseppe Galderisi up-front in the team's starting line-up. He made his final appearance for Italy on 11 May 1986, in a 2–0 friendly home win over China in Naples. He ended his club career at Hellas Verona during the 1986–87 season, helping them to a fourth-place finish in Serie A, before retiring at the end of the season. He was involved in real estate, together with his former teammate Giancarlo Salvi.
Rossi scored a total of 20 goals in 48 senior international caps for Italy. Rossi is Italy's joint all-time top goalscorer in the FIFA World Cup, with nine goals in 14 appearances over two editions of the tournament, alongside Roberto Baggio and Christian Vieri. Six of his World Cup goals came in seven appearances during Italy's passage to triumph in 1982, and three of his goals came in seven appearances during the 1978 tournament, when Italy finished in fourth place. Rossi represented Italy in the 1991 edition of the World Cup of Masters, scoring in the third place play-off against Uruguay.
Pelé named Rossi as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004; during the same year, Rossi placed 12th in the UEFA Golden Jubilee poll.
In August 1990, he was named vice-president of Lega Pro Prima Divisione club A.S. Pescina Valle del Giovenco.
Following his retirement he also worked as a pundit for Sky, Mediaset Premium, and Rai Sport.
Rossi died on 9 December 2020, at the age of 64, from lung cancer. Rossi was survived by his second wife, Federica Cappelletti, and three children. During his funeral in Vicenza on 12 December, attended by thousands, his house in Bucine was robbed.
Style of play
Paolo Rossi is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most prolific Italian forwards of all time. Although he lacked the intimidating physical presence of a typical out-and-out striker, Rossi was a quick, agile, prolific, and elegant centre-forward, with good technique, balance, extremely quick reactions, an accurate shot, and an eye for goal, which enabled him to anticipate defenders in the box for the ball. He made up for his lack of strength, physicality, and shooting power with his keen sense of opportunism, intelligence, positional sense, and sharp finishing skills with both of his feet as well as with his head, which allowed him to excel in the air and beat out larger opponents for the ball, in spite of his relatively short stature; he was not particularly adept at set pieces, however. Although Rossi was primarily known as a striker who mainly operated in the penalty area, he began his career as a right winger, and in his later career with Juventus, he was also deployed as a supporting forward, owing to the offensive attributes of the club's new signings in midfield, in particular Zbigniew Boniek and Michel Platini, where his role frequently involved holding up the ball or dragging opponents out of position to create space for his teammates' runs with his excellent attacking movement of the ball.
Career statistics
Club
International
Scores and results list Italy's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Rossi goal.
Honours
Vicenza
Serie B: 1976–77
Juventus
Serie A: 1981–82, 1983–84
Coppa Italia: 1982–83
European Cup: 1984–85
European Cup Winners' Cup: 1983–84
UEFA Super Cup: 1984
Italy
FIFA World Cup: 1982
Individual
Serie A top scorer: 1977–78 (24 goals)
Serie B top scorer: 1976–77 (21 goals)
FIFA World Cup Silver Ball: 1978
FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1978, 1982
Gazzetta Sports Awards Man of the Year: 1978
FIFA XI: 1979, 1986
FIFA World Cup Golden Boot: 1982
FIFA World Cup Golden Ball: 1982
Onze d'Or: 1982
Ballon D'Or: 1982
World Soccer Awards Player of the Year: 1982
L'Équipe Champion of Champions: 1982
European Cup Top Scorers: 1982–83
World Soccer Awards 100 Greatest Players of the 20th Century #42
FIFA 100
UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll: #12
Golden Foot "Football Legends": 2007
Italian Football Hall of Fame: 2016
References
Further reading
Antonello Capone e Paolo Piani, Sponsor, in Marco Sappino (a cura di), Dizionario del calcio italiano, 1ª ed., Milano, Baldini & Castoldi, 2000.
Calciatori ‒ La raccolta completa Panini 1961–2012, Vol. 2 (1985–1986), Modena, Panini, 2012.
Calciatori ‒ La raccolta completa Panini 1961–2012, Vol. 3 (1986–1987), Modena, Panini, 2012.
External links
Official website
Profile at FIGC.it
1956 births
2020 deaths
1978 FIFA World Cup players
1982 FIFA World Cup players
1986 FIFA World Cup players
A.C. Milan players
Association football forwards
Como 1907 players
Ballon d'Or winners
FIFA 100
FIFA World Cup-winning players
Hellas Verona F.C. players
Italian footballers
Italy international footballers
Italy under-21 international footballers
Juventus F.C. players
People from Prato
A.C. Perugia Calcio players
Serie A players
Serie B players
Sportspeople involved in betting scandals
UEFA Champions League winning players
L.R. Vicenza players
World Soccer Magazine World Player of the Year winners
Deaths from lung cancer
Deaths from cancer in Tuscany
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"\"React\" is a song by American hip hop group Onyx. It was released on June 2, 1998 by JMJ Records, Rush Associated Labels and Def Jam as the third single from Onyx's third album, Shut 'Em Down. The song featured Onyx affiliates X1, Bonifucco and Still Livin' and a then unknown 50 Cent in his first official appearance on a song.\n\nProduced by Bud'da, React was successful on the R&B and rap charts, peaking at 62 on the US Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks and 44 on the US Hot Rap Singles.\n\nAllmusic highlighted the song itself when they reviewed the album.\n\nBackground\n50 Cent mentioned Jam Master Jay as the man who put him on a song, during his book From Pieces to Weight: Once Upon a Time in Southside, Queens:\n\"...Jam Master Jay got me on a song called \"React\". At the time we did a song, no one expected it to be a single. They just put me on the song as a favor to Jay because I was the new nigga in his camp.\n\nMusic video\n\"React\" was the first music video directed by Director X; and it premiered on \"Rap City\" aired on BET on June 13, 1998. The video concept called for rappers to be hockey players. 50 Cent spoke on his appearance in the video \"React\" when asked about the last time he went ice-skating.\"...It actually was the Onyx video. I had to learn for the video. I didn't know why. I was like 'What the—?' I asked them to put me in the box. Like an actual [penalty box]\".\n\nThe video can be found on the 2008's DVD Onyx: 15 Years Of Videos, History And Violence.\n\nControversy\nThe beef between Onyx and 50 Cent started on Def Jam's \"Survival Of The Illest\" concert at the legendary world-famous Apollo Theater. The concert was held on July 18, 1998. During performing the song \"React\" rapper Scarred 4 Life (also known as Clay Da Raider) performed 50 Cent's verse. Later, 50 would diss Sticky Fingaz on a number of mixtapes, including 50's underground hit \"How To Rob\". Then he would fight with Fredro at the rehearsal for the 2003 VIBE Awards. In a 2008 interview for AllHipHop Fredro Starr made a comment about 50 Cent:\"...50 is a smart businessman and at the end of the day we gave him respect. We put him on records when we was at the top of the game. He didn't even have a car. We gave him respect on the strength of Jam Master Jay. What did we get in return? Someone talking slick on mixtapes? Swinging on n****s?\"\n\nReleases\n\n12\" vinyl single track listing\nA-Side:\n\"React\" (Radio Edit) - 4:25 (Featuring 50 Cent, Bonifucco, Still Livin, X1 [Uncredited])\n\"Broke Willies\" (Radio Edit) - 4:08 (Featuring X1 [Uncredited])\n\"Shut 'Em Down\" (Remix)- 4:07 (Featuring Big Pun, Noreaga)\n\nB-Side:\n\"React\" (TV track)- 4:26\n\"Broke Willies\" (TV Track) - 4:09\n\"Shut 'Em Down\" (Remix) (TV Track) - 4:07\n\nCD promo single track listing\n\"React\" (Radio Edit)- 4:26 (Featuring 50 Cent, Bonifucco, Still Livin, X1 [Uncredited])\n\"Broke Willies\" (Radio Edit)- 4:11 (Featuring X1 [Uncredited])\n\"Shut 'Em Down (Remix)\" (Radio Edit)- 4:02 (Featuring Big Pun, Noreaga)\n\nNotes\n The single version of \"Broke Willies\" is very different in music from the album version.\n\nSamples\n\"Eastside Connection\" by Frisco Disco\n\nNotes\n LL Cool J is the first rap artist who used the same sample in his 1985 song \"You'll Rock\" (Remix) produced by Rick Rubin.\n\nPersonnel \n Onyx - performer, vocals, co-producer (\"Broke Willies\")\n Fredro Starr - performer, vocals\n Sticky Fingaz - performer, vocals\n Sonny Seeza - performer, vocals\n Bud'da - producer (\"React\")\n Keith Horne - producer (\"Broke Willies\")\n Don Elliot - engineer (\"Broke Willies\")\n Self - producer (\"Shut 'Em Down (Remix)\")\n Ken \"DURO\" Ifill - engineer, mixing\n DJ LS One - engineer, mixing, scratches\n Patrick Viala - remixing (\"Shut 'Em Down (Remix)\")\n Tony Black - mixing, remixing (\"Shut 'Em Down (Remix)\")\n Tom Coyne - mastering\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nReact at Discogs\nReact at RapGenius\n\n1998 singles\nJMJ Records singles\n50 Cent songs\nOnyx (group) songs\nSongs written by 50 Cent\nMusic videos directed by Director X\nPosse cuts",
"React is a media franchise used by the Fine Brothers consisting of several online series centering on a group of individuals reacting to viral videos, trends, video games, film trailers, or music videos. The franchise was launched with the YouTube debut of Kids React in October 2010, and then grew to encompass four more series uploaded on the Fine Brothers' primary YouTube channel, a separate YouTube channel with various reaction-related content, as well as a television series titled React to That.\n\nIn 2016, the duo announced React World, a program and channel in which they would license the format of their React shows to creators, which led to widespread negative reception from viewers and fellow content creators, as well as confusion about what their format is. This eventually lead to the Fine Brothers removing all videos related to React World, essentially pulling the plug on the React World program.\n\nYouTube series\n\nKids React\nBenny and Rafi Fine launched a series titled Kids React on October 16, 2010, the first video being \"Kids React to Viral Videos (Double Rainbow, Obama Fail, Twin Rabbits, Snickers Halloween)\". The Kids React series features The Fine Brothers (and one of the staff members since 2016), off-camera, showing kids ages 4–14 (7-13 as of September 2016, 7-11 as of October 2016) several viral videos or popular YouTubers and having the kids react to the videos.\n\nThe most popular Kids React episode to date is “Kids React to Gay Marriage\", with over 40.2 million views as of September 2, 2018. The popularity of Kids React made it possible for the online series to win a special Emmy Award at the 39th Daytime Emmy Awards in 2012. The Emmy Award, that was given in cooperation with AOL, was awarded to the Fine Brothers for \"Best Viral Video Series\". After their Emmy win, the brothers explained, \"Not a lot has changed [after winning the Emmy] other than realizing that there are shows on YouTube like React that can get similar if not better viewership than mainstream entertainment can.\"\n\nVideos and YouTube stars that have been reacted to by the kids include Smosh (who later reacted to the kids' reactions), planking and President Obama addressing the death of Osama bin Laden, among several other topics. Kids React has been compared to Kids Say the Darndest Things. In October 2012, the kids of the show were shown videos of the 2012 U.S. Presidential debates. Kids React won the Streamy Award for Best Non-Fiction or Reality Series in 2013.\n\nTeens React\nDue to the popularity of Kids React, The Fine Brothers spawned a spin-off dubbed Teens React on November 17, 2011 with \"TEENS REACT TO TWILIGHT\". The show has a similar premise to Kids React, however the younger stars are replaced with high school teenagers aged 14-18, some of whom have aged out of the Kids React series. Due to this, the Fine Brothers are able to show more mature and less \"kid-friendly\" videos such as videos on topics like Toddlers & Tiaras, Rick Perry's Strong commercial, Amanda Todd's death, and the 2012 U.S. Presidential debates. Other viral videos and YouTube stars that have been reacted to include Salad Fingers, the Overly Attached Girlfriend, \"Gangnam Style\", The Hunger Games trailer, Shane Dawson, and One Direction, among other topics. Later on, The Fine Brothers launched a series titled Teens React: Gaming consisting videos of teenagers reacting to popular games such as Mario Kart 64, Flappy Bird, Rocket League, and Five Nights at Freddy’s. Teens React launched the career of Lia Marie Johnson, it also featured some \"famous\" 'reactors' as guest stars, including Lisa Cimorelli, Amy Cimorelli, Lucas Cruikshank (who later appears in YouTubers React), Alex Steele, Jake Short, and Maisie Williams.\n\nElders React\nElders React was debuted in 2012 and it included seniors over the age of 55. In 2021, it became a subseries for Adults React.\n\nYouTubers React\nYouTubers React was debuted in 2012 and it included famous YouTubers. On November 2020, it is retitled Creators React due to the success of other social medias and is currently airing its one-off episodes as of June 2021.\n\nAdults React\nOn May 30, 2015, the Fine Brothers announced Adults React, which premiered on July 16 later that year. It consists of people ages 20 to 55, including former stars of Teens React that have aged out of the series. Depending on the video or topic, Adults React will be specific of which type of adults are going to be reacting, such as parents or college kids.\n\nParents React\n\nThe first episode of Parents React premiered on August 6, 2015 with “Parents React to Don’t Stay At School”. This series involves parents reacting to stuff that kids were getting into.\n\nCollege Kids React\nThe first episode of College Kids React premiered on June 23, 2016 with \"College Kids React to The 1975\". This series includes stars who have aged out of Teens React along with new stars, as well as stars that have not yet aged out of Teens React but have begun college. The content of College Kids React is similar to the content found in Teens React but more mature.\n\nOne-off episodes\nIn April 2014, as an April Fools joke, the Fine Brothers teamed up with Friskies and released Cats React, which went viral. In July 2016 they released another part of Cats React.\n\nIn August 2014, they released Celebrities React to Viral Videos, and now re-released yearly.\n\nIn April 2018, in another April Fools joke, they released \"Teens React to Nothing\" where they showed the teenagers on a blank screen. The following year, they released a sequel, \"nothing reacts to teens react to nothing.\", which featured the original video being played in an empty studio.\n\nReact YouTube channel\nAfter creating four individual successful React series on their primary YouTube channel, the Fine Brothers launched a separate YouTube channel in 2014, for reaction-related content, simply dubbed \"React\". With the intent of running programming five days a week, the channel launched with five series: React Gaming (a Let's Play-style series with real youths from their primary React series), Advice (a series featuring real youths respond to questions from viewers), React Remix (musical remixes of past React footage), People Vs. Foods (originally Kids Vs. Food until 2016) (a series featuring Reactors taste-test \"Weird\" or international foods), and Lyric Breakdown (a series in which Reactors break down the meaning of various songs). The channel launched with a teenage-focused playthrough of Goat Simulator.\nFrom September 18th 2020 to May 31st 2021, the React YouTube channel was retitled to \"REPLAY\", following the renaming of the main FBE channel to \"REACT\" in the wake of FBE's distancing from Benny and Rafi Fine as a consequence of the scandal in Summer 2020 that led to many reactors leaving the channel.\nOn June 1st 2021, REPLAY is retitled \"PEOPLE VS FOOD\" and moved all the non-food videos to REACT.\n\nReact to That\nIn early 2014, it was announced that the Fine Brothers made a deal with NCredible Entertainment, a production studio founded by Nick Cannon to develop a television series for Nickelodeon. The series, dubbed React to That, was \"entirely re-envisioned for television,\" as the reactors \"not only watch and respond to viral videos, but pop out of the reaction room and into showdowns where the clips come to life as each reactor is confronted with a challenge based on the video they just watched.\" Following the announcement of the series, Benny Fine explained, \"All these viewers now watching are also pioneering what it is to be a viewer of content. They follow us through all of our different endeavors, all our different series, and now will have the opportunity to follow us to another medium.\" Nickelodeon ordered 13 episodes to be produced, but only 12 were made and aired.\n\nReact World\n\nBackground\nIn July 2015, the Fine Brothers filed for trademark protection on \"React\" with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The trademark was filed for \"Entertainment services, namely, providing an ongoing series of programs and webisodes via the internet in the field of observing and interviewing various groups of people.\" The USPTO approved for a 30-day opposition period which was set to begin on February 2, 2016; if no parties filed an opposition to the Fines' trademark request, it would have proceeded through the process. The brothers had recently filed for and been granted trademark registrations for \"Elders React\" and \"Teens React\" in 2013 as well as \"Kids React\" in 2012.\n\nAnnouncement details\nOn January 26, 2016, the Fines announced that they would be launching React World, a way to grant content creators the license to create their own versions of the React shows. Specifically, the Fine Brothers explained they were going to license the format of their React shows. A Variety report detailed that React World would \"aggregate videos in a channel to launch later this year to promote, support and feature fan-produced programming based on their shows.\" The brothers' company, Fine Brothers Entertainment (FBE) explained they would be working with YouTube and ChannelMeter on the launch of React World. FBE also expressed they would be able to monetize React-style videos uploaded under their license. On monetization, Digital Trends detailed \"Although licenses are free, React World creators must agree to share 20 percent of AdSense revenue and 30 percent of premium brand deals with FBE.\" Additionally, the Fines explained they would provide ongoing production guidance, creative guidelines, format bibles, and other resources, as well as promotional and technical support to those creators who participated with the brothers on React World.\n\nReception\nAlthough YouTube's VP on content partnerships, Kelly Merryman, originally proclaimed \"This is brand-building in the YouTube age — rising media companies building their brands through collaborations with creators around the world,\" the Fine Brothers were met with overwhelmingly negative reception to their React World announcement. BBC News reported that \"critics of the Fine Brothers have expressed concern they may use the trademarks to stifle competition,\" and quoted one YouTuber who detailed \"People don't trust them because a few years ago when Ellen DeGeneres did a similar video—not that similar, it didn't have the same format or branding—they claimed it was their format.\" Viewers and fellow content creators alike condemned the Fines for their announcement, with The Daily Dot reporting, \"Backlash poured in on Reddit and social media, and other YouTubers posted their own reactions and parodies of the enthusiastically corporate React World announcement video.\" The backlash led to a dramatic drop in subscribers, with upwards of 675,000 accounts collectively unsubscribing from the React and Fine Bros Entertainment channels as well as recent videos getting many dislikes in protest as of February 22, 2016. Mashable described that one Reddit post \"ignited a thread of haters, defenders and overall discussion about whether what Fine Brothers Entertainment is doing is fair.\" Ryan Morrison, a gamer, lawyer and Reddit user, declared that he would file a legal challenge to the Fine Brothers' trademark request on \"React\", writing \"These guys didn’t come up with the idea of filming funny reactions from kids. And they certainly don’t own an entire genre of YouTube videos. It wasn’t their idea, and it’s not theirs to own or police.\"\n\nThough there was an overwhelmingly negative response to the React World announcement, other personalities expressed milder opinions; Internet personality Hank Green wrote \"This could actually be a very cool project if it could be divorced from the idea of two very powerful creators attempting to control a very popular YouTube video format. Franchising one of YouTube's biggest shows? Yeah, I’d love to see how that goes.\" New York reporter Jay Hathaway wrote \"The trademark and React World are dead. And that's a shame, because it was an interesting idea that suffered from tone-deaf execution.\"\n\nResponses and discontinuation by the Fine Brothers\nAfter seeing the initial backlash from their announcement, The Fine Brothers posted comments on various social media websites including Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and the comment section of their YouTube announcement video. On Facebook the Fines wrote, \"We do not own the idea or copyright for reaction videos overall, nor did we ever say we did. You don’t need anyone’s permission to make these kinds of videos, and we’re not coming after anyone\", adding \"We are in no way claiming reaction content in general is our intellectual property. This is purely a voluntary program for people wanting direct support from us, and we continue to be so excited to work with all of you who may want to participate\". They additionally tweeted \"We're not saying we hold a copyright on reaction videos overall, no one can. We're licensing our specific shows, like TV has done for years\". The brothers also explained they would \"not be trying to take revenue from other types of reaction videos, and will not be copyright-striking\". However, other YouTubers have reported multiple copyright related video takedowns. The Guardian also reported that unrelated channels featuring diverse groups of people reacting to videos were also removed after takedown requests from the Fine Brothers; the \"Seniors React\" video was noted to be released prior to the Fines launching their Elders React series. The Fines also posted an update video in response to what they described as \"confusion and negative response\" to React World, in which they try to clear up confusion on what their format encompasses, as well as inviting viewers to e-mail them about any further questions.\n\nUltimately, the Fine Brothers removed all React World videos, and posted a statement on Medium, declaring they have filed the paperwork to rescind all their \"React\" trademarks and applications, will discontinue the React World program, and will release all past Content ID claims. In their post, the brothers expressed \"It makes perfect sense for people to distrust our motives here, but we are confident that our actions will speak louder than these words moving forward\". Reaction to this Medium post was negative on Reddit, where users were reported commenting they would not forgive the Fine Brothers.\n\nAccolades\n\nReferences\n\nCitations\n\nSources\n\nFootnotes\n\nSee also \n Reaction video\n\n2010 web series debuts\nFullscreen (company) channels\nFullscreen Media franchises\nYouTube original programming"
] |
[
"Paolo Rossi",
"Later years",
"When did he retire?",
"He ended his club career at Hellas Verona during the 1986-87 season, helping them to a fourth-place finish in Serie A, before retiring at the end of the season.",
"Did he receive any awards or recognition?",
"Rossi was named by Pele as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004;",
"How did people react when he retired?",
"I don't know."
] |
C_7b42947f299f44c49c0d3de0f896725a_0
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What did he do after he retired?
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What did Paolo Rossi do after he retired?
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Paolo Rossi
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After the 1982 World Cup, Rossi continued to play with Juventus. During the 1982-83 season, Juventus finished second in Serie A, although Rossi helped the club to win the 1983 Coppa Italia, scoring 5 goals, also helping Juventus to reach the 1983 European Cup final, only to lose out to Hamburg; Rossi finished the tournament as the top scorer, with 6 goals. During the 1983-84 season, Rossi won his second Scudetto title with the club, notably scoring 13 goals, also helping the club to win the 1983-84 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, followed by the 1984 UEFA Super Cup. During his final season with the club, Rossi finally won the European Cup in 1985, finishing the tournament with 5 goals, behind only team-mate Michel Platini, and Torbjorn Nilsson, with 7 goals. After his stint with Juventus, he moved on to a then struggling Milan for a season in 1985. During his time with Milan, he was remembered for his two-goal performance against Internazionale in a Milan derby match. Rossi was also selected to the Italian roster for the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, but did not play in the competition, because of an injury, which caused him to struggle during the team's fitness tests, due to the high altitude of the region; as a result, he was replaced by Giuseppe Galderisi up-front in the team's starting line-up. He made his final appearance for Italy on 11 May 1986, in a 2-0 friendly home win over China, in Naples. He ended his club career at Hellas Verona during the 1986-87 season, helping them to a fourth-place finish in Serie A, before retiring at the end of the season. He is currently involved in real estate, together with his former teammate Giancarlo Salvi. Rossi scored a total of 20 goals in 48 senior international caps for Italy. Undoubtedly, his most important goal was the winner against Brazil in the 1982 World Cup which completed a famous hat trick and enabled the Azzurri to advance to the semi-finals at the expense of the South Americans. Rossi further represented Italy in the 1991 edition of the World Cup of Masters, scoring in the third place play off against Uruguay. Rossi is currently Italy's joint all-time top goalscorer in the FIFA World Cup, with 9 goals in 14 appearances over two editions of the tournament, alongside Roberto Baggio and Christian Vieri. 6 of his World Cup goals came in 7 appearances in Italy's victorious 1982 edition, and 3 of his goals came in 7 appearances in the 1978 edition, where Italy finished in fourth place. Rossi was named by Pele as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004; during the same year, he placed 12th in the UEFA Golden Jubilee poll. In August 1990, he was named vice-president of Lega Pro Prima Divisione club A.S. Pescina Valle del Giovenco. CANNOTANSWER
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In August 1990, he was named vice-president of Lega Pro Prima Divisione club A.S. Pescina Valle del Giovenco.
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Paolo Rossi (; 23 September 1956 – 9 December 2020) was an Italian professional footballer who played as a forward. He led Italy to the 1982 FIFA World Cup title, scoring six goals to win the Golden Boot as top goalscorer, and the Golden Ball for the player of the tournament. Rossi is one of only three players, and the only European, to have won all three awards at a World Cup, along with Garrincha in 1962, and Mario Kempes in 1978. Rossi was also awarded the 1982 Ballon d'Or as the European Footballer of the Year for his performances (remaining the only player in history to win these four awards in a single year). Along with Roberto Baggio and Christian Vieri, he is Italy's top scorer in World Cup history, with nine goals overall.
At club level, Rossi was also a prolific goalscorer for Vicenza. In 1976, he was signed to Juventus from Vicenza in a co-ownership deal for a world record transfer fee. Vicenza retained his services, and he was the top goalscorer in Serie B in 1977, leading his team to promotion to Serie A. The following season, Rossi scored 24 goals, to become the first player to top the scoring charts in Serie B and Serie A in consecutive seasons. Rossi made his debut for Juventus in 1981, and went on to win two Serie A titles, the Coppa Italia, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, the UEFA Super Cup, and the European Cup.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest Italian footballers of all time, Rossi was named in 2004 by Pelé as one of the Top 125 greatest living footballers as part of FIFA's 100th anniversary celebration. In the same year, Rossi placed 12th in the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll. After he retired from football, he worked as a pundit for Sky, Mediaset Premium, and Rai Sport, until his death on 9 December 2020.
Career
Early years
Rossi was born in Prato, Tuscany, Italy in the area of Santa Lucia.
Although he was a member of the squad during the 1972–73 season, Rossi made his debut in professional Italian football with Juventus in 1973, making an appearance in the Coppa Italia and winning a runners-up medal in the 1973 Intercontinental Cup. He was often injury-prone during his first few seasons, only making three Coppa Italia appearances with Juventus between 1972 and 1975, and scoring no goals. After three operations on his knees, he was later sent to gain experience with Como, where he made his Serie A debut during the 1975–76 season, initially playing as a right winger, where his small build would not be a hindrance; he made six Serie A appearances for the club, but again failed to score.
His career reached a turning point when Vicenza Calcio (then Lanerossi Vicenza) engaged him on loan. Coach Giovan Battista Fabbri decided to move him from the wing and place him in the centre of the attack (because of injuries to the then centre-forward) just before the season started. Rossi immediately showed a tremendous knack for getting open in the box and scoring, winning the Serie B Golden Boot with 21 goals in his first year in this more advanced position. In the 1976–77 season, Rossi's qualities as an implacable striker led his team to promotion to Serie A, and he also led Vicenza to the second group stage of the Coppa Italia that season. In the following season, Rossi scored 24 goals, to become the first player to top the scoring charts in Serie B and Serie A in consecutive seasons, also leading Vicenza to an incredible second-place finish in Serie A during the 1977–78 season, only behind his co-owners Juventus. Due to his performances, he was selected by the Italian national team's manager Enzo Bearzot for the 1978 FIFA World Cup. Rossi was also given his Italy debut under Bearzot on 21 December 1977, in a 1–0 friendly away win over Belgium.
Rossi confirmed his growth during the 1978 World Cup tournament, gaining international fame as one of the world's best strikers. Playing for Italy as a central striker, he would sometimes switch positions with the two other forwards, going to his original right wing position. Right winger Franco Causio, a two-footed player, would go left, and Italy's tall left winger Roberto Bettega would go to the center. This simple stratagem, made possible by the technical quality of all three players, created havoc for opposing defences, and Italy showed an entertaining offensive style of play in the tournament. Rossi totalled three goals and four assists as Italy finished in fourth place in that World Cup. He was named as part of the team of the tournament for his performances, and he also collected the Silver Ball as the second-best player of the World Cup. Rossi's goal in Italy's opening 2–1 group win of the tournament against France, on 2 June 1978, was also his first goal for Italy.
Up to this point, Rossi had been jointly owned by Vicenza and Juventus. When the two clubs were called to settle the property, Lanerossi offered the shocking sum of 2.612 billion lire for Rossi, who became the world's most expensive player, and Italy's most costly sportsman ever at that point. After the 1978 World Cup, during the 1978–79 season, Rossi made his European debut with Vicenza in the UEFA Cup, however, despite scoring 15 goals for the club in Serie A, his season was marked by injuries, and Vicenza was relegated to Serie B. Rossi was subsequently loaned to Perugia, in order to play in Serie A the following season.
Match-fixing scandal
While at Perugia, he managed 13 goals in Serie A during the 1979–80 season, also helping the club to the round of 16 of the UEFA Cup. During the season, however, he was involved in the infamous 1980 betting scandal known in Italy as Totonero, and as a result of this Rossi was disqualified for three years, although this was later reduced to a two-year ban. As a result, Rossi missed out on the 1980 European Championship with Italy, where the team once again finished in fourth place, on home soil. Despite the ban, Rossi always claimed to be innocent, and stated that he had been a victim of an injustice.
1982 World Cup
Despite his ban, Rossi was repurchased by Juventus in 1981, and he returned to the starting line-up just in time for the end of the 1981–82 season to contribute to the club's 1981–82 Serie A title (scoring one goal in three appearances), and to take part in the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain. Italian journalists and tifosi initially lamented that he was in very poor shape, however, and this view seemed to be confirmed by Italy's appalling performance in the three group matches, in which he was described as a "ghost aimlessly wandering over the field".
Italy manager Enzo Bearzot, however, staunchly confirmed Rossi for the decisive round robin in the second round, in which his team was to face Argentina, the reigning World Champions, and Brazil, the favourites to win the title with a team consisting of world-class players such as Sócrates, Zico, and Falcão. After Italy defeated Argentina 2–1, partly thanks to the defensive work of Claudio Gentile and Gaetano Scirea who shut down the young Argentine star Diego Maradona, Rossi scored a hat-trick to defeat Brazil 3–2 to qualify for the semi-finals. In the semi-final match against Poland, Rossi's two goals won the match for Italy once again, granting them a place in the 1982 World Cup final. In the final against West Germany, Rossi scored the first of Italy's three goals, from an indirect set-piece assist from Gentile, helping Italy win the match 3–1, giving his team their third World Cup title. With six goals in total, he won the tournament's máximo goleador award, the Golden Boot, as the top scorer of the tournament, as well as the Golden Ball Award for the best player of the tournament, and he was named as part of the team of the tournament for the second consecutive time.
Italian fans hung banners proclaiming him "Man of the match". Rossi's accomplishments in Spain gained him the title of European Footballer of the Year and World Player of the Year in 1982, as well as the 1982 Onze d'Or Award. His goalscoring exploits during the tournament earned him the nicknames "Pablito" and the "torero". Between his goals and assists throughout the tournament, Rossi was directly responsible for 58% of his team's goals during the 1982 World Cup.
Rossi became a national hero in Italy for his six goals in the 1982 World Cup finals. Peter Mason, writing for The Guardian, noted that the World Cup final win, which was set up by Rossi's crucial first goal, "was a cathartic moment for the nation, which had been subject to significant social and political unrest for a number of years and, despite being regarded as one of the world's premier footballing nations, had not won a World Cup since 1938... With the victory came an incalculable lift to the nation’s spirits, and Rossi was at the centre of the celebrations."
Later years and death
After the 1982 World Cup, Rossi continued to play with Juventus. During the 1982–83 season, Juventus finished second in Serie A, although he helped the club to win the 1983 Coppa Italia, scoring five goals. He also helped Juventus to reach the 1983 European Cup final, only to lose out to Hamburg; he finished the tournament as the top scorer, with six goals. During the 1983–84 season, Rossi won his second Scudetto title with the club, notably scoring 13 goals, also helping the club to win the 1983–84 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, followed by the 1984 UEFA Super Cup. During his final season with the club, Rossi finally won the European Cup in 1985, finishing the tournament with 5 goals, behind only teammate Michel Platini, and Torbjörn Nilsson, with 7 goals.
Following his tenure with Juventus, Rossi moved on to a then struggling Milan for a season in 1985. During his time with Milan, he was remembered for his two-goal performance against Internazionale in a Milan derby match. Rossi was also selected in Italy's squad for the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, but did not play in the competition; an injury caused him to struggle during the team's fitness tests, owing to the high altitude of the region. As a result, he was replaced by Giuseppe Galderisi up-front in the team's starting line-up. He made his final appearance for Italy on 11 May 1986, in a 2–0 friendly home win over China in Naples. He ended his club career at Hellas Verona during the 1986–87 season, helping them to a fourth-place finish in Serie A, before retiring at the end of the season. He was involved in real estate, together with his former teammate Giancarlo Salvi.
Rossi scored a total of 20 goals in 48 senior international caps for Italy. Rossi is Italy's joint all-time top goalscorer in the FIFA World Cup, with nine goals in 14 appearances over two editions of the tournament, alongside Roberto Baggio and Christian Vieri. Six of his World Cup goals came in seven appearances during Italy's passage to triumph in 1982, and three of his goals came in seven appearances during the 1978 tournament, when Italy finished in fourth place. Rossi represented Italy in the 1991 edition of the World Cup of Masters, scoring in the third place play-off against Uruguay.
Pelé named Rossi as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004; during the same year, Rossi placed 12th in the UEFA Golden Jubilee poll.
In August 1990, he was named vice-president of Lega Pro Prima Divisione club A.S. Pescina Valle del Giovenco.
Following his retirement he also worked as a pundit for Sky, Mediaset Premium, and Rai Sport.
Rossi died on 9 December 2020, at the age of 64, from lung cancer. Rossi was survived by his second wife, Federica Cappelletti, and three children. During his funeral in Vicenza on 12 December, attended by thousands, his house in Bucine was robbed.
Style of play
Paolo Rossi is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most prolific Italian forwards of all time. Although he lacked the intimidating physical presence of a typical out-and-out striker, Rossi was a quick, agile, prolific, and elegant centre-forward, with good technique, balance, extremely quick reactions, an accurate shot, and an eye for goal, which enabled him to anticipate defenders in the box for the ball. He made up for his lack of strength, physicality, and shooting power with his keen sense of opportunism, intelligence, positional sense, and sharp finishing skills with both of his feet as well as with his head, which allowed him to excel in the air and beat out larger opponents for the ball, in spite of his relatively short stature; he was not particularly adept at set pieces, however. Although Rossi was primarily known as a striker who mainly operated in the penalty area, he began his career as a right winger, and in his later career with Juventus, he was also deployed as a supporting forward, owing to the offensive attributes of the club's new signings in midfield, in particular Zbigniew Boniek and Michel Platini, where his role frequently involved holding up the ball or dragging opponents out of position to create space for his teammates' runs with his excellent attacking movement of the ball.
Career statistics
Club
International
Scores and results list Italy's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Rossi goal.
Honours
Vicenza
Serie B: 1976–77
Juventus
Serie A: 1981–82, 1983–84
Coppa Italia: 1982–83
European Cup: 1984–85
European Cup Winners' Cup: 1983–84
UEFA Super Cup: 1984
Italy
FIFA World Cup: 1982
Individual
Serie A top scorer: 1977–78 (24 goals)
Serie B top scorer: 1976–77 (21 goals)
FIFA World Cup Silver Ball: 1978
FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1978, 1982
Gazzetta Sports Awards Man of the Year: 1978
FIFA XI: 1979, 1986
FIFA World Cup Golden Boot: 1982
FIFA World Cup Golden Ball: 1982
Onze d'Or: 1982
Ballon D'Or: 1982
World Soccer Awards Player of the Year: 1982
L'Équipe Champion of Champions: 1982
European Cup Top Scorers: 1982–83
World Soccer Awards 100 Greatest Players of the 20th Century #42
FIFA 100
UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll: #12
Golden Foot "Football Legends": 2007
Italian Football Hall of Fame: 2016
References
Further reading
Antonello Capone e Paolo Piani, Sponsor, in Marco Sappino (a cura di), Dizionario del calcio italiano, 1ª ed., Milano, Baldini & Castoldi, 2000.
Calciatori ‒ La raccolta completa Panini 1961–2012, Vol. 2 (1985–1986), Modena, Panini, 2012.
Calciatori ‒ La raccolta completa Panini 1961–2012, Vol. 3 (1986–1987), Modena, Panini, 2012.
External links
Official website
Profile at FIGC.it
1956 births
2020 deaths
1978 FIFA World Cup players
1982 FIFA World Cup players
1986 FIFA World Cup players
A.C. Milan players
Association football forwards
Como 1907 players
Ballon d'Or winners
FIFA 100
FIFA World Cup-winning players
Hellas Verona F.C. players
Italian footballers
Italy international footballers
Italy under-21 international footballers
Juventus F.C. players
People from Prato
A.C. Perugia Calcio players
Serie A players
Serie B players
Sportspeople involved in betting scandals
UEFA Champions League winning players
L.R. Vicenza players
World Soccer Magazine World Player of the Year winners
Deaths from lung cancer
Deaths from cancer in Tuscany
| true |
[
"What You Need is the tenth studio album by American contemporary R&B singer Stacy Lattisaw, released October 17, 1989 via Motown Records. It did not chart on the Billboard 200, but it peaked at #16 on the Billboard R&B chart. It was also Lattisaw's final album before she retired from the music industry.\n\nFour singles were released from the album: \"What You Need\", \"Where Do We Go from Here\", \"Dance for You\" and \"I Don't Have the Heart\". \"Where Do We Go from Here\" was the most successful single from the album, peaking at #1 on the Billboard R&B singles chart in 1990.\n\nTrack listing\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n \n\n1989 albums\nStacy Lattisaw albums\nAlbums produced by Timmy Regisford\nMotown albums",
"Roger Thomas (born 17 April 1973 in Jamaica) is a Jamaican retired footballer.\n\nCareer\n\nAt the age of 13, a teacher asked Thomas \"what he was going to do with his life besides play soccer\", which inspired him to do well in school. As a result, Thomas left Jamaica after high school to attend college in the United States. \n\nAfter training with Chilean side Club Deportivo Universidad Católica, he signed for Miami Fusion in the American top flight.\n\nReferences\n\nJamaican footballers\nAssociation football midfielders\n1973 births\nLiving people\nAssociation football forwards"
] |
[
"Paolo Rossi",
"Later years",
"When did he retire?",
"He ended his club career at Hellas Verona during the 1986-87 season, helping them to a fourth-place finish in Serie A, before retiring at the end of the season.",
"Did he receive any awards or recognition?",
"Rossi was named by Pele as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004;",
"How did people react when he retired?",
"I don't know.",
"What did he do after he retired?",
"In August 1990, he was named vice-president of Lega Pro Prima Divisione club A.S. Pescina Valle del Giovenco."
] |
C_7b42947f299f44c49c0d3de0f896725a_0
|
What did he do as vice-president?
| 5 |
What did Paolo Rossi do as vice-president of Lega Pro Prima Division club?
|
Paolo Rossi
|
After the 1982 World Cup, Rossi continued to play with Juventus. During the 1982-83 season, Juventus finished second in Serie A, although Rossi helped the club to win the 1983 Coppa Italia, scoring 5 goals, also helping Juventus to reach the 1983 European Cup final, only to lose out to Hamburg; Rossi finished the tournament as the top scorer, with 6 goals. During the 1983-84 season, Rossi won his second Scudetto title with the club, notably scoring 13 goals, also helping the club to win the 1983-84 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, followed by the 1984 UEFA Super Cup. During his final season with the club, Rossi finally won the European Cup in 1985, finishing the tournament with 5 goals, behind only team-mate Michel Platini, and Torbjorn Nilsson, with 7 goals. After his stint with Juventus, he moved on to a then struggling Milan for a season in 1985. During his time with Milan, he was remembered for his two-goal performance against Internazionale in a Milan derby match. Rossi was also selected to the Italian roster for the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, but did not play in the competition, because of an injury, which caused him to struggle during the team's fitness tests, due to the high altitude of the region; as a result, he was replaced by Giuseppe Galderisi up-front in the team's starting line-up. He made his final appearance for Italy on 11 May 1986, in a 2-0 friendly home win over China, in Naples. He ended his club career at Hellas Verona during the 1986-87 season, helping them to a fourth-place finish in Serie A, before retiring at the end of the season. He is currently involved in real estate, together with his former teammate Giancarlo Salvi. Rossi scored a total of 20 goals in 48 senior international caps for Italy. Undoubtedly, his most important goal was the winner against Brazil in the 1982 World Cup which completed a famous hat trick and enabled the Azzurri to advance to the semi-finals at the expense of the South Americans. Rossi further represented Italy in the 1991 edition of the World Cup of Masters, scoring in the third place play off against Uruguay. Rossi is currently Italy's joint all-time top goalscorer in the FIFA World Cup, with 9 goals in 14 appearances over two editions of the tournament, alongside Roberto Baggio and Christian Vieri. 6 of his World Cup goals came in 7 appearances in Italy's victorious 1982 edition, and 3 of his goals came in 7 appearances in the 1978 edition, where Italy finished in fourth place. Rossi was named by Pele as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004; during the same year, he placed 12th in the UEFA Golden Jubilee poll. In August 1990, he was named vice-president of Lega Pro Prima Divisione club A.S. Pescina Valle del Giovenco. CANNOTANSWER
|
CANNOTANSWER
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Paolo Rossi (; 23 September 1956 – 9 December 2020) was an Italian professional footballer who played as a forward. He led Italy to the 1982 FIFA World Cup title, scoring six goals to win the Golden Boot as top goalscorer, and the Golden Ball for the player of the tournament. Rossi is one of only three players, and the only European, to have won all three awards at a World Cup, along with Garrincha in 1962, and Mario Kempes in 1978. Rossi was also awarded the 1982 Ballon d'Or as the European Footballer of the Year for his performances (remaining the only player in history to win these four awards in a single year). Along with Roberto Baggio and Christian Vieri, he is Italy's top scorer in World Cup history, with nine goals overall.
At club level, Rossi was also a prolific goalscorer for Vicenza. In 1976, he was signed to Juventus from Vicenza in a co-ownership deal for a world record transfer fee. Vicenza retained his services, and he was the top goalscorer in Serie B in 1977, leading his team to promotion to Serie A. The following season, Rossi scored 24 goals, to become the first player to top the scoring charts in Serie B and Serie A in consecutive seasons. Rossi made his debut for Juventus in 1981, and went on to win two Serie A titles, the Coppa Italia, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, the UEFA Super Cup, and the European Cup.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest Italian footballers of all time, Rossi was named in 2004 by Pelé as one of the Top 125 greatest living footballers as part of FIFA's 100th anniversary celebration. In the same year, Rossi placed 12th in the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll. After he retired from football, he worked as a pundit for Sky, Mediaset Premium, and Rai Sport, until his death on 9 December 2020.
Career
Early years
Rossi was born in Prato, Tuscany, Italy in the area of Santa Lucia.
Although he was a member of the squad during the 1972–73 season, Rossi made his debut in professional Italian football with Juventus in 1973, making an appearance in the Coppa Italia and winning a runners-up medal in the 1973 Intercontinental Cup. He was often injury-prone during his first few seasons, only making three Coppa Italia appearances with Juventus between 1972 and 1975, and scoring no goals. After three operations on his knees, he was later sent to gain experience with Como, where he made his Serie A debut during the 1975–76 season, initially playing as a right winger, where his small build would not be a hindrance; he made six Serie A appearances for the club, but again failed to score.
His career reached a turning point when Vicenza Calcio (then Lanerossi Vicenza) engaged him on loan. Coach Giovan Battista Fabbri decided to move him from the wing and place him in the centre of the attack (because of injuries to the then centre-forward) just before the season started. Rossi immediately showed a tremendous knack for getting open in the box and scoring, winning the Serie B Golden Boot with 21 goals in his first year in this more advanced position. In the 1976–77 season, Rossi's qualities as an implacable striker led his team to promotion to Serie A, and he also led Vicenza to the second group stage of the Coppa Italia that season. In the following season, Rossi scored 24 goals, to become the first player to top the scoring charts in Serie B and Serie A in consecutive seasons, also leading Vicenza to an incredible second-place finish in Serie A during the 1977–78 season, only behind his co-owners Juventus. Due to his performances, he was selected by the Italian national team's manager Enzo Bearzot for the 1978 FIFA World Cup. Rossi was also given his Italy debut under Bearzot on 21 December 1977, in a 1–0 friendly away win over Belgium.
Rossi confirmed his growth during the 1978 World Cup tournament, gaining international fame as one of the world's best strikers. Playing for Italy as a central striker, he would sometimes switch positions with the two other forwards, going to his original right wing position. Right winger Franco Causio, a two-footed player, would go left, and Italy's tall left winger Roberto Bettega would go to the center. This simple stratagem, made possible by the technical quality of all three players, created havoc for opposing defences, and Italy showed an entertaining offensive style of play in the tournament. Rossi totalled three goals and four assists as Italy finished in fourth place in that World Cup. He was named as part of the team of the tournament for his performances, and he also collected the Silver Ball as the second-best player of the World Cup. Rossi's goal in Italy's opening 2–1 group win of the tournament against France, on 2 June 1978, was also his first goal for Italy.
Up to this point, Rossi had been jointly owned by Vicenza and Juventus. When the two clubs were called to settle the property, Lanerossi offered the shocking sum of 2.612 billion lire for Rossi, who became the world's most expensive player, and Italy's most costly sportsman ever at that point. After the 1978 World Cup, during the 1978–79 season, Rossi made his European debut with Vicenza in the UEFA Cup, however, despite scoring 15 goals for the club in Serie A, his season was marked by injuries, and Vicenza was relegated to Serie B. Rossi was subsequently loaned to Perugia, in order to play in Serie A the following season.
Match-fixing scandal
While at Perugia, he managed 13 goals in Serie A during the 1979–80 season, also helping the club to the round of 16 of the UEFA Cup. During the season, however, he was involved in the infamous 1980 betting scandal known in Italy as Totonero, and as a result of this Rossi was disqualified for three years, although this was later reduced to a two-year ban. As a result, Rossi missed out on the 1980 European Championship with Italy, where the team once again finished in fourth place, on home soil. Despite the ban, Rossi always claimed to be innocent, and stated that he had been a victim of an injustice.
1982 World Cup
Despite his ban, Rossi was repurchased by Juventus in 1981, and he returned to the starting line-up just in time for the end of the 1981–82 season to contribute to the club's 1981–82 Serie A title (scoring one goal in three appearances), and to take part in the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain. Italian journalists and tifosi initially lamented that he was in very poor shape, however, and this view seemed to be confirmed by Italy's appalling performance in the three group matches, in which he was described as a "ghost aimlessly wandering over the field".
Italy manager Enzo Bearzot, however, staunchly confirmed Rossi for the decisive round robin in the second round, in which his team was to face Argentina, the reigning World Champions, and Brazil, the favourites to win the title with a team consisting of world-class players such as Sócrates, Zico, and Falcão. After Italy defeated Argentina 2–1, partly thanks to the defensive work of Claudio Gentile and Gaetano Scirea who shut down the young Argentine star Diego Maradona, Rossi scored a hat-trick to defeat Brazil 3–2 to qualify for the semi-finals. In the semi-final match against Poland, Rossi's two goals won the match for Italy once again, granting them a place in the 1982 World Cup final. In the final against West Germany, Rossi scored the first of Italy's three goals, from an indirect set-piece assist from Gentile, helping Italy win the match 3–1, giving his team their third World Cup title. With six goals in total, he won the tournament's máximo goleador award, the Golden Boot, as the top scorer of the tournament, as well as the Golden Ball Award for the best player of the tournament, and he was named as part of the team of the tournament for the second consecutive time.
Italian fans hung banners proclaiming him "Man of the match". Rossi's accomplishments in Spain gained him the title of European Footballer of the Year and World Player of the Year in 1982, as well as the 1982 Onze d'Or Award. His goalscoring exploits during the tournament earned him the nicknames "Pablito" and the "torero". Between his goals and assists throughout the tournament, Rossi was directly responsible for 58% of his team's goals during the 1982 World Cup.
Rossi became a national hero in Italy for his six goals in the 1982 World Cup finals. Peter Mason, writing for The Guardian, noted that the World Cup final win, which was set up by Rossi's crucial first goal, "was a cathartic moment for the nation, which had been subject to significant social and political unrest for a number of years and, despite being regarded as one of the world's premier footballing nations, had not won a World Cup since 1938... With the victory came an incalculable lift to the nation’s spirits, and Rossi was at the centre of the celebrations."
Later years and death
After the 1982 World Cup, Rossi continued to play with Juventus. During the 1982–83 season, Juventus finished second in Serie A, although he helped the club to win the 1983 Coppa Italia, scoring five goals. He also helped Juventus to reach the 1983 European Cup final, only to lose out to Hamburg; he finished the tournament as the top scorer, with six goals. During the 1983–84 season, Rossi won his second Scudetto title with the club, notably scoring 13 goals, also helping the club to win the 1983–84 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, followed by the 1984 UEFA Super Cup. During his final season with the club, Rossi finally won the European Cup in 1985, finishing the tournament with 5 goals, behind only teammate Michel Platini, and Torbjörn Nilsson, with 7 goals.
Following his tenure with Juventus, Rossi moved on to a then struggling Milan for a season in 1985. During his time with Milan, he was remembered for his two-goal performance against Internazionale in a Milan derby match. Rossi was also selected in Italy's squad for the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, but did not play in the competition; an injury caused him to struggle during the team's fitness tests, owing to the high altitude of the region. As a result, he was replaced by Giuseppe Galderisi up-front in the team's starting line-up. He made his final appearance for Italy on 11 May 1986, in a 2–0 friendly home win over China in Naples. He ended his club career at Hellas Verona during the 1986–87 season, helping them to a fourth-place finish in Serie A, before retiring at the end of the season. He was involved in real estate, together with his former teammate Giancarlo Salvi.
Rossi scored a total of 20 goals in 48 senior international caps for Italy. Rossi is Italy's joint all-time top goalscorer in the FIFA World Cup, with nine goals in 14 appearances over two editions of the tournament, alongside Roberto Baggio and Christian Vieri. Six of his World Cup goals came in seven appearances during Italy's passage to triumph in 1982, and three of his goals came in seven appearances during the 1978 tournament, when Italy finished in fourth place. Rossi represented Italy in the 1991 edition of the World Cup of Masters, scoring in the third place play-off against Uruguay.
Pelé named Rossi as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004; during the same year, Rossi placed 12th in the UEFA Golden Jubilee poll.
In August 1990, he was named vice-president of Lega Pro Prima Divisione club A.S. Pescina Valle del Giovenco.
Following his retirement he also worked as a pundit for Sky, Mediaset Premium, and Rai Sport.
Rossi died on 9 December 2020, at the age of 64, from lung cancer. Rossi was survived by his second wife, Federica Cappelletti, and three children. During his funeral in Vicenza on 12 December, attended by thousands, his house in Bucine was robbed.
Style of play
Paolo Rossi is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most prolific Italian forwards of all time. Although he lacked the intimidating physical presence of a typical out-and-out striker, Rossi was a quick, agile, prolific, and elegant centre-forward, with good technique, balance, extremely quick reactions, an accurate shot, and an eye for goal, which enabled him to anticipate defenders in the box for the ball. He made up for his lack of strength, physicality, and shooting power with his keen sense of opportunism, intelligence, positional sense, and sharp finishing skills with both of his feet as well as with his head, which allowed him to excel in the air and beat out larger opponents for the ball, in spite of his relatively short stature; he was not particularly adept at set pieces, however. Although Rossi was primarily known as a striker who mainly operated in the penalty area, he began his career as a right winger, and in his later career with Juventus, he was also deployed as a supporting forward, owing to the offensive attributes of the club's new signings in midfield, in particular Zbigniew Boniek and Michel Platini, where his role frequently involved holding up the ball or dragging opponents out of position to create space for his teammates' runs with his excellent attacking movement of the ball.
Career statistics
Club
International
Scores and results list Italy's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Rossi goal.
Honours
Vicenza
Serie B: 1976–77
Juventus
Serie A: 1981–82, 1983–84
Coppa Italia: 1982–83
European Cup: 1984–85
European Cup Winners' Cup: 1983–84
UEFA Super Cup: 1984
Italy
FIFA World Cup: 1982
Individual
Serie A top scorer: 1977–78 (24 goals)
Serie B top scorer: 1976–77 (21 goals)
FIFA World Cup Silver Ball: 1978
FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1978, 1982
Gazzetta Sports Awards Man of the Year: 1978
FIFA XI: 1979, 1986
FIFA World Cup Golden Boot: 1982
FIFA World Cup Golden Ball: 1982
Onze d'Or: 1982
Ballon D'Or: 1982
World Soccer Awards Player of the Year: 1982
L'Équipe Champion of Champions: 1982
European Cup Top Scorers: 1982–83
World Soccer Awards 100 Greatest Players of the 20th Century #42
FIFA 100
UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll: #12
Golden Foot "Football Legends": 2007
Italian Football Hall of Fame: 2016
References
Further reading
Antonello Capone e Paolo Piani, Sponsor, in Marco Sappino (a cura di), Dizionario del calcio italiano, 1ª ed., Milano, Baldini & Castoldi, 2000.
Calciatori ‒ La raccolta completa Panini 1961–2012, Vol. 2 (1985–1986), Modena, Panini, 2012.
Calciatori ‒ La raccolta completa Panini 1961–2012, Vol. 3 (1986–1987), Modena, Panini, 2012.
External links
Official website
Profile at FIGC.it
1956 births
2020 deaths
1978 FIFA World Cup players
1982 FIFA World Cup players
1986 FIFA World Cup players
A.C. Milan players
Association football forwards
Como 1907 players
Ballon d'Or winners
FIFA 100
FIFA World Cup-winning players
Hellas Verona F.C. players
Italian footballers
Italy international footballers
Italy under-21 international footballers
Juventus F.C. players
People from Prato
A.C. Perugia Calcio players
Serie A players
Serie B players
Sportspeople involved in betting scandals
UEFA Champions League winning players
L.R. Vicenza players
World Soccer Magazine World Player of the Year winners
Deaths from lung cancer
Deaths from cancer in Tuscany
| false |
[
"Joseph Stanley Brown served as private secretary to the twentieth President of the United States, James A. Garfield. He would completely devote himself to Garfield, as seen when Garfield asked \"What can I do for you?\" at their first meeting, prompting Brown to respond, \" \"It's not what you can do for me, but what I can do for you, sir.\" Brown would serve as Garfield's secretary during his brief presidency, controlling the office-seekers that ran rampant due to the spoils system, which Garfield's vice president Chester Arthur would eventually reform. He married President Garfield's daughter Mary \"Mollie\" Garfield in 1888.\n\nBrown was born in Washington, D.C. and went to the Washington, D.C. public schools, He learned shorthand and typing. He went to the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale University and studied geology. Brown served as a stenographer for John Wesley Powell. the founder of the United States Geological Survey. Brown was also involved in the banking and railroad businesses. He died in Pasadena, California.\n\nSee also\n James A. Garfield\n\nReferences\n\n1858 births\n1941 deaths\nAcademics from Washington, D.C.\nAmerican geologists\nYale School of Engineering & Applied Science alumni\nPresidency of James A. Garfield\nPersonal secretaries to the President of the United States\nUnited States Geological Survey personnel",
"Jorge Sapelli (1926, Montevideo – January 13, 1996) was an Uruguayan political figure. He was the Vice President of Uruguay from 1972 until his resignation in 1973.\n\nVice President of Uruguay\n\n1972–1973\nSapelli served in President Juan María Bordaberry's Administration as Vice President of Uruguay until June 1973. It may be noted, in the light of subsequent controversies, that his actual service as vice president is little reported on or analyzed.\n\nJune 1973 resignation\nWhen President Juan María Bordaberry decided with the Military Forces to dissolve the Parliament in June 1973, Sapelli resigned, as he did not agree with this decision that began the long period of civilian-military rule by decree in Uruguay (1973–1985), widely described by observers as a dictatorship.\n\nIt would be fair to state that Sapelli's resignation is given far more analysis than his actual service as vice president.\n\nHistorical note\nSapelli was the eighth person to hold the office of Vice President of Uruguay. The office dates from 1934, when Alfredo Navarro became Uruguay's first Vice President.\n\nLegacy\nSapelli's political career arguably commands multifaceted perceptions of a legacy.\n\nSome observers would argue that Sapelli's action in dissociating himself with Juan María Bordaberry in 1973, under whom he had been serving, demonstrated himself to be a figure of constitutional principle. Others would argue that the position of Vice President of Uruguay, and such power as the holder of the office exercises, is mainly significant to the extent that the holder is prepared to identify himself unreservedly with the current President of Uruguay, and that in any case the office of Vice President of Uruguay originated from the period of the Presidency of Gabriel Terra, 1931–1938, who ruled by decree.\n\nIt may be noted also that, unlike some holders of the somewhat intermittent office of Vice President of Uruguay (e.g., the distinguished Uruguayan diplomat Alberto Guani), Sapelli was a relatively untried political figure prior to his assumption of the Vice Presidency, and as such was largely dependent upon the patronage of President Juan María Bordaberry, whom he in any case publicly repudiated in 1973.\n\nIt may also be observed that when Sapelli repudiated President Bordaberry in 1973, the circumstances of the office of Vice President of Uruguay going into abeyance, it was not until 1985 that the office was revived. Thus his legacy is many-faceted, with the (in the past) long ruling Colorado Party (Uruguay) somewhat belatedly holding him to be a figure of principle, while ironically celebrating him as one who caused the office which he held to go into abeyance for over a decade.\n\nTo put into context Sapelli's reputation within Uruguayan political culture, it may be noted also that the reputation of a predecessor as Vice President of Uruguay, Alberto Guani, has largely emerged unscathed despite having served in the Administration of President of Uruguay Gabriel Terra, who, as President Bordaberry was later to do, ruled by decree.\n\nSee also\nPolitics of Uruguay\nVice President of Uruguay\n\nReferences\n\n1926 births\n1996 deaths\nPeople from Montevideo\nUruguayan people of Italian descent\nColorado Party (Uruguay) politicians\nVice presidents of Uruguay\nPresidents of the Senate of Uruguay\nUruguayan vice-presidential candidates\nMinisters of Labor and Social Affairs of Uruguay"
] |
[
"Olivier Messiaen",
"Tristan and serialism"
] |
C_c98b847278d549889a47900bb8acefee_0
|
What is Tristan and serialism?
| 1 |
What is Tristan and serialism?
|
Olivier Messiaen
|
Shortly after his release from Gorlitz in May 1941, Messiaen was appointed a professor of harmony at the Paris Conservatoire, where he taught until his retirement in 1978. He compiled his Technique de mon langage musical ("Technique of my musical language") published in 1944, in which he quotes many examples from his music, particularly the Quartet. Although only in his mid-thirties, his students described him as an outstanding teacher. Among his early students were the composers Pierre Boulez and Karel Goeyvaerts. Other pupils included Karlheinz Stockhausen in 1952, Alexander Goehr in 1956-57, Tristan Murail in 1967-72 and George Benjamin during the late 1970s. The Greek composer Iannis Xenakis was referred to him in 1951; Messiaen urged Xenakis to take advantage of his background in mathematics and architecture in his music. In 1943, Messiaen wrote Visions de l'Amen ("Visions of the Amen") for two pianos for Yvonne Loriod and himself to perform. Shortly thereafter he composed the enormous solo piano cycle Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jesus ("Twenty gazes upon the child Jesus") for her. Again for Loriod, he wrote Trois petites liturgies de la presence divine ("Three small liturgies of the Divine Presence") for female chorus and orchestra, which includes a difficult solo piano part. Two years after Visions de l'Amen, Messiaen composed the song cycle Harawi, the first of three works inspired by the legend of Tristan and Isolde. The second of these works about human (as opposed to divine) love was the result of a commission from Serge Koussevitzky. Messiaen stated that the commission did not specify the length of the work or the size of the orchestra. This was the ten-movement Turangalila-Symphonie. It is not a conventional symphony, but rather an extended meditation on the joy of human union and love. It does not contain the sexual guilt inherent in Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde because Messiaen believed that sexual love is a divine gift. The third piece inspired by the Tristan myth was Cinq rechants for twelve unaccompanied singers, described by Messiaen as influenced by the alba of the troubadours. Messiaen visited the United States in 1949, where his music was conducted by Koussevitsky and Leopold Stokowski. His Turangalila-Symphonie was first performed in the US in 1949, conducted by Leonard Bernstein. Messiaen taught an analysis class at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1947 he taught (and performed with Loriod) for two weeks in Budapest. In 1949 he taught at Tanglewood. Beginning in summer 1949 he taught in the new music summer school classes at Darmstadt. While he did not employ the twelve-tone technique, after three years teaching analysis of twelve-tone scores, including works by Arnold Schoenberg, he experimented with ways of making scales of other elements (including duration, articulation and dynamics) analogous to the chromatic pitch scale. The results of these innovations was the "Mode de valeurs et d'intensites" for piano (from the Quatre etudes de rythme) which has been misleadingly described as the first work of "total serialism". It had a large influence on the earliest European serial composers, including Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen. During this period he also experimented with musique concrete, music for recorded sounds. CANNOTANSWER
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Messiaen composed the song cycle Harawi, the first of three works inspired by the legend of Tristan and Isolde.
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Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist who was one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex; harmonically and melodically he employs a system he called modes of limited transposition, which he abstracted from the systems of material generated by his early compositions and improvisations. He wrote music for chamber ensembles and orchestra, vocal music, as well as for solo organ and piano, and also experimented with the use of novel electronic instruments developed in Europe during his lifetime.
Messiaen entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 11 and was taught by Paul Dukas, Maurice Emmanuel, Charles-Marie Widor and Marcel Dupré, among others. He was appointed organist at the Église de la Sainte-Trinité, Paris, in 1931, a post held for 61 years until his death. He taught at the Schola Cantorum de Paris during the 1930s. After the fall of France in 1940, Messiaen was interned for nine months in the German prisoner of war camp Stalag VIII-A, where he composed his ("Quartet for the end of time") for the four instruments available in the prison—piano, violin, cello and clarinet. The piece was first performed by Messiaen and fellow prisoners for an audience of inmates and prison guards. He was appointed professor of harmony soon after his release in 1941 and professor of composition in 1966 at the Paris Conservatoire, positions that he held until his retirement in 1978. His many distinguished pupils included Iannis Xenakis, George Benjamin, Alexander Goehr, Pierre Boulez, Tristan Murail, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Yvonne Loriod, who became his second wife.
Messiaen perceived colours when he heard certain musical chords (a phenomenon known as synaesthesia); according to him, combinations of these colours were important in his compositional process. He travelled widely and wrote works inspired by diverse influences, including Japanese music, the landscape of Bryce Canyon in Utah, and the life of St. Francis of Assisi. For a short period Messiaen experimented with the parametrisation associated with "total serialism", in which field he is often cited as an innovator. His style absorbed many global musical influences such as Indonesian gamelan (tuned percussion often features prominently in his orchestral works).
He found birdsong fascinating, notating bird songs worldwide and incorporating birdsong transcriptions into his music. His innovative use of colour, his conception of the relationship between time and music, and his use of birdsong are among the features that make Messiaen's music distinctive.
Biography
Youth and studies
Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen was born at 11:00 on 10 December 1908 at 20 Boulevard Sixte-Isnard in Avignon, France, into a literary family. He was the elder of two sons of Cécile Anne Marie-Antoinette Sauvage, a poet, and Pierre Léon Joseph Messiaen, a scholar and teacher of English from a farm near Wervicq-Sud who translated the plays of William Shakespeare into French. Messiaen's mother published a sequence of poems, ("The Budding Soul"), the last chapter of ("As the Earth Turns"), which address her unborn son. Messiaen later said this sequence of poems influenced him deeply and he cited it as prophetic of his future artistic career. His younger brother Alain André Prosper Messiaen was also a poet.
At the outbreak of World War I, Pierre enlisted and Cécile took their two boys to live with her brother in Grenoble. There Messiaen became fascinated with drama, reciting Shakespeare to his brother with the help of a home-made toy theatre with translucent backdrops made from old cellophane wrappers. At this time he also adopted the Roman Catholic faith. Later, Messiaen felt most at home in the Alps of the Dauphiné, where he had a house built south of Grenoble where he composed most of his music.
He took piano lessons, having already taught himself to play. His interests included the recent music of French composers Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, and he asked for opera vocal scores for Christmas presents. He also saved to buy scores and one such was Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt whose "beautiful Norwegian melodic lines with the taste of folk song ... gave me a love of melody." Around this time he began to compose. In 1918 his father returned from the war and the family moved to Nantes. He continued music lessons; one of his teachers, Jehan de Gibon, gave him a score of Debussy's opera , which Messiaen described as "a thunderbolt" and "probably the most decisive influence on me". The following year Pierre Messiaen gained a teaching post in Paris. Messiaen entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1919, aged 11.
At the Paris Conservatoire, Messiaen made excellent academic progress. In 1924, aged 15, he was awarded second prize in harmony, having been taught in that subject by professor Jean Gallon. In 1925 he won first prize in piano accompaniment, and in 1926 he gained first prize in fugue. After studying with Maurice Emmanuel, he was awarded second prize for the history of music in 1928. Emmanuel's example engendered an interest in ancient Greek rhythms and exotic modes. After showing improvisational skills on the piano Messiaen studied organ with Marcel Dupré. Messiaen gained first prize in organ playing and improvisation in 1929. After a year studying composition with Charles-Marie Widor, in autumn 1927 he entered the class of the newly appointed Paul Dukas. Messiaen's mother died of tuberculosis shortly before the class began. Despite his grief, he resumed his studies, and in 1930 Messiaen won first prize in composition.
While a student he composed his first published works—his eight Préludes for piano (the earlier Le banquet céleste was published subsequently). These exhibit Messiaen's use of his modes of limited transposition and palindromic rhythms (Messiaen called these non-retrogradable rhythms). His public début came in 1931 with his orchestral suite Les offrandes oubliées. That year he first heard a gamelan group, sparking his interest in the use of tuned percussion.
La Trinité, La jeune France, and Messiaen's war
In the autumn of 1927, Messiaen joined Dupré's organ course. Dupré later wrote that Messiaen, having never seen an organ console, sat quietly for an hour while Dupré explained and demonstrated the instrument, and then came back a week later to play Johann Sebastian Bach's Fantasia in C minor to an impressive standard. From 1929, Messiaen regularly deputised at the Église de la Sainte-Trinité, Paris, for the organist Charles Quef, who was ill at the time. The post became vacant in 1931 when Quef died, and Dupré, Charles Tournemire and Widor among others supported Messiaen's candidacy. His formal application included a letter of recommendation from Widor. The appointment was confirmed in 1931, and he remained the organist at the church for more than 60 years. He also assumed a post at the Schola Cantorum de Paris in the early 1930s. In 1932, he composed the Apparition de l'église éternelle for organ.
He also married the violinist and composer Claire Delbos (daughter of Victor Delbos) that year. Their marriage inspired him both to compose works for her to play (Thème et variations for violin and piano in the year they were married) and to write pieces to celebrate their domestic happiness, including the song cycle Poèmes pour Mi in 1936, which he orchestrated in 1937. Mi was Messiaen's affectionate nickname for his wife. In 1937 their son Pascal was born. The marriage turned to tragedy when Delbos lost her memory after an operation towards the end of World War II. She spent the rest of her life in mental institutions.
In 1936, along with André Jolivet, Daniel-Lesur and Yves Baudrier, Messiaen formed the group La jeune France ("Young France"). Their manifesto implicitly attacked the frivolity predominant in contemporary Parisian music and rejected Jean Cocteau's 1918 Le coq et l'arlequin in favour of a "living music, having the impetus of sincerity, generosity and artistic conscientiousness". Messiaen's career soon departed from this polemical phase.
In response to a commission for a piece to accompany light-and-water shows on the Seine during the Paris Exposition, in 1937 Messiaen demonstrated his interest in using the ondes Martenot, an electronic instrument, by composing Fêtes des belles eaux for an ensemble of six. He included a part for the instrument in several of his subsequent compositions. During this period he composed several multi-movement organ works. He arranged his orchestral suite L'ascension ("The Ascension") for organ, replacing the orchestral version's third movement with an entirely new movement, Transports de joie d'une âme devant la gloire du Christ qui est la sienne ("Ecstasies of a soul before the glory of Christ which is the soul's own") (). He also wrote the extensive cycles La Nativité du Seigneur ("The Nativity of the Lord") and Les corps glorieux ("The glorious bodies").
At the outbreak of World War II, Messiaen was drafted into the French army. Due to poor eyesight, he was enlisted as a medical auxiliary rather than an active combatant. He was captured at Verdun and taken to Görlitz in May 1940, and was imprisoned at Stalag VIII-A. He met a violinist, a cellist and a clarinettist among his fellow prisoners. He wrote a trio for them, which he gradually incorporated into his Quatuor pour la fin du temps ("Quartet for the End of Time"). With the help of a friendly German guard (), he acquired manuscript paper and pencils, and was able to assemble the three other POWs to help him perform the piece. The Quartet was first performed in January 1941 to an audience of prisoners and prison guards, with the composer playing a poorly maintained upright piano in freezing conditions. The enforced introspection and reflection of camp life bore fruit in one of 20th-century classical music's acknowledged masterpieces. The title's "end of time" alludes to the Apocalypse, and also to the way that Messiaen, through rhythm and harmony, used time in a manner completely different from his predecessors and contemporaries.
The idea of a European Centre of Education and Culture "Meeting Point Music Messiaen" on the site of Stalag VIII-A, for children and youth, artists, musicians and everyone in the region emerged in December 2004, was developed with the involvement of Messiaen's widow as a joint project between the council districts in Germany and Poland, and was finally completed in 2014.
Tristan and serialism
Shortly after his release from Görlitz in May of 1941, Messiaen was appointed a professor of harmony at the Paris Conservatoire, where he taught until his retirement in 1978. He compiled his Technique de mon langage musical ("Technique of my musical language") published in 1944, in which he quotes many examples from his music, particularly the Quartet. Although only in his mid-thirties, his students described him as an outstanding teacher. Among his early students were the composers Pierre Boulez and Karel Goeyvaerts. Other pupils included Karlheinz Stockhausen in 1952, Alexander Goehr in 1956–57, Tristan Murail in 1967–72 and George Benjamin during the late 1970s. The Greek composer Iannis Xenakis was referred to him in 1951; Messiaen urged Xenakis to take advantage of his background in mathematics and architecture in his music.
In 1943, Messiaen wrote Visions de l'Amen ("Visions of the Amen") for two pianos for Yvonne Loriod and himself to perform. Shortly thereafter he composed the enormous solo piano cycle Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jésus ("Twenty gazes upon the child Jesus") for her. Again for Loriod, he wrote Trois petites liturgies de la présence divine ("Three small liturgies of the Divine Presence") for female chorus and orchestra, which includes a difficult solo piano part.
Two years after Visions de l'Amen, Messiaen composed the song cycle Harawi, the first of three works inspired by the legend of Tristan and Isolde. The second of these works about human (as opposed to divine) love was the result of a commission from Serge Koussevitzky. Messiaen stated that the commission did not specify the length of the work or the size of the orchestra. This was the ten-movement Turangalîla-Symphonie. It is not a conventional symphony, but rather an extended meditation on the joy of human union and love. It does not contain the sexual guilt inherent in Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde because Messiaen believed that sexual love is a divine gift. The third piece inspired by the Tristan myth was Cinq rechants for twelve unaccompanied singers, described by Messiaen as influenced by the alba of the troubadours. Messiaen visited the United States in 1949, where his music was conducted by Koussevitsky and Leopold Stokowski. His Turangalîla-Symphonie was first performed in the US in 1949, conducted by Leonard Bernstein.
Messiaen taught an analysis class at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1947 he taught (and performed with Loriod) for two weeks in Budapest. In 1949 he taught at Tanglewood. Beginning in summer 1949 he taught in the new music summer school classes at Darmstadt. While he did not employ the twelve-tone technique, after three years teaching analysis of twelve-tone scores, including works by Arnold Schoenberg, he experimented with ways of making scales of other elements (including duration, articulation and dynamics) analogous to the chromatic pitch scale. The results of these innovations was the "Mode de valeurs et d'intensités" for piano (from the Quatre études de rythme) which has been misleadingly described as the first work of "total serialism". It had a large influence on the earliest European serial composers, including Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen. During this period he also experimented with musique concrète, music for recorded sounds.
Birdsong and the 1960s
When in 1952 Messiaen was asked to provide a test piece for flautists at the Paris Conservatoire, he composed the piece Le merle noir for flute and piano. While he had long been fascinated by birdsong, and birds had made appearances in several of his earlier works (for example La Nativité, Quatuor and Vingt regards), the flute piece was based entirely on the song of the blackbird.
He took this development to a new level with his 1953 orchestral work Réveil des oiseaux—its material consists almost entirely of the birdsong one might hear between midnight and noon in the Jura. From this period onwards, Messiaen incorporated birdsong into all of his compositions and composed several works for which birds provide both the title and subject matter (for example the collection of thirteen pieces for piano Catalogue d'oiseaux completed in 1958, and La fauvette des jardins of 1971). Paul Griffiths observed that Messiaen was a more conscientious ornithologist than any previous composer, and a more musical observer of birdsong than any previous ornithologist.
Messiaen's first wife died in 1959 after a long illness, and in 1961 he married Loriod. He began to travel widely, to attend musical events and to seek out and transcribe the songs of more exotic birds in the wild. Loriod frequently assisted her husband's detailed studies of birdsong while walking with him, by making tape recordings for later reference. In 1962 he visited Japan, where Gagaku music and Noh theatre inspired the orchestral "Japanese sketches", Sept haïkaï, which contain stylised imitations of traditional Japanese instruments.
Messiaen's music was by this time championed by, among others, Pierre Boulez, who programmed first performances at his Domaine musical concerts and the Donaueschingen festival. Works performed included Réveil des oiseaux, Chronochromie (commissioned for the 1960 festival) and Couleurs de la cité céleste. The latter piece was the result of a commission for a composition for three trombones and three xylophones; Messiaen added to this more brass, wind, percussion and piano, and specified a xylophone, xylorimba and marimba rather than three xylophones. Another work of this period, Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum, was commissioned as a commemoration of the dead of the two World Wars and was performed first semi-privately in the Sainte-Chapelle, then publicly in Chartres Cathedral with Charles de Gaulle in the audience.
His reputation as a composer continued to grow and in 1959, he was nominated as an Officier of the Légion d'honneur. In 1966 he was officially appointed professor of composition at the Paris Conservatoire, although he had in effect been teaching composition for years. Further honours included election to the Institut de France in 1967 and the Académie des beaux-arts in 1968, the Erasmus Prize in 1971, the award of the Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal and the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize in 1975, the Sonning Award (Denmark's highest musical honour) in 1977, the Wolf Prize in Arts in 1982, and the presentation of the Croix de Commander of the Belgian Order of the Crown in 1980.
Transfiguration, Canyons, St. Francis, and the Beyond
Messiaen's next work was the large-scale La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ. The composition occupied him from 1965 to 1969 and the musicians employed include a 100-voice ten-part choir, seven solo instruments and large orchestra. Its fourteen movements are a meditation on the story of Christ's Transfiguration. Shortly after its completion, Messiaen received a commission from Alice Tully for a work to celebrate the U.S. bicentennial. He arranged a visit to the US in spring 1972, and was inspired by Bryce Canyon in Utah, where he observed the canyon's distinctive colours and birdsong. The twelve-movement orchestral piece Des canyons aux étoiles... was the result, first performed in 1974 in New York.
In 1971, he was asked to compose a piece for the Paris Opéra. While reluctant to undertake such a major project, he was persuaded in 1975 to accept the commission and began work on his Saint-François d'Assise. The composition was intensive (he also wrote his own libretto) and occupied him from 1975 to 1979; the orchestration was carried out from 1979 until 1983. Messiaen preferred to describe the final work as a "spectacle" rather than an opera. It was first performed in 1983. Some commentators at the time thought that the opera would be his valediction (at times Messiaen himself believed so), but he continued to compose. In 1984, he published a major collection of organ pieces, Livre du Saint Sacrement; other works include birdsong pieces for solo piano, and works for piano with orchestra.
In the summer of 1978, Messiaen retired from teaching at the Paris Conservatoire. He was promoted to the highest rank of the Légion d'honneur, the Grand-Croix, in 1987. An operation prevented his participation in the celebration of his 70th birthday in 1978, but in 1988 tributes for Messiaen's 80th included a complete performance in London's Royal Festival Hall of St. François, which the composer attended, and Erato's publication of a seventeen-CD collection of Messiaen's music including a disc of the composer in conversation with Claude Samuel.
Although in considerable pain near the end of his life (requiring repeated surgery on his back) he was able to fulfil a commission from the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Éclairs sur l'au-delà..., which was premièred six months after his death. He died in Paris on 27 April 1992.
On going through his papers, Loriod discovered that, in the last months of his life, he had been composing a concerto for four musicians he felt particularly grateful to, namely herself, the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, the oboist Heinz Holliger and the flautist Catherine Cantin (hence the title Concert à quatre). Four of the five intended movements were substantially complete; Yvonne Loriod undertook the orchestration of the second half of the first movement and of the whole of the fourth with advice from George Benjamin. It was premiered by the dedicatees in September of 1994.
Music
Messiaen's music has been described as outside the western musical tradition, although growing out of that tradition and being influenced by it. Much of his output denies the western conventions of forward motion, development and diatonic harmonic resolution. This is partly due to the symmetries of his technique—for instance the modes of limited transposition do not admit the conventional cadences found in western classical music.
His youthful love for the fairy-tale element in Shakespeare prefigured his later expressions of Catholic liturgy. Messiaen was not interested in depicting aspects of theology such as sin; rather he concentrated on the theology of joy, divine love and redemption.
Messiaen continually evolved new composition techniques, always integrating them into his existing musical style; his final works still retain the use of modes of limited transposition. For many commentators this continual development made every major work from the Quatuor onwards a conscious summation of all that Messiaen had composed up to that time. However, very few of these major works lack new technical ideas—simple examples being the introduction of communicable language in Meditations, the invention of a new percussion instrument (the geophone) for Des canyons aux etoiles..., and the freedom from any synchronisation with the main pulse of individual parts in certain birdsong episodes of St. François d'Assise.
As well as discovering new techniques, Messiaen studied and absorbed foreign music, including Ancient Greek rhythms, Hindu rhythms (he encountered Śārṅgadeva's list of 120 rhythmic units, the deçî-tâlas), Balinese and Javanese Gamelan, birdsong, and Japanese music (see Example 1 for an instance of his use of ancient Greek and Hindu rhythms).
While he was instrumental in the academic exploration of his techniques (he compiled two treatises: the later one in five volumes was substantially complete when he died and was published posthumously), and was himself a master of music analysis, he considered the development and study of techniques a means to intellectual, aesthetic, and emotional ends. Thus Messiaen maintained that a musical composition must be measured against three separate criteria: it must be interesting, beautiful to listen to, and it must touch the listener.
Messiaen wrote a large body of music for the piano. Although a considerable pianist himself, he was undoubtedly assisted by Yvonne Loriod's formidable piano technique and ability to convey complex rhythms and rhythmic combinations; in his piano writing from Visions de l'Amen onwards he had her in mind. Messiaen said, "I am able to allow myself the greatest eccentricities because to her anything is possible."
Western artistic influences
Developments in modern French music were a major influence on Messiaen, particularly the music of Claude Debussy and his use of the whole-tone scale (which Messiaen called Mode 1 in his modes of limited transposition). Messiaen rarely used the whole-tone scale in his compositions because, he said, after Debussy and Dukas there was "nothing to add", but the modes he did use are similarly symmetrical.
Messiaen had a great admiration for the music of Igor Stravinsky, particularly the use of rhythm in earlier works such as The Rite of Spring, and his use of orchestral colour. He was further influenced by the orchestral brilliance of Heitor Villa-Lobos, who lived in Paris in the 1920s and gave acclaimed concerts there. Among composers for the keyboard, Messiaen singled out Jean-Philippe Rameau, Domenico Scarlatti, Frédéric Chopin, Debussy and Isaac Albéniz. He loved the music of Modest Mussorgsky and incorporated varied modifications of what he called the "M-shaped" melodic motif from Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, although he modified the final interval in this motif from a perfect fourth to a tritone (Example 3).
Messiaen was further influenced by Surrealism, as may be seen from the titles of some of the piano Préludes (Un reflet dans le vent..., "A reflection in the wind") and in some of the imagery of his poetry (he published poems as prefaces to certain works, for example Les offrandes oubliées).
Colour
Colour lies at the heart of Messiaen's music. He believed that terms such as "tonal", "modal" and "serial" are misleading analytical conveniences. For him there were no modal, tonal or serial compositions, only music with or without colour. He said that Claudio Monteverdi, Mozart, Chopin, Richard Wagner, Mussorgsky and Stravinsky all wrote strongly coloured music.
In some of Messiaen's scores, he notated the colours in the music (notably in Couleurs de la cité céleste and Des canyons aux étoiles...)—the purpose being to aid the conductor in interpretation rather than to specify which colours the listener should experience. The importance of colour is linked to Messiaen's synaesthesia, which caused him to experience colours when he heard or imagined music (his form of synaesthesia, the most common form, involved experiencing the associated colours in a non-visual form rather than perceiving them visually). In his multi-volume music theory treatise Traité de rythme, de couleur, et d'ornithologie ("Treatise of Rhythm, Colour and Birdsong"), Messiaen wrote descriptions of the colours of certain chords. His descriptions range from the simple ("gold and brown") to the highly detailed ("blue-violet rocks, speckled with little grey cubes, cobalt blue, deep Prussian blue, highlighted by a bit of violet-purple, gold, red, ruby, and stars of mauve, black and white. Blue-violet is dominant").
When asked what Messiaen's main influence had been on composers, George Benjamin said, "I think the sheer ... colour has been so influential, ... rather than being a decorative element, [Messiaen showed that colour] could be a structural, a fundamental element, ... the fundamental material of the music itself."
Symmetry
Many of Messiaen's composition techniques made use of symmetries of time and pitch.
Time
From his earliest works, Messiaen used non-retrogradable (palindromic) rhythms (Example 2). He sometimes combined rhythms with harmonic sequences in such a way that, if the process were repeated indefinitely, the music would eventually run through all possible permutations and return to its starting point. For Messiaen, this represented the "charm of impossibilities" of these processes. He only ever presented a portion of any such process, as if allowing the informed listener a glimpse of something eternal. In the first movement of Quatuor pour la fin du temps the piano and cello together provide an early example.
Pitch
Messiaen used modes he called modes of limited transposition. They are distinguished as groups of notes that can only be transposed by a semitone a limited number of times. For example, the whole-tone scale (Messiaen's Mode 1) only exists in two transpositions: namely C–D–E–F–G–A and D–E–F–G–A–B. Messiaen abstracted these modes from the harmony of his improvisations and early works. Music written using the modes avoids conventional diatonic harmonic progressions, since for example Messiaen's Mode 2 (identical to the octatonic scale used also by other composers) permits precisely the dominant seventh chords whose tonic the mode does not contain.
Time and rhythm
As well as making use of non-retrogradable rhythm and the Hindu decî-tâlas, Messiaen also composed with "additive" rhythms. This involves lengthening individual notes slightly or interpolating a short note into an otherwise regular rhythm (see Example 3), or shortening or lengthening every note of a rhythm by the same duration (adding a semiquaver to every note in a rhythm on its repeat, for example). This led Messiaen to use rhythmic cells that irregularly alternate between two and three units, a process that also occurs in Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, which Messiaen admired.
A factor that contributes to Messiaen's suspension of the conventional perception of time in his music is the extremely slow tempos he often specifies (the fifth movement Louange à l'eternité de Jésus of Quatuor is actually given the tempo marking infiniment lent). Messiaen also used the concept of "chromatic durations", for example in his Soixante-quatre durées from Livre d'orgue (), which is built from, in Messiaen's words, "64 chromatic durations from 1 to 64 demisemiquavers [thirty-second notes]—invested in groups of 4, from the ends to the centre, forwards and backwards alternately—treated as a retrograde canon. The whole peopled with birdsong."
Harmony
In addition to making harmonic use of the modes of limited transposition, he cited the harmonic series as a physical phenomenon that provides chords with a context he felt was missing in purely serial music. An example of Messiaen's harmonic use of this phenomenon, which he called "resonance", is the last two bars of his first piano Prélude, La colombe ("The dove"): the chord is built from harmonics of the fundamental base note E.
Related to this use of resonance, Messiaen also composed music in which the lowest, or fundamental, note is combined with higher notes or chords played much more quietly. These higher notes, far from being perceived as conventional harmony, function as harmonics that alter the timbre of the fundamental note like mixture stops on a pipe organ. An example is the song of the golden oriole in Le loriot of the Catalogue d'oiseaux for solo piano (Example 4).
In his use of conventional diatonic chords, Messiaen often transcended their historically mundane connotations (for example, his frequent use of the added sixth chord as a resolution).
Birdsong
Birdsong fascinated Messiaen from an early age, and in this he found encouragement from his teacher Dukas, who reportedly urged his pupils to "listen to the birds". Messiaen included stylised birdsong in some of his early compositions (including L'abîme d'oiseaux from the Quatuor pour la fin du temps), integrating it into his sound-world by techniques like the modes of limited transposition and chord colouration. His evocations of birdsong became increasingly sophisticated, and with Le réveil des oiseaux this process reached maturity, the whole piece being built from birdsong: in effect it is a dawn chorus for orchestra. The same can be said for "Epode", the five-minute sixth movement of Chronochromie, which is scored for eighteen violins, each one playing a different birdsong. Messiaen notated the bird species with the music in the score (examples 1 and 4). The pieces are not simple transcriptions; even the works with purely bird-inspired titles, such as Catalogue d'oiseaux and Fauvette des jardins, are tone poems evoking the landscape, its colours and atmosphere.
Serialism
For some compositions, Messiaen created scales for duration, attack and timbre analogous to the chromatic pitch scale. He expressed annoyance at the historical importance given to one of these works, Mode de valeurs et d'intensités, by musicologists intent on crediting him with the invention of "total serialism".
Messiaen later introduced what he called a "communicable language", a "musical alphabet" to encode sentences. He first used this technique in his Méditations sur le mystère de la Sainte Trinité for organ; where the "alphabet" includes motifs for the concepts to have, to be and God, while the sentences encoded feature sections from the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas.
Writings
See also
Olivier Messiaen Competition
Notes
References
Further reading
Baggech, Melody Ann (1998). An English Translation of Olivier Messiaen's "Traite de Rythme, de Couleur, et d'Ornithologie" Norman: The University of Oklahoma.
Barker, Thomas (2012). "The Social and Aesthetic Situation of Olivier Messiaen's Religious Music: Turangalîla Symphonie." International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music 43/1:53–70.
Benitez, Vincent P. (2000). "A Creative Legacy: Messiaen as Teacher of Analysis." College Music Symposium 40: 117–39.
Benitez, Vincent P. (2001). "Pitch Organization and Dramatic Design in Saint François d'Assise of Olivier Messiaen." PhD diss., Bloomington: Indiana University.
Benitez, Vincent P. (2002). "Simultaneous Contrast and Additive Designs in Olivier Messiaen's Opera Saint François d'Assise." Music Theory Online 8.2 (August 2002). Music Theory Online
Benitez, Vincent P. (2004). "Aspects of Harmony in Messiaen's Later Music: An Examination of the Chords of Transposed Inversions on the Same Bass Note." Journal of Musicological Research 23, no. 2: 187–226.
Benitez, Vincent P. (2004). "Narrating Saint Francis's Spiritual Journey: Referential Pitch Structures and Symbolic Images in Olivier Messiaen's Saint François d'Assise." In Poznan Studies on Opera, edited by Maciej Jablonski, 363–411.
Benitez, Vincent P. (2008). "Messiaen as Improviser." Dutch Journal of Music Theory 13, no. 2 (May 2008): 129–44.
Benitez, Vincent P. (2009). "Reconsidering Messiaen as Serialist." Music Analysis 28, nos. 2–3 (2009): 267–99 (published April 21, 2011).
Benitez, Vincent P. (2010). "Messiaen and Aquinas." In Messiaen the Theologian, edited by Andrew Shenton, 101–26. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Benítez, Vincent Pérez (2019). Olivier Messiaen's Opera, Saint François d'Assise. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. .
Boivin, Jean (1993). "La Classe de Messiaen: Historique, reconstitution, impact". Ph.D. diss. Montreal: Ecole Polytechnique, Montreal.
Boswell-Kurc, Lilise (2001). "Olivier Messiaen's Religious War-Time Works and Their Controversial Reception in France (1941–1946) ". Ph.D. diss. New York: New York University.
Burns, Jeffrey Phillips (1995). "Messiaen's Modes of Limited Transposition Reconsidered". M.M. thesis, Madison: University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Cheong Wai-Ling (2003). "Messiaen's Chord Tables: Ordering the Disordered". Tempo 57, no. 226 (October): 2–10.
Cheong Wai-Ling (2008). "Neumes and Greek Rhythms: The Breakthrough in Messiaen's Birdsong". Acta Musicologica 80, no. 1:1–32.
Dingle, Christopher (2013). Messiaen's Final Works. Farnham, UK: Ashgate. .
Fallon, Robert Joseph (2005). "Messiaen's Mimesis: The Language and Culture of The Bird Styles". Ph.D. diss. Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley.
Fallon, Robert (2008). "Birds, Beasts, and Bombs in Messiaen's Cold War Mass". The Journal of Musicology 26, no. 2 (Spring): 175–204.
Hardink, Jason M. (2007). "Messiaen and Plainchant". D.M.A. diss. Houston: Rice University.
Harris, Joseph Edward (2004). "Musique coloree: Synesthetic Correspondence in the Works of Olivier Messiaen". Ph.D. diss. Ames: The University of Iowa.
Hill, Matthew Richard (1995). "Messiaen's Regard du silence as an Expression of Catholic Faith". D.M.A. diss. Madison: The University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Laycock, Gary Eng Yeow (2010). "Re-evaluating Olivier Messiaen's Musical Language from 1917 to 1935". Ph.D. diss. Bloomington: Indiana University, 2010.
Luchese, Diane (1998). "Olivier Messiaen's Slow Music: Glimpses of Eternity in Time". Ph.D. diss. Evanston: Northwestern University
McGinnis, Margaret Elizabeth (2003). "Playing the Fields: Messiaen, Music, and the Extramusical". Ph.D. diss. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Nelson, David Lowell (1992). "An Analysis of Olivier Messiaen's Chant Paraphrases". 2 vols. Ph.D. diss. Evanston: Northwestern University
Ngim, Alan Gerald (1997). "Olivier Messiaen as a Pianist: A Study of Tempo and Rhythm Based on His Recordings of Visions de l'amen". D.M.A. diss. Coral Gables: University of Miami.
Peterson, Larry Wayne (1973). "Messiaen and Rhythm: Theory and Practice". Ph.D. diss. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Puspita, Amelia (2008). "The Influence of Balinese Gamelan on the Music of Olivier Messiaen". D.M.A. diss. Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati
Schultz, Rob (2008). "Melodic Contour and Nonretrogradable Structure in the Birdsong of Olivier Messiaen". Music Theory Spectrum 30, no. 1 (Spring): 89–137.
Shenton, Andrew (1998). "The Unspoken Word: Olivier Messiaen's 'langage communicable'". Ph.D. diss. Cambridge: Harvard University.
Simeone, Nigel (2004). "'Chez Messiaen, tout est priére': Messiaen's Appointment at the Trinité". The Musical Times 145, no. 1889 (Winter): 36–53.
Simeone, Nigel (2008). "Messiaen, Koussevitzky and the USA". The Musical Times 149, no. 1905 (Winter): 25–44.
Welsh Ibanez, Deborah (2005). Color, Timbre, and Resonance: Developments in Olivier Messiaen's Use of Percussion Between 1956–1965. D.M.A. diss. Coral Gables: University of Miami
Zheng, Zhong (2004). A Study of Messiaen's Solo Piano Works. Ph.D. diss. Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Films
Apparition of the Eternal Church – Paul Festa's 2006 film about responses of 31 artists to Messiaen's music.
Messiaen at 80 (1988). Directed by Sue Knussen. BFI database entry.
Olivier Messiaen et les oiseaux (1973). Directed by Michel Fano and Denise Tual.
Olivier Messiaen – The Crystal Liturgy (2007 [DVD release date]). Directed by Olivier Mille.
Olivier Messiaen: Works (1991). DVD on which Messiaen performs "Improvisations" on the organ at the Paris Trinity Church.
The South Bank Show: Olivier Messiaen: The Music of Faith (1985). Directed by Alan Benson. BFI database entry.
Quartet for the End of Time, with the President's Own Marine Band Ensemble, A Film by H. Paul Moon
External links
"Messiaen, Olivier" in Oxford Music Online (by subscription)
BBC Messiaen Profile
oliviermessiaen.org Up to date website by Malcolm Ball, includes the latest recordings and concerts, a comprehensive bibliography, photos, analyses and reviews, a very extensive bio of Yvonne Loriod with discography, and more.
Infography about Olivier Messiaen
oliviermessiaen.net, hosted by the Boston University Messiaen Project [BUMP]. Includes detailed information on the composer's life and works, events, and links to other Messiaen websites.
www.philharmonia.co.uk/messiaen, the Philharmonia Orchestra's Messiaen website. The site contains articles, unseen images, programme notes and films to go alongside the orchestra's series of concerts celebrating the Centenary of Olivier Messiaen's birth.
Music for the End of Time, David Schiff article in The Nation, posted January 25, 2006 (February 13, 2006 issue). Formally a review of Messiaen by Peter Hill and Nigel Simeone, but provides an overview of Messiaen's life and works.
Music and the Holocaust – Olivier Messiaen
My Messiaen Modes A visual representation of Messiaen's modes of limited transposition.
Listening
played by Martina Trumpp, violin and Bohumir Stehlik, piano
Thème et variations – Helen Kim, violin; Adam Bowles, piano Luna Nova New Music Ensemble
Le merle noir – John McMurtery, flute; Adam Bowles, piano Luna Nova New Music Ensemble
Quatuor pour la fin du temps – Luna Nova New Music Ensemble
Regard de l'esprit de joie from Vingt regards..., Tom Poster, pianist
played on a Mühleisen pipe organ
In-depth feature on Olivier Messiaen by Radio France International's English service
by Ukho Ensemble Kyiv
1908 births
1992 deaths
20th-century classical composers
Conservatoire de Paris alumni
Conservatoire de Paris faculty
Academics of the École Normale de Musique de Paris
Composers for piano
Composers for pipe organ
EMI Classics and Virgin Classics artists
Ernst von Siemens Music Prize winners
French classical composers
French male classical composers
French classical organists
French male organists
French composers of sacred music
French military personnel of World War II
French ornithologists
Deutsche Grammophon artists
French Roman Catholics
Kyoto laureates in Arts and Philosophy
Members of the Académie des beaux-arts
Modernist composers
Organ improvisers
Musicians from Avignon
Pupils of Maurice Emmanuel
Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medallists
Schola Cantorum de Paris faculty
Wolf Prize in Arts laureates
World War II prisoners of war held by Germany
Grand Croix of the Légion d'honneur
Commanders of the Order of the Crown (Belgium)
Recipients of the Léonie Sonning Music Prize
20th-century French composers
20th-century French male musicians
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"In music, serialism is a method of composition using series of pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres or other musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, though some of his contemporaries were also working to establish serialism as a form of post-tonal thinking. Twelve-tone technique orders the twelve notes of the chromatic scale, forming a row or series and providing a unifying basis for a composition's melody, harmony, structural progressions, and variations. Other types of serialism also work with sets, collections of objects, but not necessarily with fixed-order series, and extend the technique to other musical dimensions (often called \"parameters\"), such as duration, dynamics, and timbre.\n\nThe idea of serialism is also applied in various ways in the visual arts, design, and architecture, and the musical concept has also been adapted in literature.\n\nIntegral serialism or total serialism is the use of series for aspects such as duration, dynamics, and register as well as pitch. Other terms, used especially in Europe to distinguish post-World War II serial music from twelve-tone music and its American extensions, are general serialism and multiple serialism.\n\nComposers such as Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, Alban Berg, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Pierre Boulez, Luigi Nono, Milton Babbitt, Elisabeth Lutyens, Henri Pousseur, Charles Wuorinen and Jean Barraqué used serial techniques of one sort or another in most of their music. Other composers such as Tadeusz Baird, Béla Bartók, Luciano Berio, Benjamin Britten, John Cage, Aaron Copland, Ernst Krenek, György Ligeti, Olivier Messiaen, Arvo Pärt, Walter Piston, Ned Rorem, Alfred Schnittke, Ruth Crawford Seeger, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Igor Stravinsky used serialism only in some of their compositions or only in some sections of pieces, as did some jazz composers, such as Bill Evans, Yusef Lateef, and Bill Smith.\n\nBasic definitions\nSerialism is a method, \"highly specialized technique\", or \"way\" of composition. It may also be considered \"a philosophy of life (Weltanschauung), a way of relating the human mind to the world and creating a completeness when dealing with a subject\".\n\nSerialism is not by itself a system of composition or a style. Neither is pitch serialism necessarily incompatible with tonality, though it is most often used as a means of composing atonal music.\n\n\"Serial music\" is a problematic term because it is used differently in different languages and especially because, shortly after its coinage in French, it underwent essential alterations during its transmission to German. The term's use in connection with music was first introduced in French by René Leibowitz in 1947, and immediately afterward by Humphrey Searle in English, as an alternative translation of the German (twelve-tone technique) or (row music); it was independently introduced by Stockhausen and Herbert Eimert into German in 1955 as , with a different meaning, but also translated as \"serial music\".\n\nTwelve-tone serialism\nSerialism of the first type is most specifically defined as a structural principle according to which a recurring series of ordered elements (normally a set—or row—of pitches or pitch classes) is used in order or manipulated in particular ways to give a piece unity. \"Serial\" is often broadly used to describe all music written in what Schoenberg called \"The Method of Composing with Twelve Notes related only to one another\", or dodecaphony, and methods that evolved from his methods. It is sometimes used more specifically to apply only to music in which at least one element other than pitch is treated as a row or series. Such methods are often called post-Webernian serialism. Other terms used to make the distinction are twelve-note serialism for the former and integral serialism for the latter.\n\nA row may be assembled pre-compositionally (perhaps to embody particular intervallic or symmetrical properties), or derived from a spontaneously invented thematic or motivic idea. The row's structure does not in itself define the structure of a composition, which requires development of a comprehensive strategy. The choice of strategy often depends on the relationships contained in a row class, and rows may be constructed with an eye to producing the relationships needed to form desired strategies.\n\nThe basic set may have additional restrictions, such as the requirement that it use each interval only once.\n\nNon-twelve-tone serialism\n\"The series is not an order of succession, but indeed a hierarchy—which may be independent of this order of succession\".\n\nRules of analysis derived from twelve-tone theory do not apply to serialism of the second type: \"in particular the ideas, one, that the series is an intervallic sequence, and two, that the rules are consistent\". For example, Stockhausen's early serial works, such as Kreuzspiel and Formel, \"advance in unit sections within which a preordained set of pitches is repeatedly reconfigured ... The composer's model for the distributive serial process corresponds to a development of the Zwölftonspiel of Josef Matthias Hauer\". Goeyvaerts's Nummer 4 provides a classic illustration of the distributive function of seriality: 4 times an equal number of elements of equal duration within an equal global time is distributed in the most equable way, unequally with regard to one another, over the temporal space: from the greatest possible coïncidence to the greatest possible dispersion. This provides an exemplary demonstration of that logical principle of seriality: every situation must occur once and only once.\nHenri Pousseur, after initially working with twelve-tone technique in works like Sept Versets (1950) and Trois Chants sacrés (1951),evolved away from this bond in Symphonies pour quinze Solistes [1954–55] and in the Quintette [à la mémoire d’Anton Webern, 1955], and from around the time of Impromptu [1955] encounters whole new dimensions of application and new functions.\nThe twelve-tone series loses its imperative function as a prohibiting, regulating, and patterning authority; its working-out is abandoned through its own constant-frequent presence: all 66 intervallic relations among the 12 pitches being virtually present. Prohibited intervals, like the octave, and prohibited successional relations, such as premature note repetitions, frequently occur, although obscured in the dense contexture. The number twelve no longer plays any governing, defining rôle; the pitch constellations no longer hold to the limitation determined by their formation. The dodecaphonic series loses its significance as a concrete model of shape (or a well-defined collection of concrete shapes) is played out. And the chromatic total remains active only, and provisionally, as a general reference.\nIn the 1960s Pousseur took this a step further, applying a consistent set of predefined transformations to preexisting music. One example is the large orchestral work Couleurs croisées (Crossed Colours, 1967), which performs these transformations on the protest song \"We Shall Overcome\", creating a succession of different situations that are sometimes chromatic and dissonant and sometimes diatonic and consonant. In his opera Votre Faust (Your Faust, 1960–68) Pousseur used many quotations, themselves arranged into a \"scale\" for serial treatment. This \"generalised\" serialism (in the strongest possible sense) aims not to exclude any musical phenomena, no matter how heterogeneous, in order \"to control the effects of tonal determinism, dialectize its causal functions, and overcome any academic prohibitions, especially the fixing of an anti-grammar meant to replace some previous one\".\n\nAt about the same time, Stockhausen began using serial methods to integrate a variety of musical sources from recorded examples of folk and traditional music from around the world in his electronic composition Telemusik (1966), and from national anthems in Hymnen (1966–67). He extended this serial \"polyphony of styles\" in a series of \"process-plan\" works in the late 1960s, as well as later in portions of Licht, the cycle of seven operas he composed between 1977 and 2003.\n\nHistory of serial music\n\nBefore World War II\n\nIn the late 19th and early 20th century, composers began to struggle against the ordered system of chords and intervals known as \"functional tonality\". Composers such as Debussy and Strauss found ways to stretch the limits of the tonal system to accommodate their ideas. After a brief period of free atonality, Schoenberg and others began exploring tone rows, in which an ordering of the 12 pitches of the equal-tempered chromatic scale is used as the source material of a composition. This ordered set, often called a row, allowed for new forms of expression and (unlike free atonality) the expansion of underlying structural organizing principles without recourse to common practice harmony.\n\nTwelve-tone serialism first appeared in the 1920s, with antecedents predating that decade (instances of 12-note passages occur in Liszt's Faust Symphony and in Bach.) Schoenberg was the composer most decisively involved in devising and demonstrating the fundamentals of twelve-tone serialism, though it is clear it is not the work of just one musician. In Schoenberg’s own words, his goal of was to show constraint in composition. Consequently, some reviewers have jumped to the conclusion that serialism acted as a predetermined method of composing to avoid the subjectivity and ego of a composer in favour of calculated measure and proportion.\n\nAfter World War II\nAlong with John Cage's indeterminate music (music composed with the use of chance operations) and Werner Meyer-Eppler's aleatoricism, serialism was enormously influential in postwar music. Theorists such as Milton Babbitt and George Perle codified serial systems, leading to a mode of composition called \"total serialism\", in which every aspect of a piece, not just pitch, is serially constructed. Perle's 1962 text Serial Composition and Atonality became a standard work on the origins of serial composition in the music of Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern.\n\nThe serialization of rhythm, dynamics, and other elements of music was partly fostered by the work of Olivier Messiaen and his analysis students, including Karel Goeyvaerts and Boulez, in postwar Paris. Messiaen first used a chromatic rhythm scale in his Vingt Regards sur l'enfant-Jésus (1944), but he did not employ a rhythmic series until 1946–48, in the seventh movement, \"Turangalîla II\", of his Turangalîla-Symphonie. The first examples of such integral serialism are Babbitt's Three Compositions for Piano (1947), Composition for Four Instruments (1948), and Composition for Twelve Instruments (1948). He worked independently of the Europeans.\n\nSeveral of the composers associated with Darmstadt, notably Stockhausen, Goeyvaerts, and Pousseur, developed a form of serialism that initially rejected the recurring rows characteristic of twelve-tone technique in order to eradicate any lingering traces of thematicism. Instead of a recurring, referential row, \"each musical component is subjected to control by a series of numerical proportions\". In Europe, some serial and non-serial music of the early 1950s emphasized the determination of all parameters for each note independently, often resulting in widely spaced, isolated \"points\" of sound, an effect called first in German \"punktuelle Musik\" (\"pointist\" or \"punctual music\"), then in French \"musique ponctuelle\", but quickly confused with \"pointillistic\" (German \"pointillistische\", French \"pointilliste\"), the term associated with the densely packed dots in Seurat's paintings, even though the concept was unrelated.\n\nPieces were structured by closed sets of proportions, a method closely related to certain works from the de Stijl and Bauhaus movements in design and architecture some writers called \"serial art\", specifically the paintings of Piet Mondrian, Theo van Doesburg, Bart van Leck, Georg van Tongerloo, Richard Paul Lohse, and Burgoyne Diller, who had sought to \"avoid repetition and symmetry on all structural levels and working with a limited number of elements\".\n\nStockhausen described the final synthesis in this manner:So serial thinking is something that's come into our consciousness and will be there forever: it's relativity and nothing else. It just says: Use all the components of any given number of elements, don't leave out individual elements, use them all with equal importance and try to find an equidistant scale so that certain steps are no larger than others. It's a spiritual and democratic attitude toward the world. The stars are organized in a serial way. Whenever you look at a certain star sign you find a limited number of elements with different intervals. If we more thoroughly studied the distances and proportions of the stars we'd probably find certain relationships of multiples based on some logarithmic scale or whatever the scale may be.\n\nStravinsky's adoption of twelve-tone serial techniques shows the level of influence serialism had after the Second World War. Previously Stravinsky had used series of notes without rhythmic or harmonic implications. Because many of the basic techniques of serial composition have analogs in traditional counterpoint, uses of inversion, retrograde, and retrograde inversion from before the war do not necessarily indicate Stravinsky was adopting Schoenbergian techniques. But after meeting Robert Craft and other younger composers, Stravinsky began to study Schoenberg's music, as well as that of Webern and later composers, and to adapt their techniques in his work, using, for example, serial techniques applied to fewer than twelve notes. During the 1950s he used procedures related to Messiaen, Webern and Berg. While it is inaccurate to call them all \"serial\" in the strict sense, all his major works of the period have clear serialist elements.\n\nDuring this period, the concept of serialism influenced not only new compositions but also scholarly analysis of the classical masters. Adding to their professional tools of sonata form and tonality, scholars began to analyze previous works in the light of serial techniques; for example, they found the use of row technique in previous composers going back to Mozart and Beethoven. In particular, the orchestral outburst that introduces the development section halfway through the last movement of Mozart's Symphony No. 40 is a tone row that Mozart punctuates in a very modern and violent way that Michael Steinberg called \"rude octaves and frozen silences\".\n\nRuth Crawford Seeger extended serial control to parameters other than pitch and to formal planning as early as 1930–33 in a fashion that goes beyond Webern but was less thoroughgoing than the later practices of Babbitt and European postwar composers. Charles Ives's 1906 song \"The Cage\" begins with piano chords presented in incrementally decreasing durations, an early example of an overtly arithmetic duration series independent of meter (like Nono's six-element row shown above), and in that sense a precursor to Messiaen’s style of integral serialism. The idea of organizing pitch and rhythm according to similar or related principles is also suggested by both Henry Cowell's New Musical Resources (1930) and the work of Joseph Schillinger.\n\nReactions to serialism\n\nSome music theorists have criticized serialism on the basis that its compositional strategies are often incompatible with the way the human mind processes a piece of music. Nicolas Ruwet (1959) was one of the first to criticise serialism by a comparison with linguistic structures, citing theoretical claims by Boulez and Pousseur, taking as specific examples bars from Stockhausen's Klavierstücke I & II, and calling for a general reexamination of Webern's music. Ruwet specifically names three works as exempt from his criticism: Stockhausen's Zeitmaße and Gruppen, and Boulez's Le marteau sans maître.\n\nIn response, Pousseur questioned Ruwet's equivalence between phonemes and notes. He also suggested that, if analysis of Le marteau sans maître and Zeitmaße, \"performed with sufficient insight\", were to be made from the point of view of wave theory—taking into account the dynamic interaction of the different component phenomena, which creates \"waves\" that interact in a sort of frequency modulation—the analysis \"would accurately reflect the realities of perception\". This was because these composers had long since acknowledged the lack of differentiation found in punctual music and, becoming increasingly aware of the laws of perception and complying better with them, \"paved the way to a more effective kind of musical communication, without in the least abandoning the emancipation that they had been allowed to achieve by this 'zero state' that was punctual music\". One way this was achieved was by developing the concept of \"groups\", which allows structural relationships to be defined not only between individual notes but also at higher levels, up to the overall form of a piece. This is \"a structural method par excellence\", and a sufficiently simple conception that it remains easily perceptible. Pousseur also points out that serial composers were the first to recognize and attempt to move beyond the lack of differentiation within certain pointillist works. Pousseur later followed up on his own suggestion by developing his idea of \"wave\" analysis and applying it to Stockhausen's Zeitmaße in two essays.\n\nLater writers have continued both lines of reasoning. Fred Lerdahl, for example, in his essay \"Cognitive Constraints on Compositional Systems\", argues that serialism's perceptual opacity ensures its aesthetic inferiority. Lerdahl has in turn been criticized for excluding \"the possibility of other, non-hierarchical methods of achieving musical coherence,\" and for concentrating on the audibility of tone rows, and the portion of his essay focusing on Boulez's \"multiplication\" technique (exemplified in three movements of Le Marteau sans maître) has been challenged on perceptual grounds by Stephen Heinemann and Ulrich Mosch. Ruwet's critique has also been criticised for making \"the fatal mistake of equating visual presentation (a score) with auditive presentation (the music as heard)\".\n\nIn all these reactions discussed above, the \"information extracted\", \"perceptual opacity\", \"auditive presentation\" (and constraints thereof) pertain to what defines serialism, namely use of a series. And since Schoenberg remarked, \"in the later part of a work, when the set [series] had already become familiar to the ear\", it has been assumed that serial composers expect their series to be aurally perceived. This principle even became the premise of empirical investigation in the guise of \"probe-tone\" experiments testing listeners' familiarity with a row after exposure to its various forms (as would occur in a 12-tone work). In other words the supposition in critiques of serialism has been that, if a composition is so intricately structured by and around a series, that series should ultimately be clearly perceived or that a listener ought to become aware of its presence or importance. Babbitt denied this:\n\nSeemingly in accord with Babbitt's statement, but ranging over such issues as perception, aesthetic value, and the \"poietic fallacy\", Walter Horn offers a more extensive explanation of the serialism (and atonality) controversy.\n\nWithin the community of modern music, exactly what constituted serialism was also a matter of debate. The conventional English usage is that the word \"serial\" applies to all twelve-tone music, which is a subset of serial music, and it is this usage that is generally intended in reference works. Nevertheless, a large body of music exists that is called \"serial\" but does not employ note-rows at all, let alone twelve-tone technique, e.g., Stockhausen's Klavierstücke I–IV (which use permuted sets), his Stimmung (with pitches from the overtone series, which is also used as the model for the rhythms), and Pousseur's Scambi (where the permuted sounds are made exclusively from filtered white noise).\n\nWhen serialism is not limited to twelve-tone techniques, a contributing problem is that the word \"serial\" is seldom if ever defined. In many published analyses of individual pieces the term is used while actual meaning is skated around.\n\nTheory of twelve-tone serial music\n\nDue to Babbitt's work, in the mid-20th century serialist thought became rooted in set theory and began to use a quasi-mathematical vocabulary for the manipulation of the basic sets. Musical set theory is often used to analyze and compose serial music, and is also sometimes used in tonal and nonserial atonal analysis.\n\nThe basis for serial composition is Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, where the 12 notes of the chromatic scale are organized into a row. This \"basic\" row is then used to create permutations, that is, rows derived from the basic set by reordering its elements. The row may be used to produce a set of intervals, or a composer may derive the row from a particular succession of intervals. A row that uses all of the intervals in their ascending form once is an all-interval row. In addition to permutations, the basic row may have some set of notes derived from it, which is used to create a new row. These are derived sets.\n\nBecause there are tonal chord progressions that use all twelve notes, it is possible to create pitch rows with very strong tonal implications, and even to write tonal music using twelve-tone technique. Most tone rows contain subsets that can imply a pitch center; a composer can create music centered on one or more of the row's constituent pitches by emphasizing or avoiding these subsets, respectively, as well as through other, more complex compositional devices.\n\nTo serialize other elements of music, a system quantifying an identifiable element must be created or defined (this is called \"parametrization\", after the term in mathematics). For example, if duration is serialized, a set of durations must be specified; if tone colour (timbre) is serialized, a set of separate tone colours must be identified; and so on.\n\nThe selected set or sets, their permutations and derived sets form the composer's basic material.\n\nComposition using twelve-tone serial methods focuses on each appearance of the collection of twelve chromatic notes, called an aggregate. (Sets of more or fewer pitches, or of elements other than pitch, may be treated analogously.) One principle operative in some serial compositions is that no element of the aggregate should be reused in the same contrapuntal strand (statement of a series) until all the other members have been used, and each member must appear only in its place in the series. Yet, since most serial compositions have multiple (at least two, sometimes as many as a few dozen) series statements occurring concurrently, interwoven with each other in time, and feature repetitions of some of their pitches, this principle as stated is more a referential abstraction than a description of the concrete reality of a musical work that is termed \"serial\".\n\nA series may be divided into subsets, and the members of the aggregate not part of a subset are said to be its complement. A subset is self-complementing if it contains half of the set and its complement is also a permutation of the original subset. This is most commonly seen with hexachords, six-note segments of a tone row. A hexachord that is self-complementing for a particular permutation is called prime combinatorial. A hexachord that is self-complementing for all the canonic operations—inversion, retrograde, and retrograde inversion—is called all-combinatorial.\n\nNotable composers\n\nHans Abrahamsen\nGilbert Amy\nLouis Andriessen\nDenis ApIvor\nHans Erich Apostel\nKees van Baaren\nMilton Babbitt\nTadeusz Baird\nOsvaldas Balakauskas\nDon Banks\nJean Barraqué\nJürg Baur\nAlban Berg\nGunnar Berg\nArthur Berger\nErik Bergman\nLuciano Berio\nKarl-Birger Blomdahl\nKonrad Boehmer\nRob du Bois\nAndré Boucourechliev\nPierre Boulez\nMartin Boykan\nOle Buck\nJacques Calonne\nNiccolò Castiglioni\nAldo Clementi\nSalvador Contreras\nAaron Copland\nLuigi Dallapiccola\nFranco Donatoni\nHanns Eisler\nManuel Enríquez\nKarlheinz Essl\nFranco Evangelisti\nBrian Ferneyhough\nJacobo Ficher\nIrving Fine\nWolfgang Fortner\nRoberto Gerhard\nFrans Geysen\nMichael Gielen\nAlberto Ginastera\nLucien Goethals\nKarel Goeyvaerts\nJerry Goldsmith\nHenryk Górecki\nGlenn Gould\nPelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen\nCésar Guerra-Peixe\nLou Harrison\nJonathan Harvey\nJosef Matthias Hauer\nPaavo Heininen\nHermann Heiss\nHans Werner Henze\nYork Höller\nHeinz Holliger\nBill Hopkins\nKlaus Huber\nKarel Husa\nHanns Jelinek\nBen Johnston\nNikolai Karetnikov\nRudolf Kelterborn\nGottfried Michael Koenig\nJózef Koffler\nErnst Krenek\nMeyer Kupferman\nRené Leibowitz\nIngvar Lidholm\nWitold Lutosławski\nElisabeth Lutyens\nJohn McGuire\nBruno Maderna\nUrsula Mamlok\nPhilippe Manoury\nDonald Martino\nPaul Méfano\nJacques-Louis Monod\nRobert Morris\nLuigi Nono\nPer Nørgård\nKrzysztof Penderecki\nGoffredo Petrassi\nMichel Philippot\nWalter Piston\nHenri Pousseur\nEinojuhani Rautavaara\nRoger Reynolds\nTerry Riley\nGeorge Rochberg\nLeonard Rosenman\nCláudio Santoro\nPeter Schat\nLeon Schidlowsky\nDieter Schnebel\nArnold Schoenberg, considered the founder of serialism\nHumphrey Searle\nRuth Crawford Seeger\nMátyás Seiber\nRoger Sessions\nNikos Skalkottas\nRoger Smalley\nAnn Southam\nLeopold Spinner\nKarlheinz Stockhausen\nIgor Stravinsky\nRobert Suderburg\nRichard Swift\nLouise Talma\nCamillo Togni\nGilles Tremblay\nFartein Valen\nWladimir Vogel\nAnton Webern\nHugo Weisgall\nPeter Westergaard\nStefan Wolpe\nCharles Wuorinen\nLa Monte Young\n\nSee also\nPitch interval\n\nReferences\n\nSources\n\nFurther reading\n\n Delaere, Marc. 2016. \"The Stockhausen–Goeyvaerts Correspondence and the Aesthetic Foundations of Serialism in the Early 1950s\". In The Musical Legacy of Karlheinz Stockhausen: Looking Back and Forward, edited by M. J. Grant and Imke Misch, 20–34. Hofheim: Wolke Verlag. .\n Eco, Umberto. 2005. \"Innovation & Repetition: Between Modern & Postmodern Aesthetics\". Daedalus 134, no. 4, 50 Years (Fall): 191–207. . .\n Essl, Karlheinz. 1989. \"Aspekte des Seriellen bei Stockhausen\". In Almanach Wien Modern 89, edited by L. Knessl, 90-97. Vienna: Konzerthaus.\n Forte, Allen. 1964. \"A Theory of Set-Complexes for Music\". Journal of Music Theory 8, no. 2 (Winter): 136–184.\n Forte, Allen. 1973. The Structure of Atonal Music. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.\n Forte, Allen. 1998. The Atonal Music of Anton Webern. New Haven: Yale University Press.\n Fürstenberger, Barbara. 1989. Michel Butors literarische Träume: Untersuchungen zu Matière de rêves I bis V. Studia Romanica 72. Heidelberg: C. Winter. .\n Gollin, Edward. 2007. \"Multi-Aggregate Cycles and Multi-Aggregate Serial Techniques in the Music of Béla Bartók.\" Music Theory Spectrum 29, no. 2 (Fall): 143–176. .\n Gredinger, Paul. 1955. \"Das Serielle\". Die Reihe 1 (\"Elektronische Musik\"): 34–41. English as \"Serial Technique\", translated by Alexander Goehr. Die Reihe 1 (\"Electronic Music\"), (English edition 1958): 38–44.\n Knee, Robin. 1985. \"Michel Butor's Passage de Milan: The Numbers Game\". Review of Contemporary Fiction 5, no. 3:146–149.\n Kohl, Jerome. 2017. Karlheinz Stockhausen: Zeitmaße. Landmarks in Music Since 1950, edited by Wyndham Thomas. Abingdon, Oxon; London; New York: Routledge. .\n Krenek, Ernst. 1953. \"Is the Twelve-Tone Technique on the Decline?\" The Musical Quarterly 39, no 4 (October): 513–527.\n Lerdahl, Fred, and Ray Jackendoff. 1983. A Generative Theory of Tonal Music. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.\n Meyer, Leonard B. 1967. Music, the Arts, and Ideas: Patterns and Predictions in Twentieth-Century Culture. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. (Second edition 1994.)\n Miller, Elinor S. 1983. \"Critical Commentary II: Butor's Quadruple fond as Serial Music\". Romance Notes 24, no. 2 (Winter): 196–204.\n Misch, Imke. 2016. \"Karlheinz Stockhausen: The Challenge of Legacy: An Introduction\". In The Musical Legacy of Karlheinz Stockhausen: Looking Back and Forward, edited by M. J. Grant and Imke Misch, 11–19. Hofheim: Wolke Verlag. .\n Perle, George. 1962. Serial Composition and Atonality: An Introduction to the Music of Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern. Berkeley: University of California Press.\n Rahn, John. 1980. Basic Atonal Theory. New York: Schirmer Books.\n Ross, Alex. 2007. The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, .\n Roudiez, Leon S. 1984. \"Un texte perturbe: Matière de rêves de Michel Butor\". Romanic Review 75, no. 2:242–255.\n Savage, Roger W. H. 1989. Structure and Sorcery: The Aesthetetics of Post-War Serial Composition and Indeterminancy. Outstanding Dissertations in Music from British Universities. New York: Garland Publications. .\n Schwartz, Steve. 2001. \"Richard Yardumian: Orchestral Works\". Classical Net. \n Scruton, Roger. 1997. Aesthetics of Music. Oxford: Clarendon Press. . Quoted in Arved Ashbey, The Pleasure of Modernist Music (University of Rochester Press, 2004) p. 122. .\n Smith Brindle, Reginald. 1966. Serial Composition. London, New York: Oxford University Press.\n Spencer, Michael Clifford. 1974. Michel Butor. Twayne's World Author Series TWS275. New York: Twayne Publishers. .\n Straus, Joseph N. 1999. \"The Myth of Serial 'Tyranny' in the 1950s and 1960s\" (Subscription access). The Musical Quarterly 83:301–343.\n Wangermée, Robert. 1995. André Souris et le complexe d'Orphée: entre surréalisme et musique sérielle. Collection Musique, Musicologie. Liège: P. Mardaga. .\n White, Eric Walter, and Jeremy Noble. 1984. \"Stravinsky\". In The New Grove Modern Masters. London: Macmillan.\n\nExternal links\n\n Serial and twelve-note works by American composers (26 July 2012). \n\n \n20th-century classical music\nMathematics of music",
"Abelardo Quinteros (born 10 December 1923, Valparaiso) is a Chilean composer who is particularly known for his contributions to twelve-note composition and serialism. His most well known works include his award-winning Horizon carré, Cantos al espejo, 3 arabescos concertantes, and Piano Studies. His music is known for its lyricism and expressiveness.\n\nFrom 1936-1941 Quinteros studied industrial design at Federico Santa María Technical University. He then studied music composition in Santiago with Pedro H. Allende from 1942-1948 and Fré Focke from 1949-1951. He won a scholarship from the Austrian Embassy in Chile which enabled him to pursue further studies at the Steinbauer Academy in Vienna, where he studied serialism with Othmar Steinbauer and singing with Christal Kern.\n\nReferences\n\n1923 births\nLiving people\nChilean composers\nChilean male composers\nPeople from Valparaíso"
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[
"Olivier Messiaen",
"Tristan and serialism",
"What is Tristan and serialism?",
"Messiaen composed the song cycle Harawi, the first of three works inspired by the legend of Tristan and Isolde."
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What was the song about?
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What was Harawi about?
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Olivier Messiaen
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Shortly after his release from Gorlitz in May 1941, Messiaen was appointed a professor of harmony at the Paris Conservatoire, where he taught until his retirement in 1978. He compiled his Technique de mon langage musical ("Technique of my musical language") published in 1944, in which he quotes many examples from his music, particularly the Quartet. Although only in his mid-thirties, his students described him as an outstanding teacher. Among his early students were the composers Pierre Boulez and Karel Goeyvaerts. Other pupils included Karlheinz Stockhausen in 1952, Alexander Goehr in 1956-57, Tristan Murail in 1967-72 and George Benjamin during the late 1970s. The Greek composer Iannis Xenakis was referred to him in 1951; Messiaen urged Xenakis to take advantage of his background in mathematics and architecture in his music. In 1943, Messiaen wrote Visions de l'Amen ("Visions of the Amen") for two pianos for Yvonne Loriod and himself to perform. Shortly thereafter he composed the enormous solo piano cycle Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jesus ("Twenty gazes upon the child Jesus") for her. Again for Loriod, he wrote Trois petites liturgies de la presence divine ("Three small liturgies of the Divine Presence") for female chorus and orchestra, which includes a difficult solo piano part. Two years after Visions de l'Amen, Messiaen composed the song cycle Harawi, the first of three works inspired by the legend of Tristan and Isolde. The second of these works about human (as opposed to divine) love was the result of a commission from Serge Koussevitzky. Messiaen stated that the commission did not specify the length of the work or the size of the orchestra. This was the ten-movement Turangalila-Symphonie. It is not a conventional symphony, but rather an extended meditation on the joy of human union and love. It does not contain the sexual guilt inherent in Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde because Messiaen believed that sexual love is a divine gift. The third piece inspired by the Tristan myth was Cinq rechants for twelve unaccompanied singers, described by Messiaen as influenced by the alba of the troubadours. Messiaen visited the United States in 1949, where his music was conducted by Koussevitsky and Leopold Stokowski. His Turangalila-Symphonie was first performed in the US in 1949, conducted by Leonard Bernstein. Messiaen taught an analysis class at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1947 he taught (and performed with Loriod) for two weeks in Budapest. In 1949 he taught at Tanglewood. Beginning in summer 1949 he taught in the new music summer school classes at Darmstadt. While he did not employ the twelve-tone technique, after three years teaching analysis of twelve-tone scores, including works by Arnold Schoenberg, he experimented with ways of making scales of other elements (including duration, articulation and dynamics) analogous to the chromatic pitch scale. The results of these innovations was the "Mode de valeurs et d'intensites" for piano (from the Quatre etudes de rythme) which has been misleadingly described as the first work of "total serialism". It had a large influence on the earliest European serial composers, including Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen. During this period he also experimented with musique concrete, music for recorded sounds. CANNOTANSWER
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The second of these works about human (as opposed to divine) love was the result of a commission from Serge Koussevitzky.
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Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist who was one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex; harmonically and melodically he employs a system he called modes of limited transposition, which he abstracted from the systems of material generated by his early compositions and improvisations. He wrote music for chamber ensembles and orchestra, vocal music, as well as for solo organ and piano, and also experimented with the use of novel electronic instruments developed in Europe during his lifetime.
Messiaen entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 11 and was taught by Paul Dukas, Maurice Emmanuel, Charles-Marie Widor and Marcel Dupré, among others. He was appointed organist at the Église de la Sainte-Trinité, Paris, in 1931, a post held for 61 years until his death. He taught at the Schola Cantorum de Paris during the 1930s. After the fall of France in 1940, Messiaen was interned for nine months in the German prisoner of war camp Stalag VIII-A, where he composed his ("Quartet for the end of time") for the four instruments available in the prison—piano, violin, cello and clarinet. The piece was first performed by Messiaen and fellow prisoners for an audience of inmates and prison guards. He was appointed professor of harmony soon after his release in 1941 and professor of composition in 1966 at the Paris Conservatoire, positions that he held until his retirement in 1978. His many distinguished pupils included Iannis Xenakis, George Benjamin, Alexander Goehr, Pierre Boulez, Tristan Murail, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Yvonne Loriod, who became his second wife.
Messiaen perceived colours when he heard certain musical chords (a phenomenon known as synaesthesia); according to him, combinations of these colours were important in his compositional process. He travelled widely and wrote works inspired by diverse influences, including Japanese music, the landscape of Bryce Canyon in Utah, and the life of St. Francis of Assisi. For a short period Messiaen experimented with the parametrisation associated with "total serialism", in which field he is often cited as an innovator. His style absorbed many global musical influences such as Indonesian gamelan (tuned percussion often features prominently in his orchestral works).
He found birdsong fascinating, notating bird songs worldwide and incorporating birdsong transcriptions into his music. His innovative use of colour, his conception of the relationship between time and music, and his use of birdsong are among the features that make Messiaen's music distinctive.
Biography
Youth and studies
Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen was born at 11:00 on 10 December 1908 at 20 Boulevard Sixte-Isnard in Avignon, France, into a literary family. He was the elder of two sons of Cécile Anne Marie-Antoinette Sauvage, a poet, and Pierre Léon Joseph Messiaen, a scholar and teacher of English from a farm near Wervicq-Sud who translated the plays of William Shakespeare into French. Messiaen's mother published a sequence of poems, ("The Budding Soul"), the last chapter of ("As the Earth Turns"), which address her unborn son. Messiaen later said this sequence of poems influenced him deeply and he cited it as prophetic of his future artistic career. His younger brother Alain André Prosper Messiaen was also a poet.
At the outbreak of World War I, Pierre enlisted and Cécile took their two boys to live with her brother in Grenoble. There Messiaen became fascinated with drama, reciting Shakespeare to his brother with the help of a home-made toy theatre with translucent backdrops made from old cellophane wrappers. At this time he also adopted the Roman Catholic faith. Later, Messiaen felt most at home in the Alps of the Dauphiné, where he had a house built south of Grenoble where he composed most of his music.
He took piano lessons, having already taught himself to play. His interests included the recent music of French composers Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, and he asked for opera vocal scores for Christmas presents. He also saved to buy scores and one such was Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt whose "beautiful Norwegian melodic lines with the taste of folk song ... gave me a love of melody." Around this time he began to compose. In 1918 his father returned from the war and the family moved to Nantes. He continued music lessons; one of his teachers, Jehan de Gibon, gave him a score of Debussy's opera , which Messiaen described as "a thunderbolt" and "probably the most decisive influence on me". The following year Pierre Messiaen gained a teaching post in Paris. Messiaen entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1919, aged 11.
At the Paris Conservatoire, Messiaen made excellent academic progress. In 1924, aged 15, he was awarded second prize in harmony, having been taught in that subject by professor Jean Gallon. In 1925 he won first prize in piano accompaniment, and in 1926 he gained first prize in fugue. After studying with Maurice Emmanuel, he was awarded second prize for the history of music in 1928. Emmanuel's example engendered an interest in ancient Greek rhythms and exotic modes. After showing improvisational skills on the piano Messiaen studied organ with Marcel Dupré. Messiaen gained first prize in organ playing and improvisation in 1929. After a year studying composition with Charles-Marie Widor, in autumn 1927 he entered the class of the newly appointed Paul Dukas. Messiaen's mother died of tuberculosis shortly before the class began. Despite his grief, he resumed his studies, and in 1930 Messiaen won first prize in composition.
While a student he composed his first published works—his eight Préludes for piano (the earlier Le banquet céleste was published subsequently). These exhibit Messiaen's use of his modes of limited transposition and palindromic rhythms (Messiaen called these non-retrogradable rhythms). His public début came in 1931 with his orchestral suite Les offrandes oubliées. That year he first heard a gamelan group, sparking his interest in the use of tuned percussion.
La Trinité, La jeune France, and Messiaen's war
In the autumn of 1927, Messiaen joined Dupré's organ course. Dupré later wrote that Messiaen, having never seen an organ console, sat quietly for an hour while Dupré explained and demonstrated the instrument, and then came back a week later to play Johann Sebastian Bach's Fantasia in C minor to an impressive standard. From 1929, Messiaen regularly deputised at the Église de la Sainte-Trinité, Paris, for the organist Charles Quef, who was ill at the time. The post became vacant in 1931 when Quef died, and Dupré, Charles Tournemire and Widor among others supported Messiaen's candidacy. His formal application included a letter of recommendation from Widor. The appointment was confirmed in 1931, and he remained the organist at the church for more than 60 years. He also assumed a post at the Schola Cantorum de Paris in the early 1930s. In 1932, he composed the Apparition de l'église éternelle for organ.
He also married the violinist and composer Claire Delbos (daughter of Victor Delbos) that year. Their marriage inspired him both to compose works for her to play (Thème et variations for violin and piano in the year they were married) and to write pieces to celebrate their domestic happiness, including the song cycle Poèmes pour Mi in 1936, which he orchestrated in 1937. Mi was Messiaen's affectionate nickname for his wife. In 1937 their son Pascal was born. The marriage turned to tragedy when Delbos lost her memory after an operation towards the end of World War II. She spent the rest of her life in mental institutions.
In 1936, along with André Jolivet, Daniel-Lesur and Yves Baudrier, Messiaen formed the group La jeune France ("Young France"). Their manifesto implicitly attacked the frivolity predominant in contemporary Parisian music and rejected Jean Cocteau's 1918 Le coq et l'arlequin in favour of a "living music, having the impetus of sincerity, generosity and artistic conscientiousness". Messiaen's career soon departed from this polemical phase.
In response to a commission for a piece to accompany light-and-water shows on the Seine during the Paris Exposition, in 1937 Messiaen demonstrated his interest in using the ondes Martenot, an electronic instrument, by composing Fêtes des belles eaux for an ensemble of six. He included a part for the instrument in several of his subsequent compositions. During this period he composed several multi-movement organ works. He arranged his orchestral suite L'ascension ("The Ascension") for organ, replacing the orchestral version's third movement with an entirely new movement, Transports de joie d'une âme devant la gloire du Christ qui est la sienne ("Ecstasies of a soul before the glory of Christ which is the soul's own") (). He also wrote the extensive cycles La Nativité du Seigneur ("The Nativity of the Lord") and Les corps glorieux ("The glorious bodies").
At the outbreak of World War II, Messiaen was drafted into the French army. Due to poor eyesight, he was enlisted as a medical auxiliary rather than an active combatant. He was captured at Verdun and taken to Görlitz in May 1940, and was imprisoned at Stalag VIII-A. He met a violinist, a cellist and a clarinettist among his fellow prisoners. He wrote a trio for them, which he gradually incorporated into his Quatuor pour la fin du temps ("Quartet for the End of Time"). With the help of a friendly German guard (), he acquired manuscript paper and pencils, and was able to assemble the three other POWs to help him perform the piece. The Quartet was first performed in January 1941 to an audience of prisoners and prison guards, with the composer playing a poorly maintained upright piano in freezing conditions. The enforced introspection and reflection of camp life bore fruit in one of 20th-century classical music's acknowledged masterpieces. The title's "end of time" alludes to the Apocalypse, and also to the way that Messiaen, through rhythm and harmony, used time in a manner completely different from his predecessors and contemporaries.
The idea of a European Centre of Education and Culture "Meeting Point Music Messiaen" on the site of Stalag VIII-A, for children and youth, artists, musicians and everyone in the region emerged in December 2004, was developed with the involvement of Messiaen's widow as a joint project between the council districts in Germany and Poland, and was finally completed in 2014.
Tristan and serialism
Shortly after his release from Görlitz in May of 1941, Messiaen was appointed a professor of harmony at the Paris Conservatoire, where he taught until his retirement in 1978. He compiled his Technique de mon langage musical ("Technique of my musical language") published in 1944, in which he quotes many examples from his music, particularly the Quartet. Although only in his mid-thirties, his students described him as an outstanding teacher. Among his early students were the composers Pierre Boulez and Karel Goeyvaerts. Other pupils included Karlheinz Stockhausen in 1952, Alexander Goehr in 1956–57, Tristan Murail in 1967–72 and George Benjamin during the late 1970s. The Greek composer Iannis Xenakis was referred to him in 1951; Messiaen urged Xenakis to take advantage of his background in mathematics and architecture in his music.
In 1943, Messiaen wrote Visions de l'Amen ("Visions of the Amen") for two pianos for Yvonne Loriod and himself to perform. Shortly thereafter he composed the enormous solo piano cycle Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jésus ("Twenty gazes upon the child Jesus") for her. Again for Loriod, he wrote Trois petites liturgies de la présence divine ("Three small liturgies of the Divine Presence") for female chorus and orchestra, which includes a difficult solo piano part.
Two years after Visions de l'Amen, Messiaen composed the song cycle Harawi, the first of three works inspired by the legend of Tristan and Isolde. The second of these works about human (as opposed to divine) love was the result of a commission from Serge Koussevitzky. Messiaen stated that the commission did not specify the length of the work or the size of the orchestra. This was the ten-movement Turangalîla-Symphonie. It is not a conventional symphony, but rather an extended meditation on the joy of human union and love. It does not contain the sexual guilt inherent in Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde because Messiaen believed that sexual love is a divine gift. The third piece inspired by the Tristan myth was Cinq rechants for twelve unaccompanied singers, described by Messiaen as influenced by the alba of the troubadours. Messiaen visited the United States in 1949, where his music was conducted by Koussevitsky and Leopold Stokowski. His Turangalîla-Symphonie was first performed in the US in 1949, conducted by Leonard Bernstein.
Messiaen taught an analysis class at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1947 he taught (and performed with Loriod) for two weeks in Budapest. In 1949 he taught at Tanglewood. Beginning in summer 1949 he taught in the new music summer school classes at Darmstadt. While he did not employ the twelve-tone technique, after three years teaching analysis of twelve-tone scores, including works by Arnold Schoenberg, he experimented with ways of making scales of other elements (including duration, articulation and dynamics) analogous to the chromatic pitch scale. The results of these innovations was the "Mode de valeurs et d'intensités" for piano (from the Quatre études de rythme) which has been misleadingly described as the first work of "total serialism". It had a large influence on the earliest European serial composers, including Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen. During this period he also experimented with musique concrète, music for recorded sounds.
Birdsong and the 1960s
When in 1952 Messiaen was asked to provide a test piece for flautists at the Paris Conservatoire, he composed the piece Le merle noir for flute and piano. While he had long been fascinated by birdsong, and birds had made appearances in several of his earlier works (for example La Nativité, Quatuor and Vingt regards), the flute piece was based entirely on the song of the blackbird.
He took this development to a new level with his 1953 orchestral work Réveil des oiseaux—its material consists almost entirely of the birdsong one might hear between midnight and noon in the Jura. From this period onwards, Messiaen incorporated birdsong into all of his compositions and composed several works for which birds provide both the title and subject matter (for example the collection of thirteen pieces for piano Catalogue d'oiseaux completed in 1958, and La fauvette des jardins of 1971). Paul Griffiths observed that Messiaen was a more conscientious ornithologist than any previous composer, and a more musical observer of birdsong than any previous ornithologist.
Messiaen's first wife died in 1959 after a long illness, and in 1961 he married Loriod. He began to travel widely, to attend musical events and to seek out and transcribe the songs of more exotic birds in the wild. Loriod frequently assisted her husband's detailed studies of birdsong while walking with him, by making tape recordings for later reference. In 1962 he visited Japan, where Gagaku music and Noh theatre inspired the orchestral "Japanese sketches", Sept haïkaï, which contain stylised imitations of traditional Japanese instruments.
Messiaen's music was by this time championed by, among others, Pierre Boulez, who programmed first performances at his Domaine musical concerts and the Donaueschingen festival. Works performed included Réveil des oiseaux, Chronochromie (commissioned for the 1960 festival) and Couleurs de la cité céleste. The latter piece was the result of a commission for a composition for three trombones and three xylophones; Messiaen added to this more brass, wind, percussion and piano, and specified a xylophone, xylorimba and marimba rather than three xylophones. Another work of this period, Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum, was commissioned as a commemoration of the dead of the two World Wars and was performed first semi-privately in the Sainte-Chapelle, then publicly in Chartres Cathedral with Charles de Gaulle in the audience.
His reputation as a composer continued to grow and in 1959, he was nominated as an Officier of the Légion d'honneur. In 1966 he was officially appointed professor of composition at the Paris Conservatoire, although he had in effect been teaching composition for years. Further honours included election to the Institut de France in 1967 and the Académie des beaux-arts in 1968, the Erasmus Prize in 1971, the award of the Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal and the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize in 1975, the Sonning Award (Denmark's highest musical honour) in 1977, the Wolf Prize in Arts in 1982, and the presentation of the Croix de Commander of the Belgian Order of the Crown in 1980.
Transfiguration, Canyons, St. Francis, and the Beyond
Messiaen's next work was the large-scale La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ. The composition occupied him from 1965 to 1969 and the musicians employed include a 100-voice ten-part choir, seven solo instruments and large orchestra. Its fourteen movements are a meditation on the story of Christ's Transfiguration. Shortly after its completion, Messiaen received a commission from Alice Tully for a work to celebrate the U.S. bicentennial. He arranged a visit to the US in spring 1972, and was inspired by Bryce Canyon in Utah, where he observed the canyon's distinctive colours and birdsong. The twelve-movement orchestral piece Des canyons aux étoiles... was the result, first performed in 1974 in New York.
In 1971, he was asked to compose a piece for the Paris Opéra. While reluctant to undertake such a major project, he was persuaded in 1975 to accept the commission and began work on his Saint-François d'Assise. The composition was intensive (he also wrote his own libretto) and occupied him from 1975 to 1979; the orchestration was carried out from 1979 until 1983. Messiaen preferred to describe the final work as a "spectacle" rather than an opera. It was first performed in 1983. Some commentators at the time thought that the opera would be his valediction (at times Messiaen himself believed so), but he continued to compose. In 1984, he published a major collection of organ pieces, Livre du Saint Sacrement; other works include birdsong pieces for solo piano, and works for piano with orchestra.
In the summer of 1978, Messiaen retired from teaching at the Paris Conservatoire. He was promoted to the highest rank of the Légion d'honneur, the Grand-Croix, in 1987. An operation prevented his participation in the celebration of his 70th birthday in 1978, but in 1988 tributes for Messiaen's 80th included a complete performance in London's Royal Festival Hall of St. François, which the composer attended, and Erato's publication of a seventeen-CD collection of Messiaen's music including a disc of the composer in conversation with Claude Samuel.
Although in considerable pain near the end of his life (requiring repeated surgery on his back) he was able to fulfil a commission from the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Éclairs sur l'au-delà..., which was premièred six months after his death. He died in Paris on 27 April 1992.
On going through his papers, Loriod discovered that, in the last months of his life, he had been composing a concerto for four musicians he felt particularly grateful to, namely herself, the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, the oboist Heinz Holliger and the flautist Catherine Cantin (hence the title Concert à quatre). Four of the five intended movements were substantially complete; Yvonne Loriod undertook the orchestration of the second half of the first movement and of the whole of the fourth with advice from George Benjamin. It was premiered by the dedicatees in September of 1994.
Music
Messiaen's music has been described as outside the western musical tradition, although growing out of that tradition and being influenced by it. Much of his output denies the western conventions of forward motion, development and diatonic harmonic resolution. This is partly due to the symmetries of his technique—for instance the modes of limited transposition do not admit the conventional cadences found in western classical music.
His youthful love for the fairy-tale element in Shakespeare prefigured his later expressions of Catholic liturgy. Messiaen was not interested in depicting aspects of theology such as sin; rather he concentrated on the theology of joy, divine love and redemption.
Messiaen continually evolved new composition techniques, always integrating them into his existing musical style; his final works still retain the use of modes of limited transposition. For many commentators this continual development made every major work from the Quatuor onwards a conscious summation of all that Messiaen had composed up to that time. However, very few of these major works lack new technical ideas—simple examples being the introduction of communicable language in Meditations, the invention of a new percussion instrument (the geophone) for Des canyons aux etoiles..., and the freedom from any synchronisation with the main pulse of individual parts in certain birdsong episodes of St. François d'Assise.
As well as discovering new techniques, Messiaen studied and absorbed foreign music, including Ancient Greek rhythms, Hindu rhythms (he encountered Śārṅgadeva's list of 120 rhythmic units, the deçî-tâlas), Balinese and Javanese Gamelan, birdsong, and Japanese music (see Example 1 for an instance of his use of ancient Greek and Hindu rhythms).
While he was instrumental in the academic exploration of his techniques (he compiled two treatises: the later one in five volumes was substantially complete when he died and was published posthumously), and was himself a master of music analysis, he considered the development and study of techniques a means to intellectual, aesthetic, and emotional ends. Thus Messiaen maintained that a musical composition must be measured against three separate criteria: it must be interesting, beautiful to listen to, and it must touch the listener.
Messiaen wrote a large body of music for the piano. Although a considerable pianist himself, he was undoubtedly assisted by Yvonne Loriod's formidable piano technique and ability to convey complex rhythms and rhythmic combinations; in his piano writing from Visions de l'Amen onwards he had her in mind. Messiaen said, "I am able to allow myself the greatest eccentricities because to her anything is possible."
Western artistic influences
Developments in modern French music were a major influence on Messiaen, particularly the music of Claude Debussy and his use of the whole-tone scale (which Messiaen called Mode 1 in his modes of limited transposition). Messiaen rarely used the whole-tone scale in his compositions because, he said, after Debussy and Dukas there was "nothing to add", but the modes he did use are similarly symmetrical.
Messiaen had a great admiration for the music of Igor Stravinsky, particularly the use of rhythm in earlier works such as The Rite of Spring, and his use of orchestral colour. He was further influenced by the orchestral brilliance of Heitor Villa-Lobos, who lived in Paris in the 1920s and gave acclaimed concerts there. Among composers for the keyboard, Messiaen singled out Jean-Philippe Rameau, Domenico Scarlatti, Frédéric Chopin, Debussy and Isaac Albéniz. He loved the music of Modest Mussorgsky and incorporated varied modifications of what he called the "M-shaped" melodic motif from Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, although he modified the final interval in this motif from a perfect fourth to a tritone (Example 3).
Messiaen was further influenced by Surrealism, as may be seen from the titles of some of the piano Préludes (Un reflet dans le vent..., "A reflection in the wind") and in some of the imagery of his poetry (he published poems as prefaces to certain works, for example Les offrandes oubliées).
Colour
Colour lies at the heart of Messiaen's music. He believed that terms such as "tonal", "modal" and "serial" are misleading analytical conveniences. For him there were no modal, tonal or serial compositions, only music with or without colour. He said that Claudio Monteverdi, Mozart, Chopin, Richard Wagner, Mussorgsky and Stravinsky all wrote strongly coloured music.
In some of Messiaen's scores, he notated the colours in the music (notably in Couleurs de la cité céleste and Des canyons aux étoiles...)—the purpose being to aid the conductor in interpretation rather than to specify which colours the listener should experience. The importance of colour is linked to Messiaen's synaesthesia, which caused him to experience colours when he heard or imagined music (his form of synaesthesia, the most common form, involved experiencing the associated colours in a non-visual form rather than perceiving them visually). In his multi-volume music theory treatise Traité de rythme, de couleur, et d'ornithologie ("Treatise of Rhythm, Colour and Birdsong"), Messiaen wrote descriptions of the colours of certain chords. His descriptions range from the simple ("gold and brown") to the highly detailed ("blue-violet rocks, speckled with little grey cubes, cobalt blue, deep Prussian blue, highlighted by a bit of violet-purple, gold, red, ruby, and stars of mauve, black and white. Blue-violet is dominant").
When asked what Messiaen's main influence had been on composers, George Benjamin said, "I think the sheer ... colour has been so influential, ... rather than being a decorative element, [Messiaen showed that colour] could be a structural, a fundamental element, ... the fundamental material of the music itself."
Symmetry
Many of Messiaen's composition techniques made use of symmetries of time and pitch.
Time
From his earliest works, Messiaen used non-retrogradable (palindromic) rhythms (Example 2). He sometimes combined rhythms with harmonic sequences in such a way that, if the process were repeated indefinitely, the music would eventually run through all possible permutations and return to its starting point. For Messiaen, this represented the "charm of impossibilities" of these processes. He only ever presented a portion of any such process, as if allowing the informed listener a glimpse of something eternal. In the first movement of Quatuor pour la fin du temps the piano and cello together provide an early example.
Pitch
Messiaen used modes he called modes of limited transposition. They are distinguished as groups of notes that can only be transposed by a semitone a limited number of times. For example, the whole-tone scale (Messiaen's Mode 1) only exists in two transpositions: namely C–D–E–F–G–A and D–E–F–G–A–B. Messiaen abstracted these modes from the harmony of his improvisations and early works. Music written using the modes avoids conventional diatonic harmonic progressions, since for example Messiaen's Mode 2 (identical to the octatonic scale used also by other composers) permits precisely the dominant seventh chords whose tonic the mode does not contain.
Time and rhythm
As well as making use of non-retrogradable rhythm and the Hindu decî-tâlas, Messiaen also composed with "additive" rhythms. This involves lengthening individual notes slightly or interpolating a short note into an otherwise regular rhythm (see Example 3), or shortening or lengthening every note of a rhythm by the same duration (adding a semiquaver to every note in a rhythm on its repeat, for example). This led Messiaen to use rhythmic cells that irregularly alternate between two and three units, a process that also occurs in Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, which Messiaen admired.
A factor that contributes to Messiaen's suspension of the conventional perception of time in his music is the extremely slow tempos he often specifies (the fifth movement Louange à l'eternité de Jésus of Quatuor is actually given the tempo marking infiniment lent). Messiaen also used the concept of "chromatic durations", for example in his Soixante-quatre durées from Livre d'orgue (), which is built from, in Messiaen's words, "64 chromatic durations from 1 to 64 demisemiquavers [thirty-second notes]—invested in groups of 4, from the ends to the centre, forwards and backwards alternately—treated as a retrograde canon. The whole peopled with birdsong."
Harmony
In addition to making harmonic use of the modes of limited transposition, he cited the harmonic series as a physical phenomenon that provides chords with a context he felt was missing in purely serial music. An example of Messiaen's harmonic use of this phenomenon, which he called "resonance", is the last two bars of his first piano Prélude, La colombe ("The dove"): the chord is built from harmonics of the fundamental base note E.
Related to this use of resonance, Messiaen also composed music in which the lowest, or fundamental, note is combined with higher notes or chords played much more quietly. These higher notes, far from being perceived as conventional harmony, function as harmonics that alter the timbre of the fundamental note like mixture stops on a pipe organ. An example is the song of the golden oriole in Le loriot of the Catalogue d'oiseaux for solo piano (Example 4).
In his use of conventional diatonic chords, Messiaen often transcended their historically mundane connotations (for example, his frequent use of the added sixth chord as a resolution).
Birdsong
Birdsong fascinated Messiaen from an early age, and in this he found encouragement from his teacher Dukas, who reportedly urged his pupils to "listen to the birds". Messiaen included stylised birdsong in some of his early compositions (including L'abîme d'oiseaux from the Quatuor pour la fin du temps), integrating it into his sound-world by techniques like the modes of limited transposition and chord colouration. His evocations of birdsong became increasingly sophisticated, and with Le réveil des oiseaux this process reached maturity, the whole piece being built from birdsong: in effect it is a dawn chorus for orchestra. The same can be said for "Epode", the five-minute sixth movement of Chronochromie, which is scored for eighteen violins, each one playing a different birdsong. Messiaen notated the bird species with the music in the score (examples 1 and 4). The pieces are not simple transcriptions; even the works with purely bird-inspired titles, such as Catalogue d'oiseaux and Fauvette des jardins, are tone poems evoking the landscape, its colours and atmosphere.
Serialism
For some compositions, Messiaen created scales for duration, attack and timbre analogous to the chromatic pitch scale. He expressed annoyance at the historical importance given to one of these works, Mode de valeurs et d'intensités, by musicologists intent on crediting him with the invention of "total serialism".
Messiaen later introduced what he called a "communicable language", a "musical alphabet" to encode sentences. He first used this technique in his Méditations sur le mystère de la Sainte Trinité for organ; where the "alphabet" includes motifs for the concepts to have, to be and God, while the sentences encoded feature sections from the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas.
Writings
See also
Olivier Messiaen Competition
Notes
References
Further reading
Baggech, Melody Ann (1998). An English Translation of Olivier Messiaen's "Traite de Rythme, de Couleur, et d'Ornithologie" Norman: The University of Oklahoma.
Barker, Thomas (2012). "The Social and Aesthetic Situation of Olivier Messiaen's Religious Music: Turangalîla Symphonie." International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music 43/1:53–70.
Benitez, Vincent P. (2000). "A Creative Legacy: Messiaen as Teacher of Analysis." College Music Symposium 40: 117–39.
Benitez, Vincent P. (2001). "Pitch Organization and Dramatic Design in Saint François d'Assise of Olivier Messiaen." PhD diss., Bloomington: Indiana University.
Benitez, Vincent P. (2002). "Simultaneous Contrast and Additive Designs in Olivier Messiaen's Opera Saint François d'Assise." Music Theory Online 8.2 (August 2002). Music Theory Online
Benitez, Vincent P. (2004). "Aspects of Harmony in Messiaen's Later Music: An Examination of the Chords of Transposed Inversions on the Same Bass Note." Journal of Musicological Research 23, no. 2: 187–226.
Benitez, Vincent P. (2004). "Narrating Saint Francis's Spiritual Journey: Referential Pitch Structures and Symbolic Images in Olivier Messiaen's Saint François d'Assise." In Poznan Studies on Opera, edited by Maciej Jablonski, 363–411.
Benitez, Vincent P. (2008). "Messiaen as Improviser." Dutch Journal of Music Theory 13, no. 2 (May 2008): 129–44.
Benitez, Vincent P. (2009). "Reconsidering Messiaen as Serialist." Music Analysis 28, nos. 2–3 (2009): 267–99 (published April 21, 2011).
Benitez, Vincent P. (2010). "Messiaen and Aquinas." In Messiaen the Theologian, edited by Andrew Shenton, 101–26. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Benítez, Vincent Pérez (2019). Olivier Messiaen's Opera, Saint François d'Assise. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. .
Boivin, Jean (1993). "La Classe de Messiaen: Historique, reconstitution, impact". Ph.D. diss. Montreal: Ecole Polytechnique, Montreal.
Boswell-Kurc, Lilise (2001). "Olivier Messiaen's Religious War-Time Works and Their Controversial Reception in France (1941–1946) ". Ph.D. diss. New York: New York University.
Burns, Jeffrey Phillips (1995). "Messiaen's Modes of Limited Transposition Reconsidered". M.M. thesis, Madison: University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Cheong Wai-Ling (2003). "Messiaen's Chord Tables: Ordering the Disordered". Tempo 57, no. 226 (October): 2–10.
Cheong Wai-Ling (2008). "Neumes and Greek Rhythms: The Breakthrough in Messiaen's Birdsong". Acta Musicologica 80, no. 1:1–32.
Dingle, Christopher (2013). Messiaen's Final Works. Farnham, UK: Ashgate. .
Fallon, Robert Joseph (2005). "Messiaen's Mimesis: The Language and Culture of The Bird Styles". Ph.D. diss. Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley.
Fallon, Robert (2008). "Birds, Beasts, and Bombs in Messiaen's Cold War Mass". The Journal of Musicology 26, no. 2 (Spring): 175–204.
Hardink, Jason M. (2007). "Messiaen and Plainchant". D.M.A. diss. Houston: Rice University.
Harris, Joseph Edward (2004). "Musique coloree: Synesthetic Correspondence in the Works of Olivier Messiaen". Ph.D. diss. Ames: The University of Iowa.
Hill, Matthew Richard (1995). "Messiaen's Regard du silence as an Expression of Catholic Faith". D.M.A. diss. Madison: The University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Laycock, Gary Eng Yeow (2010). "Re-evaluating Olivier Messiaen's Musical Language from 1917 to 1935". Ph.D. diss. Bloomington: Indiana University, 2010.
Luchese, Diane (1998). "Olivier Messiaen's Slow Music: Glimpses of Eternity in Time". Ph.D. diss. Evanston: Northwestern University
McGinnis, Margaret Elizabeth (2003). "Playing the Fields: Messiaen, Music, and the Extramusical". Ph.D. diss. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Nelson, David Lowell (1992). "An Analysis of Olivier Messiaen's Chant Paraphrases". 2 vols. Ph.D. diss. Evanston: Northwestern University
Ngim, Alan Gerald (1997). "Olivier Messiaen as a Pianist: A Study of Tempo and Rhythm Based on His Recordings of Visions de l'amen". D.M.A. diss. Coral Gables: University of Miami.
Peterson, Larry Wayne (1973). "Messiaen and Rhythm: Theory and Practice". Ph.D. diss. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Puspita, Amelia (2008). "The Influence of Balinese Gamelan on the Music of Olivier Messiaen". D.M.A. diss. Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati
Schultz, Rob (2008). "Melodic Contour and Nonretrogradable Structure in the Birdsong of Olivier Messiaen". Music Theory Spectrum 30, no. 1 (Spring): 89–137.
Shenton, Andrew (1998). "The Unspoken Word: Olivier Messiaen's 'langage communicable'". Ph.D. diss. Cambridge: Harvard University.
Simeone, Nigel (2004). "'Chez Messiaen, tout est priére': Messiaen's Appointment at the Trinité". The Musical Times 145, no. 1889 (Winter): 36–53.
Simeone, Nigel (2008). "Messiaen, Koussevitzky and the USA". The Musical Times 149, no. 1905 (Winter): 25–44.
Welsh Ibanez, Deborah (2005). Color, Timbre, and Resonance: Developments in Olivier Messiaen's Use of Percussion Between 1956–1965. D.M.A. diss. Coral Gables: University of Miami
Zheng, Zhong (2004). A Study of Messiaen's Solo Piano Works. Ph.D. diss. Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Films
Apparition of the Eternal Church – Paul Festa's 2006 film about responses of 31 artists to Messiaen's music.
Messiaen at 80 (1988). Directed by Sue Knussen. BFI database entry.
Olivier Messiaen et les oiseaux (1973). Directed by Michel Fano and Denise Tual.
Olivier Messiaen – The Crystal Liturgy (2007 [DVD release date]). Directed by Olivier Mille.
Olivier Messiaen: Works (1991). DVD on which Messiaen performs "Improvisations" on the organ at the Paris Trinity Church.
The South Bank Show: Olivier Messiaen: The Music of Faith (1985). Directed by Alan Benson. BFI database entry.
Quartet for the End of Time, with the President's Own Marine Band Ensemble, A Film by H. Paul Moon
External links
"Messiaen, Olivier" in Oxford Music Online (by subscription)
BBC Messiaen Profile
oliviermessiaen.org Up to date website by Malcolm Ball, includes the latest recordings and concerts, a comprehensive bibliography, photos, analyses and reviews, a very extensive bio of Yvonne Loriod with discography, and more.
Infography about Olivier Messiaen
oliviermessiaen.net, hosted by the Boston University Messiaen Project [BUMP]. Includes detailed information on the composer's life and works, events, and links to other Messiaen websites.
www.philharmonia.co.uk/messiaen, the Philharmonia Orchestra's Messiaen website. The site contains articles, unseen images, programme notes and films to go alongside the orchestra's series of concerts celebrating the Centenary of Olivier Messiaen's birth.
Music for the End of Time, David Schiff article in The Nation, posted January 25, 2006 (February 13, 2006 issue). Formally a review of Messiaen by Peter Hill and Nigel Simeone, but provides an overview of Messiaen's life and works.
Music and the Holocaust – Olivier Messiaen
My Messiaen Modes A visual representation of Messiaen's modes of limited transposition.
Listening
played by Martina Trumpp, violin and Bohumir Stehlik, piano
Thème et variations – Helen Kim, violin; Adam Bowles, piano Luna Nova New Music Ensemble
Le merle noir – John McMurtery, flute; Adam Bowles, piano Luna Nova New Music Ensemble
Quatuor pour la fin du temps – Luna Nova New Music Ensemble
Regard de l'esprit de joie from Vingt regards..., Tom Poster, pianist
played on a Mühleisen pipe organ
In-depth feature on Olivier Messiaen by Radio France International's English service
by Ukho Ensemble Kyiv
1908 births
1992 deaths
20th-century classical composers
Conservatoire de Paris alumni
Conservatoire de Paris faculty
Academics of the École Normale de Musique de Paris
Composers for piano
Composers for pipe organ
EMI Classics and Virgin Classics artists
Ernst von Siemens Music Prize winners
French classical composers
French male classical composers
French classical organists
French male organists
French composers of sacred music
French military personnel of World War II
French ornithologists
Deutsche Grammophon artists
French Roman Catholics
Kyoto laureates in Arts and Philosophy
Members of the Académie des beaux-arts
Modernist composers
Organ improvisers
Musicians from Avignon
Pupils of Maurice Emmanuel
Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medallists
Schola Cantorum de Paris faculty
Wolf Prize in Arts laureates
World War II prisoners of war held by Germany
Grand Croix of the Légion d'honneur
Commanders of the Order of the Crown (Belgium)
Recipients of the Léonie Sonning Music Prize
20th-century French composers
20th-century French male musicians
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[
"\"What About Love\" is a song originally recorded by Canadian rock group Toronto, re-released in 1985 by the American rock group Heart. The song was Heart's \"comeback\" single. It was the first Heart track to reach the top 40 in three years, and their first top 10 hit in five. It was released as the first single from the band's self-titled 1985 album, Heart, as well as their first hit single on their new record label, Capitol Records. Grace Slick and Mickey Thomas, co-lead vocalists of Starship at the time, provide additional background vocals on the song.\n\nBackground\nThe song was originally recorded in 1983 by Canadian rock group Toronto, of which songwriters Sheron Alton and Brian Allen were members. (The other songwriter, Jim Vallance, was not a member of Toronto, though he played drums on Toronto's recording of the song.) However, the rest of the band elected not to release the song, and the frustration Allen and Alton faced in being unable to convince their bandmates to feature this and other material on Toronto's albums led to their departure from the group.\n\nLater, Michael McCarty at ATV Music Publishing was reviewing his song catalogue when he came across \"What About Love\". He offered the song to Heart, who turned it into a worldwide hit. Toronto's original version remained commercially unreleased until 2002, when it appeared as a bonus cut on the CDs Get It On Credit and Toronto: The Greatest Hits.\n\nReception\nThe song's sound marked a considerable change in the musical direction for Heart, moving from the hard rock and folk rock of their earlier work to a more polished, power ballad sound. \"What About Love\" received extensive airplay on MTV and returned Heart to the top-10 of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for the first time in five years, peaking at No. 10.\n\nThe song peaked at No. 14 on the UK Singles Chart upon its re-release in 1988. Exclusively in its UK release, \"What About Love\" was also featured in an extended version on 12\" and CD single versions.\n\nThe song's chorus was featured in a series of Swiffer WetJet TV commercials from late 2010 into the following year. The campaign followed a series of previous Swiffer commercials using popular songs of the 1970s and 1980s.\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nCover versions and samples\nMari Hamada covered the song in her 1985 album Blue Revolution.\nOn the compilation album of the 2006 season of American Idol, the song was performed by finalist Melissa McGhee. Janell Wheeler performed the song in Season 9 of the series. Season 11 Erika Van Pelt sang the song in the top 12 Girls night. In Season 12, Amber Holcomb sang it during the Top 7's Rock week.\nRick Ross samples \"What About Love\" in his song \"Shot to the Heart.\"\nLil Wayne samples \"What About Love\" in his song \"Something You Forgot.\"\nOn the TV show Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious, finalist Chrystina performs this song in the series finale, which eventually leads to her making the final group.\nRytmus samples \"What About Love\" in his song \"Na Toto Som Cakal.\"\nKelly Clarkson covered the song during as part of her 2012 Stronger Tour, performing the song during a Boston, Massachusetts appearance.\nAndy Lau once covered this song in Cantonese language, titled 永遠愛你 (Forever Loving You) which was taken on his second solo album (情感的禁區/Forbidden Emotional)\n\nReferences\n\nHeart (band) songs\n1982 songs\n1985 singles\nHard rock ballads\nSongs written by Jim Vallance\nSong recordings produced by Ron Nevison\nCapitol Records singles\n1980s ballads",
"\"Six Feet Apart\" is a song recorded by American country music singer Luke Combs. It was released on May 1, 2020 as a direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic and was added to the digital version of his second album, What You See Is What You Get. It was also later added to the deluxe version of the album, What You See Ain't Always What You Get. Combs wrote the song with Brent Cobb and Rob Snyder.\n\nContent\nBefore the pandemic had hit, Combs was scheduled to meet with songwriters Brent Cobb and Rob Snyder on April 14 for a writing session. Combs said that all three of them had wanted to write a song about the COVID-19 pandemic but he was initially apprehensive because he thought the concept would be \"too cheesy\". Combs uploaded an acoustic version of the song to YouTube. After the video trended on that site, he performed it on the Grand Ole Opry. Combs then recorded a studio version and noted that during the recording session, everyone involved wore masks and was in a different room. The studio version of the song was officially sent to country radio on May 1, 2020. The song has a theme of missing major activities due to the pandemic, such as the arrival of the spring season and touring as a musician.\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nCertifications\n\nReferences\n\n2020 songs\n2020 singles\nLuke Combs songs\nSongs written by Luke Combs\nColumbia Records singles\nSongs about the COVID-19 pandemic"
] |
[
"Olivier Messiaen",
"Tristan and serialism",
"What is Tristan and serialism?",
"Messiaen composed the song cycle Harawi, the first of three works inspired by the legend of Tristan and Isolde.",
"What was the song about?",
"The second of these works about human (as opposed to divine) love was the result of a commission from Serge Koussevitzky."
] |
C_c98b847278d549889a47900bb8acefee_0
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Was he commissioned to write any other songs?
| 3 |
Was Olivier Messiaen commissioned to write any other songs besides Harawi?
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Olivier Messiaen
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Shortly after his release from Gorlitz in May 1941, Messiaen was appointed a professor of harmony at the Paris Conservatoire, where he taught until his retirement in 1978. He compiled his Technique de mon langage musical ("Technique of my musical language") published in 1944, in which he quotes many examples from his music, particularly the Quartet. Although only in his mid-thirties, his students described him as an outstanding teacher. Among his early students were the composers Pierre Boulez and Karel Goeyvaerts. Other pupils included Karlheinz Stockhausen in 1952, Alexander Goehr in 1956-57, Tristan Murail in 1967-72 and George Benjamin during the late 1970s. The Greek composer Iannis Xenakis was referred to him in 1951; Messiaen urged Xenakis to take advantage of his background in mathematics and architecture in his music. In 1943, Messiaen wrote Visions de l'Amen ("Visions of the Amen") for two pianos for Yvonne Loriod and himself to perform. Shortly thereafter he composed the enormous solo piano cycle Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jesus ("Twenty gazes upon the child Jesus") for her. Again for Loriod, he wrote Trois petites liturgies de la presence divine ("Three small liturgies of the Divine Presence") for female chorus and orchestra, which includes a difficult solo piano part. Two years after Visions de l'Amen, Messiaen composed the song cycle Harawi, the first of three works inspired by the legend of Tristan and Isolde. The second of these works about human (as opposed to divine) love was the result of a commission from Serge Koussevitzky. Messiaen stated that the commission did not specify the length of the work or the size of the orchestra. This was the ten-movement Turangalila-Symphonie. It is not a conventional symphony, but rather an extended meditation on the joy of human union and love. It does not contain the sexual guilt inherent in Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde because Messiaen believed that sexual love is a divine gift. The third piece inspired by the Tristan myth was Cinq rechants for twelve unaccompanied singers, described by Messiaen as influenced by the alba of the troubadours. Messiaen visited the United States in 1949, where his music was conducted by Koussevitsky and Leopold Stokowski. His Turangalila-Symphonie was first performed in the US in 1949, conducted by Leonard Bernstein. Messiaen taught an analysis class at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1947 he taught (and performed with Loriod) for two weeks in Budapest. In 1949 he taught at Tanglewood. Beginning in summer 1949 he taught in the new music summer school classes at Darmstadt. While he did not employ the twelve-tone technique, after three years teaching analysis of twelve-tone scores, including works by Arnold Schoenberg, he experimented with ways of making scales of other elements (including duration, articulation and dynamics) analogous to the chromatic pitch scale. The results of these innovations was the "Mode de valeurs et d'intensites" for piano (from the Quatre etudes de rythme) which has been misleadingly described as the first work of "total serialism". It had a large influence on the earliest European serial composers, including Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen. During this period he also experimented with musique concrete, music for recorded sounds. CANNOTANSWER
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CANNOTANSWER
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Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist who was one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex; harmonically and melodically he employs a system he called modes of limited transposition, which he abstracted from the systems of material generated by his early compositions and improvisations. He wrote music for chamber ensembles and orchestra, vocal music, as well as for solo organ and piano, and also experimented with the use of novel electronic instruments developed in Europe during his lifetime.
Messiaen entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 11 and was taught by Paul Dukas, Maurice Emmanuel, Charles-Marie Widor and Marcel Dupré, among others. He was appointed organist at the Église de la Sainte-Trinité, Paris, in 1931, a post held for 61 years until his death. He taught at the Schola Cantorum de Paris during the 1930s. After the fall of France in 1940, Messiaen was interned for nine months in the German prisoner of war camp Stalag VIII-A, where he composed his ("Quartet for the end of time") for the four instruments available in the prison—piano, violin, cello and clarinet. The piece was first performed by Messiaen and fellow prisoners for an audience of inmates and prison guards. He was appointed professor of harmony soon after his release in 1941 and professor of composition in 1966 at the Paris Conservatoire, positions that he held until his retirement in 1978. His many distinguished pupils included Iannis Xenakis, George Benjamin, Alexander Goehr, Pierre Boulez, Tristan Murail, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Yvonne Loriod, who became his second wife.
Messiaen perceived colours when he heard certain musical chords (a phenomenon known as synaesthesia); according to him, combinations of these colours were important in his compositional process. He travelled widely and wrote works inspired by diverse influences, including Japanese music, the landscape of Bryce Canyon in Utah, and the life of St. Francis of Assisi. For a short period Messiaen experimented with the parametrisation associated with "total serialism", in which field he is often cited as an innovator. His style absorbed many global musical influences such as Indonesian gamelan (tuned percussion often features prominently in his orchestral works).
He found birdsong fascinating, notating bird songs worldwide and incorporating birdsong transcriptions into his music. His innovative use of colour, his conception of the relationship between time and music, and his use of birdsong are among the features that make Messiaen's music distinctive.
Biography
Youth and studies
Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen was born at 11:00 on 10 December 1908 at 20 Boulevard Sixte-Isnard in Avignon, France, into a literary family. He was the elder of two sons of Cécile Anne Marie-Antoinette Sauvage, a poet, and Pierre Léon Joseph Messiaen, a scholar and teacher of English from a farm near Wervicq-Sud who translated the plays of William Shakespeare into French. Messiaen's mother published a sequence of poems, ("The Budding Soul"), the last chapter of ("As the Earth Turns"), which address her unborn son. Messiaen later said this sequence of poems influenced him deeply and he cited it as prophetic of his future artistic career. His younger brother Alain André Prosper Messiaen was also a poet.
At the outbreak of World War I, Pierre enlisted and Cécile took their two boys to live with her brother in Grenoble. There Messiaen became fascinated with drama, reciting Shakespeare to his brother with the help of a home-made toy theatre with translucent backdrops made from old cellophane wrappers. At this time he also adopted the Roman Catholic faith. Later, Messiaen felt most at home in the Alps of the Dauphiné, where he had a house built south of Grenoble where he composed most of his music.
He took piano lessons, having already taught himself to play. His interests included the recent music of French composers Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, and he asked for opera vocal scores for Christmas presents. He also saved to buy scores and one such was Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt whose "beautiful Norwegian melodic lines with the taste of folk song ... gave me a love of melody." Around this time he began to compose. In 1918 his father returned from the war and the family moved to Nantes. He continued music lessons; one of his teachers, Jehan de Gibon, gave him a score of Debussy's opera , which Messiaen described as "a thunderbolt" and "probably the most decisive influence on me". The following year Pierre Messiaen gained a teaching post in Paris. Messiaen entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1919, aged 11.
At the Paris Conservatoire, Messiaen made excellent academic progress. In 1924, aged 15, he was awarded second prize in harmony, having been taught in that subject by professor Jean Gallon. In 1925 he won first prize in piano accompaniment, and in 1926 he gained first prize in fugue. After studying with Maurice Emmanuel, he was awarded second prize for the history of music in 1928. Emmanuel's example engendered an interest in ancient Greek rhythms and exotic modes. After showing improvisational skills on the piano Messiaen studied organ with Marcel Dupré. Messiaen gained first prize in organ playing and improvisation in 1929. After a year studying composition with Charles-Marie Widor, in autumn 1927 he entered the class of the newly appointed Paul Dukas. Messiaen's mother died of tuberculosis shortly before the class began. Despite his grief, he resumed his studies, and in 1930 Messiaen won first prize in composition.
While a student he composed his first published works—his eight Préludes for piano (the earlier Le banquet céleste was published subsequently). These exhibit Messiaen's use of his modes of limited transposition and palindromic rhythms (Messiaen called these non-retrogradable rhythms). His public début came in 1931 with his orchestral suite Les offrandes oubliées. That year he first heard a gamelan group, sparking his interest in the use of tuned percussion.
La Trinité, La jeune France, and Messiaen's war
In the autumn of 1927, Messiaen joined Dupré's organ course. Dupré later wrote that Messiaen, having never seen an organ console, sat quietly for an hour while Dupré explained and demonstrated the instrument, and then came back a week later to play Johann Sebastian Bach's Fantasia in C minor to an impressive standard. From 1929, Messiaen regularly deputised at the Église de la Sainte-Trinité, Paris, for the organist Charles Quef, who was ill at the time. The post became vacant in 1931 when Quef died, and Dupré, Charles Tournemire and Widor among others supported Messiaen's candidacy. His formal application included a letter of recommendation from Widor. The appointment was confirmed in 1931, and he remained the organist at the church for more than 60 years. He also assumed a post at the Schola Cantorum de Paris in the early 1930s. In 1932, he composed the Apparition de l'église éternelle for organ.
He also married the violinist and composer Claire Delbos (daughter of Victor Delbos) that year. Their marriage inspired him both to compose works for her to play (Thème et variations for violin and piano in the year they were married) and to write pieces to celebrate their domestic happiness, including the song cycle Poèmes pour Mi in 1936, which he orchestrated in 1937. Mi was Messiaen's affectionate nickname for his wife. In 1937 their son Pascal was born. The marriage turned to tragedy when Delbos lost her memory after an operation towards the end of World War II. She spent the rest of her life in mental institutions.
In 1936, along with André Jolivet, Daniel-Lesur and Yves Baudrier, Messiaen formed the group La jeune France ("Young France"). Their manifesto implicitly attacked the frivolity predominant in contemporary Parisian music and rejected Jean Cocteau's 1918 Le coq et l'arlequin in favour of a "living music, having the impetus of sincerity, generosity and artistic conscientiousness". Messiaen's career soon departed from this polemical phase.
In response to a commission for a piece to accompany light-and-water shows on the Seine during the Paris Exposition, in 1937 Messiaen demonstrated his interest in using the ondes Martenot, an electronic instrument, by composing Fêtes des belles eaux for an ensemble of six. He included a part for the instrument in several of his subsequent compositions. During this period he composed several multi-movement organ works. He arranged his orchestral suite L'ascension ("The Ascension") for organ, replacing the orchestral version's third movement with an entirely new movement, Transports de joie d'une âme devant la gloire du Christ qui est la sienne ("Ecstasies of a soul before the glory of Christ which is the soul's own") (). He also wrote the extensive cycles La Nativité du Seigneur ("The Nativity of the Lord") and Les corps glorieux ("The glorious bodies").
At the outbreak of World War II, Messiaen was drafted into the French army. Due to poor eyesight, he was enlisted as a medical auxiliary rather than an active combatant. He was captured at Verdun and taken to Görlitz in May 1940, and was imprisoned at Stalag VIII-A. He met a violinist, a cellist and a clarinettist among his fellow prisoners. He wrote a trio for them, which he gradually incorporated into his Quatuor pour la fin du temps ("Quartet for the End of Time"). With the help of a friendly German guard (), he acquired manuscript paper and pencils, and was able to assemble the three other POWs to help him perform the piece. The Quartet was first performed in January 1941 to an audience of prisoners and prison guards, with the composer playing a poorly maintained upright piano in freezing conditions. The enforced introspection and reflection of camp life bore fruit in one of 20th-century classical music's acknowledged masterpieces. The title's "end of time" alludes to the Apocalypse, and also to the way that Messiaen, through rhythm and harmony, used time in a manner completely different from his predecessors and contemporaries.
The idea of a European Centre of Education and Culture "Meeting Point Music Messiaen" on the site of Stalag VIII-A, for children and youth, artists, musicians and everyone in the region emerged in December 2004, was developed with the involvement of Messiaen's widow as a joint project between the council districts in Germany and Poland, and was finally completed in 2014.
Tristan and serialism
Shortly after his release from Görlitz in May of 1941, Messiaen was appointed a professor of harmony at the Paris Conservatoire, where he taught until his retirement in 1978. He compiled his Technique de mon langage musical ("Technique of my musical language") published in 1944, in which he quotes many examples from his music, particularly the Quartet. Although only in his mid-thirties, his students described him as an outstanding teacher. Among his early students were the composers Pierre Boulez and Karel Goeyvaerts. Other pupils included Karlheinz Stockhausen in 1952, Alexander Goehr in 1956–57, Tristan Murail in 1967–72 and George Benjamin during the late 1970s. The Greek composer Iannis Xenakis was referred to him in 1951; Messiaen urged Xenakis to take advantage of his background in mathematics and architecture in his music.
In 1943, Messiaen wrote Visions de l'Amen ("Visions of the Amen") for two pianos for Yvonne Loriod and himself to perform. Shortly thereafter he composed the enormous solo piano cycle Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jésus ("Twenty gazes upon the child Jesus") for her. Again for Loriod, he wrote Trois petites liturgies de la présence divine ("Three small liturgies of the Divine Presence") for female chorus and orchestra, which includes a difficult solo piano part.
Two years after Visions de l'Amen, Messiaen composed the song cycle Harawi, the first of three works inspired by the legend of Tristan and Isolde. The second of these works about human (as opposed to divine) love was the result of a commission from Serge Koussevitzky. Messiaen stated that the commission did not specify the length of the work or the size of the orchestra. This was the ten-movement Turangalîla-Symphonie. It is not a conventional symphony, but rather an extended meditation on the joy of human union and love. It does not contain the sexual guilt inherent in Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde because Messiaen believed that sexual love is a divine gift. The third piece inspired by the Tristan myth was Cinq rechants for twelve unaccompanied singers, described by Messiaen as influenced by the alba of the troubadours. Messiaen visited the United States in 1949, where his music was conducted by Koussevitsky and Leopold Stokowski. His Turangalîla-Symphonie was first performed in the US in 1949, conducted by Leonard Bernstein.
Messiaen taught an analysis class at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1947 he taught (and performed with Loriod) for two weeks in Budapest. In 1949 he taught at Tanglewood. Beginning in summer 1949 he taught in the new music summer school classes at Darmstadt. While he did not employ the twelve-tone technique, after three years teaching analysis of twelve-tone scores, including works by Arnold Schoenberg, he experimented with ways of making scales of other elements (including duration, articulation and dynamics) analogous to the chromatic pitch scale. The results of these innovations was the "Mode de valeurs et d'intensités" for piano (from the Quatre études de rythme) which has been misleadingly described as the first work of "total serialism". It had a large influence on the earliest European serial composers, including Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen. During this period he also experimented with musique concrète, music for recorded sounds.
Birdsong and the 1960s
When in 1952 Messiaen was asked to provide a test piece for flautists at the Paris Conservatoire, he composed the piece Le merle noir for flute and piano. While he had long been fascinated by birdsong, and birds had made appearances in several of his earlier works (for example La Nativité, Quatuor and Vingt regards), the flute piece was based entirely on the song of the blackbird.
He took this development to a new level with his 1953 orchestral work Réveil des oiseaux—its material consists almost entirely of the birdsong one might hear between midnight and noon in the Jura. From this period onwards, Messiaen incorporated birdsong into all of his compositions and composed several works for which birds provide both the title and subject matter (for example the collection of thirteen pieces for piano Catalogue d'oiseaux completed in 1958, and La fauvette des jardins of 1971). Paul Griffiths observed that Messiaen was a more conscientious ornithologist than any previous composer, and a more musical observer of birdsong than any previous ornithologist.
Messiaen's first wife died in 1959 after a long illness, and in 1961 he married Loriod. He began to travel widely, to attend musical events and to seek out and transcribe the songs of more exotic birds in the wild. Loriod frequently assisted her husband's detailed studies of birdsong while walking with him, by making tape recordings for later reference. In 1962 he visited Japan, where Gagaku music and Noh theatre inspired the orchestral "Japanese sketches", Sept haïkaï, which contain stylised imitations of traditional Japanese instruments.
Messiaen's music was by this time championed by, among others, Pierre Boulez, who programmed first performances at his Domaine musical concerts and the Donaueschingen festival. Works performed included Réveil des oiseaux, Chronochromie (commissioned for the 1960 festival) and Couleurs de la cité céleste. The latter piece was the result of a commission for a composition for three trombones and three xylophones; Messiaen added to this more brass, wind, percussion and piano, and specified a xylophone, xylorimba and marimba rather than three xylophones. Another work of this period, Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum, was commissioned as a commemoration of the dead of the two World Wars and was performed first semi-privately in the Sainte-Chapelle, then publicly in Chartres Cathedral with Charles de Gaulle in the audience.
His reputation as a composer continued to grow and in 1959, he was nominated as an Officier of the Légion d'honneur. In 1966 he was officially appointed professor of composition at the Paris Conservatoire, although he had in effect been teaching composition for years. Further honours included election to the Institut de France in 1967 and the Académie des beaux-arts in 1968, the Erasmus Prize in 1971, the award of the Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal and the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize in 1975, the Sonning Award (Denmark's highest musical honour) in 1977, the Wolf Prize in Arts in 1982, and the presentation of the Croix de Commander of the Belgian Order of the Crown in 1980.
Transfiguration, Canyons, St. Francis, and the Beyond
Messiaen's next work was the large-scale La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ. The composition occupied him from 1965 to 1969 and the musicians employed include a 100-voice ten-part choir, seven solo instruments and large orchestra. Its fourteen movements are a meditation on the story of Christ's Transfiguration. Shortly after its completion, Messiaen received a commission from Alice Tully for a work to celebrate the U.S. bicentennial. He arranged a visit to the US in spring 1972, and was inspired by Bryce Canyon in Utah, where he observed the canyon's distinctive colours and birdsong. The twelve-movement orchestral piece Des canyons aux étoiles... was the result, first performed in 1974 in New York.
In 1971, he was asked to compose a piece for the Paris Opéra. While reluctant to undertake such a major project, he was persuaded in 1975 to accept the commission and began work on his Saint-François d'Assise. The composition was intensive (he also wrote his own libretto) and occupied him from 1975 to 1979; the orchestration was carried out from 1979 until 1983. Messiaen preferred to describe the final work as a "spectacle" rather than an opera. It was first performed in 1983. Some commentators at the time thought that the opera would be his valediction (at times Messiaen himself believed so), but he continued to compose. In 1984, he published a major collection of organ pieces, Livre du Saint Sacrement; other works include birdsong pieces for solo piano, and works for piano with orchestra.
In the summer of 1978, Messiaen retired from teaching at the Paris Conservatoire. He was promoted to the highest rank of the Légion d'honneur, the Grand-Croix, in 1987. An operation prevented his participation in the celebration of his 70th birthday in 1978, but in 1988 tributes for Messiaen's 80th included a complete performance in London's Royal Festival Hall of St. François, which the composer attended, and Erato's publication of a seventeen-CD collection of Messiaen's music including a disc of the composer in conversation with Claude Samuel.
Although in considerable pain near the end of his life (requiring repeated surgery on his back) he was able to fulfil a commission from the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Éclairs sur l'au-delà..., which was premièred six months after his death. He died in Paris on 27 April 1992.
On going through his papers, Loriod discovered that, in the last months of his life, he had been composing a concerto for four musicians he felt particularly grateful to, namely herself, the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, the oboist Heinz Holliger and the flautist Catherine Cantin (hence the title Concert à quatre). Four of the five intended movements were substantially complete; Yvonne Loriod undertook the orchestration of the second half of the first movement and of the whole of the fourth with advice from George Benjamin. It was premiered by the dedicatees in September of 1994.
Music
Messiaen's music has been described as outside the western musical tradition, although growing out of that tradition and being influenced by it. Much of his output denies the western conventions of forward motion, development and diatonic harmonic resolution. This is partly due to the symmetries of his technique—for instance the modes of limited transposition do not admit the conventional cadences found in western classical music.
His youthful love for the fairy-tale element in Shakespeare prefigured his later expressions of Catholic liturgy. Messiaen was not interested in depicting aspects of theology such as sin; rather he concentrated on the theology of joy, divine love and redemption.
Messiaen continually evolved new composition techniques, always integrating them into his existing musical style; his final works still retain the use of modes of limited transposition. For many commentators this continual development made every major work from the Quatuor onwards a conscious summation of all that Messiaen had composed up to that time. However, very few of these major works lack new technical ideas—simple examples being the introduction of communicable language in Meditations, the invention of a new percussion instrument (the geophone) for Des canyons aux etoiles..., and the freedom from any synchronisation with the main pulse of individual parts in certain birdsong episodes of St. François d'Assise.
As well as discovering new techniques, Messiaen studied and absorbed foreign music, including Ancient Greek rhythms, Hindu rhythms (he encountered Śārṅgadeva's list of 120 rhythmic units, the deçî-tâlas), Balinese and Javanese Gamelan, birdsong, and Japanese music (see Example 1 for an instance of his use of ancient Greek and Hindu rhythms).
While he was instrumental in the academic exploration of his techniques (he compiled two treatises: the later one in five volumes was substantially complete when he died and was published posthumously), and was himself a master of music analysis, he considered the development and study of techniques a means to intellectual, aesthetic, and emotional ends. Thus Messiaen maintained that a musical composition must be measured against three separate criteria: it must be interesting, beautiful to listen to, and it must touch the listener.
Messiaen wrote a large body of music for the piano. Although a considerable pianist himself, he was undoubtedly assisted by Yvonne Loriod's formidable piano technique and ability to convey complex rhythms and rhythmic combinations; in his piano writing from Visions de l'Amen onwards he had her in mind. Messiaen said, "I am able to allow myself the greatest eccentricities because to her anything is possible."
Western artistic influences
Developments in modern French music were a major influence on Messiaen, particularly the music of Claude Debussy and his use of the whole-tone scale (which Messiaen called Mode 1 in his modes of limited transposition). Messiaen rarely used the whole-tone scale in his compositions because, he said, after Debussy and Dukas there was "nothing to add", but the modes he did use are similarly symmetrical.
Messiaen had a great admiration for the music of Igor Stravinsky, particularly the use of rhythm in earlier works such as The Rite of Spring, and his use of orchestral colour. He was further influenced by the orchestral brilliance of Heitor Villa-Lobos, who lived in Paris in the 1920s and gave acclaimed concerts there. Among composers for the keyboard, Messiaen singled out Jean-Philippe Rameau, Domenico Scarlatti, Frédéric Chopin, Debussy and Isaac Albéniz. He loved the music of Modest Mussorgsky and incorporated varied modifications of what he called the "M-shaped" melodic motif from Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, although he modified the final interval in this motif from a perfect fourth to a tritone (Example 3).
Messiaen was further influenced by Surrealism, as may be seen from the titles of some of the piano Préludes (Un reflet dans le vent..., "A reflection in the wind") and in some of the imagery of his poetry (he published poems as prefaces to certain works, for example Les offrandes oubliées).
Colour
Colour lies at the heart of Messiaen's music. He believed that terms such as "tonal", "modal" and "serial" are misleading analytical conveniences. For him there were no modal, tonal or serial compositions, only music with or without colour. He said that Claudio Monteverdi, Mozart, Chopin, Richard Wagner, Mussorgsky and Stravinsky all wrote strongly coloured music.
In some of Messiaen's scores, he notated the colours in the music (notably in Couleurs de la cité céleste and Des canyons aux étoiles...)—the purpose being to aid the conductor in interpretation rather than to specify which colours the listener should experience. The importance of colour is linked to Messiaen's synaesthesia, which caused him to experience colours when he heard or imagined music (his form of synaesthesia, the most common form, involved experiencing the associated colours in a non-visual form rather than perceiving them visually). In his multi-volume music theory treatise Traité de rythme, de couleur, et d'ornithologie ("Treatise of Rhythm, Colour and Birdsong"), Messiaen wrote descriptions of the colours of certain chords. His descriptions range from the simple ("gold and brown") to the highly detailed ("blue-violet rocks, speckled with little grey cubes, cobalt blue, deep Prussian blue, highlighted by a bit of violet-purple, gold, red, ruby, and stars of mauve, black and white. Blue-violet is dominant").
When asked what Messiaen's main influence had been on composers, George Benjamin said, "I think the sheer ... colour has been so influential, ... rather than being a decorative element, [Messiaen showed that colour] could be a structural, a fundamental element, ... the fundamental material of the music itself."
Symmetry
Many of Messiaen's composition techniques made use of symmetries of time and pitch.
Time
From his earliest works, Messiaen used non-retrogradable (palindromic) rhythms (Example 2). He sometimes combined rhythms with harmonic sequences in such a way that, if the process were repeated indefinitely, the music would eventually run through all possible permutations and return to its starting point. For Messiaen, this represented the "charm of impossibilities" of these processes. He only ever presented a portion of any such process, as if allowing the informed listener a glimpse of something eternal. In the first movement of Quatuor pour la fin du temps the piano and cello together provide an early example.
Pitch
Messiaen used modes he called modes of limited transposition. They are distinguished as groups of notes that can only be transposed by a semitone a limited number of times. For example, the whole-tone scale (Messiaen's Mode 1) only exists in two transpositions: namely C–D–E–F–G–A and D–E–F–G–A–B. Messiaen abstracted these modes from the harmony of his improvisations and early works. Music written using the modes avoids conventional diatonic harmonic progressions, since for example Messiaen's Mode 2 (identical to the octatonic scale used also by other composers) permits precisely the dominant seventh chords whose tonic the mode does not contain.
Time and rhythm
As well as making use of non-retrogradable rhythm and the Hindu decî-tâlas, Messiaen also composed with "additive" rhythms. This involves lengthening individual notes slightly or interpolating a short note into an otherwise regular rhythm (see Example 3), or shortening or lengthening every note of a rhythm by the same duration (adding a semiquaver to every note in a rhythm on its repeat, for example). This led Messiaen to use rhythmic cells that irregularly alternate between two and three units, a process that also occurs in Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, which Messiaen admired.
A factor that contributes to Messiaen's suspension of the conventional perception of time in his music is the extremely slow tempos he often specifies (the fifth movement Louange à l'eternité de Jésus of Quatuor is actually given the tempo marking infiniment lent). Messiaen also used the concept of "chromatic durations", for example in his Soixante-quatre durées from Livre d'orgue (), which is built from, in Messiaen's words, "64 chromatic durations from 1 to 64 demisemiquavers [thirty-second notes]—invested in groups of 4, from the ends to the centre, forwards and backwards alternately—treated as a retrograde canon. The whole peopled with birdsong."
Harmony
In addition to making harmonic use of the modes of limited transposition, he cited the harmonic series as a physical phenomenon that provides chords with a context he felt was missing in purely serial music. An example of Messiaen's harmonic use of this phenomenon, which he called "resonance", is the last two bars of his first piano Prélude, La colombe ("The dove"): the chord is built from harmonics of the fundamental base note E.
Related to this use of resonance, Messiaen also composed music in which the lowest, or fundamental, note is combined with higher notes or chords played much more quietly. These higher notes, far from being perceived as conventional harmony, function as harmonics that alter the timbre of the fundamental note like mixture stops on a pipe organ. An example is the song of the golden oriole in Le loriot of the Catalogue d'oiseaux for solo piano (Example 4).
In his use of conventional diatonic chords, Messiaen often transcended their historically mundane connotations (for example, his frequent use of the added sixth chord as a resolution).
Birdsong
Birdsong fascinated Messiaen from an early age, and in this he found encouragement from his teacher Dukas, who reportedly urged his pupils to "listen to the birds". Messiaen included stylised birdsong in some of his early compositions (including L'abîme d'oiseaux from the Quatuor pour la fin du temps), integrating it into his sound-world by techniques like the modes of limited transposition and chord colouration. His evocations of birdsong became increasingly sophisticated, and with Le réveil des oiseaux this process reached maturity, the whole piece being built from birdsong: in effect it is a dawn chorus for orchestra. The same can be said for "Epode", the five-minute sixth movement of Chronochromie, which is scored for eighteen violins, each one playing a different birdsong. Messiaen notated the bird species with the music in the score (examples 1 and 4). The pieces are not simple transcriptions; even the works with purely bird-inspired titles, such as Catalogue d'oiseaux and Fauvette des jardins, are tone poems evoking the landscape, its colours and atmosphere.
Serialism
For some compositions, Messiaen created scales for duration, attack and timbre analogous to the chromatic pitch scale. He expressed annoyance at the historical importance given to one of these works, Mode de valeurs et d'intensités, by musicologists intent on crediting him with the invention of "total serialism".
Messiaen later introduced what he called a "communicable language", a "musical alphabet" to encode sentences. He first used this technique in his Méditations sur le mystère de la Sainte Trinité for organ; where the "alphabet" includes motifs for the concepts to have, to be and God, while the sentences encoded feature sections from the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas.
Writings
See also
Olivier Messiaen Competition
Notes
References
Further reading
Baggech, Melody Ann (1998). An English Translation of Olivier Messiaen's "Traite de Rythme, de Couleur, et d'Ornithologie" Norman: The University of Oklahoma.
Barker, Thomas (2012). "The Social and Aesthetic Situation of Olivier Messiaen's Religious Music: Turangalîla Symphonie." International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music 43/1:53–70.
Benitez, Vincent P. (2000). "A Creative Legacy: Messiaen as Teacher of Analysis." College Music Symposium 40: 117–39.
Benitez, Vincent P. (2001). "Pitch Organization and Dramatic Design in Saint François d'Assise of Olivier Messiaen." PhD diss., Bloomington: Indiana University.
Benitez, Vincent P. (2002). "Simultaneous Contrast and Additive Designs in Olivier Messiaen's Opera Saint François d'Assise." Music Theory Online 8.2 (August 2002). Music Theory Online
Benitez, Vincent P. (2004). "Aspects of Harmony in Messiaen's Later Music: An Examination of the Chords of Transposed Inversions on the Same Bass Note." Journal of Musicological Research 23, no. 2: 187–226.
Benitez, Vincent P. (2004). "Narrating Saint Francis's Spiritual Journey: Referential Pitch Structures and Symbolic Images in Olivier Messiaen's Saint François d'Assise." In Poznan Studies on Opera, edited by Maciej Jablonski, 363–411.
Benitez, Vincent P. (2008). "Messiaen as Improviser." Dutch Journal of Music Theory 13, no. 2 (May 2008): 129–44.
Benitez, Vincent P. (2009). "Reconsidering Messiaen as Serialist." Music Analysis 28, nos. 2–3 (2009): 267–99 (published April 21, 2011).
Benitez, Vincent P. (2010). "Messiaen and Aquinas." In Messiaen the Theologian, edited by Andrew Shenton, 101–26. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Benítez, Vincent Pérez (2019). Olivier Messiaen's Opera, Saint François d'Assise. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. .
Boivin, Jean (1993). "La Classe de Messiaen: Historique, reconstitution, impact". Ph.D. diss. Montreal: Ecole Polytechnique, Montreal.
Boswell-Kurc, Lilise (2001). "Olivier Messiaen's Religious War-Time Works and Their Controversial Reception in France (1941–1946) ". Ph.D. diss. New York: New York University.
Burns, Jeffrey Phillips (1995). "Messiaen's Modes of Limited Transposition Reconsidered". M.M. thesis, Madison: University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Cheong Wai-Ling (2003). "Messiaen's Chord Tables: Ordering the Disordered". Tempo 57, no. 226 (October): 2–10.
Cheong Wai-Ling (2008). "Neumes and Greek Rhythms: The Breakthrough in Messiaen's Birdsong". Acta Musicologica 80, no. 1:1–32.
Dingle, Christopher (2013). Messiaen's Final Works. Farnham, UK: Ashgate. .
Fallon, Robert Joseph (2005). "Messiaen's Mimesis: The Language and Culture of The Bird Styles". Ph.D. diss. Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley.
Fallon, Robert (2008). "Birds, Beasts, and Bombs in Messiaen's Cold War Mass". The Journal of Musicology 26, no. 2 (Spring): 175–204.
Hardink, Jason M. (2007). "Messiaen and Plainchant". D.M.A. diss. Houston: Rice University.
Harris, Joseph Edward (2004). "Musique coloree: Synesthetic Correspondence in the Works of Olivier Messiaen". Ph.D. diss. Ames: The University of Iowa.
Hill, Matthew Richard (1995). "Messiaen's Regard du silence as an Expression of Catholic Faith". D.M.A. diss. Madison: The University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Laycock, Gary Eng Yeow (2010). "Re-evaluating Olivier Messiaen's Musical Language from 1917 to 1935". Ph.D. diss. Bloomington: Indiana University, 2010.
Luchese, Diane (1998). "Olivier Messiaen's Slow Music: Glimpses of Eternity in Time". Ph.D. diss. Evanston: Northwestern University
McGinnis, Margaret Elizabeth (2003). "Playing the Fields: Messiaen, Music, and the Extramusical". Ph.D. diss. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Nelson, David Lowell (1992). "An Analysis of Olivier Messiaen's Chant Paraphrases". 2 vols. Ph.D. diss. Evanston: Northwestern University
Ngim, Alan Gerald (1997). "Olivier Messiaen as a Pianist: A Study of Tempo and Rhythm Based on His Recordings of Visions de l'amen". D.M.A. diss. Coral Gables: University of Miami.
Peterson, Larry Wayne (1973). "Messiaen and Rhythm: Theory and Practice". Ph.D. diss. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Puspita, Amelia (2008). "The Influence of Balinese Gamelan on the Music of Olivier Messiaen". D.M.A. diss. Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati
Schultz, Rob (2008). "Melodic Contour and Nonretrogradable Structure in the Birdsong of Olivier Messiaen". Music Theory Spectrum 30, no. 1 (Spring): 89–137.
Shenton, Andrew (1998). "The Unspoken Word: Olivier Messiaen's 'langage communicable'". Ph.D. diss. Cambridge: Harvard University.
Simeone, Nigel (2004). "'Chez Messiaen, tout est priére': Messiaen's Appointment at the Trinité". The Musical Times 145, no. 1889 (Winter): 36–53.
Simeone, Nigel (2008). "Messiaen, Koussevitzky and the USA". The Musical Times 149, no. 1905 (Winter): 25–44.
Welsh Ibanez, Deborah (2005). Color, Timbre, and Resonance: Developments in Olivier Messiaen's Use of Percussion Between 1956–1965. D.M.A. diss. Coral Gables: University of Miami
Zheng, Zhong (2004). A Study of Messiaen's Solo Piano Works. Ph.D. diss. Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Films
Apparition of the Eternal Church – Paul Festa's 2006 film about responses of 31 artists to Messiaen's music.
Messiaen at 80 (1988). Directed by Sue Knussen. BFI database entry.
Olivier Messiaen et les oiseaux (1973). Directed by Michel Fano and Denise Tual.
Olivier Messiaen – The Crystal Liturgy (2007 [DVD release date]). Directed by Olivier Mille.
Olivier Messiaen: Works (1991). DVD on which Messiaen performs "Improvisations" on the organ at the Paris Trinity Church.
The South Bank Show: Olivier Messiaen: The Music of Faith (1985). Directed by Alan Benson. BFI database entry.
Quartet for the End of Time, with the President's Own Marine Band Ensemble, A Film by H. Paul Moon
External links
"Messiaen, Olivier" in Oxford Music Online (by subscription)
BBC Messiaen Profile
oliviermessiaen.org Up to date website by Malcolm Ball, includes the latest recordings and concerts, a comprehensive bibliography, photos, analyses and reviews, a very extensive bio of Yvonne Loriod with discography, and more.
Infography about Olivier Messiaen
oliviermessiaen.net, hosted by the Boston University Messiaen Project [BUMP]. Includes detailed information on the composer's life and works, events, and links to other Messiaen websites.
www.philharmonia.co.uk/messiaen, the Philharmonia Orchestra's Messiaen website. The site contains articles, unseen images, programme notes and films to go alongside the orchestra's series of concerts celebrating the Centenary of Olivier Messiaen's birth.
Music for the End of Time, David Schiff article in The Nation, posted January 25, 2006 (February 13, 2006 issue). Formally a review of Messiaen by Peter Hill and Nigel Simeone, but provides an overview of Messiaen's life and works.
Music and the Holocaust – Olivier Messiaen
My Messiaen Modes A visual representation of Messiaen's modes of limited transposition.
Listening
played by Martina Trumpp, violin and Bohumir Stehlik, piano
Thème et variations – Helen Kim, violin; Adam Bowles, piano Luna Nova New Music Ensemble
Le merle noir – John McMurtery, flute; Adam Bowles, piano Luna Nova New Music Ensemble
Quatuor pour la fin du temps – Luna Nova New Music Ensemble
Regard de l'esprit de joie from Vingt regards..., Tom Poster, pianist
played on a Mühleisen pipe organ
In-depth feature on Olivier Messiaen by Radio France International's English service
by Ukho Ensemble Kyiv
1908 births
1992 deaths
20th-century classical composers
Conservatoire de Paris alumni
Conservatoire de Paris faculty
Academics of the École Normale de Musique de Paris
Composers for piano
Composers for pipe organ
EMI Classics and Virgin Classics artists
Ernst von Siemens Music Prize winners
French classical composers
French male classical composers
French classical organists
French male organists
French composers of sacred music
French military personnel of World War II
French ornithologists
Deutsche Grammophon artists
French Roman Catholics
Kyoto laureates in Arts and Philosophy
Members of the Académie des beaux-arts
Modernist composers
Organ improvisers
Musicians from Avignon
Pupils of Maurice Emmanuel
Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medallists
Schola Cantorum de Paris faculty
Wolf Prize in Arts laureates
World War II prisoners of war held by Germany
Grand Croix of the Légion d'honneur
Commanders of the Order of the Crown (Belgium)
Recipients of the Léonie Sonning Music Prize
20th-century French composers
20th-century French male musicians
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[
"\"Grand Coulee Dam\" is an American folk song recorded in 1941 by Woody Guthrie. He wrote it during a brief period when he was commissioned by the Bonneville Power Administration to write songs as part of a documentary film project about the dam and related projects.\n\nThe song was part of the Columbia River Ballads, a set of 26 songs written by Guthrie as part of a commission by the BPA, the federal agency created to sell and distribute power from the river's federal hydroelectric facilities, in particular the Bonneville Dam and Grand Coulee Dam. On the recommendation of Alan Lomax, the BPA hired Guthrie to write a set of propaganda songs about the federal projects to gain support for federal regulation of hydroelectricity.\n\nAlthough the intended documentary film was not completed until 1949, Guthrie's songs were recorded in Portland, Oregon in May 1941. The tune for \"Grand Coulee Dam\" is based on that of the traditional song \"The Wabash Cannonball\". Guthrie's recording was reissued on the Folkways album Bound For Glory in 1956, and subsequently on numerous compilations of Guthrie's songs.\n\nThe song was later recorded by British skiffle musician Lonnie Donegan, whose version entered the British pop charts in April 1958, rising to number six on the chart. Donegan was featured performing the song in the movie Six-Five Special, a spin-off of the British TV show of the same name. One critic has written:\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\nColumbia River\nSongs written by Woody Guthrie\n1941 songs\nWoody Guthrie songs",
"\"Lyra\" is a song written, produced, and performed by British recording artist Kate Bush, from the 2007 soundtrack album The Golden Compass from the film of the same name. It is used in the closing credits of the film. Bush was commissioned to write the song, with the request that it make reference to the lead character, Lyra Belacqua.\n\nBackground\nAccording to Del Palmer, Bush was asked to do the song at very short notice and the whole project was completed in 10 days. The song was produced and recorded by Bush in her own studio, and features the Magdalen College, Oxford choir. It contains the introduction of an unused song written for Disney's Dinosaur.\n\nCritical reception and recognition\n\"Lyra\" was nominated for the International Press Academy's Satellite Award for Best Original Song.\n\nChart performance\nThe song reached number 187 on the UK Singles Chart, charting on downloads from the album alone.\n\nReferences\n\nKate Bush songs\nSongs written by Kate Bush\n2007 songs\nSongs written for films\nSongs about fictional female characters"
] |
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"Olivier Messiaen",
"Tristan and serialism",
"What is Tristan and serialism?",
"Messiaen composed the song cycle Harawi, the first of three works inspired by the legend of Tristan and Isolde.",
"What was the song about?",
"The second of these works about human (as opposed to divine) love was the result of a commission from Serge Koussevitzky.",
"Was he commissioned to write any other songs?",
"I don't know."
] |
C_c98b847278d549889a47900bb8acefee_0
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Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?
| 4 |
Are there any other interesting aspects about this article besides Olivier Messiaen's Harawi?
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Olivier Messiaen
|
Shortly after his release from Gorlitz in May 1941, Messiaen was appointed a professor of harmony at the Paris Conservatoire, where he taught until his retirement in 1978. He compiled his Technique de mon langage musical ("Technique of my musical language") published in 1944, in which he quotes many examples from his music, particularly the Quartet. Although only in his mid-thirties, his students described him as an outstanding teacher. Among his early students were the composers Pierre Boulez and Karel Goeyvaerts. Other pupils included Karlheinz Stockhausen in 1952, Alexander Goehr in 1956-57, Tristan Murail in 1967-72 and George Benjamin during the late 1970s. The Greek composer Iannis Xenakis was referred to him in 1951; Messiaen urged Xenakis to take advantage of his background in mathematics and architecture in his music. In 1943, Messiaen wrote Visions de l'Amen ("Visions of the Amen") for two pianos for Yvonne Loriod and himself to perform. Shortly thereafter he composed the enormous solo piano cycle Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jesus ("Twenty gazes upon the child Jesus") for her. Again for Loriod, he wrote Trois petites liturgies de la presence divine ("Three small liturgies of the Divine Presence") for female chorus and orchestra, which includes a difficult solo piano part. Two years after Visions de l'Amen, Messiaen composed the song cycle Harawi, the first of three works inspired by the legend of Tristan and Isolde. The second of these works about human (as opposed to divine) love was the result of a commission from Serge Koussevitzky. Messiaen stated that the commission did not specify the length of the work or the size of the orchestra. This was the ten-movement Turangalila-Symphonie. It is not a conventional symphony, but rather an extended meditation on the joy of human union and love. It does not contain the sexual guilt inherent in Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde because Messiaen believed that sexual love is a divine gift. The third piece inspired by the Tristan myth was Cinq rechants for twelve unaccompanied singers, described by Messiaen as influenced by the alba of the troubadours. Messiaen visited the United States in 1949, where his music was conducted by Koussevitsky and Leopold Stokowski. His Turangalila-Symphonie was first performed in the US in 1949, conducted by Leonard Bernstein. Messiaen taught an analysis class at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1947 he taught (and performed with Loriod) for two weeks in Budapest. In 1949 he taught at Tanglewood. Beginning in summer 1949 he taught in the new music summer school classes at Darmstadt. While he did not employ the twelve-tone technique, after three years teaching analysis of twelve-tone scores, including works by Arnold Schoenberg, he experimented with ways of making scales of other elements (including duration, articulation and dynamics) analogous to the chromatic pitch scale. The results of these innovations was the "Mode de valeurs et d'intensites" for piano (from the Quatre etudes de rythme) which has been misleadingly described as the first work of "total serialism". It had a large influence on the earliest European serial composers, including Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen. During this period he also experimented with musique concrete, music for recorded sounds. CANNOTANSWER
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Messiaen taught an analysis class at the Paris Conservatoire.
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Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist who was one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex; harmonically and melodically he employs a system he called modes of limited transposition, which he abstracted from the systems of material generated by his early compositions and improvisations. He wrote music for chamber ensembles and orchestra, vocal music, as well as for solo organ and piano, and also experimented with the use of novel electronic instruments developed in Europe during his lifetime.
Messiaen entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 11 and was taught by Paul Dukas, Maurice Emmanuel, Charles-Marie Widor and Marcel Dupré, among others. He was appointed organist at the Église de la Sainte-Trinité, Paris, in 1931, a post held for 61 years until his death. He taught at the Schola Cantorum de Paris during the 1930s. After the fall of France in 1940, Messiaen was interned for nine months in the German prisoner of war camp Stalag VIII-A, where he composed his ("Quartet for the end of time") for the four instruments available in the prison—piano, violin, cello and clarinet. The piece was first performed by Messiaen and fellow prisoners for an audience of inmates and prison guards. He was appointed professor of harmony soon after his release in 1941 and professor of composition in 1966 at the Paris Conservatoire, positions that he held until his retirement in 1978. His many distinguished pupils included Iannis Xenakis, George Benjamin, Alexander Goehr, Pierre Boulez, Tristan Murail, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Yvonne Loriod, who became his second wife.
Messiaen perceived colours when he heard certain musical chords (a phenomenon known as synaesthesia); according to him, combinations of these colours were important in his compositional process. He travelled widely and wrote works inspired by diverse influences, including Japanese music, the landscape of Bryce Canyon in Utah, and the life of St. Francis of Assisi. For a short period Messiaen experimented with the parametrisation associated with "total serialism", in which field he is often cited as an innovator. His style absorbed many global musical influences such as Indonesian gamelan (tuned percussion often features prominently in his orchestral works).
He found birdsong fascinating, notating bird songs worldwide and incorporating birdsong transcriptions into his music. His innovative use of colour, his conception of the relationship between time and music, and his use of birdsong are among the features that make Messiaen's music distinctive.
Biography
Youth and studies
Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen was born at 11:00 on 10 December 1908 at 20 Boulevard Sixte-Isnard in Avignon, France, into a literary family. He was the elder of two sons of Cécile Anne Marie-Antoinette Sauvage, a poet, and Pierre Léon Joseph Messiaen, a scholar and teacher of English from a farm near Wervicq-Sud who translated the plays of William Shakespeare into French. Messiaen's mother published a sequence of poems, ("The Budding Soul"), the last chapter of ("As the Earth Turns"), which address her unborn son. Messiaen later said this sequence of poems influenced him deeply and he cited it as prophetic of his future artistic career. His younger brother Alain André Prosper Messiaen was also a poet.
At the outbreak of World War I, Pierre enlisted and Cécile took their two boys to live with her brother in Grenoble. There Messiaen became fascinated with drama, reciting Shakespeare to his brother with the help of a home-made toy theatre with translucent backdrops made from old cellophane wrappers. At this time he also adopted the Roman Catholic faith. Later, Messiaen felt most at home in the Alps of the Dauphiné, where he had a house built south of Grenoble where he composed most of his music.
He took piano lessons, having already taught himself to play. His interests included the recent music of French composers Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, and he asked for opera vocal scores for Christmas presents. He also saved to buy scores and one such was Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt whose "beautiful Norwegian melodic lines with the taste of folk song ... gave me a love of melody." Around this time he began to compose. In 1918 his father returned from the war and the family moved to Nantes. He continued music lessons; one of his teachers, Jehan de Gibon, gave him a score of Debussy's opera , which Messiaen described as "a thunderbolt" and "probably the most decisive influence on me". The following year Pierre Messiaen gained a teaching post in Paris. Messiaen entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1919, aged 11.
At the Paris Conservatoire, Messiaen made excellent academic progress. In 1924, aged 15, he was awarded second prize in harmony, having been taught in that subject by professor Jean Gallon. In 1925 he won first prize in piano accompaniment, and in 1926 he gained first prize in fugue. After studying with Maurice Emmanuel, he was awarded second prize for the history of music in 1928. Emmanuel's example engendered an interest in ancient Greek rhythms and exotic modes. After showing improvisational skills on the piano Messiaen studied organ with Marcel Dupré. Messiaen gained first prize in organ playing and improvisation in 1929. After a year studying composition with Charles-Marie Widor, in autumn 1927 he entered the class of the newly appointed Paul Dukas. Messiaen's mother died of tuberculosis shortly before the class began. Despite his grief, he resumed his studies, and in 1930 Messiaen won first prize in composition.
While a student he composed his first published works—his eight Préludes for piano (the earlier Le banquet céleste was published subsequently). These exhibit Messiaen's use of his modes of limited transposition and palindromic rhythms (Messiaen called these non-retrogradable rhythms). His public début came in 1931 with his orchestral suite Les offrandes oubliées. That year he first heard a gamelan group, sparking his interest in the use of tuned percussion.
La Trinité, La jeune France, and Messiaen's war
In the autumn of 1927, Messiaen joined Dupré's organ course. Dupré later wrote that Messiaen, having never seen an organ console, sat quietly for an hour while Dupré explained and demonstrated the instrument, and then came back a week later to play Johann Sebastian Bach's Fantasia in C minor to an impressive standard. From 1929, Messiaen regularly deputised at the Église de la Sainte-Trinité, Paris, for the organist Charles Quef, who was ill at the time. The post became vacant in 1931 when Quef died, and Dupré, Charles Tournemire and Widor among others supported Messiaen's candidacy. His formal application included a letter of recommendation from Widor. The appointment was confirmed in 1931, and he remained the organist at the church for more than 60 years. He also assumed a post at the Schola Cantorum de Paris in the early 1930s. In 1932, he composed the Apparition de l'église éternelle for organ.
He also married the violinist and composer Claire Delbos (daughter of Victor Delbos) that year. Their marriage inspired him both to compose works for her to play (Thème et variations for violin and piano in the year they were married) and to write pieces to celebrate their domestic happiness, including the song cycle Poèmes pour Mi in 1936, which he orchestrated in 1937. Mi was Messiaen's affectionate nickname for his wife. In 1937 their son Pascal was born. The marriage turned to tragedy when Delbos lost her memory after an operation towards the end of World War II. She spent the rest of her life in mental institutions.
In 1936, along with André Jolivet, Daniel-Lesur and Yves Baudrier, Messiaen formed the group La jeune France ("Young France"). Their manifesto implicitly attacked the frivolity predominant in contemporary Parisian music and rejected Jean Cocteau's 1918 Le coq et l'arlequin in favour of a "living music, having the impetus of sincerity, generosity and artistic conscientiousness". Messiaen's career soon departed from this polemical phase.
In response to a commission for a piece to accompany light-and-water shows on the Seine during the Paris Exposition, in 1937 Messiaen demonstrated his interest in using the ondes Martenot, an electronic instrument, by composing Fêtes des belles eaux for an ensemble of six. He included a part for the instrument in several of his subsequent compositions. During this period he composed several multi-movement organ works. He arranged his orchestral suite L'ascension ("The Ascension") for organ, replacing the orchestral version's third movement with an entirely new movement, Transports de joie d'une âme devant la gloire du Christ qui est la sienne ("Ecstasies of a soul before the glory of Christ which is the soul's own") (). He also wrote the extensive cycles La Nativité du Seigneur ("The Nativity of the Lord") and Les corps glorieux ("The glorious bodies").
At the outbreak of World War II, Messiaen was drafted into the French army. Due to poor eyesight, he was enlisted as a medical auxiliary rather than an active combatant. He was captured at Verdun and taken to Görlitz in May 1940, and was imprisoned at Stalag VIII-A. He met a violinist, a cellist and a clarinettist among his fellow prisoners. He wrote a trio for them, which he gradually incorporated into his Quatuor pour la fin du temps ("Quartet for the End of Time"). With the help of a friendly German guard (), he acquired manuscript paper and pencils, and was able to assemble the three other POWs to help him perform the piece. The Quartet was first performed in January 1941 to an audience of prisoners and prison guards, with the composer playing a poorly maintained upright piano in freezing conditions. The enforced introspection and reflection of camp life bore fruit in one of 20th-century classical music's acknowledged masterpieces. The title's "end of time" alludes to the Apocalypse, and also to the way that Messiaen, through rhythm and harmony, used time in a manner completely different from his predecessors and contemporaries.
The idea of a European Centre of Education and Culture "Meeting Point Music Messiaen" on the site of Stalag VIII-A, for children and youth, artists, musicians and everyone in the region emerged in December 2004, was developed with the involvement of Messiaen's widow as a joint project between the council districts in Germany and Poland, and was finally completed in 2014.
Tristan and serialism
Shortly after his release from Görlitz in May of 1941, Messiaen was appointed a professor of harmony at the Paris Conservatoire, where he taught until his retirement in 1978. He compiled his Technique de mon langage musical ("Technique of my musical language") published in 1944, in which he quotes many examples from his music, particularly the Quartet. Although only in his mid-thirties, his students described him as an outstanding teacher. Among his early students were the composers Pierre Boulez and Karel Goeyvaerts. Other pupils included Karlheinz Stockhausen in 1952, Alexander Goehr in 1956–57, Tristan Murail in 1967–72 and George Benjamin during the late 1970s. The Greek composer Iannis Xenakis was referred to him in 1951; Messiaen urged Xenakis to take advantage of his background in mathematics and architecture in his music.
In 1943, Messiaen wrote Visions de l'Amen ("Visions of the Amen") for two pianos for Yvonne Loriod and himself to perform. Shortly thereafter he composed the enormous solo piano cycle Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jésus ("Twenty gazes upon the child Jesus") for her. Again for Loriod, he wrote Trois petites liturgies de la présence divine ("Three small liturgies of the Divine Presence") for female chorus and orchestra, which includes a difficult solo piano part.
Two years after Visions de l'Amen, Messiaen composed the song cycle Harawi, the first of three works inspired by the legend of Tristan and Isolde. The second of these works about human (as opposed to divine) love was the result of a commission from Serge Koussevitzky. Messiaen stated that the commission did not specify the length of the work or the size of the orchestra. This was the ten-movement Turangalîla-Symphonie. It is not a conventional symphony, but rather an extended meditation on the joy of human union and love. It does not contain the sexual guilt inherent in Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde because Messiaen believed that sexual love is a divine gift. The third piece inspired by the Tristan myth was Cinq rechants for twelve unaccompanied singers, described by Messiaen as influenced by the alba of the troubadours. Messiaen visited the United States in 1949, where his music was conducted by Koussevitsky and Leopold Stokowski. His Turangalîla-Symphonie was first performed in the US in 1949, conducted by Leonard Bernstein.
Messiaen taught an analysis class at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1947 he taught (and performed with Loriod) for two weeks in Budapest. In 1949 he taught at Tanglewood. Beginning in summer 1949 he taught in the new music summer school classes at Darmstadt. While he did not employ the twelve-tone technique, after three years teaching analysis of twelve-tone scores, including works by Arnold Schoenberg, he experimented with ways of making scales of other elements (including duration, articulation and dynamics) analogous to the chromatic pitch scale. The results of these innovations was the "Mode de valeurs et d'intensités" for piano (from the Quatre études de rythme) which has been misleadingly described as the first work of "total serialism". It had a large influence on the earliest European serial composers, including Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen. During this period he also experimented with musique concrète, music for recorded sounds.
Birdsong and the 1960s
When in 1952 Messiaen was asked to provide a test piece for flautists at the Paris Conservatoire, he composed the piece Le merle noir for flute and piano. While he had long been fascinated by birdsong, and birds had made appearances in several of his earlier works (for example La Nativité, Quatuor and Vingt regards), the flute piece was based entirely on the song of the blackbird.
He took this development to a new level with his 1953 orchestral work Réveil des oiseaux—its material consists almost entirely of the birdsong one might hear between midnight and noon in the Jura. From this period onwards, Messiaen incorporated birdsong into all of his compositions and composed several works for which birds provide both the title and subject matter (for example the collection of thirteen pieces for piano Catalogue d'oiseaux completed in 1958, and La fauvette des jardins of 1971). Paul Griffiths observed that Messiaen was a more conscientious ornithologist than any previous composer, and a more musical observer of birdsong than any previous ornithologist.
Messiaen's first wife died in 1959 after a long illness, and in 1961 he married Loriod. He began to travel widely, to attend musical events and to seek out and transcribe the songs of more exotic birds in the wild. Loriod frequently assisted her husband's detailed studies of birdsong while walking with him, by making tape recordings for later reference. In 1962 he visited Japan, where Gagaku music and Noh theatre inspired the orchestral "Japanese sketches", Sept haïkaï, which contain stylised imitations of traditional Japanese instruments.
Messiaen's music was by this time championed by, among others, Pierre Boulez, who programmed first performances at his Domaine musical concerts and the Donaueschingen festival. Works performed included Réveil des oiseaux, Chronochromie (commissioned for the 1960 festival) and Couleurs de la cité céleste. The latter piece was the result of a commission for a composition for three trombones and three xylophones; Messiaen added to this more brass, wind, percussion and piano, and specified a xylophone, xylorimba and marimba rather than three xylophones. Another work of this period, Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum, was commissioned as a commemoration of the dead of the two World Wars and was performed first semi-privately in the Sainte-Chapelle, then publicly in Chartres Cathedral with Charles de Gaulle in the audience.
His reputation as a composer continued to grow and in 1959, he was nominated as an Officier of the Légion d'honneur. In 1966 he was officially appointed professor of composition at the Paris Conservatoire, although he had in effect been teaching composition for years. Further honours included election to the Institut de France in 1967 and the Académie des beaux-arts in 1968, the Erasmus Prize in 1971, the award of the Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal and the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize in 1975, the Sonning Award (Denmark's highest musical honour) in 1977, the Wolf Prize in Arts in 1982, and the presentation of the Croix de Commander of the Belgian Order of the Crown in 1980.
Transfiguration, Canyons, St. Francis, and the Beyond
Messiaen's next work was the large-scale La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ. The composition occupied him from 1965 to 1969 and the musicians employed include a 100-voice ten-part choir, seven solo instruments and large orchestra. Its fourteen movements are a meditation on the story of Christ's Transfiguration. Shortly after its completion, Messiaen received a commission from Alice Tully for a work to celebrate the U.S. bicentennial. He arranged a visit to the US in spring 1972, and was inspired by Bryce Canyon in Utah, where he observed the canyon's distinctive colours and birdsong. The twelve-movement orchestral piece Des canyons aux étoiles... was the result, first performed in 1974 in New York.
In 1971, he was asked to compose a piece for the Paris Opéra. While reluctant to undertake such a major project, he was persuaded in 1975 to accept the commission and began work on his Saint-François d'Assise. The composition was intensive (he also wrote his own libretto) and occupied him from 1975 to 1979; the orchestration was carried out from 1979 until 1983. Messiaen preferred to describe the final work as a "spectacle" rather than an opera. It was first performed in 1983. Some commentators at the time thought that the opera would be his valediction (at times Messiaen himself believed so), but he continued to compose. In 1984, he published a major collection of organ pieces, Livre du Saint Sacrement; other works include birdsong pieces for solo piano, and works for piano with orchestra.
In the summer of 1978, Messiaen retired from teaching at the Paris Conservatoire. He was promoted to the highest rank of the Légion d'honneur, the Grand-Croix, in 1987. An operation prevented his participation in the celebration of his 70th birthday in 1978, but in 1988 tributes for Messiaen's 80th included a complete performance in London's Royal Festival Hall of St. François, which the composer attended, and Erato's publication of a seventeen-CD collection of Messiaen's music including a disc of the composer in conversation with Claude Samuel.
Although in considerable pain near the end of his life (requiring repeated surgery on his back) he was able to fulfil a commission from the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Éclairs sur l'au-delà..., which was premièred six months after his death. He died in Paris on 27 April 1992.
On going through his papers, Loriod discovered that, in the last months of his life, he had been composing a concerto for four musicians he felt particularly grateful to, namely herself, the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, the oboist Heinz Holliger and the flautist Catherine Cantin (hence the title Concert à quatre). Four of the five intended movements were substantially complete; Yvonne Loriod undertook the orchestration of the second half of the first movement and of the whole of the fourth with advice from George Benjamin. It was premiered by the dedicatees in September of 1994.
Music
Messiaen's music has been described as outside the western musical tradition, although growing out of that tradition and being influenced by it. Much of his output denies the western conventions of forward motion, development and diatonic harmonic resolution. This is partly due to the symmetries of his technique—for instance the modes of limited transposition do not admit the conventional cadences found in western classical music.
His youthful love for the fairy-tale element in Shakespeare prefigured his later expressions of Catholic liturgy. Messiaen was not interested in depicting aspects of theology such as sin; rather he concentrated on the theology of joy, divine love and redemption.
Messiaen continually evolved new composition techniques, always integrating them into his existing musical style; his final works still retain the use of modes of limited transposition. For many commentators this continual development made every major work from the Quatuor onwards a conscious summation of all that Messiaen had composed up to that time. However, very few of these major works lack new technical ideas—simple examples being the introduction of communicable language in Meditations, the invention of a new percussion instrument (the geophone) for Des canyons aux etoiles..., and the freedom from any synchronisation with the main pulse of individual parts in certain birdsong episodes of St. François d'Assise.
As well as discovering new techniques, Messiaen studied and absorbed foreign music, including Ancient Greek rhythms, Hindu rhythms (he encountered Śārṅgadeva's list of 120 rhythmic units, the deçî-tâlas), Balinese and Javanese Gamelan, birdsong, and Japanese music (see Example 1 for an instance of his use of ancient Greek and Hindu rhythms).
While he was instrumental in the academic exploration of his techniques (he compiled two treatises: the later one in five volumes was substantially complete when he died and was published posthumously), and was himself a master of music analysis, he considered the development and study of techniques a means to intellectual, aesthetic, and emotional ends. Thus Messiaen maintained that a musical composition must be measured against three separate criteria: it must be interesting, beautiful to listen to, and it must touch the listener.
Messiaen wrote a large body of music for the piano. Although a considerable pianist himself, he was undoubtedly assisted by Yvonne Loriod's formidable piano technique and ability to convey complex rhythms and rhythmic combinations; in his piano writing from Visions de l'Amen onwards he had her in mind. Messiaen said, "I am able to allow myself the greatest eccentricities because to her anything is possible."
Western artistic influences
Developments in modern French music were a major influence on Messiaen, particularly the music of Claude Debussy and his use of the whole-tone scale (which Messiaen called Mode 1 in his modes of limited transposition). Messiaen rarely used the whole-tone scale in his compositions because, he said, after Debussy and Dukas there was "nothing to add", but the modes he did use are similarly symmetrical.
Messiaen had a great admiration for the music of Igor Stravinsky, particularly the use of rhythm in earlier works such as The Rite of Spring, and his use of orchestral colour. He was further influenced by the orchestral brilliance of Heitor Villa-Lobos, who lived in Paris in the 1920s and gave acclaimed concerts there. Among composers for the keyboard, Messiaen singled out Jean-Philippe Rameau, Domenico Scarlatti, Frédéric Chopin, Debussy and Isaac Albéniz. He loved the music of Modest Mussorgsky and incorporated varied modifications of what he called the "M-shaped" melodic motif from Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, although he modified the final interval in this motif from a perfect fourth to a tritone (Example 3).
Messiaen was further influenced by Surrealism, as may be seen from the titles of some of the piano Préludes (Un reflet dans le vent..., "A reflection in the wind") and in some of the imagery of his poetry (he published poems as prefaces to certain works, for example Les offrandes oubliées).
Colour
Colour lies at the heart of Messiaen's music. He believed that terms such as "tonal", "modal" and "serial" are misleading analytical conveniences. For him there were no modal, tonal or serial compositions, only music with or without colour. He said that Claudio Monteverdi, Mozart, Chopin, Richard Wagner, Mussorgsky and Stravinsky all wrote strongly coloured music.
In some of Messiaen's scores, he notated the colours in the music (notably in Couleurs de la cité céleste and Des canyons aux étoiles...)—the purpose being to aid the conductor in interpretation rather than to specify which colours the listener should experience. The importance of colour is linked to Messiaen's synaesthesia, which caused him to experience colours when he heard or imagined music (his form of synaesthesia, the most common form, involved experiencing the associated colours in a non-visual form rather than perceiving them visually). In his multi-volume music theory treatise Traité de rythme, de couleur, et d'ornithologie ("Treatise of Rhythm, Colour and Birdsong"), Messiaen wrote descriptions of the colours of certain chords. His descriptions range from the simple ("gold and brown") to the highly detailed ("blue-violet rocks, speckled with little grey cubes, cobalt blue, deep Prussian blue, highlighted by a bit of violet-purple, gold, red, ruby, and stars of mauve, black and white. Blue-violet is dominant").
When asked what Messiaen's main influence had been on composers, George Benjamin said, "I think the sheer ... colour has been so influential, ... rather than being a decorative element, [Messiaen showed that colour] could be a structural, a fundamental element, ... the fundamental material of the music itself."
Symmetry
Many of Messiaen's composition techniques made use of symmetries of time and pitch.
Time
From his earliest works, Messiaen used non-retrogradable (palindromic) rhythms (Example 2). He sometimes combined rhythms with harmonic sequences in such a way that, if the process were repeated indefinitely, the music would eventually run through all possible permutations and return to its starting point. For Messiaen, this represented the "charm of impossibilities" of these processes. He only ever presented a portion of any such process, as if allowing the informed listener a glimpse of something eternal. In the first movement of Quatuor pour la fin du temps the piano and cello together provide an early example.
Pitch
Messiaen used modes he called modes of limited transposition. They are distinguished as groups of notes that can only be transposed by a semitone a limited number of times. For example, the whole-tone scale (Messiaen's Mode 1) only exists in two transpositions: namely C–D–E–F–G–A and D–E–F–G–A–B. Messiaen abstracted these modes from the harmony of his improvisations and early works. Music written using the modes avoids conventional diatonic harmonic progressions, since for example Messiaen's Mode 2 (identical to the octatonic scale used also by other composers) permits precisely the dominant seventh chords whose tonic the mode does not contain.
Time and rhythm
As well as making use of non-retrogradable rhythm and the Hindu decî-tâlas, Messiaen also composed with "additive" rhythms. This involves lengthening individual notes slightly or interpolating a short note into an otherwise regular rhythm (see Example 3), or shortening or lengthening every note of a rhythm by the same duration (adding a semiquaver to every note in a rhythm on its repeat, for example). This led Messiaen to use rhythmic cells that irregularly alternate between two and three units, a process that also occurs in Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, which Messiaen admired.
A factor that contributes to Messiaen's suspension of the conventional perception of time in his music is the extremely slow tempos he often specifies (the fifth movement Louange à l'eternité de Jésus of Quatuor is actually given the tempo marking infiniment lent). Messiaen also used the concept of "chromatic durations", for example in his Soixante-quatre durées from Livre d'orgue (), which is built from, in Messiaen's words, "64 chromatic durations from 1 to 64 demisemiquavers [thirty-second notes]—invested in groups of 4, from the ends to the centre, forwards and backwards alternately—treated as a retrograde canon. The whole peopled with birdsong."
Harmony
In addition to making harmonic use of the modes of limited transposition, he cited the harmonic series as a physical phenomenon that provides chords with a context he felt was missing in purely serial music. An example of Messiaen's harmonic use of this phenomenon, which he called "resonance", is the last two bars of his first piano Prélude, La colombe ("The dove"): the chord is built from harmonics of the fundamental base note E.
Related to this use of resonance, Messiaen also composed music in which the lowest, or fundamental, note is combined with higher notes or chords played much more quietly. These higher notes, far from being perceived as conventional harmony, function as harmonics that alter the timbre of the fundamental note like mixture stops on a pipe organ. An example is the song of the golden oriole in Le loriot of the Catalogue d'oiseaux for solo piano (Example 4).
In his use of conventional diatonic chords, Messiaen often transcended their historically mundane connotations (for example, his frequent use of the added sixth chord as a resolution).
Birdsong
Birdsong fascinated Messiaen from an early age, and in this he found encouragement from his teacher Dukas, who reportedly urged his pupils to "listen to the birds". Messiaen included stylised birdsong in some of his early compositions (including L'abîme d'oiseaux from the Quatuor pour la fin du temps), integrating it into his sound-world by techniques like the modes of limited transposition and chord colouration. His evocations of birdsong became increasingly sophisticated, and with Le réveil des oiseaux this process reached maturity, the whole piece being built from birdsong: in effect it is a dawn chorus for orchestra. The same can be said for "Epode", the five-minute sixth movement of Chronochromie, which is scored for eighteen violins, each one playing a different birdsong. Messiaen notated the bird species with the music in the score (examples 1 and 4). The pieces are not simple transcriptions; even the works with purely bird-inspired titles, such as Catalogue d'oiseaux and Fauvette des jardins, are tone poems evoking the landscape, its colours and atmosphere.
Serialism
For some compositions, Messiaen created scales for duration, attack and timbre analogous to the chromatic pitch scale. He expressed annoyance at the historical importance given to one of these works, Mode de valeurs et d'intensités, by musicologists intent on crediting him with the invention of "total serialism".
Messiaen later introduced what he called a "communicable language", a "musical alphabet" to encode sentences. He first used this technique in his Méditations sur le mystère de la Sainte Trinité for organ; where the "alphabet" includes motifs for the concepts to have, to be and God, while the sentences encoded feature sections from the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas.
Writings
See also
Olivier Messiaen Competition
Notes
References
Further reading
Baggech, Melody Ann (1998). An English Translation of Olivier Messiaen's "Traite de Rythme, de Couleur, et d'Ornithologie" Norman: The University of Oklahoma.
Barker, Thomas (2012). "The Social and Aesthetic Situation of Olivier Messiaen's Religious Music: Turangalîla Symphonie." International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music 43/1:53–70.
Benitez, Vincent P. (2000). "A Creative Legacy: Messiaen as Teacher of Analysis." College Music Symposium 40: 117–39.
Benitez, Vincent P. (2001). "Pitch Organization and Dramatic Design in Saint François d'Assise of Olivier Messiaen." PhD diss., Bloomington: Indiana University.
Benitez, Vincent P. (2002). "Simultaneous Contrast and Additive Designs in Olivier Messiaen's Opera Saint François d'Assise." Music Theory Online 8.2 (August 2002). Music Theory Online
Benitez, Vincent P. (2004). "Aspects of Harmony in Messiaen's Later Music: An Examination of the Chords of Transposed Inversions on the Same Bass Note." Journal of Musicological Research 23, no. 2: 187–226.
Benitez, Vincent P. (2004). "Narrating Saint Francis's Spiritual Journey: Referential Pitch Structures and Symbolic Images in Olivier Messiaen's Saint François d'Assise." In Poznan Studies on Opera, edited by Maciej Jablonski, 363–411.
Benitez, Vincent P. (2008). "Messiaen as Improviser." Dutch Journal of Music Theory 13, no. 2 (May 2008): 129–44.
Benitez, Vincent P. (2009). "Reconsidering Messiaen as Serialist." Music Analysis 28, nos. 2–3 (2009): 267–99 (published April 21, 2011).
Benitez, Vincent P. (2010). "Messiaen and Aquinas." In Messiaen the Theologian, edited by Andrew Shenton, 101–26. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Benítez, Vincent Pérez (2019). Olivier Messiaen's Opera, Saint François d'Assise. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. .
Boivin, Jean (1993). "La Classe de Messiaen: Historique, reconstitution, impact". Ph.D. diss. Montreal: Ecole Polytechnique, Montreal.
Boswell-Kurc, Lilise (2001). "Olivier Messiaen's Religious War-Time Works and Their Controversial Reception in France (1941–1946) ". Ph.D. diss. New York: New York University.
Burns, Jeffrey Phillips (1995). "Messiaen's Modes of Limited Transposition Reconsidered". M.M. thesis, Madison: University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Cheong Wai-Ling (2003). "Messiaen's Chord Tables: Ordering the Disordered". Tempo 57, no. 226 (October): 2–10.
Cheong Wai-Ling (2008). "Neumes and Greek Rhythms: The Breakthrough in Messiaen's Birdsong". Acta Musicologica 80, no. 1:1–32.
Dingle, Christopher (2013). Messiaen's Final Works. Farnham, UK: Ashgate. .
Fallon, Robert Joseph (2005). "Messiaen's Mimesis: The Language and Culture of The Bird Styles". Ph.D. diss. Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley.
Fallon, Robert (2008). "Birds, Beasts, and Bombs in Messiaen's Cold War Mass". The Journal of Musicology 26, no. 2 (Spring): 175–204.
Hardink, Jason M. (2007). "Messiaen and Plainchant". D.M.A. diss. Houston: Rice University.
Harris, Joseph Edward (2004). "Musique coloree: Synesthetic Correspondence in the Works of Olivier Messiaen". Ph.D. diss. Ames: The University of Iowa.
Hill, Matthew Richard (1995). "Messiaen's Regard du silence as an Expression of Catholic Faith". D.M.A. diss. Madison: The University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Laycock, Gary Eng Yeow (2010). "Re-evaluating Olivier Messiaen's Musical Language from 1917 to 1935". Ph.D. diss. Bloomington: Indiana University, 2010.
Luchese, Diane (1998). "Olivier Messiaen's Slow Music: Glimpses of Eternity in Time". Ph.D. diss. Evanston: Northwestern University
McGinnis, Margaret Elizabeth (2003). "Playing the Fields: Messiaen, Music, and the Extramusical". Ph.D. diss. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Nelson, David Lowell (1992). "An Analysis of Olivier Messiaen's Chant Paraphrases". 2 vols. Ph.D. diss. Evanston: Northwestern University
Ngim, Alan Gerald (1997). "Olivier Messiaen as a Pianist: A Study of Tempo and Rhythm Based on His Recordings of Visions de l'amen". D.M.A. diss. Coral Gables: University of Miami.
Peterson, Larry Wayne (1973). "Messiaen and Rhythm: Theory and Practice". Ph.D. diss. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Puspita, Amelia (2008). "The Influence of Balinese Gamelan on the Music of Olivier Messiaen". D.M.A. diss. Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati
Schultz, Rob (2008). "Melodic Contour and Nonretrogradable Structure in the Birdsong of Olivier Messiaen". Music Theory Spectrum 30, no. 1 (Spring): 89–137.
Shenton, Andrew (1998). "The Unspoken Word: Olivier Messiaen's 'langage communicable'". Ph.D. diss. Cambridge: Harvard University.
Simeone, Nigel (2004). "'Chez Messiaen, tout est priére': Messiaen's Appointment at the Trinité". The Musical Times 145, no. 1889 (Winter): 36–53.
Simeone, Nigel (2008). "Messiaen, Koussevitzky and the USA". The Musical Times 149, no. 1905 (Winter): 25–44.
Welsh Ibanez, Deborah (2005). Color, Timbre, and Resonance: Developments in Olivier Messiaen's Use of Percussion Between 1956–1965. D.M.A. diss. Coral Gables: University of Miami
Zheng, Zhong (2004). A Study of Messiaen's Solo Piano Works. Ph.D. diss. Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Films
Apparition of the Eternal Church – Paul Festa's 2006 film about responses of 31 artists to Messiaen's music.
Messiaen at 80 (1988). Directed by Sue Knussen. BFI database entry.
Olivier Messiaen et les oiseaux (1973). Directed by Michel Fano and Denise Tual.
Olivier Messiaen – The Crystal Liturgy (2007 [DVD release date]). Directed by Olivier Mille.
Olivier Messiaen: Works (1991). DVD on which Messiaen performs "Improvisations" on the organ at the Paris Trinity Church.
The South Bank Show: Olivier Messiaen: The Music of Faith (1985). Directed by Alan Benson. BFI database entry.
Quartet for the End of Time, with the President's Own Marine Band Ensemble, A Film by H. Paul Moon
External links
"Messiaen, Olivier" in Oxford Music Online (by subscription)
BBC Messiaen Profile
oliviermessiaen.org Up to date website by Malcolm Ball, includes the latest recordings and concerts, a comprehensive bibliography, photos, analyses and reviews, a very extensive bio of Yvonne Loriod with discography, and more.
Infography about Olivier Messiaen
oliviermessiaen.net, hosted by the Boston University Messiaen Project [BUMP]. Includes detailed information on the composer's life and works, events, and links to other Messiaen websites.
www.philharmonia.co.uk/messiaen, the Philharmonia Orchestra's Messiaen website. The site contains articles, unseen images, programme notes and films to go alongside the orchestra's series of concerts celebrating the Centenary of Olivier Messiaen's birth.
Music for the End of Time, David Schiff article in The Nation, posted January 25, 2006 (February 13, 2006 issue). Formally a review of Messiaen by Peter Hill and Nigel Simeone, but provides an overview of Messiaen's life and works.
Music and the Holocaust – Olivier Messiaen
My Messiaen Modes A visual representation of Messiaen's modes of limited transposition.
Listening
played by Martina Trumpp, violin and Bohumir Stehlik, piano
Thème et variations – Helen Kim, violin; Adam Bowles, piano Luna Nova New Music Ensemble
Le merle noir – John McMurtery, flute; Adam Bowles, piano Luna Nova New Music Ensemble
Quatuor pour la fin du temps – Luna Nova New Music Ensemble
Regard de l'esprit de joie from Vingt regards..., Tom Poster, pianist
played on a Mühleisen pipe organ
In-depth feature on Olivier Messiaen by Radio France International's English service
by Ukho Ensemble Kyiv
1908 births
1992 deaths
20th-century classical composers
Conservatoire de Paris alumni
Conservatoire de Paris faculty
Academics of the École Normale de Musique de Paris
Composers for piano
Composers for pipe organ
EMI Classics and Virgin Classics artists
Ernst von Siemens Music Prize winners
French classical composers
French male classical composers
French classical organists
French male organists
French composers of sacred music
French military personnel of World War II
French ornithologists
Deutsche Grammophon artists
French Roman Catholics
Kyoto laureates in Arts and Philosophy
Members of the Académie des beaux-arts
Modernist composers
Organ improvisers
Musicians from Avignon
Pupils of Maurice Emmanuel
Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medallists
Schola Cantorum de Paris faculty
Wolf Prize in Arts laureates
World War II prisoners of war held by Germany
Grand Croix of the Légion d'honneur
Commanders of the Order of the Crown (Belgium)
Recipients of the Léonie Sonning Music Prize
20th-century French composers
20th-century French male musicians
| true |
[
"Přírodní park Třebíčsko (before Oblast klidu Třebíčsko) is a natural park near Třebíč in the Czech Republic. There are many interesting plants. The park was founded in 1983.\n\nKobylinec and Ptáčovský kopeček\n\nKobylinec is a natural monument situated ca 0,5 km from the village of Trnava.\nThe area of this monument is 0,44 ha. Pulsatilla grandis can be found here and in the Ptáčovský kopeček park near Ptáčov near Třebíč. Both monuments are very popular for tourists.\n\nPonds\n\nIn the natural park there are some interesting ponds such as Velký Bor, Malý Bor, Buršík near Přeckov and a brook Březinka. Dams on the brook are examples of European beaver activity.\n\nSyenitové skály near Pocoucov\n\nSyenitové skály (rocks of syenit) near Pocoucov is one of famed locations. There are interesting granite boulders. The area of the reservation is 0,77 ha.\n\nExternal links\nParts of this article or all article was translated from Czech. The original article is :cs:Přírodní park Třebíčsko.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nNature near the village Trnava which is there\n\nTřebíč\nParks in the Czech Republic\nTourist attractions in the Vysočina Region",
"Damn Interesting is an independent website founded by Alan Bellows in 2005. The website presents true stories from science, history, and psychology, primarily as long-form articles, often illustrated with original artwork. Works are written by various authors, and published at irregular intervals. The website openly rejects advertising, relying on reader and listener donations to cover operating costs.\n\nAs of October 2012, each article is also published as a podcast under the same name. In November 2019, a second podcast was launched under the title Damn Interesting Week, featuring unscripted commentary on an assortment of news articles featured on the website's \"Curated Links\" section that week. In mid-2020, a third podcast called Damn Interesting Curio Cabinet began highlighting the website's periodic short-form articles in the same radioplay format as the original podcast.\n\nIn July 2009, Damn Interesting published the print book Alien Hand Syndrome through Workman Publishing. It contains some favorites from the site and some exclusive content.\n\nAwards and recognition \nIn August 2007, PC Magazine named Damn Interesting one of the \"Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites\".\nThe article \"The Zero-Armed Bandit\" by Alan Bellows won a 2015 Sidney Award from David Brooks in The New York Times.\nThe article \"Ghoulish Acts and Dastardly Deeds\" by Alan Bellows was cited as \"nonfiction journalism from 2017 that will stand the test of time\" by Conor Friedersdorf in The Atlantic.\nThe article \"Dupes and Duplicity\" by Jennifer Lee Noonan won a 2020 Sidney Award from David Brooks in the New York Times.\n\nAccusing The Dollop of plagiarism \n\nOn July 9, 2015, Bellows posted an open letter accusing The Dollop, a comedy podcast about history, of plagiarism due to their repeated use of verbatim text from Damn Interesting articles without permission or attribution. Dave Anthony, the writer of The Dollop, responded on reddit, admitting to using Damn Interesting content, but claiming that the use was protected by fair use, and that \"historical facts are not copyrightable.\" In an article about the controversy on Plagiarism Today, Jonathan Bailey concluded, \"Any way one looks at it, The Dollop failed its ethical obligations to all of the people, not just those writing for Damn Interesting, who put in the time, energy and expertise into writing the original content upon which their show is based.\"\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Official website\n\n2005 podcast debuts"
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[
"Olivier Messiaen",
"Tristan and serialism",
"What is Tristan and serialism?",
"Messiaen composed the song cycle Harawi, the first of three works inspired by the legend of Tristan and Isolde.",
"What was the song about?",
"The second of these works about human (as opposed to divine) love was the result of a commission from Serge Koussevitzky.",
"Was he commissioned to write any other songs?",
"I don't know.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Messiaen taught an analysis class at the Paris Conservatoire."
] |
C_c98b847278d549889a47900bb8acefee_0
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How long did he teach for?
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How long did Olivier Messiaen teach for?
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Olivier Messiaen
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Shortly after his release from Gorlitz in May 1941, Messiaen was appointed a professor of harmony at the Paris Conservatoire, where he taught until his retirement in 1978. He compiled his Technique de mon langage musical ("Technique of my musical language") published in 1944, in which he quotes many examples from his music, particularly the Quartet. Although only in his mid-thirties, his students described him as an outstanding teacher. Among his early students were the composers Pierre Boulez and Karel Goeyvaerts. Other pupils included Karlheinz Stockhausen in 1952, Alexander Goehr in 1956-57, Tristan Murail in 1967-72 and George Benjamin during the late 1970s. The Greek composer Iannis Xenakis was referred to him in 1951; Messiaen urged Xenakis to take advantage of his background in mathematics and architecture in his music. In 1943, Messiaen wrote Visions de l'Amen ("Visions of the Amen") for two pianos for Yvonne Loriod and himself to perform. Shortly thereafter he composed the enormous solo piano cycle Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jesus ("Twenty gazes upon the child Jesus") for her. Again for Loriod, he wrote Trois petites liturgies de la presence divine ("Three small liturgies of the Divine Presence") for female chorus and orchestra, which includes a difficult solo piano part. Two years after Visions de l'Amen, Messiaen composed the song cycle Harawi, the first of three works inspired by the legend of Tristan and Isolde. The second of these works about human (as opposed to divine) love was the result of a commission from Serge Koussevitzky. Messiaen stated that the commission did not specify the length of the work or the size of the orchestra. This was the ten-movement Turangalila-Symphonie. It is not a conventional symphony, but rather an extended meditation on the joy of human union and love. It does not contain the sexual guilt inherent in Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde because Messiaen believed that sexual love is a divine gift. The third piece inspired by the Tristan myth was Cinq rechants for twelve unaccompanied singers, described by Messiaen as influenced by the alba of the troubadours. Messiaen visited the United States in 1949, where his music was conducted by Koussevitsky and Leopold Stokowski. His Turangalila-Symphonie was first performed in the US in 1949, conducted by Leonard Bernstein. Messiaen taught an analysis class at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1947 he taught (and performed with Loriod) for two weeks in Budapest. In 1949 he taught at Tanglewood. Beginning in summer 1949 he taught in the new music summer school classes at Darmstadt. While he did not employ the twelve-tone technique, after three years teaching analysis of twelve-tone scores, including works by Arnold Schoenberg, he experimented with ways of making scales of other elements (including duration, articulation and dynamics) analogous to the chromatic pitch scale. The results of these innovations was the "Mode de valeurs et d'intensites" for piano (from the Quatre etudes de rythme) which has been misleadingly described as the first work of "total serialism". It had a large influence on the earliest European serial composers, including Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen. During this period he also experimented with musique concrete, music for recorded sounds. CANNOTANSWER
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In 1947 he taught (and performed with Loriod) for two weeks in Budapest.
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Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist who was one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex; harmonically and melodically he employs a system he called modes of limited transposition, which he abstracted from the systems of material generated by his early compositions and improvisations. He wrote music for chamber ensembles and orchestra, vocal music, as well as for solo organ and piano, and also experimented with the use of novel electronic instruments developed in Europe during his lifetime.
Messiaen entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 11 and was taught by Paul Dukas, Maurice Emmanuel, Charles-Marie Widor and Marcel Dupré, among others. He was appointed organist at the Église de la Sainte-Trinité, Paris, in 1931, a post held for 61 years until his death. He taught at the Schola Cantorum de Paris during the 1930s. After the fall of France in 1940, Messiaen was interned for nine months in the German prisoner of war camp Stalag VIII-A, where he composed his ("Quartet for the end of time") for the four instruments available in the prison—piano, violin, cello and clarinet. The piece was first performed by Messiaen and fellow prisoners for an audience of inmates and prison guards. He was appointed professor of harmony soon after his release in 1941 and professor of composition in 1966 at the Paris Conservatoire, positions that he held until his retirement in 1978. His many distinguished pupils included Iannis Xenakis, George Benjamin, Alexander Goehr, Pierre Boulez, Tristan Murail, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Yvonne Loriod, who became his second wife.
Messiaen perceived colours when he heard certain musical chords (a phenomenon known as synaesthesia); according to him, combinations of these colours were important in his compositional process. He travelled widely and wrote works inspired by diverse influences, including Japanese music, the landscape of Bryce Canyon in Utah, and the life of St. Francis of Assisi. For a short period Messiaen experimented with the parametrisation associated with "total serialism", in which field he is often cited as an innovator. His style absorbed many global musical influences such as Indonesian gamelan (tuned percussion often features prominently in his orchestral works).
He found birdsong fascinating, notating bird songs worldwide and incorporating birdsong transcriptions into his music. His innovative use of colour, his conception of the relationship between time and music, and his use of birdsong are among the features that make Messiaen's music distinctive.
Biography
Youth and studies
Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen was born at 11:00 on 10 December 1908 at 20 Boulevard Sixte-Isnard in Avignon, France, into a literary family. He was the elder of two sons of Cécile Anne Marie-Antoinette Sauvage, a poet, and Pierre Léon Joseph Messiaen, a scholar and teacher of English from a farm near Wervicq-Sud who translated the plays of William Shakespeare into French. Messiaen's mother published a sequence of poems, ("The Budding Soul"), the last chapter of ("As the Earth Turns"), which address her unborn son. Messiaen later said this sequence of poems influenced him deeply and he cited it as prophetic of his future artistic career. His younger brother Alain André Prosper Messiaen was also a poet.
At the outbreak of World War I, Pierre enlisted and Cécile took their two boys to live with her brother in Grenoble. There Messiaen became fascinated with drama, reciting Shakespeare to his brother with the help of a home-made toy theatre with translucent backdrops made from old cellophane wrappers. At this time he also adopted the Roman Catholic faith. Later, Messiaen felt most at home in the Alps of the Dauphiné, where he had a house built south of Grenoble where he composed most of his music.
He took piano lessons, having already taught himself to play. His interests included the recent music of French composers Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, and he asked for opera vocal scores for Christmas presents. He also saved to buy scores and one such was Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt whose "beautiful Norwegian melodic lines with the taste of folk song ... gave me a love of melody." Around this time he began to compose. In 1918 his father returned from the war and the family moved to Nantes. He continued music lessons; one of his teachers, Jehan de Gibon, gave him a score of Debussy's opera , which Messiaen described as "a thunderbolt" and "probably the most decisive influence on me". The following year Pierre Messiaen gained a teaching post in Paris. Messiaen entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1919, aged 11.
At the Paris Conservatoire, Messiaen made excellent academic progress. In 1924, aged 15, he was awarded second prize in harmony, having been taught in that subject by professor Jean Gallon. In 1925 he won first prize in piano accompaniment, and in 1926 he gained first prize in fugue. After studying with Maurice Emmanuel, he was awarded second prize for the history of music in 1928. Emmanuel's example engendered an interest in ancient Greek rhythms and exotic modes. After showing improvisational skills on the piano Messiaen studied organ with Marcel Dupré. Messiaen gained first prize in organ playing and improvisation in 1929. After a year studying composition with Charles-Marie Widor, in autumn 1927 he entered the class of the newly appointed Paul Dukas. Messiaen's mother died of tuberculosis shortly before the class began. Despite his grief, he resumed his studies, and in 1930 Messiaen won first prize in composition.
While a student he composed his first published works—his eight Préludes for piano (the earlier Le banquet céleste was published subsequently). These exhibit Messiaen's use of his modes of limited transposition and palindromic rhythms (Messiaen called these non-retrogradable rhythms). His public début came in 1931 with his orchestral suite Les offrandes oubliées. That year he first heard a gamelan group, sparking his interest in the use of tuned percussion.
La Trinité, La jeune France, and Messiaen's war
In the autumn of 1927, Messiaen joined Dupré's organ course. Dupré later wrote that Messiaen, having never seen an organ console, sat quietly for an hour while Dupré explained and demonstrated the instrument, and then came back a week later to play Johann Sebastian Bach's Fantasia in C minor to an impressive standard. From 1929, Messiaen regularly deputised at the Église de la Sainte-Trinité, Paris, for the organist Charles Quef, who was ill at the time. The post became vacant in 1931 when Quef died, and Dupré, Charles Tournemire and Widor among others supported Messiaen's candidacy. His formal application included a letter of recommendation from Widor. The appointment was confirmed in 1931, and he remained the organist at the church for more than 60 years. He also assumed a post at the Schola Cantorum de Paris in the early 1930s. In 1932, he composed the Apparition de l'église éternelle for organ.
He also married the violinist and composer Claire Delbos (daughter of Victor Delbos) that year. Their marriage inspired him both to compose works for her to play (Thème et variations for violin and piano in the year they were married) and to write pieces to celebrate their domestic happiness, including the song cycle Poèmes pour Mi in 1936, which he orchestrated in 1937. Mi was Messiaen's affectionate nickname for his wife. In 1937 their son Pascal was born. The marriage turned to tragedy when Delbos lost her memory after an operation towards the end of World War II. She spent the rest of her life in mental institutions.
In 1936, along with André Jolivet, Daniel-Lesur and Yves Baudrier, Messiaen formed the group La jeune France ("Young France"). Their manifesto implicitly attacked the frivolity predominant in contemporary Parisian music and rejected Jean Cocteau's 1918 Le coq et l'arlequin in favour of a "living music, having the impetus of sincerity, generosity and artistic conscientiousness". Messiaen's career soon departed from this polemical phase.
In response to a commission for a piece to accompany light-and-water shows on the Seine during the Paris Exposition, in 1937 Messiaen demonstrated his interest in using the ondes Martenot, an electronic instrument, by composing Fêtes des belles eaux for an ensemble of six. He included a part for the instrument in several of his subsequent compositions. During this period he composed several multi-movement organ works. He arranged his orchestral suite L'ascension ("The Ascension") for organ, replacing the orchestral version's third movement with an entirely new movement, Transports de joie d'une âme devant la gloire du Christ qui est la sienne ("Ecstasies of a soul before the glory of Christ which is the soul's own") (). He also wrote the extensive cycles La Nativité du Seigneur ("The Nativity of the Lord") and Les corps glorieux ("The glorious bodies").
At the outbreak of World War II, Messiaen was drafted into the French army. Due to poor eyesight, he was enlisted as a medical auxiliary rather than an active combatant. He was captured at Verdun and taken to Görlitz in May 1940, and was imprisoned at Stalag VIII-A. He met a violinist, a cellist and a clarinettist among his fellow prisoners. He wrote a trio for them, which he gradually incorporated into his Quatuor pour la fin du temps ("Quartet for the End of Time"). With the help of a friendly German guard (), he acquired manuscript paper and pencils, and was able to assemble the three other POWs to help him perform the piece. The Quartet was first performed in January 1941 to an audience of prisoners and prison guards, with the composer playing a poorly maintained upright piano in freezing conditions. The enforced introspection and reflection of camp life bore fruit in one of 20th-century classical music's acknowledged masterpieces. The title's "end of time" alludes to the Apocalypse, and also to the way that Messiaen, through rhythm and harmony, used time in a manner completely different from his predecessors and contemporaries.
The idea of a European Centre of Education and Culture "Meeting Point Music Messiaen" on the site of Stalag VIII-A, for children and youth, artists, musicians and everyone in the region emerged in December 2004, was developed with the involvement of Messiaen's widow as a joint project between the council districts in Germany and Poland, and was finally completed in 2014.
Tristan and serialism
Shortly after his release from Görlitz in May of 1941, Messiaen was appointed a professor of harmony at the Paris Conservatoire, where he taught until his retirement in 1978. He compiled his Technique de mon langage musical ("Technique of my musical language") published in 1944, in which he quotes many examples from his music, particularly the Quartet. Although only in his mid-thirties, his students described him as an outstanding teacher. Among his early students were the composers Pierre Boulez and Karel Goeyvaerts. Other pupils included Karlheinz Stockhausen in 1952, Alexander Goehr in 1956–57, Tristan Murail in 1967–72 and George Benjamin during the late 1970s. The Greek composer Iannis Xenakis was referred to him in 1951; Messiaen urged Xenakis to take advantage of his background in mathematics and architecture in his music.
In 1943, Messiaen wrote Visions de l'Amen ("Visions of the Amen") for two pianos for Yvonne Loriod and himself to perform. Shortly thereafter he composed the enormous solo piano cycle Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jésus ("Twenty gazes upon the child Jesus") for her. Again for Loriod, he wrote Trois petites liturgies de la présence divine ("Three small liturgies of the Divine Presence") for female chorus and orchestra, which includes a difficult solo piano part.
Two years after Visions de l'Amen, Messiaen composed the song cycle Harawi, the first of three works inspired by the legend of Tristan and Isolde. The second of these works about human (as opposed to divine) love was the result of a commission from Serge Koussevitzky. Messiaen stated that the commission did not specify the length of the work or the size of the orchestra. This was the ten-movement Turangalîla-Symphonie. It is not a conventional symphony, but rather an extended meditation on the joy of human union and love. It does not contain the sexual guilt inherent in Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde because Messiaen believed that sexual love is a divine gift. The third piece inspired by the Tristan myth was Cinq rechants for twelve unaccompanied singers, described by Messiaen as influenced by the alba of the troubadours. Messiaen visited the United States in 1949, where his music was conducted by Koussevitsky and Leopold Stokowski. His Turangalîla-Symphonie was first performed in the US in 1949, conducted by Leonard Bernstein.
Messiaen taught an analysis class at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1947 he taught (and performed with Loriod) for two weeks in Budapest. In 1949 he taught at Tanglewood. Beginning in summer 1949 he taught in the new music summer school classes at Darmstadt. While he did not employ the twelve-tone technique, after three years teaching analysis of twelve-tone scores, including works by Arnold Schoenberg, he experimented with ways of making scales of other elements (including duration, articulation and dynamics) analogous to the chromatic pitch scale. The results of these innovations was the "Mode de valeurs et d'intensités" for piano (from the Quatre études de rythme) which has been misleadingly described as the first work of "total serialism". It had a large influence on the earliest European serial composers, including Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen. During this period he also experimented with musique concrète, music for recorded sounds.
Birdsong and the 1960s
When in 1952 Messiaen was asked to provide a test piece for flautists at the Paris Conservatoire, he composed the piece Le merle noir for flute and piano. While he had long been fascinated by birdsong, and birds had made appearances in several of his earlier works (for example La Nativité, Quatuor and Vingt regards), the flute piece was based entirely on the song of the blackbird.
He took this development to a new level with his 1953 orchestral work Réveil des oiseaux—its material consists almost entirely of the birdsong one might hear between midnight and noon in the Jura. From this period onwards, Messiaen incorporated birdsong into all of his compositions and composed several works for which birds provide both the title and subject matter (for example the collection of thirteen pieces for piano Catalogue d'oiseaux completed in 1958, and La fauvette des jardins of 1971). Paul Griffiths observed that Messiaen was a more conscientious ornithologist than any previous composer, and a more musical observer of birdsong than any previous ornithologist.
Messiaen's first wife died in 1959 after a long illness, and in 1961 he married Loriod. He began to travel widely, to attend musical events and to seek out and transcribe the songs of more exotic birds in the wild. Loriod frequently assisted her husband's detailed studies of birdsong while walking with him, by making tape recordings for later reference. In 1962 he visited Japan, where Gagaku music and Noh theatre inspired the orchestral "Japanese sketches", Sept haïkaï, which contain stylised imitations of traditional Japanese instruments.
Messiaen's music was by this time championed by, among others, Pierre Boulez, who programmed first performances at his Domaine musical concerts and the Donaueschingen festival. Works performed included Réveil des oiseaux, Chronochromie (commissioned for the 1960 festival) and Couleurs de la cité céleste. The latter piece was the result of a commission for a composition for three trombones and three xylophones; Messiaen added to this more brass, wind, percussion and piano, and specified a xylophone, xylorimba and marimba rather than three xylophones. Another work of this period, Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum, was commissioned as a commemoration of the dead of the two World Wars and was performed first semi-privately in the Sainte-Chapelle, then publicly in Chartres Cathedral with Charles de Gaulle in the audience.
His reputation as a composer continued to grow and in 1959, he was nominated as an Officier of the Légion d'honneur. In 1966 he was officially appointed professor of composition at the Paris Conservatoire, although he had in effect been teaching composition for years. Further honours included election to the Institut de France in 1967 and the Académie des beaux-arts in 1968, the Erasmus Prize in 1971, the award of the Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal and the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize in 1975, the Sonning Award (Denmark's highest musical honour) in 1977, the Wolf Prize in Arts in 1982, and the presentation of the Croix de Commander of the Belgian Order of the Crown in 1980.
Transfiguration, Canyons, St. Francis, and the Beyond
Messiaen's next work was the large-scale La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ. The composition occupied him from 1965 to 1969 and the musicians employed include a 100-voice ten-part choir, seven solo instruments and large orchestra. Its fourteen movements are a meditation on the story of Christ's Transfiguration. Shortly after its completion, Messiaen received a commission from Alice Tully for a work to celebrate the U.S. bicentennial. He arranged a visit to the US in spring 1972, and was inspired by Bryce Canyon in Utah, where he observed the canyon's distinctive colours and birdsong. The twelve-movement orchestral piece Des canyons aux étoiles... was the result, first performed in 1974 in New York.
In 1971, he was asked to compose a piece for the Paris Opéra. While reluctant to undertake such a major project, he was persuaded in 1975 to accept the commission and began work on his Saint-François d'Assise. The composition was intensive (he also wrote his own libretto) and occupied him from 1975 to 1979; the orchestration was carried out from 1979 until 1983. Messiaen preferred to describe the final work as a "spectacle" rather than an opera. It was first performed in 1983. Some commentators at the time thought that the opera would be his valediction (at times Messiaen himself believed so), but he continued to compose. In 1984, he published a major collection of organ pieces, Livre du Saint Sacrement; other works include birdsong pieces for solo piano, and works for piano with orchestra.
In the summer of 1978, Messiaen retired from teaching at the Paris Conservatoire. He was promoted to the highest rank of the Légion d'honneur, the Grand-Croix, in 1987. An operation prevented his participation in the celebration of his 70th birthday in 1978, but in 1988 tributes for Messiaen's 80th included a complete performance in London's Royal Festival Hall of St. François, which the composer attended, and Erato's publication of a seventeen-CD collection of Messiaen's music including a disc of the composer in conversation with Claude Samuel.
Although in considerable pain near the end of his life (requiring repeated surgery on his back) he was able to fulfil a commission from the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Éclairs sur l'au-delà..., which was premièred six months after his death. He died in Paris on 27 April 1992.
On going through his papers, Loriod discovered that, in the last months of his life, he had been composing a concerto for four musicians he felt particularly grateful to, namely herself, the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, the oboist Heinz Holliger and the flautist Catherine Cantin (hence the title Concert à quatre). Four of the five intended movements were substantially complete; Yvonne Loriod undertook the orchestration of the second half of the first movement and of the whole of the fourth with advice from George Benjamin. It was premiered by the dedicatees in September of 1994.
Music
Messiaen's music has been described as outside the western musical tradition, although growing out of that tradition and being influenced by it. Much of his output denies the western conventions of forward motion, development and diatonic harmonic resolution. This is partly due to the symmetries of his technique—for instance the modes of limited transposition do not admit the conventional cadences found in western classical music.
His youthful love for the fairy-tale element in Shakespeare prefigured his later expressions of Catholic liturgy. Messiaen was not interested in depicting aspects of theology such as sin; rather he concentrated on the theology of joy, divine love and redemption.
Messiaen continually evolved new composition techniques, always integrating them into his existing musical style; his final works still retain the use of modes of limited transposition. For many commentators this continual development made every major work from the Quatuor onwards a conscious summation of all that Messiaen had composed up to that time. However, very few of these major works lack new technical ideas—simple examples being the introduction of communicable language in Meditations, the invention of a new percussion instrument (the geophone) for Des canyons aux etoiles..., and the freedom from any synchronisation with the main pulse of individual parts in certain birdsong episodes of St. François d'Assise.
As well as discovering new techniques, Messiaen studied and absorbed foreign music, including Ancient Greek rhythms, Hindu rhythms (he encountered Śārṅgadeva's list of 120 rhythmic units, the deçî-tâlas), Balinese and Javanese Gamelan, birdsong, and Japanese music (see Example 1 for an instance of his use of ancient Greek and Hindu rhythms).
While he was instrumental in the academic exploration of his techniques (he compiled two treatises: the later one in five volumes was substantially complete when he died and was published posthumously), and was himself a master of music analysis, he considered the development and study of techniques a means to intellectual, aesthetic, and emotional ends. Thus Messiaen maintained that a musical composition must be measured against three separate criteria: it must be interesting, beautiful to listen to, and it must touch the listener.
Messiaen wrote a large body of music for the piano. Although a considerable pianist himself, he was undoubtedly assisted by Yvonne Loriod's formidable piano technique and ability to convey complex rhythms and rhythmic combinations; in his piano writing from Visions de l'Amen onwards he had her in mind. Messiaen said, "I am able to allow myself the greatest eccentricities because to her anything is possible."
Western artistic influences
Developments in modern French music were a major influence on Messiaen, particularly the music of Claude Debussy and his use of the whole-tone scale (which Messiaen called Mode 1 in his modes of limited transposition). Messiaen rarely used the whole-tone scale in his compositions because, he said, after Debussy and Dukas there was "nothing to add", but the modes he did use are similarly symmetrical.
Messiaen had a great admiration for the music of Igor Stravinsky, particularly the use of rhythm in earlier works such as The Rite of Spring, and his use of orchestral colour. He was further influenced by the orchestral brilliance of Heitor Villa-Lobos, who lived in Paris in the 1920s and gave acclaimed concerts there. Among composers for the keyboard, Messiaen singled out Jean-Philippe Rameau, Domenico Scarlatti, Frédéric Chopin, Debussy and Isaac Albéniz. He loved the music of Modest Mussorgsky and incorporated varied modifications of what he called the "M-shaped" melodic motif from Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, although he modified the final interval in this motif from a perfect fourth to a tritone (Example 3).
Messiaen was further influenced by Surrealism, as may be seen from the titles of some of the piano Préludes (Un reflet dans le vent..., "A reflection in the wind") and in some of the imagery of his poetry (he published poems as prefaces to certain works, for example Les offrandes oubliées).
Colour
Colour lies at the heart of Messiaen's music. He believed that terms such as "tonal", "modal" and "serial" are misleading analytical conveniences. For him there were no modal, tonal or serial compositions, only music with or without colour. He said that Claudio Monteverdi, Mozart, Chopin, Richard Wagner, Mussorgsky and Stravinsky all wrote strongly coloured music.
In some of Messiaen's scores, he notated the colours in the music (notably in Couleurs de la cité céleste and Des canyons aux étoiles...)—the purpose being to aid the conductor in interpretation rather than to specify which colours the listener should experience. The importance of colour is linked to Messiaen's synaesthesia, which caused him to experience colours when he heard or imagined music (his form of synaesthesia, the most common form, involved experiencing the associated colours in a non-visual form rather than perceiving them visually). In his multi-volume music theory treatise Traité de rythme, de couleur, et d'ornithologie ("Treatise of Rhythm, Colour and Birdsong"), Messiaen wrote descriptions of the colours of certain chords. His descriptions range from the simple ("gold and brown") to the highly detailed ("blue-violet rocks, speckled with little grey cubes, cobalt blue, deep Prussian blue, highlighted by a bit of violet-purple, gold, red, ruby, and stars of mauve, black and white. Blue-violet is dominant").
When asked what Messiaen's main influence had been on composers, George Benjamin said, "I think the sheer ... colour has been so influential, ... rather than being a decorative element, [Messiaen showed that colour] could be a structural, a fundamental element, ... the fundamental material of the music itself."
Symmetry
Many of Messiaen's composition techniques made use of symmetries of time and pitch.
Time
From his earliest works, Messiaen used non-retrogradable (palindromic) rhythms (Example 2). He sometimes combined rhythms with harmonic sequences in such a way that, if the process were repeated indefinitely, the music would eventually run through all possible permutations and return to its starting point. For Messiaen, this represented the "charm of impossibilities" of these processes. He only ever presented a portion of any such process, as if allowing the informed listener a glimpse of something eternal. In the first movement of Quatuor pour la fin du temps the piano and cello together provide an early example.
Pitch
Messiaen used modes he called modes of limited transposition. They are distinguished as groups of notes that can only be transposed by a semitone a limited number of times. For example, the whole-tone scale (Messiaen's Mode 1) only exists in two transpositions: namely C–D–E–F–G–A and D–E–F–G–A–B. Messiaen abstracted these modes from the harmony of his improvisations and early works. Music written using the modes avoids conventional diatonic harmonic progressions, since for example Messiaen's Mode 2 (identical to the octatonic scale used also by other composers) permits precisely the dominant seventh chords whose tonic the mode does not contain.
Time and rhythm
As well as making use of non-retrogradable rhythm and the Hindu decî-tâlas, Messiaen also composed with "additive" rhythms. This involves lengthening individual notes slightly or interpolating a short note into an otherwise regular rhythm (see Example 3), or shortening or lengthening every note of a rhythm by the same duration (adding a semiquaver to every note in a rhythm on its repeat, for example). This led Messiaen to use rhythmic cells that irregularly alternate between two and three units, a process that also occurs in Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, which Messiaen admired.
A factor that contributes to Messiaen's suspension of the conventional perception of time in his music is the extremely slow tempos he often specifies (the fifth movement Louange à l'eternité de Jésus of Quatuor is actually given the tempo marking infiniment lent). Messiaen also used the concept of "chromatic durations", for example in his Soixante-quatre durées from Livre d'orgue (), which is built from, in Messiaen's words, "64 chromatic durations from 1 to 64 demisemiquavers [thirty-second notes]—invested in groups of 4, from the ends to the centre, forwards and backwards alternately—treated as a retrograde canon. The whole peopled with birdsong."
Harmony
In addition to making harmonic use of the modes of limited transposition, he cited the harmonic series as a physical phenomenon that provides chords with a context he felt was missing in purely serial music. An example of Messiaen's harmonic use of this phenomenon, which he called "resonance", is the last two bars of his first piano Prélude, La colombe ("The dove"): the chord is built from harmonics of the fundamental base note E.
Related to this use of resonance, Messiaen also composed music in which the lowest, or fundamental, note is combined with higher notes or chords played much more quietly. These higher notes, far from being perceived as conventional harmony, function as harmonics that alter the timbre of the fundamental note like mixture stops on a pipe organ. An example is the song of the golden oriole in Le loriot of the Catalogue d'oiseaux for solo piano (Example 4).
In his use of conventional diatonic chords, Messiaen often transcended their historically mundane connotations (for example, his frequent use of the added sixth chord as a resolution).
Birdsong
Birdsong fascinated Messiaen from an early age, and in this he found encouragement from his teacher Dukas, who reportedly urged his pupils to "listen to the birds". Messiaen included stylised birdsong in some of his early compositions (including L'abîme d'oiseaux from the Quatuor pour la fin du temps), integrating it into his sound-world by techniques like the modes of limited transposition and chord colouration. His evocations of birdsong became increasingly sophisticated, and with Le réveil des oiseaux this process reached maturity, the whole piece being built from birdsong: in effect it is a dawn chorus for orchestra. The same can be said for "Epode", the five-minute sixth movement of Chronochromie, which is scored for eighteen violins, each one playing a different birdsong. Messiaen notated the bird species with the music in the score (examples 1 and 4). The pieces are not simple transcriptions; even the works with purely bird-inspired titles, such as Catalogue d'oiseaux and Fauvette des jardins, are tone poems evoking the landscape, its colours and atmosphere.
Serialism
For some compositions, Messiaen created scales for duration, attack and timbre analogous to the chromatic pitch scale. He expressed annoyance at the historical importance given to one of these works, Mode de valeurs et d'intensités, by musicologists intent on crediting him with the invention of "total serialism".
Messiaen later introduced what he called a "communicable language", a "musical alphabet" to encode sentences. He first used this technique in his Méditations sur le mystère de la Sainte Trinité for organ; where the "alphabet" includes motifs for the concepts to have, to be and God, while the sentences encoded feature sections from the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas.
Writings
See also
Olivier Messiaen Competition
Notes
References
Further reading
Baggech, Melody Ann (1998). An English Translation of Olivier Messiaen's "Traite de Rythme, de Couleur, et d'Ornithologie" Norman: The University of Oklahoma.
Barker, Thomas (2012). "The Social and Aesthetic Situation of Olivier Messiaen's Religious Music: Turangalîla Symphonie." International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music 43/1:53–70.
Benitez, Vincent P. (2000). "A Creative Legacy: Messiaen as Teacher of Analysis." College Music Symposium 40: 117–39.
Benitez, Vincent P. (2001). "Pitch Organization and Dramatic Design in Saint François d'Assise of Olivier Messiaen." PhD diss., Bloomington: Indiana University.
Benitez, Vincent P. (2002). "Simultaneous Contrast and Additive Designs in Olivier Messiaen's Opera Saint François d'Assise." Music Theory Online 8.2 (August 2002). Music Theory Online
Benitez, Vincent P. (2004). "Aspects of Harmony in Messiaen's Later Music: An Examination of the Chords of Transposed Inversions on the Same Bass Note." Journal of Musicological Research 23, no. 2: 187–226.
Benitez, Vincent P. (2004). "Narrating Saint Francis's Spiritual Journey: Referential Pitch Structures and Symbolic Images in Olivier Messiaen's Saint François d'Assise." In Poznan Studies on Opera, edited by Maciej Jablonski, 363–411.
Benitez, Vincent P. (2008). "Messiaen as Improviser." Dutch Journal of Music Theory 13, no. 2 (May 2008): 129–44.
Benitez, Vincent P. (2009). "Reconsidering Messiaen as Serialist." Music Analysis 28, nos. 2–3 (2009): 267–99 (published April 21, 2011).
Benitez, Vincent P. (2010). "Messiaen and Aquinas." In Messiaen the Theologian, edited by Andrew Shenton, 101–26. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Benítez, Vincent Pérez (2019). Olivier Messiaen's Opera, Saint François d'Assise. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. .
Boivin, Jean (1993). "La Classe de Messiaen: Historique, reconstitution, impact". Ph.D. diss. Montreal: Ecole Polytechnique, Montreal.
Boswell-Kurc, Lilise (2001). "Olivier Messiaen's Religious War-Time Works and Their Controversial Reception in France (1941–1946) ". Ph.D. diss. New York: New York University.
Burns, Jeffrey Phillips (1995). "Messiaen's Modes of Limited Transposition Reconsidered". M.M. thesis, Madison: University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Cheong Wai-Ling (2003). "Messiaen's Chord Tables: Ordering the Disordered". Tempo 57, no. 226 (October): 2–10.
Cheong Wai-Ling (2008). "Neumes and Greek Rhythms: The Breakthrough in Messiaen's Birdsong". Acta Musicologica 80, no. 1:1–32.
Dingle, Christopher (2013). Messiaen's Final Works. Farnham, UK: Ashgate. .
Fallon, Robert Joseph (2005). "Messiaen's Mimesis: The Language and Culture of The Bird Styles". Ph.D. diss. Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley.
Fallon, Robert (2008). "Birds, Beasts, and Bombs in Messiaen's Cold War Mass". The Journal of Musicology 26, no. 2 (Spring): 175–204.
Hardink, Jason M. (2007). "Messiaen and Plainchant". D.M.A. diss. Houston: Rice University.
Harris, Joseph Edward (2004). "Musique coloree: Synesthetic Correspondence in the Works of Olivier Messiaen". Ph.D. diss. Ames: The University of Iowa.
Hill, Matthew Richard (1995). "Messiaen's Regard du silence as an Expression of Catholic Faith". D.M.A. diss. Madison: The University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Laycock, Gary Eng Yeow (2010). "Re-evaluating Olivier Messiaen's Musical Language from 1917 to 1935". Ph.D. diss. Bloomington: Indiana University, 2010.
Luchese, Diane (1998). "Olivier Messiaen's Slow Music: Glimpses of Eternity in Time". Ph.D. diss. Evanston: Northwestern University
McGinnis, Margaret Elizabeth (2003). "Playing the Fields: Messiaen, Music, and the Extramusical". Ph.D. diss. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Nelson, David Lowell (1992). "An Analysis of Olivier Messiaen's Chant Paraphrases". 2 vols. Ph.D. diss. Evanston: Northwestern University
Ngim, Alan Gerald (1997). "Olivier Messiaen as a Pianist: A Study of Tempo and Rhythm Based on His Recordings of Visions de l'amen". D.M.A. diss. Coral Gables: University of Miami.
Peterson, Larry Wayne (1973). "Messiaen and Rhythm: Theory and Practice". Ph.D. diss. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Puspita, Amelia (2008). "The Influence of Balinese Gamelan on the Music of Olivier Messiaen". D.M.A. diss. Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati
Schultz, Rob (2008). "Melodic Contour and Nonretrogradable Structure in the Birdsong of Olivier Messiaen". Music Theory Spectrum 30, no. 1 (Spring): 89–137.
Shenton, Andrew (1998). "The Unspoken Word: Olivier Messiaen's 'langage communicable'". Ph.D. diss. Cambridge: Harvard University.
Simeone, Nigel (2004). "'Chez Messiaen, tout est priére': Messiaen's Appointment at the Trinité". The Musical Times 145, no. 1889 (Winter): 36–53.
Simeone, Nigel (2008). "Messiaen, Koussevitzky and the USA". The Musical Times 149, no. 1905 (Winter): 25–44.
Welsh Ibanez, Deborah (2005). Color, Timbre, and Resonance: Developments in Olivier Messiaen's Use of Percussion Between 1956–1965. D.M.A. diss. Coral Gables: University of Miami
Zheng, Zhong (2004). A Study of Messiaen's Solo Piano Works. Ph.D. diss. Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Films
Apparition of the Eternal Church – Paul Festa's 2006 film about responses of 31 artists to Messiaen's music.
Messiaen at 80 (1988). Directed by Sue Knussen. BFI database entry.
Olivier Messiaen et les oiseaux (1973). Directed by Michel Fano and Denise Tual.
Olivier Messiaen – The Crystal Liturgy (2007 [DVD release date]). Directed by Olivier Mille.
Olivier Messiaen: Works (1991). DVD on which Messiaen performs "Improvisations" on the organ at the Paris Trinity Church.
The South Bank Show: Olivier Messiaen: The Music of Faith (1985). Directed by Alan Benson. BFI database entry.
Quartet for the End of Time, with the President's Own Marine Band Ensemble, A Film by H. Paul Moon
External links
"Messiaen, Olivier" in Oxford Music Online (by subscription)
BBC Messiaen Profile
oliviermessiaen.org Up to date website by Malcolm Ball, includes the latest recordings and concerts, a comprehensive bibliography, photos, analyses and reviews, a very extensive bio of Yvonne Loriod with discography, and more.
Infography about Olivier Messiaen
oliviermessiaen.net, hosted by the Boston University Messiaen Project [BUMP]. Includes detailed information on the composer's life and works, events, and links to other Messiaen websites.
www.philharmonia.co.uk/messiaen, the Philharmonia Orchestra's Messiaen website. The site contains articles, unseen images, programme notes and films to go alongside the orchestra's series of concerts celebrating the Centenary of Olivier Messiaen's birth.
Music for the End of Time, David Schiff article in The Nation, posted January 25, 2006 (February 13, 2006 issue). Formally a review of Messiaen by Peter Hill and Nigel Simeone, but provides an overview of Messiaen's life and works.
Music and the Holocaust – Olivier Messiaen
My Messiaen Modes A visual representation of Messiaen's modes of limited transposition.
Listening
played by Martina Trumpp, violin and Bohumir Stehlik, piano
Thème et variations – Helen Kim, violin; Adam Bowles, piano Luna Nova New Music Ensemble
Le merle noir – John McMurtery, flute; Adam Bowles, piano Luna Nova New Music Ensemble
Quatuor pour la fin du temps – Luna Nova New Music Ensemble
Regard de l'esprit de joie from Vingt regards..., Tom Poster, pianist
played on a Mühleisen pipe organ
In-depth feature on Olivier Messiaen by Radio France International's English service
by Ukho Ensemble Kyiv
1908 births
1992 deaths
20th-century classical composers
Conservatoire de Paris alumni
Conservatoire de Paris faculty
Academics of the École Normale de Musique de Paris
Composers for piano
Composers for pipe organ
EMI Classics and Virgin Classics artists
Ernst von Siemens Music Prize winners
French classical composers
French male classical composers
French classical organists
French male organists
French composers of sacred music
French military personnel of World War II
French ornithologists
Deutsche Grammophon artists
French Roman Catholics
Kyoto laureates in Arts and Philosophy
Members of the Académie des beaux-arts
Modernist composers
Organ improvisers
Musicians from Avignon
Pupils of Maurice Emmanuel
Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medallists
Schola Cantorum de Paris faculty
Wolf Prize in Arts laureates
World War II prisoners of war held by Germany
Grand Croix of the Légion d'honneur
Commanders of the Order of the Crown (Belgium)
Recipients of the Léonie Sonning Music Prize
20th-century French composers
20th-century French male musicians
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"Teach For India (TFI) is a non-profit and a movement of leaders that was founded by Shaheen Mistri in 2009. It is a part of the Teach For All network. To build a growing movement of leaders, Teach For India runs a two-year Fellowship and supports an Alumni movement. The Fellowship recruits college graduates and working professionals to serve as full-time teachers in low-income schools for two years. The mission of Teach For India is “one day all children will attain an excellent education.”\n\nThe Fellowship is an opportunity for India's brightest and most promising youth, from the nation's best universities and workplaces, to serve as full-time teachers to children from low-income communities in under-resourced schools. Post the Fellowship, you join a network of leaders serving in various pathways known as the Alumni movement.\n\nThe Teach For India model consisting of a selective recruitment and selection process, focuses on ongoing teacher training and leadership development, measures the impact of Students, the leadership growth of Fellows and impact the Alumni has had on the education system.\n\nThe Education crisis in India \nIndia with approximately 1 in 4 people below the age of 14 years, stands at an inflection point on the ability to provide equal opportunities for all children to attain an excellent education. More than 50% of students in Grade 5 cannot read a Grade 2 text or solve a simple subtraction problem. Teach For India believes that at the root of this crisis in Indian education lies a crisis of leadership. Teach For India's motive is precisely to fill this deficit of leadership in education.\n\nHistory \nIn 2006, the founder of Teach For India Shaheen Mistri, 17 years after starting the Akanksha Foundation felt compelled to address the issue of educational inequity at a larger scale. She believed that the solution was a people's movement that needed to come in unison to provide every Indian child with an outstanding education.\n\nIn 2007, Shaheen Mistri met with Wendy Kopp, the Founder of Teach For America, and the ideation process to keep ‘leadership’ at the core was ignited.\n\nIn 2009, Teach For India welcomed the first cohort, the Class of 2009, to the Fellowship. The 87 ‘Niners’ formed the beginning of a nationwide movement of diverse leaders.\n\nIn 2011, two years later, the Niners graduated from the Fellowship and became the first cohort in Teach For India's Alumni movement. The first cohort of Alumni then went on to work in several pathways such as teaching, teacher training, school leadership, and government policy solving the complex problem of educational equity.\n\nToday, Teach For India has 900 Fellows working relentlessly to change the lives of Students in their classrooms and have become leaders driving change. Now, the organization has over 3400 Alumni who are collectively fuelling the larger movement towards their vision.\n\nGeographical Reach\n\nMumbai \nIn the year 2009, the first cohort of the Teach For India Fellowship began in Mumbai and Pune with 87 Fellows. In 2011, they graduated with 46 Fellows and 1122 Students.\n\nIn the year 2015, The Alumni movement grew bigger. The city of Mumbai started to steadily grow its Alumni network from 43 Alumni in 2011 to 280 in 2015. ‘321’ was Mumbai's first Alumni led organization.\n\nIn the year 2020, Teach For India Mumbai collaborated with MCGM. Teach For India's partnership with the government evolved over the years from being a mere service provider to reaching out to Teach for India for advice and collaborating on projects like training MCGM staff, Student Advisory Council, and best practice sharing.\n\nThe recent numbers for 2021 shows that 144 Fellows, 3500 Students, and 860 Alumni members are in the city of Mumbai.\n\nPune \nIn 2009, the first cohort began in Pune with 87 Fellows. In the year 2011, Pune's first cohort graduated with 32 Fellows and 1100 Students.\n\nIn 2018, Pune received Secondary Education Access to English-medium secondary classrooms, which was a huge challenge for Pune's kids. This issue was addressed through the PPP model partnerships with Aakanksha Foundation and iTeach Schools.\n\nThe recent numbers indicates that Pune has 145 Fellows, 6500 Students, and 840 Alumni members.\n\nAhmedabad \nIn the year 2014, Teach For India reached Ahmedabad and had its first cohort with 34 Fellows and 1,100 Students. The Samait Shala was founded by a 2014 Ahmedabad Fellow, Kushal Dattani. The organization, Samait Shala trains teachers directly to ensure that classrooms are inclusive of students who learn in different ways and at different paces.\n\nIn 2016, they started operations in 20 schools in Ahmedabad with 80 Fellows and 2,000 Students. The elementary Students in the state were known to outperform on every single metric when it came to the mastery of basic operations and reading. Teach For India was above the state and city averages for both the learning techniques.\n\nThe recent data for 2021 have indicated 47 Fellows, 1800 Students, and 230 Alumni members in Ahmedabad.\n\nBengaluru \nIn the year 2015, Teach For India had its first cohort with 57 Fellows and 2,182 Students in Bengaluru.\n\nIn 2016, The community centers emerged. To solve contextual challenges, Fellows across the city set up community centers to facilitate additional learning time and Student-run community interventions.\n\nThe recent data for 2021 have indicated 120 Fellows, 3500 Students, and 270 Alumni members in Bengaluru.\n\nChennai \nIn 2012 Teach For India had its first cohort with 32 Fellows and 660 Students in Chennai.\n\nIn 2017, Teach For India focused on Student leadership opportunities in Chennai. Students visited NASA, participated in Young Entrepreneurs Academy and TEDx.\n\nIn 2018, Teach For India partnered up with the government of Tamil Nadu. The Alumni worked as consultants for the Tamil Nadu Education Department to develop the state Education Information Management System and Digital Content Platforms for all teachers and students in the state.\n\nThe recent numbers for 2021 show that there are 110 Fellows, 3600 Students, and 370 Alumni members in Chennai.\n\nDelhi \nIn 2011, Teach For India had its first cohort in Delhi with 65 Fellows and 2000 students.\n\nIn the year 2016, 1000+ student leaders started driving change in the city. A Student leader Jyoti started project Gurukul inviting Students to conduct workshops in art and spoken word poetry for other students, hoping to build respect for arts and artists in the community.\n\nBy the year 2017, 30+ Delhi organizations were founded by Teach For India Alumni in the sectors of early childhood education and parent empowerment.\n\nThe recent numbers for 2021 have indicated 260 Fellows, 9000 Students, and 880 Alumni members in Delhi. Delhi is Teach For India's biggest regional operation.\n\nHyderabad \nIn 2012, Teach For India had its first cohort in the city of Hyderabad with 46 Fellows and 1800 Students.\n\nIn the years between 2014 and 2015, the Fellow Durbar was inaugurated. The Fellow Durbar initiative is an organic space for people to come together and share their experiences and is now an integral part of Teach For India's ecosystem across 7 cities.\n\nThe recent numbers for 2021 have indicated 87 Fellows, 3250 Students, and 430 Alumni members in Hyderabad.\n\nTeach For India Model \nTeach For India has a short term theory of change and a long term theory of change. In the short term, Teach For India follows a two-year Fellowship model. Their Fellows’ through the course of two years of teaching and working with key education stakeholders, are exposed to the realities of India's education system. The Fellows, in these years, cultivate the knowledge, skills, and mindsets required to achieve positions of leadership in and beyond education. In the long term theory of change, Fellows who graduate from the Fellowship join the Alumni movement.\n\nThe model for the Fellowship starts with a selective recruitment and selection process, followed by an ongoing teacher training and leadership development, after which Teach For India measures the impact of Students and the leadership growth of Fellows.\n\nEach Fellow is assigned a classroom in one of Teach For India's placement cities to teach academics, values, mindsets and to give Students the access and exposure they require to reach their personal, long-term visions. Post-Fellowship, they join the Alumni movement that's working across various pathways for a more equitable India.\n\nThe long-term vision for Teach For India’s Fellows \n\n The Commitment to Personal Transformation: Exploring who you are, your purpose, and striving to be a better person.\n The Commitment to Collective Action: Building relationships and organizing partners to multiply and deepen our impact.\n The Commitment to Educational Equity: Deepening our understanding of educational equity and committing to attaining it.\n\nFellows work on these commitments in and beyond the full-time lab of their classroom, where they relentlessly focus on moving their Students towards “path-changing” learning, the highest level of our Student Vision Scale. By growing in the 3 commitments, and embedded with real-life leadership experiences in the classroom and communities, Fellows are ready to be lifelong learners and leaders for greater impact on children.\n\nIn the next stage, Fellows either start their organizations or hold key positions of leadership, both within and beyond the education sector.\n\nTeach For India Innovations\n\nTFIx \nTFIx is a year-long incubation program and lifelong learning circle, for passionate entrepreneurs who want to adopt Teach For India's Fellowship model into their context.\n\nKids Education Revolution \nThe Kids Education Revolution is a collective of schools and educational organisations that are working towards reimagining education at scale and are driven by a profound belief in the power of student leadership.\n\nFirki \nFirki is an online teacher's training portal. It is an open-source, learning program for teachers across India to use and transform their teaching methods.\n\nInnovation Cell\n\nInnovatED \nInnovatED is Teach For India's national incubator for entrepreneurs looking to build impactful organizations in the education space.\n\nThe Impact \nTeach For India in a decade has seen more than 120,000 young people applying to the Fellowship Program. Currently, the non-profit organization has 900+ Fellows impacting over 3,2000 students in 260 under-resourced schools in India. They have 5,200 Student Alumni. Since Teach For India's inception, they have infused the system with more than 3,400+ Alumni who are running their own schools, organizations, training teachers, designing policy, and continuing to serve within classrooms, non-profits, and corporate institutions.\n\nThe Teach For India Alumni is serving more than 33 million children; 1 in 10 Indian children is now reached by a Teach For India Alumni. More than 77% of their Alumni continue to serve in the social sector. A recent study shows that Teach For India's community has founded more than 150+ organizations.\n\nTeach For India has built a national focus on repairing India's educational crisis through their Innovation Cell programs that equip teachers, students, and entrepreneurs to spark long-term change in education. Through social and print media- Teach For India has garnered the support of thousands of people from a wide range of sectors, all of whom are invested in the vision of an excellent education for all children.\n\nAcademic Impact \nTeach For India has graduated 3 cohorts of 5,200 students from 10th grade in Mumbai, Pune, and Delhi till 2019 with a graduation rate that is consistently better than the Government schools’ average. Their 4th cohort graduated in 2020 with a passing rate of 94-98% across these three cities Mumbai, Pune, and Delhi.\n\nMath \nTeach For India's students are learning to recall, apply knowledge and skills appropriate to their level. This has led to 36% grade-level mastery of Math at the end of the year versus 20% at the beginning of the year in 2018–19.\n\nReading Comprehension \nTeach For India students showed a record of 0.6 years of growth in their reading level in 2018–19, achieving a higher level of reading.\n\nAlumni\n\nNotable Teach For India alumni \n\n Ashish Srivastava, 2009 Cohort, Shiksharth\n Aniket Thukral 2009 Cohort, Director of Programs, Global School Leaders\n Daniel Lobo, 2009 Cohort, Director, Leaders’ Quest\n Madhukar Banuri, 2009 Cohort, Leadership For Equity\n Charag Krishnan, 2009 Cohort, Partner, McKinsey and Company\n Yash Kumar, 2009 Cohort, GenYMedium\n Gaurav Singh, 2009 Cohort, 321 Education Foundation\n Rahul Gupta, 2009 Cohort, Pune Children's Zone \n Namita Goel, 2009 Cohort, Lead School\n Shalini Datta, 2010 Cohort, AfterTaste\n Mayank Lodha, 2010 Cohort, KPMG India\n Sriram Chemuturi, 2010 Cohort, Principal, Matshori English Medium School\n Divya Behl, 2010 Cohort, Programme Manager, Global Schools Forum\n Aniket Doegar, 2010 Cohort, co-founder and CEO, Haqdarshak\n Kaushik Ananthanarayana, 2010 Cohort, Analytical Lead and Industry Manager, Google India\n Nisha Subramaniam, 2010 Cohort, Kanavu \n Alpana Mallick, 2011 Cohort, Director, Training and Impact, Teach For India\n Lewitt Somarajan, 2011 Cohort, CEO, Life Lab\n Jagnoor Grewal, 2011 Cohort, Punjab Civil Services, Govt. of Punjab\n Kimberly Fernandes, 2011 Cohort, Joint Ph.D. in Human Development/Quantitative Methods (Education) and Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania\n Kimberly Fernandes, 2011 Cohort, Ph.D. Candidate, Education (Human Development) and Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania\n Hemakshi Meghani, 2011 Cohort, Indian School of Democracy\n Arja Dayal, 2012 Cohort, Former Country Director of Sierra Leone and Liberia, Innovations for Poverty Action\n Dipti Balwani, 2012 Cohort, Program Lead, Saturday Art Class; Transformational Teaching Fellowship Fellow\n Aaditya Tiwari, 2012 Cohort, Officer on Special Duty to the CM of Arunachal Pradesh\n Nathaniel Seelan, 2013 Cohort, ASL, Vidyaniketan, Chennai\n Ankita Nayak, 2013 Cohort, JP Morgan and Chase\n Jasmine Sachdev, 2013 Cohort, Shiv Nadar School, Aagaaz Theatre Trust \n Sarthak Satapathy, 2013 Cohort, Former Team Lead, DIKSHA-PMU, Central Square Foundation\n Anurag Kundu, 2013 Cohort, Senior Officer, Govt. of Delhi \n Jasmeet Walia, 2013 Cohort, Creatnet Education\n Priyanka Agrawal, 2013 Cohort, Engagement Manager, McKinsey and Company\n Ananya Shekar, 2013 Cohort, Thrive Foundation \n Varun Prasad, 2013 Cohort, For A Smarter Tomorrow Foundation\n Pooja Chopra, 2013 Cohort, Khwaab\n Abhiram Natarajan, 2014 Cohort, Lead, 1M1B\n Mahesh Medlari, 2014 Cohort, People & Culture, Openhouse\n Aditya Krishnan, 2014 Cohort, Teach For India\n Kushal Dattani, 2014 Cohort, Founder, Samait Shala\n Hari Haran, 2014 Cohort, MBA, INSEAD\n Rahul Balakrishnan, 2014 Cohort, co-founder, Arthan\n Dhruv Gupta, 2014 Cohort, Consultant - Global Education Practice, The World Bank\n Surabhi Venkatesh, 2014 Cohort, Director, People & Culture, Heads Up For Tails\n Prasanna Sundaram, 2014 Cohort, Augmented Understanding \n Piyush Gupta, 2015 Cohort, Manager, Policy Support, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology\n Sharmili Phulgirkar, 2015 Cohort, Vice President, Citi, Singapore \n Shefali Mishra, 2015 Cohort, Manager, Partnerships, Harappa Education\n Ramya Krishnan, 2015 Cohort, Team Lead, Central Square Foundation\n Tanvi Metre, 2015 Cohort, Founding Team Member and Manager, iTeach Schools\n Jahnavi Reddy, 2015 Cohort, The News Minute\n Mrinalika Rathore Project Lead, Sashaktikaran Foundation, 2015 Cohort\n Aaran Patel, 2015 Cohort, Master of Public Policy, Social and Urban Policy, Harvard Kennedy School\n Leena Bhattacharya, 2015 Cohort, Ph.D. in economics, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai\n Ankita Nawalakha, 2015 Cohort, The New Education Project\n Abhijit Thakur, 2016 Cohort, MBA, Indian School of Business\n Leeja Pillai, 2016 Cohort, Campaign Strategy, Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) \n Sruti Sriram, 2016 Cohort, Teacher, Avasara Academy\n Vishal Sharma, 2016 Cohort, Founder, SMILES in Life Foundation\n Atul Sahu, 2016 Cohort, General Manager, Aditya Birla Chemicals\n Ketaki Patil, 2016 Cohort, Ummeed \n Benoy Stephen, 2016 Cohort, Y-Ultimate\n Alamelu Kathiresan, 2016 Cohort, Math Love \n Vatsala Misra Sharma, 2017 Cohort, Masters of Education in Human Development and Psychology, Harvard Graduate School of Education\n Manu Gupta, 2017 Cohort, MBA, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford\n Shekar Hariharan, 2017 Cohort, Founder, Shifting Orbits Foundation\n Shreya Krishnan, 2017 Cohort, co-founder, The Better Design Foundation\n Sivaram Renganathan, 2017 Cohort, City Director, Reap Benefit\n Sneha Shetty, 2017 Cohort, Avasara Academy\n Sowmya Lakshminarayanan, 2017 Cohort, Founder, Lead by Design\n Shitanshu Maurya, 2017 Cohort, Business Analyst, Egon Zehnder\n\nBoard Members and Leadership Team\n\nBoard Members\n\nShaheen Mistri, CEO, Founder, Trustee, Teach For India \nShaheen Mistri the CEO and Trustee of Teach For India grew up in 5 countries around the world and returned to India when she was 18 to start Akanksha. For 17 years, Shaheen worked with Teachers and Students, building Akanksha to provide children from low-income communities the kind of education that would maximize their greatest potential. Today, Akanksha serves 9300 children through their School Project and after-school centers in Mumbai and Pune. Shaheen founded Teach For India in 2008, with a vision of providing an excellent education to all children across India through building a pipeline of leaders committed to ending educational inequity in India. Today, Teach For India directly impacts approximately 32,000 children across seven regions in India. Shaheen has also created projects like the Maya Musical, the Kid's Education Revolution which explore student leadership, creating platforms for student voice and partnership, and TFIx, which is a year-long incubator program for passionate entrepreneurs who are willing to adapt Teach For India's model to their context and region in rural areas. Shaheen serves on the boards of Akanksha Foundation, and Simple Education Foundation.\n\nNisaba Godrej, Chairperson, Trustee, Teach For India \nNisaba alongside being the key architect of GCPL's strategy and transformation in the last decade is also the Chairperson of Teach For India. She sits on the board of Godrej Agrovet, Mahindra and Mahindra and VIP Industries.\n\nArnavaz Aga, Founder, Trustee, Teach For India \nArnavaz retired as Chairperson of Thermax Limited, an engineering company providing systems and solutions in the areas of energy and environment, and currently serves as a director on their board. Since her retirement in 2004, Anu has been focusing on social causes and is closely associated with the Thermax Foundation. Her area of interest is education and she is keenly involved with the Akanksha Foundation, an NGO promoting education for underprivileged children in Mumbai and Pune and Teach For India.\n\nNandita Dugar, Founder, Trustee, Teach For India \nNandita has over 15 years of work experience in the nonprofit education sector. She is currently on the board of the Akanksha Foundation. She was a part of the core founding team at Teach For India and was involved in creating the strategic blueprint for its launch in India. Nandita has also served as the interim-CEO of Akanksha in 2008. Her prior experience includes working in the UK and India at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Unilever, and HDFC Bank.\n\nNeel Shahani, Founder, Trustee, Teach For India \nNeel was a former banker with J.P.Morgan and Barclays. Before moving to Barclays, he led Sales Trading at CLSA and IIFL and has more than 25 years of experience in the industry. He is currently on the Boards of Teach To Lead and Akanksha Foundation.\n\nZia Mody, Trustee, Teach For India \nZia is the Founder and senior partner of AZB & Partners. She previously worked as a corporate associate at Baker & McKenzie in New York for five years and returned to India to establish the Chambers of Zia Mody in 1984, which then became AZB & Partners in 2004. She is the deputy chairman and non-executive director of the HSBC Asia Pacific Board, a member of the governing board of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA), foreign arbitrator on the Panel of Arbitrators of the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), a member of the World Bank Administrative Tribunal, Washington, D.C. (2008-2013), and a vice president and member of the London Court of International Arbitration (2010-2013).\n\nMeher Pudumjee, trustee, Teach For India \nMeher is the chairperson of Thermax Ltd. Meher served as the chairperson of Pune Zonal Council of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and represented India at the Asian Business Women's Conference in Osaka in 2006. In 2008, the World Economic Forum selected her as a Young Global Leader for her professional accomplishments, commitment to society and potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world. In 2009, she was selected CEO of the Year by Business Standard. She also serves on the boards of Imperial College India Foundation, Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation and Pune City Connect Development Foundation. She is on the board of Akanksha Foundation and is a trustee of Teach to Lead, Mumbai.\n\nAshish Dhawan, Trustee, Teach For India \nAshish is the Founder and Chairman of the Central Square Foundation (CSF). Prior to this, he worked for twenty years in the investment management business and managed ChrysCapital, one of India's leading private equity funds. In June 2012, he left his full-time role at ChrysCapital to start CSF. His passion for education led him to spearhead the founding of Ashoka University. Ashish holds a place on the India Advisory Board of Harvard and the Yale Development Council. He serves on the boards of several non-profits including the Akanksha Foundation, 3.2.1 Education Foundation, Teach For India, Centre for Civil Society, India School Leadership Institute and Bharti Foundation.\n\nRamesh Srinivasan, Trustee, Teach For India \nRamesh is a senior partner at McKinsey & Company, and an established leader in Pharmaceutical and Organization practices. He is a Dean of the Bower Forum, McKinsey's program for CEO learning. Ramesh has extensive experience working on a broad range of strategy and organizational topics across healthcare, private equity, high-tech, banking and industrial sectors.\n\nLeadership Team \n\n Shaheen Mistri, CEO, Founder, Trustee, Teach For India\n Aakansha Gulati, Chief Program Officer, Teach For India\n Sandeep Rai, Chief of City Operations, Teach For India\n Manasi Jain, Chief of Staff, Teach For India\n Tanya Arora, Director, Human Resources, Teach For India\n Hitesh Rawtani, Director Technology, Teach For India\n Payoshni Saraf, Director, Alumni Impact, Teach For India\n Alpana Mallick, Director, Training, and Impact, Teach For India\n Sara Khan, Director Development, Teach For India\n Devangana Mishra, Director, Recruitment, Teach For India\n Abhik Bhattacherji, Director, Marketing and Communication, Teach For India\n Aloma Rego, Director, Fellowship Selection, Teach For India\n Aditya Mallya, City Director, Mumbai, Teach For India\n Nalika Braganza, Program Director, Training and Impact, Teach For India\n Mansi Joshi, City Director, Delhi, Teach For India\n Dakshinamoorthy Visweswaran, City Director, Chennai, Teach For India\n Tulika Verma, City Director, Bangalore, Teach For India\n Keshar Mohka, City Director, Pune, Teach For India\n Apoorv Shah, City Director, Ahmedabad, Teach For India\n Vignesh Krishnan, City Director, Hyderabad, Teach For India\n Rajshree Doshi, Director, TFIX, Teach For India\n Ashwath Bharath, Director, FIRKI, Teach For India\n Kritika Rawat, Coach, Kids Education Revolution, Teach For India\n Pramod Pujari, Manager, Administration, Teach For India\n Shivani Agrawal, Director, Strategy, and Learning, Teach For India\n\nPublished works \n Grey Sunshine: Stories from Teach For India by Sandeep Rai (2019)\nRedrawing India: The Teach For India Story by Kovid Gupta and Shaheen Mistri. (2014)\n\nReferences\n\nNon-profit organisations based in India\nEducational organisations based in India\nOrganisations based in Mumbai\nOrganizations established in 2007\n2007 establishments in Maharashtra",
"Wendy Sue Kopp (born June 29, 1967) is the CEO and co-founder of Teach For All, a global network of independent nonprofit organizations working to expand educational opportunity in their own countries and the Founder of Teach For America (TFA), a national teaching corps.\n\nBackground\nWendy Kopp attended Highland Park High School in Dallas, Texas and later was an undergraduate in the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. She received her Arts Baccalaureate degree from Princeton in 1989 and was a member of Princeton's Business Today and the University Press Club.\n\nTeach For America\nIn 1989, Kopp proposed the creation of Teach For America in her 177-page long senior thesis titled \"An Argument and Plan for the Creation of the Teachers Corps\" which she completed under the supervision of Marvin Bressler. She was convinced that many in her generation were searching for a way to assume a significant responsibility that would make a real difference in the world and that top college students would choose teaching over more lucrative opportunities if a prominent teacher corps existed.\n\nShortly after graduating from Princeton, Kopp founded Teach For America. In 1990, 500 recent college graduates joined Teach For America's charter corps.\n\nIn 2007, Kopp founded Teach For All, a global network of independent nonprofit organizations that apply the same model as Teach For America in other countries.\n\nIn 2013, Kopp transitioned out of the role of CEO of Teach For America and named Elisa Villanueva Beard and Matt Kramer as co-CEOs of the organization. Villanueva Beard assumed full leadership in September 2015. Today, Kopp remains an active member of Teach For America's board.\n\nKopp chronicled her experiences at Teach For America in two books, One Day, All Children: The Unlikely Triumph of Teach For America and What I Learned Along the Way and A Chance To Make History: What Works and What Doesn't in Providing an Excellent Education For All.\n\nAccording to 2012 online records, Kopp makes at least $416,876 per year.\n\nPersonal life\nWendy Kopp is married to Richard Barth, president of the KIPP Foundation. They have four children and live in Manhattan.\n\nAwards\nHonorary doctorates\n 2014: University of Oklahoma\n 2013: Boston University\n 2012: Harvard University\n 2010: Marquette University\n 2009: Washington University of St. Louis\n 2008: Georgetown University\n 2007: Mount Holyoke College\n 2007: Rhodes College\n 2004: Pace University\n 2004: Mercy College\n 2001: Smith College\n 2000: Princeton University\n 1995: Connecticut College\n 1995: Drew University\n\nAwards\n 2011: Spelman College National Community Service Award\n 2008: The Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship\n 2008: Presidential Citizens Medal\n 2008: Ashoka Fellowship\n 2006: Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement\n 2006: The Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education Award\n 2004: The John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award\n 2003: The Clinton Center Award for Leadership and National Service\n 2003: The Schwab Foundation's Outstanding Social Entrepreneur Award\n 1994: Aetna's Voice of Conscience Award\n 1994: The Citizen Activist Award from the Gleitsman Foundation\n 1993: Princeton University Woodrow Wilson Award\n 1991: The Jefferson Award for Public Service\n 1991: Echoing Green Fellowship\n\nTrivia\nOn February 5, 2007, Kopp appeared on The Colbert Report.\n\nPublished works\n One Day, All Children: The Unlikely Triumph of Teach For America and What I Learned Along the Way (2001)\n A Chance to Make History: What Works and What Doesn't in Providing an Excellent Education for All (2011)\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nBiographies:\n Official biography – Teach For America\n Thesis sparks thriving teacher corps – Princeton University\n Biography – John Glenn School of Public Affairs\n \n Wendy Kopp: America's Best Leaders\nInterviews and speeches:\n Feature video interview with Wendy Kopp on The Alcove with Mark Molaro\n Teaching Children – PBS\n Change the World Interviews\n 2013 Commencement Speech – Boston University\n 2009 Commencement Speech – Washington University in St. Louis\n 2008 Commencement Speech – Georgetown University\n 2007 Commencement Speech – Mount Holyoke College\n 2006 Commencement Speech – University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill\n Podcast Interview with Wendy Kopp Social Innovation Conversations, February 1, 2008\n How I Built This - Teach For America: Wendy Kopp\n \n \"Wendy Kopp Biography and Interview\" – American Academy of Achievement\n\n1967 births\nAmerican nonprofit executives\nEducators from Texas\nAmerican women educators\nLiving people\nMercy College (New York) alumni\nPeople from Austin, Texas\nPresidential Citizens Medal recipients\nWomen nonprofit executives\nPrinceton School of Public and International Affairs alumni\n21st-century American women"
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